The Little People(pg. 8)

     Life in Kentucky in the 1980s was very hard, there were no jobs, no money, and very few opportunities. I survived here and there, and really had no life to speak of, no girl would date a busted man, yes, there was plenty of love but very few chances to select the pretty ones I truly wanted, they simply would not give me the time of day much less a look, I was poor white trash, but I found my love in the bars and field parties, those girls were in abundance. We just passed around the hat so to speak, I always wore protection from future pregnancies, but mainly from diseases. 
     Dad came to my graduation at school and glancing back, I think my graduation and my older sister Kathy's graduation was the only ones he ever attended. Mom took photos with me and dad, he truly was proud of me and this made me very proud, one of my proudest moments in this melancholic world. 
     Dad was suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and every doctor warned him to quit drinking or die, now dad would drink anything once he ran out, and I swear he drank my cheap aftershave lotion of Aqua Velva, that alone made me almost throw up. He wouldn't quit though, this poor soldier of weakness, as sickness swept through him. I left that morning on December 31, it was on a Thursday, where most folks got off work being New Year's Eve, I had to work half a day, but I had plans to go out and celebrate the new year, but before I clocked out at work, my boss William Smith, ran out and made a sudden almost frantic plea, telling me to go home first, because there's something that came up and needed my immediate attention. I was terrified, I thought my brother first was dead because he was just diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis,  now tears were rolling down, I pulled in our driveway, everyone was there, I walked up to the front door, and Kevin one of my dearest brothers who I thought was dead came out and said, "dad died," and I was relieved instantly, because we all knew dad was on his last leg, but I couldn't bear losing my older brother this quick in life. They already took dad to the funeral home by the time I arrived, the coroner ruled his death "natural causes" and my family buried dad with a lie, because he overdosed on a bottle of Valium, but we kept this between our family for years. Now, looking back, poor dad surrendered to those Little People, they took him home where only the spirits dwell beyond the foothills of Kentucky. 

                                                                 The End

                                                                        8