Fifteen Years In America: Five Of Which I Spent Getting High On Weed, And The Other Ten Of Which I Spent Being Apathetic And Unmotivated, In Other Words, Being An American. Oh Yeah, Plus Another Fifteen In Which I Finally Got My Act Together And Capitalized On Newfound Productivity Gains From Snorting Large Amounts Of Coke – Chapter 3
The title is complete bullshit. Well, maybe not complete bullshit. But the content is the true story of my life. I was inspired by thebaglady’s continuing translations of her Dad’s story, Fifteen Years In America and motivated by this comment that I left regarding it.
BAD BOY RUNNING WILD
I was in the front yard in downtown Benicia, burning a black piece of paper with a magnifying glass. It was something my dad had taught me back in Sunnyvale. He was sort of watching me from inside the living room. I was seven years old.
Suddenly the paper caught on fire. I wasn’t sure what to do. I ran to the front door to tell my dad, but then I stopped. I knew he would be mad, even if I had learned it from him.
But he saw what was going on through the window and ran outside with a huge dictionary, then threw it on the burning paper. Then he yelled at me.
“Go to your fucking room!”
I ran to my room at full speed and shut the door. A few seconds later the door swung open. My dad said something like “don’t ever do that shit again!” Then he threw the magnifying glass. It hit the top of my wooden desk. Glass shattered, and the magnifying glass became a metal ring with a handle on it.
Later, when my parents got divorced my Mom and I took that desk with us to my would-be stepdad’s house. It sat in the garage for years. But, I was the only one who knew where the circular dent on it came from. Sometimes I would stare at it and try to remember who I was.
Related Posts
- Fifteen Years In America: Five Of Which I Spent Getting High On Weed, And The Other Ten Of Which I Spent Being Apathetic And Unmotivated, In Other Words, Being An American. Oh Yeah, Plus Another Fifteen In Which I Finally Got My Act Together And Capitalized On Newfound Productivity Gains From Snorting Large Amounts Of Coke – Chapter 4
- Fifteen Years In America: Five Of Which I Spent Getting High On Weed, And The Other Ten Of Which I Spent Being Apathetic And Unmotivated, In Other Words, Being An American. Oh Yeah, Plus Another Fifteen In Which I Finally Got My Act Together And Capitalized On Newfound Productivity Gains From Snorting Large Amounts Of Coke – Chapter 2
- To Build a Fire
- Fifteen Years In America: Five Of Which I Spent Getting High On Weed, And The Other Ten Of Which I Spent Being Apathetic And Unmotivated, In Other Words, Being An American. Oh Yeah, Plus Another Fifteen In Which I Finally Got My Act Together And Capitalized On Newfound Productivity Gains From Snorting Large Amounts Of Coke — Chapter 6: Just A Nail
- Fifteen Years In America: Five Of Which I Spent Getting High On Weed, And The Other Ten Of Which I Spent Being Apathetic And Unmotivated, In Other Words, Being An American. Oh Yeah, Plus Another Fifteen In Which I Finally Got My Act Together And Capitalized On Newfound Productivity Gains From Snorting Large Amounts Of Coke – Chapter 5
3 responses so far ↓
1 Allen // Nov 11, 2008 at 2:25 pm
This is a great story.
Heavy with so much actual and potential different meanings…throwing a dictionary on a burning paper… the magnifying glass becoming a metal ring with a handle on it. Wow.
And a great reflective, poetic, and very real sentence, “Sometimes I would stare at it and try to remember who I was.”
You have to write a book, Ian.
2 ally // Nov 12, 2008 at 12:41 am
I really liked this one. Nice, Ian.
3 Ian Bowman // Nov 12, 2008 at 11:51 am
Allen and Ally – I’m never sure how people are going to react to something like this. So, thanks for letting me know you were into it.
Leave a Comment