My Southern Legitimacy Statement: We lived up in a holler outside Waynesboro, Tennessee. My dad was a master sergeant in Korea, at 23 years old. They killed everyone else, except Private Simmons, so they put my dad in charge. We never got along, so I hit the road Jack…
Those Sunny Days
After I left home in Waynesboro Tennessee. Every dark corner I ended up in that summer of 1985, happened on a sunny day. It’s bright—so bright. I can’t recall a day of rain that summer, or even a cloudy day. I know it rained. Yes, I can almost hear it, a light patter on the metal roof. Then harder, a downpour. The wind ruffles my hair. Warm rain drops kiss my face; it’s cleansing so cleaning. But I don’t think that happened. The way I always remember that summer, for being such a dark and disturbing time at Richmond State Hospital. —It was sunny.
