It’s not often you get a whole boxcar to yourself but the thing is you can’t very much enjoy it. The rocking motion puts you to sleep, over and over again. I was headed west on the Pennsylvania ’cause I heard there was a get-together around New Goshen, Indiana-never heard of it before but what else was there to do? You never know with these meetups. Sometimes 5 folks showed, sometimes 20, sometimes 50. The big ones a real hoot, plenty of drinking and swapping of stories both real and tall. Where was I? Ah, the sleeping. I don’t dream much anymore but I dreamt of Johnny last night. I knew because I woke in a sweat that was both cold and warm. That hadn’t happened in a while. Hope it doesn’t happen again soon.
I met him in boot camp-I’d gotten kicked out of the house, there was a war on that the U.S. had recently joined and I figured I’d do my part. He was there on the bus headed to the base. You couldn’t miss him. Bright red hair, pale skin like it was a thin cotton bedsheet. He was getting a ribbing from some guys and wasn’t getting upset about it, kept his cool. I noticed that about him. After we got our brushcuts the jokes died down a little but not with our drill instructor-he lit into Johnny something fierce but Johnny would just take it, I mean what could he do, jaw back at him? I figured our instructor needed a whipping boy and Johnny could take it so that’s how it went.
The first time we were all allowed off the base Johnny wore this bright red bandana or maybe it was a neckerchief?, around his neck. I couldn’t believe it. He was inviting all kinds of shit-talking but it occurred to me that this kid, a kid just like me, was his own man. From that day forward we buddied up. Most times when guys rode him he smiled and looked down like he had some sort of secret he was gonna keep to himself. Things got rough a few times and we got into some scraps but nothing serious.
We made it through boot camp easy and were sent to England in mid-May of ’44. Things were coming to a head, there were so many rumors flying round but I knew we would be seeing some action. Sure enough, we found ourselves on a transport ship headed to ‘Utah Beach’. I thought it was kinda funny that them Frenchman had a beach with the same name of one of our states. Johnny was sitting across from me and we were both nervous as hell but we kept looking at each other and it was unspoken, ‘I’ve got your back and you got mine’. Just before we were about to jump out he yelled at me to get my attention and I saw that he had his ‘lucky’ red bandana tucked in his chest pocket. Big grin on his face. I laughed.
We made sure we were no more than 3 yards from each other as we made our way forward. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Johnny fall backward, his face in the sand. I rolled him over and he was done for. It looked like the bullet he took hit his shoulder and went into his neck. His eyes were glazed over, his mouth was moving and nothing was coming out. Then his eyes rolled back into his head and time seemed to hang in the air for a bit. I couldn’t see anything around me, there was no gunfire, no explosions. But then a bullet grazed my arm, stinging me back to now. I grabbed his lucky bandana out of his pocket and moved forward with the rest of the unit.
I couldn’t tell you what happened the next few days-I remember anger, fear, desperation, dread and other stuff all jumbled together as one. It was night near a fire later on when I was eating my rations that I ‘came to’. I dropped my food and wandered a little bit, finding a shed that I collapsed into and I began sobbing. I cried for a long time, so long that I pissed myself, not that it mattered one bit.
I kept hold of his bandana in the belief that the luck would work for me if it didn’t for him. It’s usually folded away among my things but when we have these get-togethers I tuck one corner of it in my front pocket and let it hang down. You see, you’ve got to stand out in some way so that you can be identified by your brothers. At one of my first ones a guy asked me what my nickname was. “Nickname? I never thought about it”. This old fella said, “Look over there, that’s Doulbledown Pete, over there’s Triple Trouble and that guy’s Frank Fancy. You gotta have a name.” I looked down at the bandana trailing out of my pocket, “I guess my name’s Johnny, Dead Johnny, is what it is.” The old man looked at me, turning the name over in his mind, “Dead Johnny… Dead Johnny… damn, that’s a good one, folks’ll remember that one for sure!”
And that’s how I got my name, and I gotta admit it’s catching on. What is it, ’48? Maybe 1949? I’ve been at this now for a few years anyway and the name is starting to get around…
/to be continued
TO THE GAME!
Pats/Seahawks:
Cam Newton’s star turn last week caused many to overlook the fact that the entire receiving corps went 10 for 96 yards. That’s 2019 Michael Thomas numbers! Needless to say, this isn’t the most opportune time to get the passing game going. So look for more of Pats wr’s not being able to get separation and Cam trying to make the best of it.
Enjoy.
Brady can’t have that anymore he ‘s a losing QB in Tampa
Evening people.
Stupid Bills failing to cover
Salute to Amazon’s AI to switching from REM Nightswimming to 2 Live Crews Banned In The USA . It fits us to well
Thursday night game is going to be fun to watch.
Sensors are small enough nowadays, how awesome would it be if they wired up every player on one game/week for motion capture? You could really see the way the O-line works together and how all the pieces come together for run blocking
As long as they made sure to turn them off when they go to the toilet at halftime.
How about the put the sensors in the football so they know when it crosses the goal line or forward progress is or where the shanked punt went out of bounds
But ya that would be awesome
It would have to be a mesh, but pretty easy to do. It’s insane that millions of dollars are riding on some hardware and eyeballs
Do that and next thing they’ll start expecting cop cameras to work. Idk is middle America ready
Missed a block? “oh uh, coach, I forgot to turn my sensor on, but I’m pretty sure he had a gun”
The ball over the line 3D in the Prem is awesome
Coach O s mom
https://twitter.com/rodger/status/1307845527074152453?s=19
She’s a hoot
The Paul Giamatti Volkswagen ads are great. The Bill Belichick Subway ads are less great.
