Red State Hero

Chapter 77 NASHVILLE SATURDAY NIGHT

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Little Jimmy Dickens ("Take an Old Cold Tater and Wait"), Ernie Tubb, Furlon Husky, Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, Hank Williams, Bill Monroe and the list went on. These were the old timers, men that Glenn had seen at the Ryman Auditorium back in the early days of the Grand Ole Opry. He had been trying to make mental lists, categorizing the stars. In the 50's there was Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings and Buck Owens and Porter Wagner and later on Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson and Mel Tillis and Tennessee Ernie Ford-if an opera singer can be country; and of course, he had seen Elvis Presley at the Grayville Oil Show before Elvis had ever been on TV.

But he could go even further back he thought with some satisfaction. His introduction to country music was not in the service as most folks assumed, since he grew up in a part of Illinois not known for country music. It had actually been at Sarah Wylie's who played the same Jimmie Rodgers record for him time and time again. Of course her big Zenith could pick up the Carter family from the fifty thousand watt station in Del Rio, Texas. This had been a special summer night's treat enjoyed on visits to Sarah's with his dad and mom. How strange, he thought, that he ended up married to Sarah's niece. But his revelries were interrupted as he approached home. Sarah's niece was an old woman now and she had passed from young to old with trips to Nashville. Glenn couldn't remember how many times they had gone, about once a year or so between forty and fifty times he reckoned.

The way things had been going with his health and all this might be his last Nashville trip. Only two years earlier he had been in Nashville with Daniel when Daniel recorded in the Pink Studio, a studio whose walls were lined with photographs of Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers and Eddie Rabbit. How things had changed; he was still healthy then. He had had one hell of a time and had taken lots of Polaroids of the time he had; but that was over now, nothing worked anymore; his body was broken down like an old car. "You better think!" he commanded himself, "Is Belinda going with us or not?"

Dorothy didn't want Belinda along. She knew it might be their last trip to Nashville and in her words, "I'd want to take my wife down memory lane. We've had so many good times in Nashville."

But Glenn knew that those were only words; Dorothy would have trouble getting around, she would constantly be complaining of aches and pains. The "good times" in Nashville were in the past, the distant past and now that he was thinking about it he remembered their last trip to Nashville together and what a miserable time they'd had. Dorothy had wanted to leave the Grand Ole Opry right in the middle of the program. Her back was killing her, she said. She complained about the seats hours into the night. Glenn's mind was made up, if they were going to go, Belinda would have to go with them.

The trip to Nashville proved Glenn to be right; all the stops made for food and shopping were cumbersome. Belinda's help in this, giving Dorothy someone to lean on, someone to help her in and out of bathrooms and so forth, was invaluable. However, the stops at gift shops and souvenir shops seemed to give Dorothy new strength. Her love of shopping erased her pains. Once they arrived at the Opryland Hotel, Glenn felt as if he had landed on a safe shore. He went up to the room alone leaving Dorothy and Belinda in the souvenir shops. He took a shower, stood for a minute or two looking out the window and then he crawled in bed and fell sound asleep. He was after all, in his spiritual home. He had no need to be closer to heaven than Nashville.

Glenn could not explain his dreams that night. They were disconnected from his life; they seemed to suggest the future in some destination he could not imagine. He wondered when he awoke if someone else had gotten his dreams, if there was some celestial mix up. He had been kissed during his dream by a tall, elegant brunette. This occurred at a banquet or celebration. It was a puzzle. He also could not believe he had slept from sunset until early morning without any awareness of Belinda or Dorothy coming or going; but Belinda had already gone down to fetch breakfast for Dorothy who didn't feel well.

"How bad do you feel?" Glenn asked, trying to gauge whether his day would be ruined by an episode of sickness.

"I'll be ok by noon," she answered in a haughty tone of voice.

"Well, that's good then," Glenn said, "I'm going down and eat breakfast in the restaurant. Maybe I can buy a paper and catch up on the news."

Belinda was eating alone when he approached her; she said she didn't want to take her breakfast back upstairs and this was well and good, Glenn wouldn't have to eat alone. He ordered eggs, sausage and biscuits and gravy and grits.

"We must be hungry," Belinda said with a smile.

"I'm on vacation," said Glenn, "I can do what I want to do."

"I don't think you can do everything you want to do," said Belinda with a wink. She loved to tease "big brother" and Glenn knew it.

"The weekend's not over yet," he said before asking, "What's going on with Dorothy?"

"Just the usual," said Belinda, "I imagine if I take her down to shop in the lobby-there's a lot of shops down there, we can pretty much kill the afternoon. That would give you a little free time. You know how much she loves to shop, she'll never even notice you're not around."

And so that's how the afternoon went. Dorothy kept her credit card sizzling while Glenn drove out into the country. He headed toward Hendersonville, hoping he could remember the way to Slim Parsons' ranch.

