Tondeleo: Sorry for being delinquent in posting the past several weeks. I have been overwhelmed with work, and hadn't been to the States in a while. I got to be there for a few days last week.
After completing my assignments, I rang up Doc and Marilyn and made arrangements to visit them. When I got there, I noted Big Dave's pick up truck parked in the front garden, so I knew this would be a more prickly visit. I truly like Big Dave, but I am also a bit afraid of him, and find him intimidating.
When I went inside, Doc and Big Dave were standing in the front room listening to a cassette of Hank Williams and just marveling at his wondrous talent. Talent that escapes me totally. Meaning, that to me Hank Williams sounds pretty bad. But never say that to ANY rural American. Hank Williams, Sr is an icon. He died of drunkenness and drug problems on New Years Day, 1953, a day that will live on in infamy among rural Americans.
Doc and Big Dave invited me into the dining area to join them for some more "skinfastsessess." Of course, I had no idea what "skinfastsessess" are but acquiesced. Doc came out with a case of SLIMFAST, the diet drink.
'Here Tondy,' he said as he popped the top on a strawberry flavoured Slimfast. "You can only have one of these because they make you skinny. You're already too skinny. So just one."
"Me and Big Dave gots to drink these, cause we're gettin' to be bigger boys than we wanna be. Marilyn brung these home. She's cleanin' house for a lady what died, an' she had all these cases of Skinfast left over an' they gave 'em to Marilyn what gave' em to me."
"Skinfast is s'posed to make you skinny real fast, so Me an' Big Dave have been chuggin' 'em down for two days. I'll be skinnier 'n you by next weekend, if I don't run out."
Big Dave added that "skinfast" is better over ice cream. He poured two cans of it over his bowl of vanilla ice cream he had helped himself to.
I asked Doc why he was suddenly concerned about his weight, and he said he'd seen some pictures of him an' Marilyn teased him about becoming a pretty good sized boy, and he was used to thinking of himself as smaller.
He explained that he and Marilyn had been down in Alabama where they played some, and also in Florida. It was there that he realized that not everyone has a gut.
"Tondy, some of them boys down Florida is full grown, but still kind of smaller. I ain't been around people like that too much. Mostly what I'm around is either skinny or is a good sized boy, but not much that is like them. Then when we got back, Marilyn got all these Skinfastsessess give to us, so I'm takin' it as a sign.
I sipped on my Slimfast, to try to not lose too much weight while Doc and Big Dave chugged one after another.
"When we're out of these, I'm gonna run up there to Bryans Road Food Lion and buy some more, if me an' Big Dave ain't too skinny. We gonna call him Skinny Dave then. And, we gonna have to buy some smaller guitar straps."
"Yeah, I'm gonna drink until I'm about 175," Big Dave said in a flat voice.
"I ain't sayin when I'm gonna stop. It depends on how fast they work," said Doc.
That was the theme of my brief visit I recorded more of the evening and will post from it later.
