Thursday, Part 1

July 30th, 2009

I said I love you and goodbye to my mom, who’d traveled from Huntington to bring me back to Curtis’s house where I’d left my rust gold-colored Jeep Grand Cherokee. Looking back, I scoffed at the idea of driving the thing when it originally came into my possession (a term I use very loosely, for reasons you’ll be exposed to later), but have since come to love this 10-year-old result of automobile manufacturing.

In just eight months, so many memories were accumulated that related to that Jeep in some form or fashion. In no particular order, those memories include and are not limited to:

- My first time driving to my mamaw’s house. It was Christmas and it was just my dad and I. That was the first time I’d ever been to her house without my mom or my sisters. Later that same day I would drive to Mary Ann Fletcher’s grandparents house to have dinner with her family. The Lakers defeated Boston that day. We took all kinds of pictures that day. That was the first time I ever met most of her family. And, for better or worse, it is likely the last good time together I’ll ever spend with her or them, as well.

- My last kiss from Heather Workman – tear-filled and full of bitter-sweetness.
Unfortunately, it was just as I imagined our final kiss would be. Except for the frog ring.

- My first prom night. Also, my first day where nearly 6 hours were spent
washing an orange diesel guzzling Peterbilt so you could arrive with the best date you could ever have in the best ride you could ever imagine.

- My first time being pulled over by a cop. I swear, I was in no way intoxicated or under the influence. How was I to know my dad had removed the license plate from the back of the vehicle?

- My first time (of several, subsequently) driving around with an animal in the vehicle. I don’t know where you are now, Snaps, but I hope there’s a cat there to chase.

- My first use of four-wheel drive during what turned out to be an unnecessary trip through the mountains this past Fourth of July as Brittany and I sought the grounds where my dad and his family were cooking out up Longbranch.

- The first time I nearly sideswiped a friend as we were both on the highway racing to a place to have a water balloon fight. On a related note, also the first day I had a water balloon thrown at me from a moving vehicle, Cameron.

- Also, the first (and so far last) day I demanded Carrie Jude to crawl over seats to the back of the Jeep and supply me with unopened cans of Mountain Dew to throw at Jamie Duty’s car.

- Opening my first pack of Yu-Gi-Oh! Gold Series 2 to reveal both a Gold Sarcophagus AND Mind Control as two of my three Gold Rares (to those of the non-card gaming community, if Dark Armed Dragon or Solemn Judgment had been in the pack instead of Elemental Hero Captain Gold, this would have been the best pack possible)!

And, as I unlocked my Jeep and laid down in the driver’s seat to sleep for a couple of hours (I wanted to avoid waking anyone at Curtis’s house up) until 10:30 when Curtis and I would leave for Pikeville along with some other friends, I had no clue it would be linked to one final memory – one that, is awkward, strange and at times horrifying as it can be, appears to be the most fitting close to what has been an eventful year before I entered college.

*********
There are plenty of nominees in contention for “Worst Roads in Martin County”, but nobody can convince me that Wolf Creek isn’t up there for the title. They’ve got some shitty pavement going on up there – trust me. Alas, I had to retrieve Devin Blamer. I invited him to go with us to Page 3, and I wasn’t going to back out of getting him. Curtis was picking up Speedy, who we called that morning before we left to tell him happy 18th birthday, and found out his mom was allowing him to go with us. We were going to meet at my place, hop in the Jeep and take off.

After traversing Evans Hill in order to shortcut to my house, we met up with Curtis and Speedy and were about to take off. First, however, I had to go into my home and collect some movies my mom said I could trade in at Page 3 for store credit. I found them, and more so.

My dad’s truck was parked in the driveway, yet when I got inside I saw no sight of him in his usual mainstays:
1.) Passed out on the couch.
2.) Passed out on one of the two mattresses in my sister Krystle’s old room (before she moved out).
3.) Passed out on the kitchen floor with a half-eaten bologna sandwich in one of his hands.

(Okay, that last one has never happened fully – I have found my dad passed out in the kitchen before, unfortunately.)

Although he wasn’t there, I did find a woman in his bed. I chuckled a bit at the sight of what I assumed to be a pill whore, given the emotionless look in her face, full of craterous misery, and headed upstairs, where I partially expected to find the worst of whatever happened last night at the house of Moore.

I found it. My dad, lying in just his white briefs, barely contained underneath a cover. In my bed, another woman, presumably another pill whore, but I couldn’t tell, as all I could see were her feet. I quickly burst out in anger, waking my dad but not interrupting the woman’s sleep at all, further justifying my opinion about her.

“I like how you respect my stuff!”

“You told me you were going to be back Wednesday night!”

“Yea, before I left I said I’d be back Wednesday night at the latest…and it’s Thursday morning now!”

That’s how the argument started out. That alone should give you indication of how stupid it really was. At some point, he ended up saying that I should get all of my shit out of there because he wanted that room. That was fine by me, and I said that I’d start moving out as soon as we got back from Pikeville. He mumbled lots of other things, but I didn’t even care to listen anymore. I found the movies my mom was talking about and bolted out the door with my pals.
We got in the Jeep and on our way to Pikeville spoke about how much disrespect had been shown for me through my dad’s actions. Well, the observers of the situation spoke about it and I just agreed as I drove on, laughing everything off, for the most part.

In fact, the only point the whole day that I was near tears, was when I picked up the sealed Wonder Woman Season One boxed set my mom instructed me to take because she had another copy. I stared at it for a moment, fought back some tears wrought by the anger and the situation, and calmed down.

I did not expect to come home and find my dad had partially destroyed my room and what I was sure was a wretch of a woman in my bed. In fact, I was even surprised to a degree, which is probably my fault. How dare I give my dad so much benefit of the doubt? Insane!

The rest of the day went smoothly – well, except for the crappy Metal Raiders pulls, the wreck, the hostage situation and the cops.
But, that’s for part two =]

Prince Batman, AWAY!!!
Joshua Aaron Moore

Quote of the Day
"The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success." --- Bruce Feirstein