Thursday, February 19, 2009
THE LATE WEE HOURS
this is the story
or rather it is the story as told to me by mom
and with the blessing of god i will be able to tell it
to you so that you can know it as i do
my mom and younger brother and mother were living
in manhattan on ninety ninth street. her dad who was
from the carribean and had the bearing of a charismatic
african chief was relaxing in sing sing. if life had been
different he would have been king mambo, father of the
nation, or at least first executive senior minister of airports
and harbors. an excellent position
mom's mom was from panama and very beautiful and
worked in what today is called a sweatshop. at that time
if you had a job that kept a roof over your head and put
food on the table and clothing on your family's back it
was called a blessing from god and you put a little extra
in the collection plate at church in return
it was saturday morning and mom and brother are in
the kitchen arguing " you did it ! no i didn't ! yes you did !
no i didn't !" and the next thing you know there is a fight
and a cup of coffee is knocked over and pours from the
kitchen table onto the floor. my mom's mom is very
unhappy. she yells and slaps them and says they had
better not leave the apartment while she's at work
mom had planned to meet her friends at the savoy
ballroom that evening. so a couple of hours after her
mom left she did her hair and changed her clothes and
walked towards the door to leave. her brother ran to
block the door " you can't leave ! i'm telling ! you can't
leave !" mom said she looked at the floor then " pow !"
right into his left eye and he fell and she opened the
door ran up the hallway and down the stairs and out
on to the street and made her way to the savoy
the show was a battle of the bands of the count and the
duke. she told me basie wore a powder blue pin striped
suit with a white shirt and blue tie and his band all had
on royal blue suits. on the other stage ellington wore
a pink pin striped suit and the band had on burgundy
and they played and played and played and she and
her friends danced and danced and jitterbugged until
the late wee hours
this is the story
or rather it is the story as told to me by mom
and with the blessing of god i will be able to tell it
to you so that you can know it as i do
my mom and younger brother and mother were living
in manhattan on ninety ninth street. her dad who was
from the carribean and had the bearing of a charismatic
african chief was relaxing in sing sing. if life had been
different he would have been king mambo, father of the
nation, or at least first executive senior minister of airports
and harbors. an excellent position
mom's mom was from panama and very beautiful and
worked in what today is called a sweatshop. at that time
if you had a job that kept a roof over your head and put
food on the table and clothing on your family's back it
was called a blessing from god and you put a little extra
in the collection plate at church in return
it was saturday morning and mom and brother are in
the kitchen arguing " you did it ! no i didn't ! yes you did !
no i didn't !" and the next thing you know there is a fight
and a cup of coffee is knocked over and pours from the
kitchen table onto the floor. my mom's mom is very
unhappy. she yells and slaps them and says they had
better not leave the apartment while she's at work
mom had planned to meet her friends at the savoy
ballroom that evening. so a couple of hours after her
mom left she did her hair and changed her clothes and
walked towards the door to leave. her brother ran to
block the door " you can't leave ! i'm telling ! you can't
leave !" mom said she looked at the floor then " pow !"
right into his left eye and he fell and she opened the
door ran up the hallway and down the stairs and out
on to the street and made her way to the savoy
the show was a battle of the bands of the count and the
duke. she told me basie wore a powder blue pin striped
suit with a white shirt and blue tie and his band all had
on royal blue suits. on the other stage ellington wore
a pink pin striped suit and the band had on burgundy
and they played and played and played and she and
her friends danced and danced and jitterbugged until
the late wee hours
# posted by scotty @ 12:01 PM 