Slim was glad to see him; they had a relationship with Daniel in common because Slim spent part of the year on Cape Cod where he produced a Country and Western variety show on local television. Daniel had been on the show and although he was every kind of musician except country, he could do country with the best of them.

Slim was laughing when he told Glenn, "Daniel did that song written by an ol' boy in Texas.

‘I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't chase women.
There's very few bars I've ever been in
and those beer cans in my car,
I don't know who they are
cause I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't chase women.'"

They drank a couple of beers at Whitts Barbecue and ate barbeque and cornbread and cole slaw. While they were eating Glenn's eyes grew wide and Slim turned around to see Johnny Cash come through the door. He called out to him, "Hey, Johnny, come over and meet a friend of mine."

Glenn was amazed when Johnny actually came over to the table and sat down. "Glenn here's in the oil business," Slim said.

"Nice to meet you, Glenn," said Johnny proffering a slightly limp hand.

"Johnny bought a lab from me, a year ago wasn't it?"

"A year ago," said Johnny, "best dog I've ever had. Slim here breeds Dogs for the Stars."

Glenn felt slight pains in his chest and hoped he wouldn't have a heart attack; his pulse was racing. Johnny Cash was actually sitting at the same table talking about dogs, being friendly, behaving like a regular guy. But he declined an offering of barbeque.

"I'm here to pick up a rack of ribs to take on up home. June's daddy is gonna be by for supper," and with that he stood up patted Glenn on the shoulder and said, "It was nice to meet you."

"He's just a regular guy," said Slim after he had left but he could see that Glenn was paralysed so he ordered a couple of more beers hoping maybe that would help.

Glenn was wild eyed when he returned to the hotel. He related the incident to Belinda and Dorothy all the while glancing at a pile of shopping bags in the corner of the room.

"Well, did you tell him that your wife and your sister were here at the Opryland Hotel; maybe he would have wanted to come over for dinner."

"He wouldn't want to come here for dinner," said Glenn, "He would have a mob of people all over him."

"Didn't he have a mob of people all over him out there?"

"First of all there wasn't hardly anyone in the place and secondly he lives out there, people leave people like him alone."

"Well, you could have said something about your wife if you had wanted to," Dorothy pouted, "I bet he mentioned his wife."

"Yeah, he said her daddy was coming for dinner."

"Well that's ok," said Dorothy awash in self pity, "that's all right."

Glenn napped before dressing for the Grand Ole Opry. He wore a monogrammed silk shirt and a turquoise clasped western string tie; he wanted to look good 'just in case'.

"They take shots of the audience," he said to Belinda, "and you never know who's watching."

"That's right, you never know," said Belinda with a mischievous smile. She was decked out in a black leather outfit-slacks and low cut jacket. This and her black hair made her so stunning that Glenn wished she weren't his sister. Dorothy, on the other hand, had dressed more as though she were attending church-a pastel blue suit with a white blouse that had a lacy collar. His wife had turned into an old woman, Glenn thought, having Belinda along was a consolation; most people would think that Dorothy was a parent.

That night's opera starred Tim McGraw. Toward the end when Mary Chapin Carpenter was playing violin Glenn looked over and Dorothy was sound asleep, the one and only person in this huge crowd that was sleeping; but when the applause came she sprang back to life and began applauding vigorously herself.

As they were leaving, after waiting for most of the crowd to disburse, Dorothy seemed relieved and pleased at the same time; she had made it through the entire show-more or less-and could tell her friends back in Sterling all about it. But she was just as determined not to have a late-night dinner with Glenn and Belinda. "Just go on and enjoy yourselves," she said as she crawled into bed, "I've had a wonderful time but what I need right now is to rest."

Neither Glenn nor Belinda engaged in any special pleading. They both rode the elevator down to the main floor with smiles on their faces. Once they were in the restaurant and seated at a table Belinda said, "Big brother, have you ever thought how strange it is that at this point in our lives we're sitting at a table in Nashville together without "anyone" in our lives. I mean, we're winners aren't we, big brother. You're a millionaire and I own my own home and everything in Florida and yet in reality we're both alone."

Glenn starred into his waterglass and gave himself a little cough. "I know you're right," he said, "I thought I might have something going with Mimi a while back but it didn't turn out that way and now with my heart the way it is I'm not worth a damn to anyone."

There was quite a long pause before Belinda looked up with tears in her eyes and said, "You know, people blame me for Ron's death. His kids act like I was to blame. They say things like, ‘Why was he on the way back to base, why didn't he spend the night with you? What got him so upset that he had a heart attack and smashed into a telephone pole?'"

"You didn't have a thing to do with it," Glenn said, "same thing could happen to me right now. Here, wipe your eyes."

The handkerchief had been used before but Belinda found a corner that seemed clean enough and she dabbed her eyes with it. Then she started laughing and her fiery eyes caught Glenn in their reflection and she said, "Hey, big brother, we got nothing to cry about. We've just been to the Grand Ole Opry; we're having a late dinner in Nashville and we don't have to cry about anything."

