I picked up Matty Sheets then made my way to Walkertown where Abe Reid was waiting to ride to the mountains for the day. It had been a while since I'd seen either of them, me being mostly a social hermit and all, so we had a lot of catching up to do. Abe and Matty both needed a break from the city, some fresh air and some inspiration for some new songs so I decided to take the long way and get myself a free concert while the two of them jammed all the way.
We stopped in Mount Airy to check out the Andy Griffith Museum and had lunch at the The Snappy Lunch. We looked for Opie, Barney, Gomer and Goober but apparently they were having lunch somewhere else that day so we made our way back up towards the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Mountains. Somewhere around Galax, Virginia I had a flat tire so while I was putting on the spare, Abe and Matty broke into their own Blues version of that old Pure Parrie League song, I'll Fix Your Flat Tire, Merle. I laughed so hard I dropped and almost never found the lug nuts.
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Donny and the others were working on a plan with Councilmembers Key, Vaughan, Yvonne Johnson and Abuzuaiter to bring a carnival to the downtown park. It just so happened there was one nearby that was short on bookings that just happened to have a double ferris wheel. And to make things even more interesting we were bringing in several cranes from Guy M Turner that would have local radio and television personalities perched atop them in a live 24/7 station to station competition to see which station could keep up coverage the longest. And to make sure everything stayed in place, Bobbie was teaching Carole, Katei, Alex and the volunteers from Mutanthouse a crash course in how to disable equipment like cranes, trucks and carnival rides so that the equipment remained stuck in its tracks for a very, very long time. In other words, they were planning to keep the debris field cluttered in order to delay the Alien launch until weapons could be found that could destroy them.
"We only need one more vote to get it to pass," Katei said, "What can we add to trick one of the Aliens into voting for it?"
"I know," Bobbie shouted, "A bicycle velodrome right in the middle of the park!"
"You're right!" Alex screamed, "he can't help but fall for that!"
"How could any Tall White Alien resist the Wall of Death?" Carole smiled.
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It was late in the day by the time we finally made out way back to my old camp site. I gathered up the gear I'd left behind, put it in the truck and whistled for the dog but he didn't seem to be anywhere around so the three of us set out through the snow looking for dog prints. Finally, Matty shouted, "Over here, these are the biggest dog tracks I have ever seen."
Abe was already there by the time I got there and said, "Dude, those ain't dog tracks, those are bear tracks."
"Are you sure?" Matty asked.
"Sure as a capo on the fifth fret," Abe replied, "Them ol' blues pickers used to take me bear hunting up on the mountain when I was a little boy."
"You hunted bear?" Matty questioned.
"No," Abe answered, "Mostly I watched 'em get drunk and play blues 'til they passed out but I saw a bear one time."
"What did you do?" Matty asked.
"I shimmied up the tallest and skinniest pine tree I could find and waited for the bear to leave."
It was about that time we heard a deep growl from just a few feet behind us. Being younger and in much better shape, Abe and Matty seemed to leap the first 25 feet into their respective trees in single bounds before continuing their climbs. Me, being old, fat, grey, short of breath and slow as sugared molasses just stood there. Besides, I wasn't scared. "How you doing old friend?" I cheerfully said as I turned around to find myself face to face with a real live bear!
Yep, you can bet Matty's and Abe's sweet Blues pickin' asses I was scared then.
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