Part Twenty Two

  Comfort came easy in Mississippi yet it was short lived. Arlis received another job offer and this one was from the Dodge dealership in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He thought to himself perhaps a new environment would help Virginia stop her drinking and bar hopping so their marriage would have a better chance of surviving. Arlis loved Virginia dearly and would give anything in the world to have a happy marriage with her and to raise their children together. Virginia had already totaled out two cars he'd purchased for her in the few, short months they'd lived in Mississippi. Though she was never seriously injured besides breaking her arm, he often joked about how many cars she'd destroyed and that he'd stopped keeping count. A few days after Virginia was released from the hospital from her most recent wreck, Arlis resigned his position, loaded the truck and station wagon, and moved the family to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The family's new residence was a duplex apartment on Adams  Avenue, right off the Airline Highway main drag. It's ironic Arlis was trying to keep Virginia away from alcohol since there was a gigantic Schlitz brewing company directly across the street from their new residence. Arlis and Virginia became friends with the couple next door, Tony and Laurie. Weekends there were barbeques, poker card games, and of course moderate drinking. They'd all go to the corner bar to drink socially and shoot billiards on occasion. One weekend during one of their regular poker games, Tony and Laurie's daughter nicknamed Tiger, fell in the bathtub and hit her head so hard that her eyes were permanently crossed from the impact. It was truly a sad weekend, Tiger's parents were so upset over their daughter's accident, they went to the corner bar and Tony became so very drunk that he ended up in a fight with another bar patron. It wasn't uncommon to see Tony with black eyes and bruised cheeks, often he fought at the bar. This fight was to be his last at the corner bar, he'd pulled a knife and stabbed the other bar patron to death. Many said his daughter's unfortunate accident pushed him over the edge. Needless to say, he was placed on death row at Angola State Prison and in less than six months he was stabbed to death in prison. Laurie and Tiger took his death very hard and Virginia did her all to try to comfort Laurie. Laurie could live no longer in the duplex she'd shared with Tony, in the middle of the night she'd packed a few belongings of hers and Tiger's and moved away without speaking a word to anyone. The very same week, Virginia quit drinking alcohol and began drinking Coca-Cola.

  Life continued, the boys didn't have a lot to do during the long, hot summer days. Sundays the Schlitz brewery closed down and the boys would ride their bikes and skateboards all day long on the smooth concrete that seemed to go on for miles and miles. There were no trespassing signs everywhere, the police would only warn the boys to not meddle with any of the brewery's property and they could play all they wanted to since there wasn't any playgrounds or parks available nearby. Jimmy Don and Mike were playing near the rear of the brewery when they heard loud music being played on a radio somewhere close by. Noticing a back door open, they walked through the back of the warehouse until they discovered a small office where the loud music was coming from. Jimmy Don knocked on the wooden door and there was no answer. Curiousity had gotten the better of Jimmy Don so he knocked louder. A man hollered out, who is it and Jimmy Don responded it was just him and his brother, Mike. A few minutes later, a large, burly, redeyed man opened his door and told them to have a seat. It wasn't long before Jimmy Don and Mike discovered Otis was a shipbuilder living in the plant, building a special yacht for the brewery owner. Jimmy Don asked Otis if he could help him build the yacht and Otis replied he could come around and help fetch things, but that he was way too young to be hired. Jimmy Don was ecstatic when Otis agreed to pay him something for his help. Mike asked if he could also help and Otis replied he'd pay Mike a little something to help Jimmy Don fetch things, though he feared getting fired were anyone at the brewery to discover kids inside the brewery. Jimmy Don would only be allowed to help Otis on Sundays when no one else was at the brewery. Jimmy Don and Mike were both overwhelmed at the size of the yacht Otis had been building for the last three years. Mike went to help the first couple of Sundays until Otis told him he'd have to leave, he only could allow Jimmy Don to be his helper. On Mike's last time there, Otis played a ukelele and did a cajun jig that made him and Jimmy Don laugh like crazy since they'd never heard or seen anything so crazy in their entire life.

  When Mike rejoined Ricky and Ronny on the other side of the brewery, he discovered some older neighborhood boys teaching them how to gamble. They were lagging coins to see who could land their coin on or nearest a large crack in the concrete. The winner would keep all the other's coins except if there was a tie. Mike, Ricky, and Ronny found gambling to be pretty fascinating since they were told gambling is illegal, especially for minors. Soon Mike, Ricky, and Ronny knew how to play poker and blackjack. There was plenty of time for the boys to learn how to gamble since Arlis had just left on a ten day, deep sea fishing vacation in the Gulf. Bubba was a fifteen year old neighborhood boy, the one that had been teaching everyone how to gamble. Bubba asked Mike if he'd like to go joyriding late at night and of course Mike said yes because he was so bored. Come to find out, Bubba needed one other person to help push start his sister's VolksWagon Bug and Mike is the one he asked since Mike was closer to his age than any of the other boys. A couple of nights joyriding was a blast, an upcoming large music festival named Woodstock was advertised over the radio. It was going to be held somewhere in New York in a few days. Bubba had a wild look in his eye and asked Mike if he wanted to go. Mike thought about it for a while and told Bubba he sure would like to go, especially since his stepdad would be gone for a while and that he'd have to get Bubba to help him convince his mom that they were going to go camping. After several hours of asking, Virginia finally agreed to let Mike go camping, though of course she'd no idea Bubba and Mike would be heading to the Woodstock concert to be held in New York. Highly excited, Mike grabbed some clothes, bread, soup, crackers, peanut butter, and left with Bubba for the greatest musical experience of their young lives that nothing could have ever prepared them for.