Glenn held her hand in his large paws and thought how much he loved his sister and how much kindness and comfort she had given to him through the years; but at the same time he noticed a young girl's legs. They had just been crossed and he believed, in the process, he had seen Pasadena or something very much like Pasadena. The girl stared at him and he stared back looking over Belinda's left shoulder. Belinda looked back at the girl and then looked back at her brother and said, "You're a bad, bad boy big brother. As soon as I finish this piece of catfish I'll leave you to it and I hope you get lucky."

"I'm not gonna do anything," Glenn mumbled.

Belinda laughed so hard she lost some of the food in her mouth. "You liar," she countered, "here's the key to my room; do it on top of the bedspread and then we'll trade rooms. I'll tell Dorothy when I go up that you've run into somebody you knew in the oil business." And with that she was soon gone.

This turn of events did not escape the attention of the young girl. They exchanged glances for about ten minutes before she walked over and said, "I guess your friend didn't go to the ladies room or she'd be back by now."

"That's my sister," said Glenn with a little cough.

"Well, I'll get right to the point," the girl said, "are you looking for some action or not?"

Glenn didn't answer for a moment and then he said, "You want to come up to my room?"

"Sounds all right to me," she said, "but first we need to talk about money."

"I'm not worried about money," Glenn said, "Whatever it is, is ok."

He could see the wheels turning in the girl's head after he said that. He guessed she would charge five hundred dollars at least but that was ok. They went to the elevator and up to the fourth floor in silence. Glenn fumbled for Belinda's door card and let them in.

The room had a strong feminine odor; the girl noticed this and Glenn noticed it too but nothing was said. Glenn suddenly felt awkward and the girl sensed this and said, "You don't do this very often do you?"

Glenn wanted to say, "Just my entire life," but he didn't. He gave in to something about her-a kind of softness that whores never have, at least most whores, he thought correcting himself.

She set about undressing herself while sitting on the Ethan Allen chair. She did not pause until she was completely nude and Glenn saw that she had a luscious body, firm breasts above a slightly padded tummy, nice legs-long legs crowned by a vee of black pubic hair. "I'm a little zoftig I know," she said.

"A little what?"

"A little zoftig," she repeated as she squeezed the fat around her midriff. Glenn wrinkled his brow lacking comprehension.

"Fat," she said in a whisper.

"Oh no, you're not fat, you're beautiful," Glenn blurted out. His cheeks got red and he felt just like a boy.

She laughed at him and her eyes twinkled and he could tell how sweet she was. She looked sideways away from him while her forefinger made a little circle on the arm of the chair. When she turned her head back there were tears in her eyes and she wiped them with the back of her hand and laughed a little laugh and said, "This is the first time I've ever done this."

"What?" Glenn said with some astonishment.

"I've been staying here for a week and I'm out of money and last night I went to the bar thinking maybe I could pick up one of the businessmen that stay here but I had no luck." She looked down at the floor and added, "I can't even pull off being a whore."

"Well, what are you doing in Nashville anyway?"

"You know Vanderbilt Medical Center is here and my mother's there; she has cancer. We're from Atlanta; she didn't want me to come with her but I just felt like I had to so I've lost my job and everything here is much more expensive than I thought it would be," and with that she stood and put her panties back on-one leg at a time. "I'm sorry," she said with more tears.

"Here," Glenn said offering her his handkerchief, "do you have a room?"

She managed another little smile and said, "Yes, right down the hallway."

"You want to know something," said Glenn, "I'm an old man with diabetes and a bad heart and I probably can't do anything anyway. I guess I just wanted some company. Seeing a beautiful young naked girl did me lots of good."

She smiled a beaming smile and sat on his lap and hugged him and then stood in front of him and said, "Suck my tit."

And he did and he felt her body with his hands and then she sort of backed away and said, "Thank you, thank you very much."

And she re-dressed herself and was prepared to leave when Glenn stood and said, "I'll walk you to your room," and he did that and they walked in silence.

She did not expect anything and she let herself in and Glenn asked her to look around the room and make sure everything was ok and he stepped in while she did that and she was a little surprised and Glenn reached for his wallet in his front left pocket and opened it up; it was fat with cash-hundred dollar bills. And he counted off five of them and she was joyous and Glenn looked at the five hundred dollars and said, "This ought to be plenty to get us home," and he stuffed it in his right front pocket, extracted the rest of the cash from his wallet and put his wallet back in his other pocket. "I left home yesterday with five thousand in cash so I don't know how much is left. I'd say most of it," and he made the cash into a roll and took the girl's left hand and put the roll in her palm and crossed her fingers around it.

She smiled such a beautific smile; it was as if the sun came up and he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead and backed out the door and was gone.

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