Memories of Petey. The hurt will never dissappear

Petey loved the river all right. If there was one thing Petey could never do without it was that damned river. He swore it talked to him and on very special occasions he'd let us in on his secrets. We'd sit by the bank, each of us with our own musings, and then suddenly Petey would say, "Guys, the river says that it's our teacher. Everything about the river is a lesson to be learned." That was Petey all over. I remember one special time when all four of us were together. It was a sunday afternoon and Petey was smashed out of his skull. So we went for a walk to see if we could sober him up a little, and we ended up down by that river. "The river's talking, guys," he slurred. "Guys, let me say something for a minute, guys." and we all had to stop and give him our full attention before he'd tell us. Then he leaned in close and we could all smell the liquor awfully strongly on his breath and he said, "That damn river's been lying to us. It's nothing but a whore." And he looked suspiciously back at the river and we never exptected it when he jumped right over the bank and into the river and started punching it. "You whore!" he shouted, over and over. We watched him for awhile, from the bank, and let him tire himself out, then he fell over and we had to jump in and pull him sputtering river water onto the bank. "That river's a whore." he said as soon as he could talk. "And it tried to kill me."

After that Petey never went down to the river much, but sometimes late at night when he was really drunk we could hear him screaming curses at it and we got up and pulled him back to the house so he wouldn't drown himself. The river sure didn't seem to care. In Memory of Petey
[Dave]
Time:9:13 PM

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