oak tree breeze

Not too many folks on the road right now, Sara glanced out the front living room window and noticed a huge live oak tree bending in the breeze. The tree must weigh 2 or 3 tons and if it crashed into the house it would do some heavy damage. The lights flickered and so she reached in the coleman cooler and pulled out a bottle of Boone's Farm. She screwed off the top and guzzled a sip, then twisted her face into a pretzel grimace as she swallowed the wine. She grabbed a Virginia Slim menthol from her purse and lit it with Fred's silver Zippo.

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Tower of Pizza

Friday night everyone headed to the "Tower of Pizza" for some pitchers of cheap beer and some greasy southern-fried pizza. The "Kudzu Shadows" played some loud rock and blues music. They stuck to mostly three chord Chuck Berry style songs like Johnny B. Good and Roll Over Beethoven. Every song had a spot built in for a drum solo too. Drum solos had been real popular ever since In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida came out. The crownd tonight filtered in from the early season football game. Cigarette smoke swirled around the stage and the band launched into a long version of Whipping Post by the Allman Brothers Band.

Football

I tried to call her Saturday night, but there was no answer. I'm pretty sure they went to Virginia for the football game. I don't know if they were coming back to South Carolina today with this hurricane bearing down on Charleston and Myrtle Beach. They may have stayed up in Richmond or even spent the night in D.C.

Worried A Little

I sure hope this storm doesn't completely demolish all of Myrtle Beach. I want to go down there next spring and just hang out and chill for a while. It was so much fun seeing all of you when we went on vacation at the beach. We stayed down at Ocean Drive. There was a funky little beach band doing old rhythm and blues stuff like the Temps and even some older songs from the Drifters.

Waitin' On Her

When she gets home there will be a few cold Cokes in the fridge. I think there's one Red Rock soda left. Those boys from college left their litle cheap, styrofoam cooler in the kichen. All the ice melted and there are three hot 12 ounce Buds in there still connected by a white plastic loop.

"Wicked" Wilson Pickett's singing on the radio. He's singing about,"Gonna wait til the Midnight Hour, when all my love comes tumblin' down."

Love, ain't it something. The boys just had to leave and go back to Columbia right now and leave us here to fend for ourselves in this hurricane. We could have used the moral support as well as some help with the house. They were probably too hungover to be much good at carpentry anyway.

There's nothing like trying to read by candlelight.

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The Storm

All she could think about was the baby. Where was Luke? She stomped her bare feet on the mountain green crushed velvet carpet. I'll bet he stopped by to see Sister Rose. She's always telling fortunes or so they say. I think something else goes on behind those hanging love beads, she thought. Thunder. She saw a flash. Boom. Lightning. She counted. One. one thousand,two,two thousand, three, boom. The television went dark. The red AT&T wall phone rang. Maybe it's the long lost prodigal son, she chuckled to herself. No, that's not the right story. Maybe more like King David and his baby when he got caught cheating. Well I hope this doesn't come to that extreme. Nothing to kill or die for here.

"Honey,Is that you?"

"Oh Lord, please Jesus,help me"

"Oh no"

"Help!"

Jake's Drive-In

Three strands of Christmas tree lights dangled from the edge of the porch roof down at Jake's Drive-In. The only car in the parking lot was the candy apple red SS 396 Chevrolet Chevelle parked sideways with one white hood-stripe showing towards Church Street. Empty Dixie Cups bounced across the asphalt. They danced over the splattered red and green reflections while "Satisfaction" blared from the cheap outdoor metallic speaker. It was Sunday night.

Sunday Night Late

She waited for Shyla to get back from the Zippy Mart. Those batteries gonna cost $5 or more, but we got no choice, she thought. It's gonna be a long time before the power comes back on and it's hard to get around without any light. We should be able to listen to the radio maybe pick up the weather forecast or something. The storm is supposed to hit Georgetown,Myrtle Beach, or Charleston and how bad it gets here will depend on exactly where it hits. It could skirt the coast and hit the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Cape Hatteras usually gets hit but it could come here.

Hurry,Shyla,hurry.

July

Hot, sticky, black, stillness swallowed this small southern town. He’d smiled and joked with the lady as he asked her about the hay for sale on her farm. She told the stranger he’d have to talk to her husband because she had to go into town. The tall stranger grinned and followed her to the front door of her house. She did remember that he was tall and the truck he drove was tan or brown or gold with a sticker on the bumper. Now it was dark and a crowd gathered across town while sheriff’s deputies strung yellow crime-scene tape around the yard and house.

Sunday Everning

No need to hurry, I thought, as I surveyed the dark water. It would take another 6 or 7 hours of steady rain before the muddy water began to seep under my front door and another day or more before it reached the top of the stairs. I decided to meander into the kitchen and get a cold Pabst Blue Ribbon out of the fridge. I popped the top and leaned against the bar. I was glad that I'd stocked up on beer when I did. Can't buy beer from anywhere 'cept bootleggers on Sunday anyway.

Sunday Night

It rained all day Friday,Saturday,and by Sunday evening waves of water cascaded over the top concrete step in the center of the front porch. I reached in my shirt pocket,pulled out my Zippo, and lit a Kool.

Smoke swirled waxed fire red plastic jumbo cup of crushed ice flavored with lime-green gin based hot-pink lipstick edge. Slide trombone electric blues train chugged five miles out from the station when we first saw her silhouette moonbeams cast upon emerald green felt loaded with blazing red die. Seven.

Black River

Jahneesha rubbed her eyes,glanced at the alarm clock and turned her head into the fluffy overstuffed pillow.

"Damn," she mumbled while she fumbled with the clock.

This sure was the fastest weekend I've ever seen, she thought. It was wonderful to see all of the old gang but none of them have jobs and Jahneesha just started on her first "real" job. A "great" job, her grandmother told her, with the Black River Sheriff's Department.

Jahneesha had to agree with most of this since all of her close friends were still unemployed. They all majored in stuff like Sociology,Psychology, and English. Jahneesha majored in Biology and was excited when she was called in fore an interview with the Black River Sheriff's Department. She made it through all three rounds of interviews too.

(continued)