Hey there folks,
It has been a long while since we have shared some time on The Couch. I have missed it tremendously, fellow potatoes. This will be the last piece of writing that I complete that is visible to others. I very much hope you all will enjoy it, and feel the same way I felt.
As the story goes:
One night, when Sue was a youngster, he thought that a glass of milk would defiantly sooth the dry, death grip around his throat. Sue's room was very cold and dark. He could not get out of his warm, comfortable sleeping arrangement until he couldn't stand the painful feeling of the devil strangling his throat to a pulp anymore. FINALLY!, he gets out of bed, throws on the most comfortable protective layer he could find at his finger tips to shield himself from the deep, dark coldness of his domain. Sue walks to his bedroom door, slowly opens the heavy, creaky, wooden door. He was TRYING so hard not awake his siblings and his parents from their bottomless sleep. Sue cannot see the outline of objects that he knows should be in his way when he begins to make his way through the darkness. The pulsing sound of silence while stepping into the hall of the beautiful, one-story house in which his parents lived. He has memorized where obstacles might still be to stand in the way of his objective. Sue begins to make his way down the hall, to the right, where he hopes, so much, that he may turn the corner and rest his eyes on the beautiful night light in the kitchen to guide him like a lighthouse that will continue to direct him to the ultimate destination; the refrigerator for the ice cold glass of milk that came from a cow's tit. He thinks in his head that he will never be able to meet the cow and give appreciation for the refreshment. Well there he is, turning the corner of the hall into the warm living room. He can feel it now, so close! Sue walks into the kitchen only to find what he dreaded the most. His father is resting wide awake beside the refrigerator! "Can I please grab a glass of milk to help rest my brain?", asks Sue. "NEVER!", says his father as he quickly reaches for the butcher knife right behind where he is standing. "But dad, PLEASE DON'T!", exclaims Sue, but Sue is too late. Before Sue knows it, the father is standing on the opposite side of the round table that once stood so nicely as a symbol for a family to eat meals and converse. The father stands opposite of Sue with only a puny, round dinner table standing in between him and his victim. With fire blazing through the pupils of the father's eyes, he says, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, SUE!!!!". As quick as a gun shot, the father starts to chase Sue around the table to catch his son with the intention of ending his life. Out of desperation, Sue runs the opposite direction of where his father starts to run after him. Around and around they go. The stress and survival mentality kicks in with Sue as he runs for his life around that goddamn table. There is no one to run to for help. STOP!!!!!!!!!!! Sue finds himself standing, still, once again facing his father that is heaving for a quick fix of oxygen before he attempts a new move at getting to his son. There they are, father and son glaring into each others' glassy eyes with the only thought of predator and prey. Ohhhhh, but father has a trick up his sleeve that there was no way for the young son named Sue to ever anticipate. The father gives Sue a slight, but sure smile as he raises the knife in his right hand above his head ever so slowly. Out of nowhere, he smashes the table with his left hand and releases a wild and violent sound through the still, tense air. The table parts like Jesus himself parted the Red Sea, and just as the father reaches with his left hand to grab the young kid; Sue jumps out of his bed in horror! Sweating and panting, he looks around and realizes it was all just a dream.
It was early Fall, and Summer was coming to an end. The Great Plains of North America are already forming frost from the bitter, below freezing temperatures of the night. Summer was nothing much to write home about. For some reason, Sue just could not find his fix. Maybe he wanted to watch it all pass by like he wanted everything to just pass right on bye, bye. But never the less, there he was, trying to create his cloud nine.
