| Suttree (pt 1 of 2) |
[Jul. 7th, 2005|04:36 pm] |
Two pairs of brogans went along the rows.
- You aint goin to believe this.
- Knowin you for a born liar I most probably wont.
- Somebody has been fuckin my watermelons.
- What?
- I said somebody has been…
- No. No. Hell no. Damn you if you aint got a warped mind.
- I’m telling you…
- I don’t want to hear it.
- Looky here.
- And here.
They went along the outer row of the melonpatch. He stopped to nudge a melon with his toe. Yellowjackets snarled in the seepage. Some were ruined a good time past and lay soft with rot, wrinkled with imminent collapse.
- It does look like it, dont it?
- I’m telling ye I seen him. I didn’t know what the hell was goin on when he dropped his drawers. Then when I seen what he was up to I still didn’t believe it. But yonder they lay.
- What do you aim to do?
- Hell, I don’t know. It’s about too late to do anything. He’s damn near screwed the whole patch. I don’t see why he couldn’t of stuck to just one. Or a few.
- Well, I guess he takes himself for a lover. Sort of like a sailor in a whorehouse.
- I reckon what it was he didn’t take to the idea of getting bit on the head of his pecker by one of them waspers. I suppose he showed good judgment there.
- What was he, just a young feller.
- I dont know about how young he was but he was as active a feller as I’ve seen in a good while.
- Well. I don’t reckon he’ll be back.
- I don’t know. A man fast as he is ought not to be qualmy about goin anywheres he took a notion. To steal or whatever.
- What if he does come back?
- I’ll catch him if he does.
- And then what?
- Well. I don’t know. Be kindly embarrassin now I think about it.
- I’d get some work out of him is what I’d do.
- Ought to, I reckon. I don’t know.
- You reckon to call the sheriff?
- And tell him what?
They were walking slowly along the rows.
- It’s just the damndest thing I ever heard of. Aint it you? What are you grinning at? It aint funny. A thing like that. To me it aint. |
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| Suttree (pt 2 of 2) |
[Jul. 7th, 2005|04:32 pm] |
The crimes of the moonlight melonmounter followed him as crimes will. Truth of his doings came in at the door and up the stairs in the dark. Come morning the prisoners were seeing this half fool in a new light. To his elbows in dishwater and wreathed in steam he watched them file across the kitchen with their plates of biscuits and gravy, nodding, gesturing. He smiled back. They saw him again that night, lost in his stained and shapeless suit. He appeared not to have moved the day long nor the stacked pans diminished. After supper he returned to them clutching his blanket before him.
- Well, said Suttree, you back?
- Yep.
- What happened.
- I told em I was done fuckin with em. They want a dishwarsher they can hunt somebody else cause I aint it.
- What did they say?
- They asked me did I want to be hallboy. Said you make a few dollars sellin coffee.
- A few dollars a year.
- That’s just what I figured. I told em I didn’t want no hallboy bullshit.
- So what happened?
- Nothin. They just sent me on up.
He stood there with his rat’s face in a kind of smug smirk. Suttree shook his head.
- Yonder he is, called Callahan.
- Watermelon man.
- Punkins wasn’t it?
- Punkins? Godamighty.
- Yeah, sang out Callahan, we get out we goin to open a combination fruitstand and whorehouse.
Harrogate smiled nervously.
Callahan was sketching for them a portrait of his brothel. Melons in black negligees.
- Watch out the niggers don’t hear of it.
- The niggers is liable to lynch ye.
Other fruits discussed. A cantaloupe turned queer. Do you buy them a drink.
- Worst of it is havin gnats swarm around the head of ye dick.
- Fruitflies.
- Stealing watermelons eh? Said Sutree.
Harrogate grinned uneasily. They tried to get me for beast, beast…
- Bestiality?
- Yeah. But my lawyer told them a watermelon wasnt no beast. He was a smart son of a bitch.
- Oh boy, said Suttree. |
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| I knew it |
[May. 24th, 2004|03:48 pm] |
LOOK OUT!
