Saturday, April 21, 2012

Driving on a Dirt Road

I always find it strange what will kick off a ton of memories in my head.  Yesterday it was Jason Aldean's song, "Dirt Road Anthem"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ5IIDn_JXE

I spent most of my life on dirt roads so this song just stirs the memories.  Lazy summer days walking down that dusty dirt road to meet my first love whose job was to watch the cows while they pastured in the hay fields where there were no fences.  Of course your memories don't stop there.  That first love turned out to be gay and on down the line he propositioned the wrong red neck.  The results weren't pretty.

On another dirt road sits a house that always gave me the shivers because it was built next to a graveyard.  Years later the woman who lived there got up in the middle of the night and used a shotgun to kill her adult daughter and husband, then killed herself.  To this day nobody knows why.  Oddest thing to me is that her youngest son moved into the house and still lives there.

Across the dirt road and down through the pasture was the creek we used to swim in as kids.  Lots of great memories there yet, there was a section of the creek that was kind of creepy and that creepy wound up in a story that I wrote.

My parents were looking at a house one evening when the road behind us was suddenly filled with State Troopers.  A young man they were after was on foot and running through the woods that led down into the deep cut where another creek ran.  There was lots of shouting and guns drawn, but they finally took him down without shooting.  Funny thing was, the kid was a neighbor of ours.  And my parents wound up buying that house.

I have all kinds of great memories about those dirt roads, but like anything there's always a darker side and that darkness usually finds it way bit by bit into my stories.  How about you?  What sparks your memories and do you use those sparks to create new short stories?

11 comments:

pattinase (abbott) said...

And all my memories take place on concrete. Not a dirt road within miles. Concrete and brick can be just as romantic and just as dark at 16.

Fred Zackel said...

I have been think about a ghost story about a cillian (maybe "cilian") which is a very odd Irish type of cemetery. Hadn't thought about its effects on the people who lived in the house next door ... Hmmm. Thank you!!!

Al Tucher said...

Damn, Sandra, that's a lot of material to work with!

sandra seamans said...

Yes, they can, Patti! I've never lived in a city, just passed through them, but there is a darkness there.

You're welcome, Fred. Happy writing!

And that's just the tip of the dirt road, Al. :) It's always fun weaving the past into my stories.

Manuel Royal said...

I've lived out in the country, in suburbs, and in a city. They each have their own kind of light and dark spirits.

Sometimes memories crowd around one like fat kids going after birthday cake.

Mike Wilkerson said...

Shale covered with sand, actually. A section counts for a mile of 'em. We drove by sections. Rooks County Kansas.

sandra seamans said...

That's it exactly, Manuel!

And those sections all creep into your writing, don't they, Mike?

Brian Lindenmuth said...

I'm not an Aldean fan but I appreciate the sentiment.

I grew up in the city/suburbs but have lived in a rural area for the last 20 years. I'm becoming a country boy by default :)

How about "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" by Lucinda Williams and "Gravel Road" by William Elliott Whitmore (whose voice is made of gravel).

sandra seamans said...

Good songs, Brian, but there's a world of difference between a dirt road and gravel. :)

Have you ever stepped in a puddle of dust and watched the clouds of dirt wrap around your bare feet? You can see a vehicle coming a mile away before you even get a glimpse of that car. And if you're behind that car you choke on the dust it kicks up.

Chef E said...

Its gravel roads for me, since I spent a lot of time fishing, looking for signs of life, and learning to drive off back roads in Texas.

Hmmm they guy moved in. I guess if he did not see the mayhem strewed about, he lives in the past in the walls...

Great post!

E
Creative TMI

sandra seamans said...

Welcome to the Corner, E! Sounds like you've got plenty of stories hidden on your back roads, too.