Almost like Giamatti is a terrific actor and Belichick is a monomaniacal prick.
Homer was knocked out by the kicker. D’oh
Kinks’ “Superman” as Cam Newton bumper music very apropos.
“Dedicated Follower Of Fashion “ works too.
Or “Dandy”
Only during the postgame.
A second Cam has hit the south tower
I don’t think I will get used to Cam the Pat this year. It’s really odd. Although I do enjoy the cognitive dissonance the refs are experiencing whenever they have to decide on a roughing the passer penalty
Speaking of cognitive dissonance, I need to roll a joint.
FUCK YEAH SUPERCAM WOOOOOOOOO
I want a footlong.
-sigh-
Deanna Favre
That was the laziest, dismissive disqualification announcement I’ve ever seen.
I’m okay with that. Normalize getting kicked out for that shit, I want to watch football, not snuff films
Better not watch any Dolphins or Bengals games this year then.
See ya Diggs. Gotta lead with the shoulder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg5lIpQkoOg
Put him in concussion protocol please, just because he got up relatively quickly doesn’t mean he wasn’t concussed
Yup. Sometimes they are so concussed, they don’t know they are really hurt.
Grumblelord had to approve it first
“OVER THE LINE, SMOKEY!!!”
—Cris Collinsworth
My repressed memory to THAT WILD CARD GAME just resurfaced with that hit.
yeeeee
That moment when you realize Kam Chancellor could not play today’s game
Tom Brady may not have liked N’Keel Harry, but at least he never tried to kill him like Cam just did
The Patriots’ shoulder stripes color combination are making me lightheaded. Either I need to call my eye doctor or that was an excellent move by Darth Hoodie.
JEEBUS, how’d you like to go through life named “Poona?”
Good thing dude is big.
He loves it when you call him Big Poona.
“Me Big Poona Tanga!”
Really depends where dude grew up
My penis has very complicated feelings about this.
That would have been roughing if it was Brady
I can see Pete Carroll lecturing the team about Antifa, and also starting to mispronounce An-tibiotics, an-tistatic, and every other word with the ‘anti’ prefix to match the idiot way Americans say Antifa
There was talk of renaming the Hawks Nest the CHOP Zone
ka-MAUL-a Harris.
Watch Carroll just run it in every time now
Little Hillary Clinton was not always this much of a drinker
Wait, Belichick let some milf get pregnant?
He can’t properly wrap up his face, what makes you think his dick is any different?
Wonder if Steve Belichick drives a bitchin’ 80s IROC-Z to go along with his haircut.
/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/310?cb=20180220191133
Oh god, Psy-ops wasn’t a misspelling….
In the censored for TV version it’s “Party Wagon.”
“My name is Buck, and I like to cluck a stranger in the Alps.”
Is it weird that I’m really irritated by the entire idea of putting a spoiler on a pickup? AERODYNAMICS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY
The mullet! My eyes!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ET5CBb7Nstc
I love them!
Cuz they’re awesome 😀
Look at that little megget run
It’s a good thing they can’t give penalties for being personally foul
Have to love a teasing out story…
/also the ‘Truthers is boned
Soft call
“CUT!”
-Porn director
“Send in the fluffers!”
That’s a damn good song.
Pffft, Santa Clara scored longer and faster
Michelle Tefoya (sp?) looks really good. If she’s had a few nips and tucks, her surgeon is an artist.
MILF ALERT!!
At 55, she’s moving into the GILF age range.
Close enough.
I’m in my 60s,that’s cradle-robbing for me….
FUCK YEAH DEVIN MCCOURTY WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
oh ugh, the jar
Well that was a gift
The hands tell the story — Greg Olsen
“Sigh.”
-Jerry Jeudy
Also, Belichick has zero fucking clue on how to wear a mask.
He’s in that category of old that doesn’t understand that sound will go through the mask. I bet he also yells into phones because he’s talking to someone far away
Grumble grumble learned it from your mom
Wearing over you mouth and not your nose is like wearing a condom over your nutsack.
And now I just hear the news about James White’s family. Fuck.
Traffic accidents are random and scary. I love driving, but every once in a while I get low-key terrified when I have a moment of clarity about how dangerous it actually is
Folks. Hope you’re well. Been a weird weekend here – I’ve been moping about the whole time, worrying about a COVID test – finally got it. Negative. TIME TO FUCKING PARTY AND GO PATS WOOOOOOOOOOO
GO BREATHE ALL OVER PEOPLE!
Glad you are able to drink without fear of covid!
CHUH CHUH
Great news.
Instead of this stupid country twang rock theme just play the whatever is the number 1 song on the charts.In this case its WAP by Cardi B fest Megan the Stallion.
A friend of mine works on a charter yacht, they had to make a rule that you couldn’t play “WAP” and “I’m on a Boat” more than once every 90 minutes, because people love to put those 2 on repeat
I do not know this song at all, nor do I care to. GIT OFF A-MAH LAWN
So after the bulk of the games this week, the NFC East, South are the only two divisions without a 2 win team, and if the Saints win tomorrow than it’ll just be the East
Nazi Hair picks New England
Sleepless in Seattle joke. Drink.
We should make shitty, alliterative rom coms about every NFL city just to make things easier for hackneyed announcers!
I see you found Carlie Jo, owner of a bikini barista stand in Kent, WA.
FINISH HIM!