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Graveyard epiphany - Fate Fairies - book version
This entry was posted on 12/13/2011 1:45 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies:Fate Fairies - book version.
There I was, deep in a Southern state - Texas - a former Confederate operative too boot. As well, our work assignment had taken us deep into the black neighborhoods of Dallas. A large old cemetery had been abandoned by its handlers. In Dallas, Texas, that meant the property became a ward of The City. This particular cemetery was adjacent to Lincoln High School. Urban legend had it that Mean Joe Green, the Texas native and local favorite son, that played for the pro football team Pittsburgh Steelers, had went to that school.
This particular cemetery was huge. Needless to say, it was hard to maintain. The grass still had to be cut even though the property was not used any more. Some brain surgeon at City Hall determined it would be easier, quicker, and more efficient to mow the grass if the tomb stones were repositioned flat to the ground. In theory, this would facilitate an easier mowing environment. And, in theory, the driver of the mower could just drive right over the re-implanted and hopefully flat....tomb stones.
The task was assigned to the Park and Recreation crew I was part of. It was fate of course that this creepy and perhaps even gruesome project passed my way. The Park Department had upwards of 2000 employees. The City of Dallas often boasted a complement of 20,000 municipal workers. So lucky me - of all the actors and mooks that could have gotten the work order, I got the nod to dig around in an ancient grave yard.
One day during the project, a kid from the school wandered across the cemetery with a pistol. He paused and looked at us. Then he said, "Yah, that's what I want to do after high school - dig fuck'n ditches. You mother fuckers must be drop outs - you know what they say about drop outs...ditch digg'n fuckers."
Considering he had the weaponry, it was hard to argue with him.
In the mean time Ol' Sonebitch was on the backhoe digging holes ad nauseam. He dug them like a crazy man. Chunks of tomb stones snapped off and crumbled as Sonebitch swung his backhoe arm around and struck anything in his way. Sonebitch's holes did not match the size of the tomb stones. I was on this team that would "respectfully" put the stones on their sides and into the holes.
Ol' Sonebitch was an 18 year old kid out of East Texas come to the big city for work. As the 1980s economy slightly improved, the city budget afforded our service center a small back hoe. Once we were assigned the task of renovating the abandoned cemetery, the small machine was put on the task.
This job of unearthing the tomb stones and placing them flat as to make them easier to mow over, I thought was a horrible public relations move in the old neighborhood but who am I - just a guy from "West Consin." Anyway, Ol' Charles Cotton had been up on the little backhoe but having trouble manipulating the controls on the small machine to painstakingly move the tomb stones.
Ol' Sonebitch hopped up on the step of the tractor and said, "Let me run that sonebitch, Cotton!" Ol' Sonebitch proceeded to knock down, unearth, bust, crack, bury upside down, and essentially wreak havoc on the cemetery tomb stones. The small back hoe screamed as Sonebitch ran its accelerator wide open.
"They's just black folks under them stones anyway," we could hear Sonebitch say and expletives were added as he yanked on the controls and dirt and rock flew.
At break time Cotton shook his head, smiled, cautiously strolled up to and asked Sonebitch, "How did you learn to use a backhoe? And by the way, why do you hate black folks so much?"
Sonebitch smiled with a mouth full of dirty teeth, paused and said, "...my Grand Daddy learnt me!"
The stones looked like they had suffered through an earthquake directly under the cemetery. To me, it seemed an abomination. Generations ago, someone had put heart and sole into facilitating a humble spot on earth for a loved one after they died. At this point we were tearing the shit out of said humble plots of the many dearly departed restful.
About midway through the project I plotted some lame excuse to be put on another project. I think it involved painting a park restroom across town in a Mexican barrio. But most important, something else dawned on me like an epiphany.
It was at that point in my life, I would make every effort in my own case, to never be buried in a cemetery. I would be cremated and subsequently dispersed at the whims of the winds of the planet.
If I have anything to say about it, no future generation's Sonebitch will be digging up my grave like a madman just so some government authority can facilitate a perceived need to save time and money.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" - book version Category is a work in progress. The original vignettes are being edited for book form. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology of the book vignettes (chapters).
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