I Fall From Grace

Leaving the library, and going to get my guitar and my backpack, it occured to me that I had better go to the music store and replace the string which broke on Friday.

This involved a bus ride out to "West Mobile."

I got an Earthquake at the store, drank it while listening to the radio, and then went to the bus stop, where I drank a Steel Reserve. One needs to build up his courage to go to the music store.

The bus came by, and I got on, and it soon became apparent that I was going to have to use a restroom.

I was uncomfortable enough when the bus made its interim stop at a mall, to get off at the mall, and use the "restroom" behind a bush. I knew that I would have to reboard a bus to continue to the music store, and it would cost me another $1.25. That is what I get for drinking an Earthquake and a Steel Reserve, I thought. Just to keep this all about money, as it has been lately, I had $10.43 on me.
I started to think about just how far the music store was from that mall, where most of the buses seem to stop, and "connect" to each other.
A Mall Security Guy Steers Me Wrong
I asked one of the security guys, who was driving around with the flashing yellow light on his SUV, if he knew where The Festival Center was, and if so, how far away was it.

He told me that I just needed to walk down the road to the left, cross a bridge, and I would be "right there;" -less than a mile, was what he thought.
I went to the road and took a left and started walking. I did go over a bridge, but didn't encounter it untill I had already walked more than a mile.
I walked another mile, before deciding to stop and ask someone where The Festival Center was.

I was told by a lady that it was "way back that way," as she pointed in the direction from which I had come.

Now, I was racing against the clock, as, the last bus from the music store, back to Mobile, was at 6:20 pm.

I walked back in the direction from which I had come. I stopped and asked directions again, at a little store. The lady in the store told me that I had walked around in a big circle, after I told her where I had walked.

"I think the guy might have purposely given me wrong directions, out of meannes," I said.

"Some people will do that," said another customer. Especially if they are black, and you are white, I didn't add....

The store lady pointed me in a direction and told me that I would come out right at the music store, "in about a mile." I started walking in that direction.

After about a mile, I asked for directions from a man at a garage of some kind. He told me that I was headed in the right direction, and would be there "in about a mile."

I got to the store in time for the last bus, but not in time to buy a string AND get the last bus.

I decided to get the string, and take my chances with getting back to town. I figured that SOMEONE would help a fellow musican with a ride back to town.
Serda's open mic was to start at 9 pm.

By 9 pm, I was holding my thumb out on the side of the road and watching car after car pass by. Nobody stopped, or even slowed down. Nobody at the music store was heading towards town, or they didn't have room in their cars, due to music equipment. I stood there for about an hour.

I decided that I hated every man woman and child in Mobile, Alabama. I wished them all agonizing deaths. It is hard to believe that not ONE person like myself drove by, who would have offered a ride to someone with a guitar on his back...

I decided to just spend the night out there in West Mobile.
I found a restaurant, which had an enclosed area behind it, with running water (hot and cold) and a couch. I washed my clothes, changed, and then lied down on the couch, and listened to my cheap AM radio, and was soon fast asleep.

I woke up around 9 am,. according to the sun, which I am becoming adept at reading, went to get a Mountain Dew, and then to the bus stop. (I almost got a Steel Reserve.)

I got back to town, with a new string, and $3.62.

The whole fiasco had cost me about 7 bucks, and about 7 miles of walking.

And that's the way it is, August 19th, 2010.