WORD DEPOSITORY

A friend told me a funny story once. I wish this was my story, but alas, some things are out of our control.

My friend Justin went to college at a southern party school, and he quickly fell into the lifestyle. He was a dirthead, a fan of metal and hard rock with hair down past his shoulder blades. In college he got into The Grateful Dead, and smoked a lot of weed.

His weed hookup was a fellow dirthead, and the two of them hung out a lot getting high. But one day Justin called him to buy, and the friend was out. “I know a guy who can get us some, though. I just need you to drive me.”

They arrived at their destination, and Justin was pretty nervous. This was not a good area of town. When they knocked on the door, a menacing so-called “gangsta” greeted them with little more than a grunt and nodded for them to come on in. This was the late 90s, and the gap between long-haired burnouts and hardcore rap fans was vast.

The room was full of other tough looking guys. Master P was blaring from the stereo. Justin surveyed the scene and got nothing but glares from the guys in the room. But one face caught his eye. He looked familiar, and Justin couldn’t place him.

They made their purchase and were ready to go about their way when the guy he recognized called to him. “Hey man. Your name Justin?” and when he heard his voice he remembered who he was. They’d gone to elementary school together and were friends in 3rd or 4th grade.

“Victor?” Justin asked.

And then Victor bellowed to everyone in the room, “HEY YO, THIS MOTHERFUCKER WON THE SPELLING BEE!” Everyone cheered.

They proceeded to hang out and get stoned out of their gourds, and a great time was had by all. Weed and elementary school brings us all closer together.

I’m putting together a storytelling event in Atlanta, date TBA but hopefully in May, and I’m looking for storytellers. The live show will supplement the podcast I hope to launch that will also feature stories from people all over, either recorded at their own events or just into a mic with no one around. Please let me know if you’d like to record something or if you’re local and are interested in doing the show. Feel free to reblog if you think your followers might be interested. Contact me at corybyrom at gmail. Thanks!