1953 chevrolet wagon
beautiful bomb club chevy from legg lake, on the way back toward my car, only took a few more shots after this one. i remember being overheated at this point, not knowing i was already getting sick with this cold, and shouldn't have been out in the sun. needed to get back to my car, where the water bottles were waiting for me. it seemed so far away...in the next parking lot over, under the shade of a tree...an seeming oasis in the asphalt. i should have just bummed a cold one off of someone, traded for a print of their car or cash.
every once in a while i just have one of those days. sitting on the freeway, thinking random thoughts. decisions i've made and how they've affected others. past is past, but still having effects on the present. i could sit here and stare out the window and waste a lot of time thinking, but time to pack all that back into the little box in my mind, and get on with things.
they played the godfather at the little cinema up the street the other day. love that movie. had to go by myself, since my better half was taking care of his mom, who had caught our cold after all.
reminds me of the day my better half got to meet my family.
we'd all gathered at my younger brother's house in los angeles. both brothers, my sister, my parents, and the family of each all were there to put him through the inquisition.
generally, he handled it all fine; as a group, we conspired to act like kids and embarass my mother. my better half had given each of the us "kids" little tubs of putty "fart" stuff, instead of bringing a bottle of wine or somesuch greeting gift. we had been in the backyard, on the little porch, high up on the hill. my mother climbed the stairs and approached and wondered why we all looked so guilty. we all hid the stuff behind our backs, like little kids.
she wondered what we were talking about. my younger brother started babbling about something or other, while he randomly pushed on the putty he had hidden in his pocket, which occasionally blew off with little "noises." she stood next to him, and kept tapping him on the arm, thinking he hadn't realized that he was farting in front of the new guy on the block.
then my older brother got in on the conversation and making the fart noises with his putty behind his back. then we each did.
she got so flustered, and then yelled at my brother for giving the stuff to everybody, and what would my better half think? my bro exclaimed, "but greg gave it to us!" the rat.
but to get to the point, on how the day relates with the godfather.
at the end of the evening, family pictures were to be taken, for the rare occasion of having everyone together. my mom's camera was plopped upon a tripod, and the different permutations of family were planted in front of it.
the youngest grandkids chased each other around when not posing with fake smiles.
at some point, my better half was behind the camera, while a bunch of us were getting into position. i remember my younger brother was walking toward us, when from the side yard, my nephew launched a nerf rocket at his sister, from one of those larger size nerf blaster guns.
well, it missed the intended target, but from very close range, it whacked right into my younger brother's nuts. he instantly hit the ground howling. well, he dropped to his knees, making a silent 'o' face, grabbing his jewels, and then between clenched teeth, said, "what a day i'm having!," then keeled over.
his son stood for a moment, then dropped the gun, and walked away, around the corner of the house. (looking back, in my head, the music started playing, and the newspaper clipping reel began...)
meanwhile, we all stood laughing at the situation. my older brother leaned over him and asked, "you have any mountain dew left in the ice chest? don't move. i'll get it."
he is seriously in pain, and we're all just cracking jokes. even his wife doesn't really bother to help him.
as it turned out, my better half had at the critical moment, fired off at least a three shot burst on the camera. it had perfectly caught that lee harvey oswald moment in a series of shots, from the firing of the gun to that moment of impact, and the beginning of the fall. we all got a peek at it on the back of the camera. it existed. it would have made a great xmas card.
day was over, we helped him up into the house, and everyone eventually headed their separate ways.
my better half called my brother the next day, to see how he was doing. his wife answered and said his testicle retrieval operation went well. [one of her rare jokes] my brother answered in a high pitched voice, playing along, of course. size of a grapefruit he said, spending the day with an icepack. needless to say, the nerf gun disappeared.
but the next time i went to visit my mom at her house, and asked to see all the pictures she had loaded into her computer, that series was mysteriously missing. she denied they ever existed. doesn't remember it happening. shit. i wept. they had been perfect.
i should have snagged the memory card.
and now if you ask him about it, he has selective amnesia, and denies it ever happened.