I dislike crowds.

First row: Goggles. Bronzed processor. Back row: three mugs. Blue. Dark, navy blue. Almost worthless– $.99 each from Walmart. Drinks cool off too fast. Lesson learned. You get what you pay for, right? You get what you pay for.

“Can I make it? / Damn right / I’ll be on the next flight / sittin’ next to Vanna White.”
I haven’t listened to Nelly since… Sagar’s car. God, when? Last fall? Night, driving down Prarie. Lowes on the right, lit up bright. Subs thumping. I’m in the back seat, Carter in the front, Sagar driving. Blue receiver, flashing. Driving. And all the world is right. High school, Cheyenne night. And the world’s right. There’s a wisdom in it, really.

“oh-oh / oh-oh / I’m a sucker for corn-rows / and manicured toes / e / i / un-da-lay undalay undalay / momma e i ei / oh-oh”
Avenues. Night. Beige house on the right. They have a Corvette. How many times have I seen that car? How many times have I walked past it? In Sagar’s car. Back seat. Sagar driving. Bright blue receiver, flashing in the night. An internal quiet, the external boom. Two subs. Ported box. Nelly. And again the world is right. Now I don’t know why we were there– it doesn’t matter. The reason is long past. The moment lives on. Friends. Car. Avenues. Cheyenne. Night. Nelly. Those were the days.

“Those were the days my friends / we thought they’d never end / we’d sing and dance forever and a day / we’d live the life we choose / we’d fight and never lose / for we were young and sure to have our way.”
Driving. Night. The road from Billings to Bozeman. Open to the right. Back from Cheyenne. Back to Bozeman. Cheyenne: happiness, new things, remembering the old. Bozeman: New, but adventure? Adventure, but new? Where are you going? Where going? Where? Night. A passenger, but alone.

“And I’d give up forever to touch you / cuz i know you feel me somehow / you’re the closet to heaven / that i’ll ever be / and I don’t want to go home right now.”
Driving. Bozeman. Daytime. Mountains. New roads, in the foothills. The heights of the Brigers to my left, all of Bozeman to my right. No passenger, alone, but not lonely. Life is changed, but there’s a beauty to it. This is good. This is good. Smile. Turn, new road. Further in the foothills. My favorite instrumental interlude. And life is good.

There’s homework to be done. Always homework to be done. There’s a mountain dew bottle to my right. My camera is there also. Outside, people play football in the courtyard and it’s night. My business card, tattered, worn and now almost torn in two– separated in two, but still connected.

What are you thinking? What thinking? What?