Here we see Rick getting a little heavier into the entries. On the left page, we have the actual note that our art teacher, Tim Burns, wrote and gave to Vance's Photography teacher to give to Vance. We never were sure of the purpose, though I suspect it involved an attempt at humor. Now that I'm an old man, I guess I sort of get it. The note reads: "Susan- Message from Mom of Vance Deniston. Tell him to bring home a loaf of bread after school. T.B."The text surrounding the note reads:
“Later that day; we’ve compromised! We will ride the bus as far as ft. smith Arkansas and Thumb the rest of the way. egads!On the right page, we read of advances.
Earlier that day, vance gets this message that nearly calls off the trip due to resulting confusion”
“next day: Gary Gober is going to drive us to memphis. Yowie zowie. Also the previous plan will be our back up plan.”I'm memory serves (which it rarely does), Gober had his old man's car which was a Ford Galaxie 500 with a balanced and blueprinted Police Interceptor engine. Fuckin' A! I remember the trip to Gober's house to discuss the plan. Maybe it wasn't Gober, but I remember whoevers house it was whose old man had that car. That was where I left my tooled leather visor.
[NOTE: A search on Google for "Gary Gober" turned this up...."Gary Gober - Blockbuster Online. Gary Gober Trivia. Who did Gary Gober portray in At Close Range? Gary Gober was District Attorney in At Close Range. Want to watch Gary Gober movies? ..."]
Next up was a reference to our camping trip. This was the one where I shot Jim Jones in the back of the thigh COMPLETELY A FLUKE with a soft pine cone, using a wrist rocket. Jones went ballistic and through a fucking 300 pound boulder. He was sucha drama queen. I mean, the welt it raised couldn't have been more than three or four inches.
“May 30 & 31stIt's true, we did.
Pre-expidition
We went camping in the Sandias to prove our studliness and sheer ability to survive. We ate cactus and it tasted like snot.”
And then this next which... I can't begin to explain this next part and the course of events it set up. I will, just not yet. Anyway, I thought it would be a great idea for us to write more in the book, and what better thing to write about for posterity, but why we were doing this. So I make the statement:
“At this point I feel it is necesry (sic) for us t0 put in the reasons for us attempting this:I was just getting silly. It was a total goof. But then Vance answers. It starts out, kind of serious sounding:
Rick: I need to prove to myself that I can live by my own wits and cunning. Also before this trip idea I was super-hyper. But I got int it and it was my main reason for living in other words the only way to retain my sanity. However since the end of the pre-expidition I have Become uptite (sic) and hyper. You see I was Born to be wild. I like smoking lightinin every bit of thunder rollin’ (sic) with the wind and the feeling that Im (sic) under, fite (sic) all of the guns at once and explode into space and like a true natures child I was Born, Born to be wild… oh uh I’m sorry.”
“Vance: Im really not sure why I’m going. It could be because…”
Continued on next page.
The teacher, Tim Burns wrote that note as a joke to Susan(my photo teacher that I had fantasies about)because of the slew of stupid messages that the office would send to teachers about shit that had nothing to do with school. So, yes, this was Tim being VERY funny.
ReplyDeleteAhh! I did not know that. I thought it was Tim dicking with us, not joking with Susan.
ReplyDeleteWhat was her name? Carpenter? We need to track her down.
Ah yes, the dim glow of the darkroom red light and a glance to Susan. She returned the glance with a smile as we both paused in the moment, neither of us knew what to do for that akward second. Does she want to kiss me I wonder as she looks into the tray of fixer fluid that my photos lay in. "Nice", she said and I sorta snapped out of it in that stupid schoolboy way. "Oh, thanks," I said. As she turned to leave the darkroom she said, "keep it up." I was alone in the darkroom but couldn't leave because the classroom was full of kids and I was ready to pop the rivets on my Levis. Susan was so cool, she would say "go shot something and be back in 45 minutes." Vaugh MacMillan, Greg and I would haul ass down Montgomery to the "Boxcar" storage unit that these guys rented for their band.(the band was 'Mandala' but they changed to "Off the Wall" before leaving high school). Greg would jam on his bass and we'd blow a doobie and then haul ass back to class in the nick of time. Susan would smile at us and ask Vaugh, "and where have you boys been?" The three of us would just flash her our cutest smiles and she would just smile back with the knowing look. Thanks Susan, where ever you are.
ReplyDeleteWriters note* Greg in the previous post was in fact "Jeff", I think... I think Jeff Burroughs was the bass player. God, how much did we smoke? Somebody help me here!
ReplyDeleteI totally screwed up the name here. Let me set it straight. Jeff Donohoe was the bass player in 'Off The Wall'. Sorry Jeff, it took awhile to put the right name with the story.
ReplyDelete