Jeff Weddle

A Taste of It

Here is the secret history of the world.
Here is the memory shared by no one living.
Here is Curtis hiring me
at The Prestonsburg Post
because he was needed the help
and I was desperate for a job.
Here is meeting George and Elizabeth
and drinking the night away.
Here is me writing about Abe Smiley dying
and a woman buying the paper
just for that story
and Curtis giving me the fifty cents.
Here is Curtis telling me I was a writer
and me believing him.
Here is the San Francisco night in Vesuvio
when I yelled at George
to go fuck himself
and big Special Forces George
started crying, right there in the bar
as Curtis drank his beer
waiting for the storm to pass.
Here is the first time we shunpiked
through the night
and all the times that came after.
Here is George sleeping on my floor
because he had nowhere else to go.
Here is the time we three drove to Key West
on my three hundred dollars
and George’s food stamps
and we grilled filet mignon
beside the road like kings.
Here is the fifty dollars we earned
listening to a time-share pitch
that went on for hours
until I finally told the guy
there was no way any of us
were ever going to sign anything
and besides we were unemployed and broke.
Here is the other Key West trip
I won’t tell you about.
Here is the time Curtis hid in a bathroom
while a stinky old man tried to fire him from a paper
his sleazy lawyer son owned
and the old man had a massive heart attack
and died.
Here is George doing CPR
and cleaning out a wad of spit and tobacco
so he could do mouth-to-mouth.
Here is the year Curtis kept that job
because no one ever knew what happened.
Here is the time we all lived in Alabama
and only Curtis was working
so he was the only one who ate well.
Here is the time George’s car died
and we had no money
and George found an old tuna can lid
on the ground and fixed it.
Here is the time George and I
were the ExitGuys,
driving up and down Interstate 65
between Athens and Birmingham
selling ads for a tourist guide we made up.
Here is George and Curtis finally publishing it
two years later and keeping the cash.
Here is the time George got cancer
and found a doctor in Italy to save him.
Here is Curtis dating Audrey
and leaving her for Donna,
whom he loved until she died.
Here is George marrying Donna’s sister, Cathy.
Here is George maybe throwing a cat
out of a moving car, and maybe not,
but the cat went out the window either way
and was not seen again.
Here is George sleeping with two women
I loved.
Here is George disappearing
into Costa Rica.
Here is Curtis calling to say
George was dead.
Here is Curtis dying in his sleep.
Here is the secret history no one ever knew.
Here is the bare minimum.
Here is the world as it was and will not be again.