Digressions of a Dilettante

Digressions of a Dilettante
Vignettes of Inanity by Bud Hearn

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Prepping for the Event .....

Dear Friends: Prepping for The Event


The Event? Why, Christmas, of course—that time of year when we slay a perfectly beautiful evergreen tree and put it in the corner of the house for a few days, all decorated up like a military hero but soon dead. But hey, that’s Tradition. There were times when I suggested we just pile up the gifts in the corner of the house and throw some dead boughs on them, which is about what happens by the time Christmas Day comes. But that was uncool, and you already know the responses I got!

So last Saturday on an Indian summer day I left the fog-enshrouded island and headed up to Webster’s Tree Farm in Darien, where there are acres of perfectly pruned and shaped Fraziers, red cedars and pines. It was an event in itself. The air was thick with smoke from the grill where giant slabs of pork ribs were cooking, tantalizing …”Hey, Bud, here’s a nice 10 pound slab, only $15 bucks.” Tempting, but I was saving up for B & J’s, the local diner where you know the food is good by eyeballing the fleshly heft frequenting the joint.

It didn’t take long to find that perfect specimen to slay, and a couple of macho musk-emitting teenage boys, intent on impressing the single ingénue, grunted and sweated while “harvesting” the tree and toting it to my pickup…the tree homicide shall be laid to their heavenly account…amazing what $60 will buy at Webster’s! Loaded, the Chevy headed back down Hwy. 99 to B & J’s, where fried pork chops were the entrée, along with every veggie known, including rutabagas, and where I made up for the slab of ribs I had passed up. And get this: no fork is necessary for eating fried pork chops at B & J’s…fingers are de rigueur…it felt natural to be an undisciplined glutton!

Another Event was going on in Darien, and I heard the music as I arrived. Three enterprising black fellows had set up a make-shift stage in the yard of “The Painted Moon Art Store” and were jiving with a hot blues guitar, a wailing alto sax and keyboards. These boys were in the “zone.” The long, slow blues notes hung in the dry, lazy air, wafting through the empty and silent streets of Darien. The pickup would go no further and parked under an ancient oak tree. For not long enough I listened, as the combo mesmerized some tourists and a few locals. For the first time in months I felt “connected” with something more than myself…it was liberating. The cost? Free!

Fishermen lined the Darien River Bridge, with a backdrop of colorfully moored shrimp boats. A mile or so down Hwy. 17 another Event was occurring, as about 100 black suits, dresses and faces hovered around a green Darien Funeral Home tent, saying goodbye to a departed brother or sister…I think the song was Amazing Grace…and we all slowed to a crawl in respect, while the wailing sax kept filling my head with its sounds.

The day was pretty much anticlimactic after this …the tree was erected, lighted and decorated, mostly without complications this year and without the need to dust off some four-letter words I kept for such occasions. My wife praised me for such a fine tree selection, and I thought the better of suggesting (again!) that we all hide our presents and play hide and seek on Christmas Day to make The Event last longer. It seemed a crass thing to say on such an occasion, and besides, that wailing sax continued to blow freedom into my head, and I was not going to disturb the reverie of the day, nosiree!


Bud
December 13, 2007

No comments: