volume one IN THE D U D L E Y C L A R K - Ohio Vine Tours

ROY STANDS BEFORE
28/RR, right hand poised to knock, his Sony tape player turned
off.
It’s been a wonderful day.
A day unlike any other.
It’s not every day he gets eighty-sixed from two stores.
He is filled with courage and aflame with confidence.
He is no longer Window Washer Roy, or Brother of Rick the
Asshole Roy.
He may not be exactly sure of who or what he has become,
but he knows that he’s a changed man, an altered version of the
Before Roy.
The fact he’s about to knock on 28/RR proves it.
But what’s brought him to such an uncharacteristic place?
What’s prompted such feelings of bravado?
It all began after he pressed PLAY.
click
Nothing happens for a little while, as the ferromagnetic tape
winds its way through the machine—much the way ferrous
water winds its way through the building—threads through the
capstan and pinch rollers, then across the electromagnetic heads
at approximately 1.875 inches per second.
And this is what Roy hears: static.
White noise.
Then comes a bump.
And then, after the bump, when his expectations are at fever
pitch, when he is holding his breath, unsure what to expect, there
comes a mournful whistling.
A tenor voice sings.
ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY 11