ïòð | | menshevik is a radioactive squirrel!! |
From Go-Quiz.com |
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| Hm. |
[Jan. 28th, 2004|02:44 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  okay | ] |
| [ | music |
| | none | ] |
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| Update |
[Jan. 22nd, 2004|08:10 am] |
Whew. I've been meaning to get around to doing this lj thing again. Something moved me to purchase a full membership, probably just so I could get people to send text messages (see the info page).
I realized today that it's been a long time since I heard any new music that I really enjoyed. Recommendations, anyone? |
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| miercoles |
[Feb. 19th, 2003|11:00 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  relaxed | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Pencil sharpener down the hall | ] |
Have come to the conclusion that yesterday's malaise was due to Taco Bell withdrawal. Had a bean burrito on the way home from work and everything was peachy once more. Hooray for self-medication!
The week is flying by. Exploring my options for post-contract life. Really like the idea of Central America for the summer. Problem is, what after? Looking at grad school, quite like the Marine Earth and Atmospheric Studies program. As T. said though, will that help me get a job? A resounding NO to that, but it would still be fun, much more so than the more practical engineering disciplines I was exploring earlier this year. Job options are slim these days, especially around here...and I do have that burrito habit to support. Hmm. |
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| intrinsically unsound |
[Feb. 18th, 2003|02:16 pm] |
Have that weird weightless dreamy feeling all day today. Wouldn't be so bad if it weren't accompanied by slight nausea, headache, and somehow, a scratched cornea. Not to mention the residual ill effects of last night's epic dream in which Bob cut someone's throat for $50,000. (It's ok, everyone in the dream was prescient and knew he was a drifter who intended to kill us all first anyway. Difficult to explain to the police officer, however.) Preceded by a dream in which I was a conscripted ranch hand on a west TX ranch, yeehaw.
It's either something I ate, an incipient virus, or a nervous system on the blink. Perhaps all three. Thank heavens for mint tea.
The ice and snow are beginning to recede, unfortunately. It was nice while it lasted.
Not much happening at work, just trying to get my time in.
Saturday had the TX folk over for dinner and cards.
Will someone please answer the damn phone?
My apartment got insanely hot last night due to the irregularity of the heating system...the chocolate on the kitchen table actually melted a bit. Had to open my bedroom window to let in a breeze, but it was so dilapidated that it came apart at the seams, separating the pane from the frame.
Well, that's enough trivia. |
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| Monday Monday |
[Jan. 27th, 2003|11:03 am] |
Ha, another day of scarce productivity. GWB's state of the union address tonight, I'm worried about what that fool is going to say. My work of searching for terrorist preparedness courses this morning may not be so irrelevant after all. Sigh.
On the plus side, I got into an intensive spanish language course at NCSU today, even though I've already missed the first two weeks of the semester. My first test will also be my second day of class. Whee! Maybe I can fake it, but who cares. It will be something challenging...and Spanish is useful, unlike some bastardized slavic mutation that no one outside a small and insignificant provincial nation of central europe speaks. :) |
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| Sunday Night |
[Jan. 26th, 2003|09:04 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  exhausted | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Shostakovich String Quartet No. 4 | ] |
Just returned from a weekend trip from Charlotte. T's college friend was helping to produce Cat on a Hot Tin Roof there, and got us free tickets to the show. The play was interesting, although the acting left something to be desired (adequate, by all means, but not exceptional). The play reminded me of the time I saw Chekhov's The Seagull in Dallas with Loyal. That was a much better production, but the same theme of the family as an intense psychological crucible seemed to dominate both plays. After the play, went to Kevin's restaurant for drinks. Beer and bourbon, baby.
Charlotte was great, and T's friends are all quite charming and entertaining. We did a yoga routine at her friend alsison's house this morning before going to lunch (fish tacos and margueritas). It's an amazingly demanding discipline, which surprises me, and also makes me feel much better physically. I should try it more regularly.
