Dad’s Truck and the Riverfront Playhouse. The first time I went to Burney was in 1970. I’d been fired, my friend threw all my stuff on the driveway, I had wrecked my car, I was strung out on speed and drinking a lot. There was a play he was in down in Redding and I was a stage hand. They were going to stay overnight in Redding. I wanted to go back to Burney. I got some diet pills from one of the ladies there and Dad loaned me his truck. I was roaring through town about 60 in a 25 and rear ended a little sports car. Wrecked that car, drove over the top of it on the passenger side and really mashed up my Dad’s truck. The next day he punched me several time on stage before the show and told me I could never drive one of his vehicles again. The next time I moved to Burney was in 1977 or so. I was married to Kathy. We had Damian and Aaron from my first marriage and Jake. I didn’t drink any more but got into trouble with pain pills. Kathy had left me and Damian and Aaron went to live with Pam in Sonoma. I spent my days and nights praying, reading the Bible and pouring engine oil in the air tight stove to heat the house. It was November/December. I was very sad and ashamed and destitute. Again I ended up with no car, job or life. But I’d been clean for few months and had grown up a lot. It was 1984 or so and Dad was in another play in Redding. Dad and Roberta came to the house one evening and drug me down to Redding to audition as a percussionist for the play. It was called “A Musical Christmas Carol”. I still had my drums and within 5 minutes had replaced the other drummer. It was great. We rehearsed every night and I met a woman in the cast that I wanted to take on a date. Sheepishly I asked my Dad if I could use his new truck to do that. I’d been pretty responsible for 10 years and he said yes. So I took her on the date and then went back to Burney. I had $50 left from my unemployment check. I was late getting started back to Redding the next day so stopped at a little town about half way to cdfall my Dad and tell him everything was fine I was just running late. As I waited for him to come to the phone at the playhouse I casually glanced at the truck parked in the lot on a slight downhill slope leading to a gully about 15 ft deep. I could hear my father coming as I watched the truck start to roll very slowly downhill. He got on the phone and at the instant his truck took a nose dive into the gully I told him and all was well and I was just running late. The two things happened simultaneously and I had no control over the truck or ability to recall the message my brain had sent my mouth. We made some macho small talk as I looked out of the phone both at the back wheels that had slowly stopped spinning from their little trip into the gully. So I go to the gas station there and asked about a tow truck. The guy showed up, took my $50 bucks and pulled the truck up out of the gully. The front fender was bent inwards at the middle, the grill was broken and the hood was sprung but the radiator and engine were just fine so off I went to Redding. When I got there I called my Dad outside and on the way told him how I’d watched his truck fall into the gully just at the moment I was telling him everything was fine I was just running late. I really love my Dad for moments like this. He chuckled at the irony and gave me a hug like when I was a little kid and told me that it was ok. We did rehearsal and I retold the story and everyone got a big laugh about it. His insurance fixed everything (so he said) and he let me use it many more times as I courted the now girlfriend until I got back to work and bought my own truck. I miss my Dad tonight. Shawn 2-24-0100
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 08:28:11 +0000
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