The White Water Band IV(c)
We spent the next day going all around Myrtle Beach looking for any club that would let us play, but we came up with nothing. We were naive, to say the least. Places to play in Myrtle Beach are booked months and months in advance. Dejected, we figured that if we ate light we could spend one more night at the campground and then head back to the mountains on Tuesday.
When Harlan and Jim had met with the manager of the lounge where we thought we'd been booked, he'd invited those of us eighteen and over--everybody except me--to a party being held in the lounge that Monday night. So the older guys decided to go. To be honest, I don't remember if I spent the evening day alone or if one or two of the eighteen-year-olds stayed with me. Anyway, Harlan and Jim (and maybe another or two) came out of the party sometime around 9:00 maybe. Jim had drunk too much and gotten sick and was ready to call it a night when Harlan or one of the others who'd been at the party said something about a waitress who was giving him the eye (and more, perhaps). Jim revived on the instant and bounded off the bus, calling back that he'd catch up with us tomorrow before we left for home.
The rest of us returned to our spot at Ocean Lakes and decided to take a walk along the beach. Somewhere between our site and the beach we came upon a couple of girls--Jenny and Tanya--and stopped to talk. Maybe they had a couple of guys with them--I don't remember. We told them that we were a band, but they didn't believe us. So, we walked on. As we stood on the strand of sand and looked north, we saw the lights of the main drag at Myrtle Beach and decided to walk along the beach till we got there. We'd walked a good long time when we realized that the lights didn't seem to be getting any closer, so we turned back to the campground, figuring we'd find something to do there--or not.
When we got back to Ocean Lakes, we were passing the recreation center when a girl whose name I don't remember stepped out of the shadows and asked us to help her find her eyeglasses. We started looking all around the place, which was difficult because it was dark out and no lights were on inside. We were scattered all around the place, and I remember watching the girl turn and look 'round at all of us and then walk directly to a particular spot and pick up what we were all looking for. And I remember thinking that she did it as if she knew exactly where they were all the time. When I got the opportunity, I called the guys together and told them what I'd seen and that we needed to keep an eye on this girl.
But it was too late. One of the guys, I think, already had a beach-crush on her. (We've all had them, right?) She came back to the bus with us--followed us back to the bus is probably more accurate. Then she left for a little while and came back with her sister and her sister's boyfriend. The crowd and the pot smoke gathering inside the bus made me decide it was time to ascend to my bed up on the roof. Not that I didn't usually join in when the joints started making their rounds. I did. But something about Jim's being who-knew-where and there being strangers on the bus had me feeling uneasy. Needless to say, it took me a good while to fall asleep.
While I was sleeping in those first hours of the night, the sister and her boyfriend left to return to their family campsite. They tried to get the girl we'd met to go with them, but she wouldn't. I later learned that by this time, everybody but one of our entourage was keeping a safe distance from her. I think they knew that the situation wasn't going to end well.
But that pot didn't come to a boil until morning.
Meanwhile, Jim came home in the small hours of the night--came home with fear and trembling. The waitress he'd dashed back in to see turned out to be a heroin addict. She's taken Jim from the hotel part to meet a friend of hers. Then Jim became a third wheel as the two addicts wanted to go high down to the beach. They wanted to find somebody they could strangle and "watch their eyes bug out," and Jim wanted no part of it. To hear him tell it, he more or less dove out of the car as they brought him to our site in Ocean Lakes.
I woke up to the woman screaming at Jim, "Get out! Get out!" I think she was using a name, but it wasn't the right one. I don't remember now if he'd given her a false name or if she just forgot it in her condition. But they were soon gone, their car fish-tailing down an Ocean Lakes street and disappearing around a corner.
And then they were back again. I don't know how much time passed, but things were different. The interior light came on and showed them naked. They were screaming for Jim to come out. They wanted to strangle him. But the blue bus was a still and quiet as death, so they disappeared into the night again.
They didn't come back, but I lay awake on top of the bus for a long time before I fell asleep again.
243.2
When Harlan and Jim had met with the manager of the lounge where we thought we'd been booked, he'd invited those of us eighteen and over--everybody except me--to a party being held in the lounge that Monday night. So the older guys decided to go. To be honest, I don't remember if I spent the evening day alone or if one or two of the eighteen-year-olds stayed with me. Anyway, Harlan and Jim (and maybe another or two) came out of the party sometime around 9:00 maybe. Jim had drunk too much and gotten sick and was ready to call it a night when Harlan or one of the others who'd been at the party said something about a waitress who was giving him the eye (and more, perhaps). Jim revived on the instant and bounded off the bus, calling back that he'd catch up with us tomorrow before we left for home.
The rest of us returned to our spot at Ocean Lakes and decided to take a walk along the beach. Somewhere between our site and the beach we came upon a couple of girls--Jenny and Tanya--and stopped to talk. Maybe they had a couple of guys with them--I don't remember. We told them that we were a band, but they didn't believe us. So, we walked on. As we stood on the strand of sand and looked north, we saw the lights of the main drag at Myrtle Beach and decided to walk along the beach till we got there. We'd walked a good long time when we realized that the lights didn't seem to be getting any closer, so we turned back to the campground, figuring we'd find something to do there--or not.
When we got back to Ocean Lakes, we were passing the recreation center when a girl whose name I don't remember stepped out of the shadows and asked us to help her find her eyeglasses. We started looking all around the place, which was difficult because it was dark out and no lights were on inside. We were scattered all around the place, and I remember watching the girl turn and look 'round at all of us and then walk directly to a particular spot and pick up what we were all looking for. And I remember thinking that she did it as if she knew exactly where they were all the time. When I got the opportunity, I called the guys together and told them what I'd seen and that we needed to keep an eye on this girl.But it was too late. One of the guys, I think, already had a beach-crush on her. (We've all had them, right?) She came back to the bus with us--followed us back to the bus is probably more accurate. Then she left for a little while and came back with her sister and her sister's boyfriend. The crowd and the pot smoke gathering inside the bus made me decide it was time to ascend to my bed up on the roof. Not that I didn't usually join in when the joints started making their rounds. I did. But something about Jim's being who-knew-where and there being strangers on the bus had me feeling uneasy. Needless to say, it took me a good while to fall asleep.
While I was sleeping in those first hours of the night, the sister and her boyfriend left to return to their family campsite. They tried to get the girl we'd met to go with them, but she wouldn't. I later learned that by this time, everybody but one of our entourage was keeping a safe distance from her. I think they knew that the situation wasn't going to end well.
But that pot didn't come to a boil until morning.
Meanwhile, Jim came home in the small hours of the night--came home with fear and trembling. The waitress he'd dashed back in to see turned out to be a heroin addict. She's taken Jim from the hotel part to meet a friend of hers. Then Jim became a third wheel as the two addicts wanted to go high down to the beach. They wanted to find somebody they could strangle and "watch their eyes bug out," and Jim wanted no part of it. To hear him tell it, he more or less dove out of the car as they brought him to our site in Ocean Lakes.
I woke up to the woman screaming at Jim, "Get out! Get out!" I think she was using a name, but it wasn't the right one. I don't remember now if he'd given her a false name or if she just forgot it in her condition. But they were soon gone, their car fish-tailing down an Ocean Lakes street and disappearing around a corner.
And then they were back again. I don't know how much time passed, but things were different. The interior light came on and showed them naked. They were screaming for Jim to come out. They wanted to strangle him. But the blue bus was a still and quiet as death, so they disappeared into the night again.
They didn't come back, but I lay awake on top of the bus for a long time before I fell asleep again.
243.2
posted by mac | 9:54 AM
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