The End Of A Lost Weekend Plus One Day.

pstrong pbThis is Wedding Zone, Part 5.br / Here’s an end to it,br /br / Thank Heaven./bbr / /p/strong/p pDIV align="left" TABLE cellpadding="5"TR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TD/td/trTR VALIGN="TOP"TDTR VALIGN="TOP"TD pby Joe. B./p pI’m worried about how my new suit, tie, shoe’s, socks, and shirt fitbr /the pants fit below not above the belt whichbr / I neglect thinking of at the time br / it rides up the crotch making me slightly uncomfortable. /p pAl’s wife told me how to adjust it with Al, br /Solomon, his fiance, and my mother looking on their bemused faces and./p pThe time is miscalculated for the wedding, mama’s, beautifully dressed in br /a Sari or Sarong of br /pastel green, and blue designbr / made especially for the occasion./p pWe are not late but an hour early. br /It makes me more nervous as I searched for a new belt and couldn’t find it! br / I only lost my nervousness with the universally known black folks code: W.F.I.T./p pb"Well Fuck It Then."br / /b This said under my breath so friends, bride and groom, andbr / especially my mother wouldn't hear./p pAs I said before the wedding began, ended without a hitch except for br /an unforeseen medical emergency. /p p Mama and I are again taking the br /trip back, we take the wrong way out of Nevada where homes are under construction and the highway blocked, dissected by bright yellow electricbr / arrows signs and large bright orange cones marking the way as we head towards Idaho or Ohio./p pAfter stopping for gas we found we are again br / profoundly lost. /p pCut a few hours nearing midnight, both of us br /sleep deprived tired, roaming through nightmare landscapes crossing Nevada, Mojave Desert again.br / Is a br /dangerous numbing exhausting experience no one should go through./p pI’m ready to take over driving even if I do not have br /a license but mama says "If police stop us out here, br /with you driving in this rented, toy of a car, we’ll be held up while they check.; and you knowbr / br / they’ll take their own sweet time checking what we say."/p p"You can sleep if you want to" mama says her eyes just as bleary./p p"I don’t think so, I can stay up, br /this was said with the road in our headlights br /phasing in and out of existence!/p pI see eyes looking at me, hear disembodied gentle voices whisper seductivelybr / br /"shut your eyes for a while… sleep"./p pIts worse for mama, she’s driving with little cat naps at the wheel!/p pEventually dawn come and once again we’re in the Mojave Desert./p pWe parked on the side of the road to rest but asbr / trucks rush br /by they honk their horns angry./p pThey're not beeping to warn or stopping to help usbr / br /but because our car is in their resting space and they are angrybr / we’re in their truck-only space./p pToo bad, we didn’t heed them being dropbr / dead tired./p pMore trucks roared by we take a 90 minute nap before leaving./p pWe missed a rest stop and three in a row were not inbr / br /use and by the time we finally reached rest area sleep br /had us but now we are in Bakersfield. br /We actually read the map correctly to follow interstate 5 and turnoff at br /Junction 12 all the way that for us is a br /little known long br /winding back road to Fairfield; I believe it was there long before the Fairfield sprouted up in front of it./p pOn the way we stop at Rio Vista,br / a quiet little gated community asking for directions./p pWe aren’t sure of the map but an elderly br /though spry female security guard pointed out the way./p pI ask mama hypothetically if "I made lots of money from writing;br /would she mind living in Rio Vista?"/p p"Oh-no, its a nice looking place, but Isolated and br /I don’t like bars; where I have to show my driver’s license or ID, I like to going anywhere I want to."br / br /We are home by 7pm. it is dark, both of our eyes are heavy with 24 hours of staying awake. /p pThe spare room with a fold-up bed calls to me.br / br /After mama’s finished in the bathroom I have a quick wash with br /clean washcloth, soap, brush my teeth, hair, then strip to shorts making br /sure mama’s in the living room warring an triple extra large sweatshirt./p pMaking sure the front door and windows are closed and locked securelybr / before stumbling tiredly to blissful, weary sleep pulling at me./p pThat was an adventure I don’t ever want to repeat and I’m thinking aboutbr / driving again but next time I might have a camper or van with a bed and bathroom inside./p pOn the positive side I really know how to read abr / br /map and know what interstate and junction signs meanbr / I’ll probably do this trip again just so I won’t have a psychologicalbr / br /fear of it I just don’t know when I’ll do it.br / br /What kind of weird, strange, harrowing road trip(s) have any of you had and br /what did you learn about it and yourself?/p pPlease send donations to /ppPoor Magazine C/0 Ask Joe /ppat 255 9th St. Street, San Francisco, CA. 94103br / USA/p pFor Joe only my snail mail:br / br /PO Box 1230 #645br / br /Market St.San Francisco, CA 94102br / Email:br / br /a href="mailto:askjoe@poormagazine.org"askjoe@poormagazine.org/abr / /p/td/tr/td/tr/table/div/p