Picture Man Part 2

 

So we strolled and drank and talked.  At one point he asked me if I had ever heard true cajun music.  I responded that i didn’t know.  He said, “It’s called Zydeco.”  I had never heard of that style.  He explained that another way is to call it Cajun Rock.  He said, “I’m going to take you two to see some of my friends play.  Genuine zydeco.  So we set out for the bar where his friends were playing.  I was thinking about how awesome it must be to be able to strike up a conversation with some stranger on the street and, next thing you know, it’s an evening on the town.  With authenticity.  Jimmy Buffet wrote a song I liked when I was in my teens called “Changes in Latitude.”  In it there’s a line: “Ran into a bum with a bottle of rum and we wound up drinking all night.”  Any time in life when you can live out the lyrics to a Jimmy Buffet song, you damn well had better appreciate it.  I did.

True to his word, the joint was jumping. The sounds of the Big Easy that night couldn't be held inside the club. To real. It spilled out onto the streets where people danced like they paid a cover.

After the show, we ended up sitting in the grass on the banks of the Mississippi River.  The stroll seemed like a faded dream. We must have walked a while, but we weren't counting steps.  We were celebrating.  Life.  Interestingly enough he slurred, "I almost died right there. Got so drunk I fell in and the current took me quick."

 

There were a few poles remaining from a long gone one boar dock sticking out of the water.  "If not for that dock right there I'd be dead."  So we laughed and finished off the vodka.  All in all, a good night. Once I got out of my hometown, I have lived my life like a movie on a screen. I write the scripts. There's plenty of life adventures if you get the joke.  Be safe. Be kind. Be well.  Goodnight.