T and I had intense arguments on the drive to and from Charlotte, so we've made a pact to have an "argument free" week. We shall see how it goes.
Friday night went to see Snake Oil Medicine Show at a bar near my house. Met one of my coworkers there who recommended the band to me. They were very entertaining, all acoustic (fiddle, banjo, drums, tuba accordian/keyboard, upright bass, and saw) with a range of styles from klezmer to irish to bluegrass to jazz. The fiddle player was especially cute...
Now I must prepare for another work week. |
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| Snow day |
[Jan. 23rd, 2003|08:40 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  quixotic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Silence | ] |
For everyone but me, anyway. I woke up at T's and stumbled down the stairs to my car, and on opening the door was blinded by the unsullied whiteness of fresh snowfall. Beautiful, really. I went home to check on the cats and fix my lunch, then drove to work practically owning the streets to myself. Why no one else decided to drive is beyond me, although I did almost slide off the road once or twice. I'm here in my office now, the only one in my group. No doubt it's because they get paid for snow days and I don't. I should've stayed home and gone sledding :).
I wonder if my anxiety over the present state of world affairs is in part to my getting older and more cynical, or if it's actually justified by the ominous threats that seem to be everywhere. It seems inevitable that the levels of human suffering and hardship are poised to increase exponentially in the next 10-20 years...but what's stranger, is that I don't seem to mind the threat so much. Perhaps because I have no personal stake in the next generation. And, although I'm still on the youthful side of middle age, I feel I've lived my fair share of life's bounty (from here on, it's just a bonus). Maybe I'm just letting last night's dreams (of desert wasteland communities ruled by brutality) color my thoughts too much this morning. |
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| Tuesday Shmuesday |
[Jan. 21st, 2003|02:28 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | indescribable | ] |
| [ | music |
| | just the screeching voices in my head | ] |
Another week begun in the spare and barren government office building...just realized today how similar this place is to the surreal descriptions of Kafka...it's a genuine maze of blandly lit corridors populated by subdued, yet disgruntled, unproductive people. I am becoming one of them! I shall speak no more of this.
The protest last weekend was interesting. I'd forgotten how much I dislike crowds, so I took refuge in the National Gallery of Art for a couple of hours. Very impressive selection of art there. The protesters themselves were a varied bunch, very many intense and passionate displays of opinion. I believe that there actually will be a war at "our government's" insistence, so the futility of the event was somewhat poignant. Still, not a bad way to spend a Saturday. Last night drank dirty gin martinis and had another fight with T. I know this routine well.
Well, my boss just came in told me that the instruments I'm waiting on are still being "approved" by purchasing, so it will be just busywork for awhile longer. So...I'd better get to it. |
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| necesito saber... |
[Jan. 17th, 2003|12:27 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | okay | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Volapuk-Slang | ] |
Came in to work after a mild snowfall last night, to find that my new Puerto Rican neighbor's office had sprung a leak from the ceiling, flooding her desk and chair. So now I have to help move all her furniture to the office from whence we lugged it on Monday, since she'll have to move back there now.
It's amazing how unproductive one can be when no one expects anything out of you. I've accomplished so little today, it's rather embarrasing...sorry to all you taxpayers who are supporting me and my cat...we are most grateful for your assistance.
I found out that the bus to DC leaves at 4am, tomorrow morning. But, the meeting point is right across the street from my apartment, luckily, so I can just roll out of bed still and get on the bus practically without waking. I'm bringing a bottle of vodka and a flask of Kaluha to make some black Russians for the festivities. I'm curious to see if there will be any violence, and just what kind of crowd this thing will attract...
Went for dinner and drinks last night with T. Watched a second-rate bluegrass band at Tir na Nog. Had an interesting talk though. And spent too much money, will have to curtail expenses the rest of this month.
