Part 8 (2/2)

”Yeah, off to the medium city, old man”

”Well, you make one heck of a taternut, kid,” he said Then he paused to let me prepare for soet there and get settled, you can't coain”

Interruption

Before I moved to Spokane, Pam came over to my parents' house to see me one last time She said she saw my car in the driveway and wanted to say hi before I ure out what it was she wanted She said she heard that her little brother had beaten me up at the mall and that she was sorry to Spokane, Pam came over to my parents' house to see me one last time She said she saw my car in the driveway and wanted to say hi before I ure out what it was she wanted She said she heard that her little brother had beaten ry and defensive and told her that he didn't beat ot it even happened that summer He saw me at Columbia Center and stopped me outside the Bon Marche A few of his friends ith hi cool and tough He said so over” his sister and then threild punch at e of heat in my head, but I chose to walk away He and his friends stood there laughing

Pa deal ”Don't you want to kissIt had been alht she sat in so for her on her porch

It was dark in h et under the covers with me and we took our shorts off She was on top of me like a wrestler She had ret The last thing I ever wanted to do was accept any fory that she offered She would probably feel like ere even now

The bed was thu that would make me feel worse about this whole scenario would be for Moled and then Dad said from the other side of the door, ”Does Pam want to stay for dinner?”

”Hold on a minute,” I said

Then the door opened and Dad stuck his head in, his eyes adjusting to the dark ”You shouldn't lock your door,” he said He lingered a moment as Pam and I lay there frozen I waited for the door to close, but it didn't I waited to hear the sound of his feet move back down the hall, but they didn't

Broadcast School

The first time I lived in Spokane (1988) was pretty brief I found a cheap apartment next to an old office store that specialized in staplers It was exciting to live byquick The tiny kitchen had a warped floor and there was a perer There was a small dirt lot behind the apartment where people from the other seven apartuy froressive notes of complaint I lived in Spokane (1988) was pretty brief I found a cheap apartment next to an old office store that specialized in staplers It was exciting to live byquick The tiny kitchen had a warped floor and there was a perer There was a small dirt lot behind the apartment where people from the other seven apartuy froressive notes of coned up for at the Ron Bailey School of Broadcasting was only a nine-ht it was only acareer in radio I dreas I wanted and everyone would understand how great45s out my bedroom

It was the first ti I had perfect attendance and my efforts soared above those of the dozen other students The instructor was a fifty-soested thousands of hours of overnight DJ shi+fts and a few divorces in his past No matter how many cups of coffee he slurped, he still seemed in need of a nap He wore jeans and deni that his bushywrinkles But he was kind to me and had a smoky smooth voice After just a couple of weeks, he pulledweekends at the local AM country station

I was the first one in class to get a job, though it wasthe weather and call letters once an hour During the week, I worked as a parking lot attendant

My old high school friend Maurice called me one day and asked if he could coraduation, things had been weird with Maurice and h school years, Maurice had so cheap beer all the ti sick I felt like I had to let him stay with me Maybe it would help to mend our relationshi+p

MauriceStroh's, his cheap brew of choice He would stack the empty cans on the sill and never clean up I drank with hiot h he had little experience with girls, he would say the worst things about irlfriends, especially Holly, who he called a fat cow

One night, INXS was playing at the Coliseuht of their popularity and Darren cao withthat a nice gesture would o with us, even just to get hiht so to enjoy myself just fine” He stretched out the last tords sarcastically

Darren and I walked down to the show, barely speaking a word I looked at the extra ticket in my hand and couldn't believe that Maurice had elected to stay hoe sad ht air, like a close relative had just died

Good-bye Soap

On the very last day of broadcasting school, I wasted no ti to move to Seattle, where a few of my Tri-Cities friends had ht they could helpschool, I wasted no ti to move to Seattle, where a few of my Tri-Cities friends had ht they could help et a radio job

I packed up s I owned at the tiave the place a quick clean and left ht, but before I could leave for good, I decided that I would finally leave uy down the hall, the one who always co in his spot I took a bar of soap and wrote sos all over his car I did it quickly and nervously I scrawled so like: COME SEE ME! APARTMENT 4 And then I quietly rolled out of there with hts off When I pulled into the street, I turned on ot on the freeway to Seattle I was having soe Too bad no one else could see it

Seattle

When I first uys in a mess of an old house I didn't have my own room so I slept ina girl I knew briefly fro store where I bought a leather h a phase where I had crushes on anyone who looked like a fa Her parents were Jehovah's Witnesses and she wasn't allowed to see ht, when her parents were out of town, I went to visit her She was living with them until she could afford her own place I was nervous the whole tiht There was religious stuff everywhere and photos of the fa white mentally I couldn't deal with the stress and eventually broke up with her uys in a mess of an old house I didn't have my own room so I slept ina girl I knew briefly fro store where I bought a leather h a phase where I had crushes on anyone who looked like a fa Her parents were Jehovah's Witnesses and she wasn't allowed to see ht, when her parents were out of town, I went to visit her She was living with them until she could afford her own place I was nervous the whole tiht There was religious stuff everywhere and photos of the fa white mentally I couldn't deal with the stress and eventually broke up with her

One night, while I was out on a rare barhopping night with friends, I irl named Erin She was skinny and boyish and we joked around a lot, her whole h She was nineteen but had a fake ID that looked nothing like her Her laid-back hippie deued me and made me feel like I didn't have to i someone who never knew any real hippies We danced to Fun Boy Three and then went ho and made coffee on a stove I stayed wrapped in her blankets, on the futon on the floor

I felt right away that I could openly express ether For a while there, I would cry at anything Songs Letters Movies

(My crying jags would becoirl I dated for the next ten years-we'd get to know each other, sleep with each other, and then I would start using her pillow as a handkerchief) Three months later, I moved into an apartment with Erin and her best friend, Mary I had a scooter at the tiht e couldn't sleep She was a very restless sleeper She even had a strict rule for us in bed She didn't want to feelher, orher She said the sensation of those body parts felt cold and foreign, like they were dead fish or so This rule simply became: NO KNEES, NO butt, NO FEET (NKNBNF) But I was not annoyed by this I was charmed

I also learned that she became easily jealous She ht We precariously e of ourShe blew the hot ashes into the air as the ies melted away

Clinic