{"id":26589,"date":"2015-08-18T15:35:08","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T20:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=26589"},"modified":"2015-10-01T14:58:23","modified_gmt":"2015-10-01T19:58:23","slug":"cherry-in-magnolia-part-7-goin-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/cherry-in-magnolia-part-7-goin-home\/","title":{"rendered":"“Cherry in Magnolia”- Part 7: Goin’ Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CherryInMagnolia_webheader\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd my head is my only house unless it rains…\u201d\u00a0\u2013 Don Van Vliet<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Willie had just lost his lover, to whom he\u2019d lost his virginity before leaving Baltimore 48 hours ago (driving all night to pay respects to the King,) and he\u2019d lost the car that carried them there, a gold Chevy for which he\u2019d just gotten his license; turning from the rail on the Memphis & Arkansas bridge\u2014moments after Charlene jumped into the river\u2014to see that it was gone.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the only thing the cop driving him to the police station for questioning wanted to know was also lost on him.\u00a0\"ElvisCop-forweb\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a car and we find it, what do you think we\u2019ll find in it?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Willie, 16 and a long way from home: \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s in the car you\u2019re reporting stolen?\u201d
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFlowers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou a liar or a sissy boy?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the funeral,\u201d said Willie, staring at the Mississippi through the dirty window in the back of the cruiser. \u201cVernon said we could take as many as we wanted.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/span><\/p>\n

Cherry left the Monte Carlo parked behind the Kroger (it<\/i> was in Arkansas and his problem was in Tennessee), locked his satchel and squeeze-box in the trunk and took a cab to the police station, asking the driver where a vagrant might be taken if he were picked up on the bridge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll depends,\u201d said the cabbie.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf he were a stupid white kid from out-of-town who couldn\u2019t find his ass with two hands and a map, where would they take him?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Main,\u201d said the driver.\u00a0\"cherryweb7-2\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGo there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022<\/span><\/p>\n

Cherry was waiting in a park across the street from the police station when, about four hours later, pushing close to 10 pm, Willie walked out of the building looking dazed, exhausted, inconsolable, and afraid.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cherry got up from his bench near a statue of Nathan Forrest and his horse and walked toward the street, approaching his little brother who, standing curbside, stood immobile, staring at his dirty red and blue high-top Converse, as lost as the Confederacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWillie,\u201d whispered Cherry, crossing the street.<\/span><\/p>\n

Willie, who had not seen the pie-anna<\/i> player for three years; Willie, dumbfounded, the boy who had named his by-nurture-but-not-by-nature brother \u201cCherry,\u201d back when Elvis starred in Kid Galahad<\/i>, Cherry because the toddler could not say \u201cJerry\u201d nor tell a lie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Startled back to reality, eye-to-eye: \u201cWhere\u2019s the car, Cherry?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s go, Ace.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Anger, a river runs through it: \u201cWhere\u2019s the car?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cherry put his crippled hand on Willie\u2019s shoulder\u2014leggiero<\/i>\u2014and gently guided the boy away from the police station.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got the car, which you would not have right now if I hadn\u2019t taken it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCharlene jumped.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI saw it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou think she\u2019s…?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYes. Come on, let\u2019s go home.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s home?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere do you think, dumb-ass? Come on, let\u2019s go see Ma.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Silence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to find her. They\u2019re searching. I need the car to drive her home when they find her.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a Monte Carlo, not a hearse, Will. And I\u2019m only here because Ma told me to find you. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cherry took $20 out of his pocket and gave it to Willie, who took it and said, \u201cI don\u2019t need money, I need the car.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSorry,\u201d said Cherry, and he meant it. Good Lord, was he ever this<\/i> stupid, even when he was taking lessons with Judy in middle school? <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDrive to Baltimore with me and you get the car. Stay here looking for a sunk barge, shit Will, you get what you get.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Willie jerked away from Cherry and cursed him with a venom that went all the way back to playing kickball in the alley; with all the frustration for the pain the older boy had caused Ma with his lying and thievery, the humiliation when Judy Apicella\u2019s husband threatened to burn down their house when he found out Cherry had been sleeping with his wife, when Cherry\u2019s explanation to Ma had been: \u201cShe taught me how to roll a bass line with my bad hand…\u201d\u00a0\"cherryweb7-1\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

But he didn\u2019t go back into the police station to tell them what was going on.<\/span><\/p>\n

The second time Willie cursed Cherry the musician walked away from his little brother and instead of getting a cab (the $20 he\u2019d given Willie was the last of his cash), began walking back to the Kroger on the other side of the river, strolling past the spot on the bridge where Charlene had jumped and pausing not to pray or remember or feel bad for his brother but to think about what he might tell Ma when he pulled curbside on Iris Avenue in a day or two with the car but not her only biological child.<\/span><\/p>\n

He played out a few scenarios, spit into the river\u2014unable to see it land in the darkness or hear it hit the current\u2014and made his way to the Arkansas side, the cover of darkness and a route north through Missouri to protect him from a police search for a vehicle they didn\u2019t believe existed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cherry had a good friend in St. Louis, a singer he\u2019d met on Frenchmen street. She\u2019d put him up long enough to figure out what to tell Ma.\u00a0\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"cherryweb7-info\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Part 1: Who Died and Made You Elvis<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 2: Getting There Is Half The Fun<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 3: Wednesday, August 17, 1977 – All Hopped Up and Ready to Go<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 4: Thursday, August 18, 1977 \u2014 Sixteen Coaches Long<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 5: Smooth, Fast & In High Gear<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Part 6: Take Me To The River<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd my head is my only house unless it rains…\u201d\u00a0\u2013 Don Van Vliet Willie had just lost his<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":26594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,332,185],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-creative-writing","category-elvis","category-southern-culture"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/cherry7FEAT.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}