Give My Love To Rose
…down down down and the flames went higher…
No ma, it’s not gonna happen today.
I know I did, but I also promised him and I
can’t afford to turn down any work at the
moment.
CALCULATING
Heh. That’s true enough. Make sure that old man
of yours leaves me some roast potatoes or me and
him are gonna have a falling out.
Haha. Yeah well, it WAS my remote before it was
ever his! He should think himself lucky. Shall I
pick up a single malt for him?
…bound by wild desire…
…i keep you on my mind both day and night…
Them doctor’s don’t know anything about anything
anyway.
Yeah, I know. Anyway, I’ll see you guys day after
tomorrow. And I’ll bring you a bottle of something
too – how was that Californian I left with you
last time?
…a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout…
AFTER ONE MILE, TAKE RAMP LEFT
Sounds like a good night! See you then ma.
Love you too.
…if that railroad train was mine…
Tom, it’s me.
I’ll be coming by your place early so was just
gonna leave a box by the workshop somewhere.
…he must have thought it was quite a joke…
Give me a call back to let me know you got it OK
and what the kids thought. Actually scrap that -
I plan to leave my phone off all day so just
drop me a text.
…cos i’m the sunnuvabitch that called you sue…
Have a great day, say hi to the kids and tell
that wife of yours I love her too.
TURN LEFT IN TWO HUNDRED SEVEN MILES
Hey gorgeous, how you doing?
You’re gonna get yourself in trouble one of these
days talking like that.
Oh, like that is it?! You are a very, very naughty
girl.
…sat and listened to the shoeshine boy…
You’ll just hafta see what I do about it.
…how much longer til we cross that mason-dixon line…
Haha. My ma always told me never to make threats,
only promises.
…but i saw him crying like a little whipped pup…
Not when she can hear me I don’t! Besides, there’s
only one of my girls I want to think of wearing it.
I’m trying to drive here! You want me to get there in
one piece or not?!
…and have the strength to stand alone…
You have no patience at all. I’ll only be another
couple of hours.
Hey!! That’s just cruel!
…give my love to rose please won’t you mister…
Nah. If it wasn’t for the teasing I wouldn’t keep
coming back.
Well I was thinking that you might be asleep by the
time I get there so I was thinking about the best way
to wake you.
That’s certainly one option. You are filthy.
…i’ll walk out a wiser, weaker man…
Oh come on! I’m not taking ALL the blame!
You’re right – the ‘credit’. I love you babygirl, you know that
right? I know I don’t say it enough but you’ve been
my girl since before I even knew you.
…may your walls fall and may i live to tell…
I dunno. Just thinking about what might have been
different.
She was fine. I told her I had to work otherwise
she’d have insisted I bring you up there.
ARRIVING AT VIA-POINT ON LEFT
You will. I just want you to myself for a bit longer.
The two of you are gonna get on way too well and I’ll
never have any decent time with you again. Besides
that, I got it in my head that I wanted to wake up
together tomorrow. And even if you came up there with
me, I wouldn’t be able to unwrap my present the way
you’d want me to.
…i wear the black for the poor and beaten down…
Haha. Yeah, much as it weirds me out to think about
it, those two have been at it like rabbits since the
day they met so it’s probably best all around. She
didn’t seem too upset about it.
Nearly twenty years now I guess. I told you what I
found in her bathroom that first time, right?
Scarred me for life!
ARRIVING, AT DESTINATION, ON RIGHT
OK. Finish that off then and I’ll see you in a bit.
I’ve got a coupla hundred miles on The Twelve
before I drop that stuff to Tom’s.
…or i may simply be a single drop of rain…
He’s in the old town so that’s what… another forty
miles to you I guess. Maybe around seven?
I can’t wait either. You sound all soft and snuggled
right now and I want me a slice of that!
…i’ve been everywhere man…
…across the deserts bare man…
Heh. I picked up some fresh stuff for breakfast and
dinner. You’re gonna need to keep your strength up.
If I have my way, we won’t be getting out of that bed
until Boxing Day.
Sounds perfect. See you then Fuckmuffin.
…like god’s eyes in my headlights…
Hahaha. I know it doesn’t.
Love you too Lady.
LOVE YOU TOO
Loree
I love this so very much. I love the form, I love the story, do so.
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georgelondon
Well thank you Loree! Glad you like the form – I actually had you in mind and was trying to hit something close to a form you sometimes use. It’s not there, but it’s my muddle-brain-approximation.
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Nicolas Papaconstantinou
“Fuckmuffin”?
Heh… Great first piece, sir! Very evocative of a long, busy journey home – and brave choice of formatting that pays off well, I reckon.
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georgelondon
Thanks mate. Never tried anything like that before (format-wise), though the real-time nature of it is I guess something I often do. I actually wrote it in five notepad windows simultaneously – originally was going to splice the conversations across each other but when I tried that, I liked it this way much better.
Man, it’s tough going last when everyone else’s through the week have been so good! That was part of the reason I went for something like this – so I didn’t compare my piece to what anybody else had done!
Glad you thought it worked. :-)
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georgelondon
Oh, and “Fuckmuffin” was the word that just came into my head, so I went with it cos I figured it might just come into his head the same way!
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Cyn
I really really like the structure of this one but what I love the best is the GPS saying that it loves him right there at the end. Awww! It’s like all the communication going on in that car somehow got a little muddled. It’s like the way you accidentally say, “love you, bye!” on your office phone.
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georgelondon
:-)
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Rivka Jacobs
Excellent and fun. I also liked the structure a lot. Instead of using two-way dialog, you’ve let us hear only one side of the phone conversation, mixed with the GPS and Johnny Cash. But I am very impressed with the way you maintained the cadence, the pattern. This is prose that is almost auditory and tactile.
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georgelondon
Thanks Rivka! I just read it again before reading the comments and it *is* fun isn’t it?! I must have been having fun writing it or I wouldn’t have gone to all the trouble I did – especially that week when I was on long night-shifts at the shelter. Thanks again for the compliments.
I just realised though that I should really have credited the lyrics properly. I’ll look them up at some point but they’re all from ‘Ring Of Fire: The Legend Of Johnny Cash’ which I was listening to while I wrote it, and they’re written in the same order (I think) as I heard them.
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