211 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
211 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
|
|
||
|
|
_
|
||
|
|
| \
|
||
|
|
| \
|
||
|
|
| | \
|
||
|
|
__ | |\ \ __
|
||
|
|
_____________ _/_/ | | \ \ _/_/ _____________
|
||
|
|
| ___________ _/_/ | | \ \ _/_/ ___________ |
|
||
|
|
| | _/_/_____ | | > > _/_/_____ | |
|
||
|
|
| | /________/ | | / / /________/ | |
|
||
|
|
| | | | / / | |
|
||
|
|
| | | |/ / | |
|
||
|
|
| | | | / | |
|
||
|
|
| | | / | |
|
||
|
|
| | |_/ | |
|
||
|
|
| | | |
|
||
|
|
| | c o m m u n i c a t i o n s | |
|
||
|
|
| |________________________________________________________________| |
|
||
|
|
|____________________________________________________________________|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
...presents... Time out for Pop
|
||
|
|
by Malcolm D. Moore
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
>>> a cDc publication.......1994 <<<
|
||
|
|
-cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
|
||
|
|
____ _ ____ _ ____ _ ____ _ ____
|
||
|
|
|____digital_media____digital_culture____digital_media____digital_culture____|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
that sunday:
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
10:55pm: phone rings. mom answers.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
10:58pm: mom gives phone to me after talking. i answer: hello?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
son, you know you should have called someone to let them know where
|
||
|
|
you were. you really scared your mother doing that shit.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i'm sorry, dad. i didn't know when the next 68 came.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
well, you should have called anyway. i don't want to have to be
|
||
|
|
angry at you for not taking care of your business, understand?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
yes, dad.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
okay. i love you.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i love you too, dad.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
now put your mother back on the phone.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
ok. here you go.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
parents talk for a while, i go to sleep because it's a skool night.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
the following tuesday:
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
2:55pm: skool lets out. my friends and i rush for the bus stop.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:04pm: the 17 arrives to take us to the transit center to get the 68.
|
||
|
|
everybody is chill. we're all crackin jokes. we start playing the
|
||
|
|
dozens on each other on the bus.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:09pm: the bus arrives at 6th and princevalle streets. we get off.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:11pm: the 68 to san jose arrives. we board and continue our dozens game.
|
||
|
|
the driver has to tell us several times to pipe down.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:21pm: the 68 gets to my stop, at monterey highway and highway 152. i tell
|
||
|
|
my friends 'later' and step off the bus.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:25pm: i unlock the gate to our apartment complex and get inside.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:27pm: i open the door to my house to find my mother in a sea of tissue.
|
||
|
|
what's wrong? i ask.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:28pm: it's your father. he's in the hospital again. i throw down my bags.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
who called you? is gran at home?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
she's at the hospital, my mother said. call there and see if dead is
|
||
|
|
at the house.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i pick up the phone and frantically dial the number, having to hang
|
||
|
|
up several times because i misdialed it. finally i get it right and
|
||
|
|
make the connection.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
ah-hello?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:29pm: hi dead, it's malcolm... what's going on?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
well, he's in the hospital again. he went in early this morning.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
well? is he all right?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
no, he is not all right. jay has been at the hospital all day. i
|
||
|
|
don't know his condition.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:30pm: well, have you heard anything from anybody? a wave of sickness comes
|
||
|
|
over me.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
20 seconds of silence ensue.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
no, i haven't. jay called an ambulance to take him to the hospital
|
||
|
|
about 7.30 this morning.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
seeing as this was going nowhere, i said, okay, i'll call you back
|
||
|
|
later.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
okay. <click>
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i turn to my mother. what do you know?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i just... i just know he's not all right, he's sick and in the
|
||
|
|
hospital. bernice called me at around 9.30. she said he may have
|
||
|
|
had a stroke.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
a stroke?! what could have caused that? i think as i wring my hands
|
||
|
|
nervously. i decide that maybe i could pass the time by going and
|
||
|
|
playing some games on my atari.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
3:55pm: patrick comes home from work. they talk nervously about the
|
||
|
|
situation. i can't hear because i'm trying to focus on playing the
|
||
|
|
computer.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
4:10pm: the doorbell rings. it's my best friend eric. he comes immediately
|
||
|
|
into my room. hey, let's go play some ball at las animas.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
not right now, man. my father is sick and in the hospital again.
