29

Malaprops Bookshop, Asheville, NC


My 29th Birthday. I woke in Trevor and Caroline Stuart's house down a country road in Canton, west of Asheville. The mists wre flowing down the valley. Brendan, Luley, and I stepped out of the warm house into the chill morning for a stroll. Luley got scent of something near the red barn and turned birdy - disappearing into the old building. We heared planks squeaking and knocking as she rooted around inside and Brendan called to her - the same name he calls to his own dog Lusa - worried she might find snakes. No response from Luley, but then a little fluffy bunny shot from the barn and flew up the hill over rocks, under the green leaves of the apple tree studded with one hundred small red apples, and out of sight. Luley was a long way behind. She eventually emerged from the barn, belly stretched tight and swaying over skinny legs, small head pointing, sniffing out rabbit.

A gangly, scared, excited pup joined the party, appearing suddenly from behind the barn. Black with white socks on front paws, the dog jumped and cowered, jumped and cowered, on me, and then as his confidence grew, on Brendan. Our care-taking of the dogs prevented a walk along the country road where drivers were fast.

Caroline and Trevor were up when we returned and Brendan got underway with setting up The Gremlin - his $50 second-hand guitar that he'd bought the day before in Asheville. I played some tunes with Trevor (The Banks of Arkansas, Flatwoods, Goodbye Girls, Polly Put the Kettle On) before breakfast. We ate eggs, bacon, good conversation, and then the four of us played some more tunes (Eliza Jane, The Squirrel Hunters, Money Musk, Cindy, Booger Man).



Finally our time was up and Brendan extracted a promise from Trevor to play more tunes the following morning, and then we were in Dorothea's car once more heading for Asheville - with five minutes to make our date with the future President of The United States of America, Barak Obama.


We joined an impossibly long line at the university, AB Tech, behind a family with three little girls and in front of 2 young men with McCain signs and two old ladies wearing Obama pins and T-shirts who, when Obama started speaking, turned the speaker-phone on and transmitted the good news from inside the stadium.



Luck was with us and eventually we travelled the distance - around 3 buildings, through 4 gates, through a metal detector, and into the stadium with thousands of people cheering and sweating in the North Carolinian sun. Obama himself stood in front of me and told me the steps of his healthcare plan and I clapped and cheered with thousands. My heart swelled to see the people standing under an enormous American flag (this was unprecedented) and to hear Obama tell me he would not give up or rest, and to feel the crowd stir in love and trust of this one man as the white doves were released and flew in a flock above us and over the green trees now turning red. It was a beautiful sight, and Brendan and I drank it in momentarily, before abruptly turning and racing the crowd out of the stadium, for the show was over. I felt part of the people around me and part of something bigger and I do believe in Barak Obama.

This evening we will eat Cajun food at the Grey Eagle with Trevor and Caroline, and then watch the blues guitarist John Hammond play. It is a good birthday day.