thought id better add a picture too.Sweet Jesus. a split personality sings.
Ruth performed at an open mike. She got asked to return and it seemed to go off well. She got lots of positive feedback. She continued her ad lib song, her rap, her crap, her beat in her feet, as she walked, singing and rhythmically swinging along.
On a performer’s high, she walked to the drug store parking lot where she remembered parking her car. The sign said :
Walgreen’s Customer Parking. 30 min limit. Unauthorised vehicles will be towed. She remembered thinking , i will just go for half an hour or check if its ok to park here seeing walgreens must be closing soon- its after ten already.
There were two cars at the other end of the parking lot but hers was not in sight. A colored man on a bicycle rode past. I didnt say if he was colored black or white mind.
A man on a bicycle rode past as Ruth considered her options,
husband out of town,
most generous person to beg a favor from rumored to be sinking into an alchoholic stupor.
NO DUJKING PHONE NUMBER ON THE SIGN.!!!
She recalled once having been towed when she parked beside a towing sign which she had not seen.
Gripping her bag and her spirits tightly, Ruth turned to hurry to the CafeNola - this oh so cool venue where she had felt part of the hip happening scene, cos the performances were stellar and she had been around the block more than once. i.e she Knew.
This present Now challenged her philosophy. She dealt with the moment less smilingly than before, certainly, and the song was DOA on her lips.
She would ask if they knew which number to call. She could get a taxi to the impound - if they were open. fourth of july weekend. She remembered the horrendous dollars charged per day and the hoops required to be jumped through last time Richard had rescued her in this predicament.
Coming around the corner, she saw the folks leaving the cafe. A group of youngsters was standing in the parking lot. She recognised the gorgeous smile of the peachbrown dude in the green t shirt, the black haired kid with the chunky hair cut and appealing stockiness, whose performance had wowed her earlier. There was a slender youth with a yellow Tshirt imprinted HUR LEY HUR LEY
There was ‘a young woman’ ( formerly known as ‘a virgin’ in the days Before Christo. like Mary y’know. There is just one word for ‘young girl”and for “virgin’ in the old book . just one word. the same logos)
And behind them all was a white vehicle which Ruth recognised with increasing joy as her own.
“Sweet jesus - goldfish mind.
Sweet jesus - oh yes i find
myself
calling Thyy name after thou hast solved my problem.”
Ruth’s voice rang across the parking lot with an exultant elevation.
It’s Ruth solo. Ruth created and Ruth solved this incredibly emotional storm. Seeing the Sign had been sufficient warning to encourage her to go around the Walgreens and into the Cafe Nola parking lot from a different direction, thus opening a parking space to her so many hours earlier. Sweet jesus or fate was always taking care of things. She liked that story and created variations on it for herself.
