(finally decided to write a new journal; 12 comments on the last one was a new record me, I think. Thanks for all the kind words on my haircut)
I'm finally finished!
About three years ago I was walking through Presque Isle Park in Marquette when my eye caught the memorial to two college students who had died there back in the late 80's. There had been a storm and, like many kids both before and after, the two of them had decided to go out on the breakwall to see the waves come in. One wave, driven by the winds, had exploded over the wall where they were both standing and swept them into the Lake's waters. They drown.
As I walked a bit further I saw a patch of old pike trail that was ropped off, and was slowly crumbing off into the sea. Weeks earlier I'd been walking with Danyal, a girl I'd been dating at the time, and she told me that once a couple had been biking there when part of the trail had collapsed and pitched a girl down into the waters. "If anything's haunted, that place is", I'd said. She nodded her head gravely, "I wouldn't be suprised", she'd said.
The two incidents, so fresh in my mind, called up to me another incident when I was just a little kid. We'd been camping in Northern Wisconsin, on the shores of the Lake. It was early morning, and I'd walked down to the beach to see my Dad just sitting there and listening.
"whatcha doin", I'd asked.
"Just listening", he'd told me, "sometimes, early in the morning, if you just sit and listen you can hear the lake talking to you."
In a flash, I suddenly had the vision of two guys camping on the shores of the lake; one of them had just caught his girlfriend cheating on him, and was heartbroken. While standing near the lake, he would cry out that if he could just find one good woman, he'd be her's forever.
The lake hears him, she sees him, and falls in love with the young man and decides to answer his wish.
The final image was of him standing on a dock, waiting expectingly, as a wave rises up and snatches him, dragging him down to be with his new bride, while his friend looks on in horror.
That idea came to me three years ago, and it stuck with me. Good stories don't come to me everyday, and I have a habit of grabbing hold and sinking my claws into those which do; holding onto them for dear life. I'd even tried to write it a few times but, for what ever reason, things just never jelled. The words would be flat on the page, the dialog clunky, and logic problems would appear that even I found glaring (and I, my friends, am not always the world's most logical man).
That was until this last week. Having finished my epic poem a few months ago, and wanting to get back into the habit of writing once again, I decided to give the old tale a try. It worked. Words flowed onto the page and I soon found myself writing 5 and even 6 pages a day; not bad for someone who's usually able to write two of three in a two hour sitting.
I finished it tonight. Young Jack was dragged down into the depths to his true love's expecting arms. He had a smile on his face the entire time, I feel confident in reporting. I want to tell you that, because I doubt he'll be showing up again anytime soon; Superior, they say, never gives up her dead when the storms of Novemember come early, after all.
In other news, I posted a few, uh, nude pics of myself on the site over the last few days; especially to the BCB group. Sadly, there hasn't been much response. Apparently my hair is great but, the rest of me? Not so much
I'm just finishing up listening to "Who Do You Love" was performed by Ray Hawkins. Its the best version of a song which is quickly becoming one of my favorite Rock'n'Roll songs of all time:
I walked 47 miles of barbed wire,
Used a cobra snake for a neck tie.
Got a brand new house on the roadside,
Made out of rattlesnake hide.
I got a brand new chimney made on top,
Made out of human skulls.
Now come on darling let's take a little walk, tell me,
Who do you love,
Who do you love, Who do you love, Who do you love.
Arlene took me by the hand,
And said oooh eeeh daddy I understand.
Who do you love,
Who do you love, Who do you love, Who do you love.
The night was black and the night was blue,
And around the corner an ice wagon flew.
A bump was a hittin' lord and somebody screemed,
You should have heard just what I seen.
Who do you love, Who do you love, Who do you love, Who do you love.
Arleen took me by my hand, she said Ooo-ee Bo you know I understand
I got a tombstone hand and a graveyard mind,
I lived long enough and I ain't scared of dying.
phoenixgirl:
I think the most comments I ever got was 40...I usually average about 20ish give or take...