A long time ago, I started my first blog, bornfamous.com, to practice writing. I just came across this post and thought I’d share it here. I’ll share more of these archived posts in the future for paid subscribers. if you like my stories, I hope you’ll consider upgrading your subscription for as little as $5/month.
The woman turns on the television and flips channels absently, looking for something to pass the evening. The boy is gone for the weekend and she is suddenly aware of the silence in the apartment. She wants the sound of voices to fill up the place, to banish her loneliness.
On the screen Sheryl Crowe is singing. The woman starts to change the channel but she changes her mind. The song is “Orange Blossom Special”, which brings back a tumble of memories. She puts down the remote to listen and recall childhood, a jukebox and later, a boyfriend who taught her to love old country songs.
The song ends and the show turns out to be a tribute to singer Johnny Cash who, the woman remembers now, was reported to be very ill some time ago.
She wonders if Cash is dying, if the tribute is a hurried effort to praise the country legend before it's too late for him to enjoy it. She tries to feel sad about that, but she can't because the prospect of a bored, lonely evening has just vanished.
Cash's wife, June Carter Cash, comes out to sing “Ring of Fire”, and the woman remembers Johnny's deep voice on the jukebox in her mother's restaurant.
She sees the diner's tile floor and the red barstools at the counter. She hears the low roar of the bar rush crowd, still drunk from their night out, some talking and laughing, others arguing, eating steaks and drinking coffee before going home to sleep it off.
On the television, Kris Kristofferson sings “Long Black Veil” with Emmylou Harris in haunting harmony, and the woman is transported to the memory of her first love, who won her heart with this very song.
The words are those of a dead man, about the woman who grieves for him.
She walks these hills
in a long black veil.
Nobody knows
No one can see
Nobody knows but me.
More stars sing the music of Johnny Cash -- Willie Nelson, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Tricia Yearwood, Mary Chapin Carpenter.
The woman recalls how she once pretended, as a girl, that her father was still alive.
I couldn't remember his face by then, only his shape -- tall and thin, angular, with a mournful slouch. I wanted to see his face again.