Saturday, May 22, 2010

Memphis

We rolled into Memphis the day after a week of heavy rains. The river swelled against its banks, and again I had to fight the urge to leave the van, to leave my friends and just start walking towards the river, and keep walking until the muddy water covers my head.

“What’s with you?” Ty said, just after slapping me in the back of the head. “You look like a zombie.”
I turned towards him just as he lets loose with a manic giggle. Truth be told, Ty is the one that looks like a zombie. He’s been driving for the last six hours, a during which time I watched him consume two cans of red bull and eat two large Snickers bars. There’s only three living kids still traveling with us, and all three of them seem to regard ferrying the rest of us around the country as some sort of holy mission. There’s an odd sort of symmetry among the three—Ty, Chris and Kyle all wear hats or bandannas, all three have tattoos on their mountain-bike hardened calf muscles, muscles which are always visible because all three wear cargo shorts constantly. All three are addicted to the new Stone Sour CD (Ty, when the others are asleep, will sometimes put Hendrix’s “Valleys of Neptune” on the dashboard. They are the sort of athletic, easy going sort of guys that you can totally picture running two dozen miles over rough terrain to get medicine to an injured party lost in the woods. They are the guys you’d want with you in a fight.
“Sorry,” I said to Ty. “I’ll try and look more alive.”
Ty laughed his jangly laugh and tapped me on the back of the head again. Affectionately, I think. Ty was a basketball player; that’s what basketball players did on their way to the bench, tap each other on the head. Before my one-play football career with the Oakvale Badgers, I’d been a baseball player. I think the basketball guys had the better idea.
“We going to try and find Elvis?” Ty said. “I hear he's dead like you.”
“Funny,” I said. “I think his followers believe he never died, which is a little different.”
Ty shrugged. Kyle and Chris were helping our dead friends out of the van—for some reason they thought stretching was as beneficial for us as it was for them.
We made a few stops. Most everywhere we went people were supportive and kind. A girl gave Chris her phone number. An elderly couple brought three dead kids to us and asked that we take them with us, which we were glad to do. The girl who gave Chris her phone number painted a hot pink heart on the side of the van and I started thinking that the world had possibilities again.

We went to the Lorraine Hotel before we left town for D.C. The hotel is a museum now, and if you don’t know what it is and what happened there you need to look it up on Wikipedia. Hard to believe that happened within my mother’s lifetime.

On to Washington. Wish us luck.

11 comments:

second chances said...

good luck !!!

im now goin onnto wiki cos i must be really dumb

Kaylee Howser said...

I wish you all GOOD luck. You shouldn't say wish us luck; some living may wish you bad luck. I hope your'e OK. I'll keep you in my died thought a nonbeating heart.


<3,

Kaylee Christine Howser

Kaylee Howser said...

I wish you all GOOD luck. You shouldn't say wish us luck; some living may wish you bad luck. I hope your'e OK. I'll keep you in my died thought a nonbeating heart.


<3,

Kaylee Christine Howser

Kat(nonbeatingheart) said...

I wish you the best of luck! Keep doing what your doing, your helping lots of people. Stay positive because it will all pay off in the end!
<3kat

BeckaBoDecka said...

Aww, you were two states away... It's great to hear that you're doing okay. Life is okay here. Math is really a drag, though. My goal of being the first zombie swimmer has now been diminished. Mom and Dad won't let me swim until I get my grades up. How bogus... Well, I hope you come visit me sometime soon! ILY, Tommy. :)

Bree

L. J. said...

I hope everything does how your hoping Tommy. I read your other post with Texas and everything, and i couldn't agree more. Although my home is in Texas, i think most should understand things need to change. So you have my life and heart to make change, hope post again. - L.J. [Maybe i'll post my real name someday. Good luck.]

Anonymous said...

good luck Tommy Williams! you have my complete and total support! :)

Bellbell77 said...

hey my middle name is Lorraine!

Anonymous said...

Good luck in D.C., we are all here to support you. It's also totally cool that we have three more differently bionic friends. Keep up the good work and remember that we all love you. <3

Love,
KayKat

KaitlynDoud said...

I wish you good luck and I hope you should go to the United States Of America and go to Pioneer High School!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are all nice too!!! Please say you will please say you will!!! Please come I'm dying to meet you Tommy PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KaitlynDoud said...

I love you all