Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Midnight in Mexico - Part I


“Her profession's her religion
Her sin is her lifelessness”
--B.Dylan



Here begins a story I wrote when I was 19:


Midnight in Mexico


“So, what happened to him?”

“Apparently he’s a musician. Just signed a deal with Sony. Guy was so excited he ran 15 blocks from Sony to his house to tell the wife. Then he collapsed.”

“So how did he end up in a coma?”

“Hit his head so hard on the coffee table that he had an aneurysm.”

“Poor guy. What’s with the stereo set up?”

“His wife insisted. He’s a huge country fan. His favourite song is ‘John Deere Green,’ by Tim McGraw. She dubbed it over and over again on that tape. The idea is that he’ll hear it through the earphones, over and over again, and remember his record deal, have the will to live again, come out of the coma, and become a big star in Nashville.”

“Same damn country music song over and over again, poor bastard.

“Well Doctor, should we finish our rounds?”

*******************************

Jane Williams was at her new home when she first heard the miraculous news. Her and her boyfriend’s house was just two streets over from where what was once her and Jim Williams’ little red bungalow. After the accident Jane had spent two years living with her mother. About two months after the accident she decided that she could no longer bear the sight of her husband lying motionless, unaware of her presence, or of anything. She gave the hospital her mother’s address and phone number, and hadn’t been back since. Five years after the accident, when the phone rang at 3:00 am, Jane had a bad feeling.

“Jane, something unbelievable has happened.”

“What is it, Mom?”

“It’s Jim.”

“Oh my God. He’s dead.”

“No, Dear. He’s awake. He’s come out of his coma. He’s been walking around singing ‘John Deere Green.’”

Alan Shaw had to carry his girlfriend Jane to the car and drive her to the hospital. She had a slight concussion from when she hit the floor, but fortunately no aneurysm.

************************************

Jim Williams suffered the worst shock of his life that morning. He awoke to his favourite song playing in his ears. He had no idea that he had just listened to the song 567,000 times in a row. He was a little blurry on the events leading up to his present situation. How did he end up in a hospital? He recalled the record deal with Sony. He also remembered running home to tell Janie. Something had gone wrong.

When the nurse entered the room she discovered the man whose body had been kept alive by machinery for five years pacing around the room, singing softly to himself. “You’re up!” was all she could think to say.

Jim turned sharply and said, “How the hell did I get here? Where’s my wife?”

Jane arrived, leaning heavily on Alan, 30 minutes later. Jim wrapped his arms around her and cried softly. “It can’t be true,” he said.

She told him that she planned to marry Alan and that she wanted a divorce. S he cried as she apologized, 16 times.

She also told him about his song, the one that had earned him a record deal. It had been recorded by Dwight Yoakam. It had gone number one on the country chart. The royalties awaited Jim in an account at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Jim was an unaccountable miracle. He was alive again, broken heart and all.

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Comments:
sorry Rayke, but I'm taking a break from the Dear Ellie letters. I'll post some more of those later though.
 
Benji,

Well, you have something in common with Jonathan Swift.
He was recorded as saying, "Lord, was I ever good when I was young."
...Early streak of talent.
 
You were 19??
I was just shaking my overwrought poetry phase at 19!!
 
It is amazing how the creative juices are already flowing at this tender sensitive age. This is an extraordinary little tale.
 
Poor old Jim. He's like Hanks' character in Cast Away - returning to a world moved on without him.

Or rather, Hanks' character is like Jim.

Looks like you beat Zemeckis to the jump.
 
Ivan: let's hope i didn't use it all up.

PP: oh man, i wouldn't dare show any of the poetry i wrote back then. i'd get sued for mass nausea.

Kissa: often those tender sensitive ages are in fact the most creative. (especially for those who are so touched by the magnamity of it all they have to off themselves at age 27).

Ultra: speaking of lawsuits, stupid zemeckis. if that is his real name.
 
by the way folks, I rocked out at spoken word again last night, this time performing a piece called Manic Depressive Self Perception, which long time readers may remember once appeared on this blog. Getting up on the mic is addictive. I was slightly less nervous this time and had a much better delivery, got laughs in the funny bits and a good overall response. Spoken word is awesome in this town, thanks to the Word Iz Bond Collective (see links in my sidebar).
 
I wonder is she will come back to him, if he plays it backwards 567,000 times in a row.
 
TC: lol.
 
Since this is an early effort, I'm not sure whether some of the humor here is intentional or not. But it's definitely there. For one thing, if there is siable brain activity, a person in a coma can hear what's going on. So he'd be aware that he'd been listening to the same McGraw song over and over again. I'd reckon he'd be sick of it. Sounds like torture to me.

BTW, I was never a big fan of Tim McGraw, but I was a fan of his dad.
 
x.dell: if memory serves, i'm pretty sure it was meant to be funny. who was tim mcgraw's dad? i can't stand modern mainstream country music.
 
Tim McGraw's dad is this gentleman, one of the most colorful players in the history of baseball. Some quotes from McGraw Sr.:

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf." - Asked for a preference of grass or Astroturf

"I have no trouble with the twelve inches between my elbow and my palm. It's the seven inches between my ears that's bent."

"Kids should practice autographing baseballs. This is a skill that's often overlooked in Little League."

"Ninety percent I'll spend on good times, women and Irish Whiskey. The other ten percent I'll probably waste."

"Ten million years from now, when then sun burns out and the Earth is just a frozen iceball hurtling through space, nobody's going to care whether or not I got this guy out."
 
aha, Yogi Berra II. baseball players seem to be the most eloquent of athletes.
 
Those baseball player quotes remind me of a favourite by alcoholic football legend George Best:

'I spent most of my money on fast cars, booze and women. The rest of it I just squandered.'
 
Toast: sounds like Maradonna's life.
 
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