There are certainly differences between growing up in rural West Virginia, and currently living in Pittsburgh. One benefit to living in Camden-On-Gauley, West Virginia is plenty of parking. When I lived with my parents in Camden, we had a huge front yard.... And a lot of that area was graveled so that there was a ton of places to park. That was beneficial, seeing as how there were always a ton of people coming and going from our house, buying drugs.
When people did come to buy drugs, they often ran in to other buddies or friends. It was like having every night being a high school party-- and my parents were the cool successful dealers whose house was always the center of the party. One day, one man, we'll call him "Gilbert" happened to run into a friend, left with the friend, and left his car in our driveway.
Typically, this wouldn't be a problem. However, this man had parked in front of our garage. We didn't really ever keep cars in there, but we'd keep our four-wheelers, and when my dad and his friends would illegally kill deer in the summer, that's where they would hang and gut them. Also, I don't think my dad was crazy about Gilbert... otherwise, the ending may have been a bit different.
After a night of Gilbert's car sitting in front of our garage, my dad called him and told him he needed to come get his car. Gilbert, according to my dad, was all, "yeah, yeah, sure Randy, I'll be over to get it later today."
He never came. The next day, my dad called and told him again-- adding this time that if he didn't come get his car, my dad would give the car to my brother.
My dad gave Gilbert another day.
The next day, the man called our house, and I answered the phone. All of dad's friends knew me.
"Hey, Lizabeth," he said, "Where's your dad?"
"He's outside," I replied.
"Is he busy?" he asked.
"Hold on," I replied, as I set the phone down. I ran outside, yelled and asked my dad if he wanted to talk to him. My dad said no, and to tell him that he warned him.
I picked the phone back up. "Um, he's outside cutting the top off your car."
"What?" he asks with a nervous laugh. "Really Liz, where is he?"
"He's outside cutting the top off your car. He's going to give to Joey."
"Oh, shit."
Outside my dad had the blowtorch fired up--cutting around the windows. The old car had been transformed into a topless old car. My dad then pulled the wires out from under the dash, and pretty soon, the car was on. (Btw, how does one learn to hotwire a car?)
When Gilbert finally did show up, my brother was driving the car around the yard, and all the druggies were standing in the driveway laughing at the eight-year-old driving around the yard. My grandmother was standing at her back door, shouting at my dad, as my brother narrowly missed her home. His head was barely over the steering wheel, and all you could see was his giant smile.
Gilbert almost started to cry, and my dad just put his giant hand on the his shoulder, and said, "I told you I was going to give it to my son."
It was 1989 my thoughts were short my hair was long
Caught somewhere between a boy and man,
She was 17 and she was far from in-between
It was summer-time in Northern Michigan
Splashing through the sand-bar, talking by the camp fire,
It's the simple things in life like when and where
We didn't have no internet but man I never will forget
The way the moon light shined upon her hair
And, we were trying different things we were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whisky out the bottle not thinking bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Catching walleye from the dock watching the waves roll off the rocks
She'll forever hold a spot inside my soul
We blister in the sun we couldn't wait for night to come
To hit that saving place of rock and roll
While, we were trying different things we were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whisky out the bottle not thinking bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Now nothing seems as strange as when the leaves begin to change
Or how we thought those days would never end
Sometimes I hear that song and I start to sing along
And think, Man I'd love to see that girl again
And, we were trying different things we were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whisky out the bottle not thinking bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
We were trying different things we were smoking funny things
Making love out by the lake to our favorite song
Sipping whisky out the bottle not thinking bout tomorrow
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
Singing Sweet Home Alabama all summer long
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