|
||
|
|
remember what i told you yesterday? well he's back in there.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
no shit? eric sez. well i hope he'll be all right... hey, fire up
|
||
|
|
some boulderdash.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i proceed to fire up the boulderdash game and we play doubles for a
|
||
|
|
while.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
4:35pm: my mother makes the first in a series of hysterical phone calls up
|
||
|
|
north. i can't hear the conversation, but i can tell by the waver in
|
||
|
|
her voice that she is distraught.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
4:43pm: my mother places the second phone call. this time i can clearly hear
|
||
|
|
what is being said. please tell me what is going on! she cries out.
|
||
|
|
i try harder to concentrate on the game.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
4:57pm: the third phone call is made. my mother has now lost total control
|
||
|
|
and is crying into the phone. this point is when i can no longer
|
||
|
|
concentrate on the game. my friend sees this and we quit, and go out
|
||
|
|
into the front room.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:03pm: eric realizes the situation is very volatile and excuses himself,
|
||
|
|
telling me to call him with whatever details there are.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:10pm: the weather on the channel 4 news comes on. it's 65 degrees now.
|
||
|
|
it's supposed to be 72 tomorrow.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:18pm: the phone rings. patrick answers. it's one of his friends.
|
||
|
|
he talks with the guy for a while and then hangs up.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:26pm: my mother places the last of the series of phone calls. this time
|
||
|
|
she is more relaxed and stable, asking whoever was on the other line
|
||
|
|
to give them any information about my father. there is not much
|
||
|
|
information to be had, so the phone conversation is ended.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:32pm: the nbc nightly news comes on.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:36pm: tom brokaw finishes the news headlines and goes to a commercial. the
|
||
|
|
commercial is for tide laundry detergent.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:38pm: i get up and go to use the bathroom. i can barely manage to sit on
|
||
|
|
the toilet seat, i am so nervous.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:39pm: the phone rings. i answer it. a woman is on the other line.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
hello? i say.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
hi, malcolm? hi, this is bernice. how are you doing?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i'm okay, i say, if not a bit nervous. is everything ok?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
we hope so. can i talk to your mother please?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
5:40pm: my mother and patrick walk out of their bedroom. i hand the phone to
|
||
|
|
her. she nervously rests the handset on her shoulder and says hello?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
there are 5 seconds of silence.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
yes. is everything okay?
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i am not looking at her. i am watching television. i am gauging the
|
||
|
|
situation on the amount of silence between her speaking. this
|
||
|
|
particular amount of silence kept growing.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
finally, she said okay. the next thing i heard was the phone clatter
|
||
|
|
as it hit the wall.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
he's gone, she said.
|
||
|
|
|
||
|
|
i looked at the stereo clock, and beyond it past the balcony, outside
|
||
|
|
to the trees and the darkening sky. the time was 5:41.
|
||
|
|
_______ __________________________________________________________________
|
||
|
|
/ _ _ \|Demon Roach Undrgrnd.806/794-4362|Kingdom of Shit.....806/794-1842|
|
||
|
|
((___)) |Cool Beans!..........415/648-PUNK|Polka AE {PW:KILL}..806/794-4362|
|
||
|
|
[ x x ] |Metalland Southwest..713/579-2276|ATDT East...........617/350-STIF|
|
||
|
|
\ / |The Works............617/861-8976|Ripco ][............312/528-5020|
|
||
|
|
(' ') | Save yourself! Go outside! DO SOMETHING! |
|
||
|
|
(U) |==================================================================|
|
||
|
|
.ooM |Copyright (c) 1994 cDc communications and Malcolm D. Moore. |
|
||
|
|
\_______/|All Rights Reserved. 07/01/1994-#270|
|
||
|
|
|