Have a fucking hearing at the DMV this afternoon, must convince them to let me keep my plates, the pirating bastards! |
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| turnarounds |
[Jan. 14th, 2003|04:46 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  energetic | ] |
| [ | music |
| | None, as usual. | ] |
Well. It was an eventful weekend, but I seem to be losing my abilities to keep track of time. I should write more of it down, I guess. Friday night Dave and Shauna and I went out with Tracy and Holly and Rhett. Wanted to play pool, but went instead to a comedy club where Holly got us free tickets. There was some (probably unintentional) cattiness between the girls, and Dave and I got inordinately drunk afterward on beer and gin and vodka, causing some commotion with broken bottles and attempted forced entry into an abandoned building. Shauna was there to keep us from getting arrested, slava bogu.
Saw the Two Towers Saturday, it was ok, but not as good as Fellowship in my opinion, at least in its fidelity to the book. Helped D & S paint their new house Sunday night. It's an awesome place. The lease specifically forbids getting on the roof...how did they know about that?
Anyway. The usual cyclical arguments with the woman occurred. Nothing out of the ordinary, though. And I think Remus is a little sick.
That's it for now, folks. |
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| asea in a flood of "small drifters" |
[Jan. 9th, 2003|01:15 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | calm | ] |
| [ | music |
| | None | ] |
Ah, working for the government, it's all I remembered and more...
The inefficiency, the slow pace, the lack of direction. And this time there's some unaccountable secrecy, since it seems our department head is a control freak who wants to keep us temps from knowing too much about her machinations.
I guess all I can do is what I'm assigned (a very vague thing in itself), but I have the feeling that when my contract is up Carlton and I (the two temps brought on to get this project started) are going to be scapegoated for not doing more. Ah well, at least I'm being paid...
Last night was peaceful, and I was able to get some things done around the apartment. Dave and Shauna went to buy paint for their new house (they move in at the end of next week, I think). It will be strange when they leave. It's been fun having Kaptik around but getting some space back would be nice. Three people, 3 cats, a dog, a ferret and a meter-long alligator in a one-bedroom apartment makes for rather close quarters.
Bob called last night with woman problems. It is strange, indeed, that 2 weeks ago our roles were reversed in that respect. Goes to show that what goes up must come down, so I'd better be ready for the downswing whenever it may occur. I hope he will be ok, though. |
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| Midweek hump |
[Jan. 8th, 2003|10:13 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | working | ] |
| [ | music |
| | None | ] |
I'd forgotten how mind-numbing it can be sitting in front of a computer screen for hours on end. My eyes are rather fatigued. Spent the last week writing the SOPs for the instruments we're using, and looking up specs on the internet for uses in measuring potential chemical agents which might be used in terrorist attacks. Interesting in a purely technical way, but with little real-world application.
The last couple of evenings have been spent socializing with T. Monday night at the Flying Saucer with Dave and Shauna in which I drank too many beers (headache in morning, bleah), then last night at Yancey's for dinner with T and Holly and Brande and Chris Moses. Diverting, but I need some time to myself, probably tonight I'll hole up in my apt. and do some recreational reading, and get a decent amount of sleep. I need more time!
Planning on going to the big antiwar protest Jan.18 in DC. I'm not normally a joiner in such things, but the whole abuse of power committed by the current administration irritates me enough to want to do this. Chris M. last night said he's planning on going too, and is sending me info on buses leaving from the Triangle to go. |
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| Coasting through the day's normalcy |
[Jan. 4th, 2003|11:59 am] |
Trying to get used to this being in town all the time...it seems I have much catching up to do. The busywork of life in a modern age, which actually just means that I'm getting sucked into being just another fucking consumer, right? Well, anyway, at least I'm entertained. Today I must fix my computer (install some damned drivers for the CD-Rom), purchase a fucking phone for my new land line, and get some cat food and kitty fucking litter.
Tracy left this morning to go see Cat in Plymouth, NC. Will probably be gone til tomorrow. So I have a whole day ahead to myself (Dave still in PA). Shawna might come into town today, however. We shall see.
Perhaps I'll be able to listen to some music later...something symphonic and Russian, Shostakovich symphony no. 5, perhaps.
Don't have much to say, just wanted to get this journal up and open. Blyat. |
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