Today I would like to continue with what happened the night before. Before we took our walk a number of strange and as afar as I'm concerned unneeded events occurred. When Lisa and I were eating dinner — or, after we'd just finished — the adults were talking at the dinner table. One person, who shall remain unnamed, said, "I wonder if Lisa and Mark would be more comfortable in the bedroom". Another said, "Alright, but be sure to change the sheets". Later on, another person pretended to come in, went back, and said, "Well, Lisa's got one foot on the floor."
***
While this is all very funny/cute/annoying, the fact is that my memories of this night all these years later are much darker. You see, while Lisa and I were up in that bedroom, the television was on and the first reports from Jonestown, Guyana, were coming in: the massacre was finally breaking across the nation's news media. This event had a profound effect on me — it's a moment in history that continues to occupy me at different times. (I've consumed numerous books, web sites, etc. on Jim Jones and the People's Temple.) So, while I was definitely madly in like with Lisa, our short-but-sweet relationship is closely associated with this sad moment.
All punctuation and spelling has been retained precisely as I wrote it 32 years ago at age 13.
To view the next day click: November 21, 1978
No comments:
Post a Comment