One of the many strange and lonely nights stood out in his mind the most. It was a bizarre day to begin with, but that doesn't matter where this story is going. 5:30 in the p.m. comes around, and Sue is ready to go to the pub for a drink and football. As many other times before, he finds himself ordering beer after beer, until all the football games are over for the night. After what seems to be 45 minutes, he looks at his watch and reads 10:30 p.m., and the bar is supposed to close at 10 because of residential housing above the pub (not to mention that he is nice and liquored up by that time). Time to go home. Sue pays his bill and shakes the bartender's hand and says goodbye to the rest of the regulars sharing the time wasted with him. On the walk home, which is only a half a block away, Sue runs into a man on a bicycle. The man is rough from head to toe with some stale vomit on the lower part of his sweatshirt. His bike has no brakes. The brake tubes are dangling down, hitting every spoke as the wheel turns. "Hey man, do you happen to have some matches I can bum?", asks the man. On any normal sunny, cloudy, rainy, snowy, sleety, day or night, Sue would have ignored this lowlife bum. But, remember, this is a strange day for Sue! Sue doesn't say a word, but gestures with his hand to follow him. Once Sue gets to the bottom the the grey, stone stairs reaching to his apartment door, he tells the man to chill for a second while he gets some matches. Sue sprints up the stairs, opens his door, searches for a flock of matches he had grabbed from a bar a month or so before. When Sue returns to the rough, dirty, smelly, distant man, Sue opens his hand to give the man three wads of matches. "Hey, young fella", says the man, "want to share a smoke?". "Sure", says Sue without any hesitation.
Man: say there man, ill tell ya (as he rolls the cigarette), im campin a few blocks away behind the big church up there. I asked them a few hours ago if they could help me out with a tarp, maybe a sleepin bag, and if they didnt have a tarp, maybe, possibly some kind of shelter from the rain. The preacher man put his hands on his forehead and replied, probably not. the two women behind the preacher were listenin and shook their heads as well and whispered to each other while starin at me. couldnt get NOTHIN MAN!!!!!! (he lights the cigarette).
Sue: jesus christ!!!!!!!!!!!
Man: no no no no no man!!! dont say that, please!!
Sue: oh man, im so sorry man!..... i....
Man: no no no no no man!!!! stop apologizing!!! (he passes Sue the soiz(cigarette))
Sue: dude you can NOT trust organized religion, im not a religious man........
Man: YES!!! thats it man! the two women were wearing nice necklaces, beautiful dresses. the preacher man, the preacher was in a real nice suit. every other car was a nice big truck or a mercedes. they just wouldnt, couldnt lend a hand to help me out. im an ex-marine in the sniper division, my dad's wife will not let me see my daughters. i mean, ya, i like alcohol, but still, they wont let me even see them man!
Sue: dude, if you want to see your kids so bad, why dont you do anythin you can to see them?
Man: because man, that bitch wont let me see them!
Sue: dude you should just do everythin in your power to DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Man: HEY MAN! dont tell me what you think i should do!
Sue: ok ok im very sorry, your right i shouldnt.......
Man: hey man! stop apologizing! its cool! hey man, you wouldnt happen to have some tape, duck tape? electrical tape? or somethin to tie these brake tubes onto my frame to keep them from rattling on my spokes?
Sue: i gotcha, give me 2 seconds.
(1/2 second later)
Sue: here you go! (as Sue is walking down the stairs with a huge roll of duck tape, he is beginning to get on his bike)
Man: damn man!!! i thought you werent comin back, i usually hear people say that and they just leave.
Sue: its chill man. (Sue helped the man rap the wires down to the frame)
Man: hey man you wanna smoke one more?
Sue: sure.
Man: (as he is rolling another soiz) seeeeee!!! that is what i am talkin about, your a good person, i can feel it. you say your not a religious man, but you still help me out. i can tell you believe in something.
Sue: (he passes Sue the soiz) thanks man, you should take that whole roll of duck tape, i dont need it right now. im from Houston, and we have the Lakewood Church that bought the stadium where the Rockets used to play and now they have 30,000 plus people comin to church and givin money. Joel Osteen is wearin, easily, a $2,000 suit, and his wife is wearin a huge gold necklace with a shiny, silk dress, preachin to a crowd that listens all over America, and pays money from all over the country! ARE YOU KIDDIN ME!?!?!?!?!
Man: ya man, iv seen them on tv! i try to stay away from Houston man! those Houston cops dont like people with backpacks.
Sue: I hear ya man.
Man: well man, i greatly appreciate people like you. thank you for the tape and the matches! (we shook hands)
Sue: take care of yourself man.
