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

ROY’S BRAIN
has a remarkable memory.
Unlike most people, he has to work at forgetting. Otherwise,
his memories—which, for the most part, he is not fond of—would
crawl out of their dark, dank crannies and wreak havoc on his
life.
Once, when Roy was driving to a cleaning job on the Eastside
in J.J.’s blue 1992 Aerostar, the radio played Green Eyed Lady, by
Sugarloaf. Instantly, he flashed on a cold morning one April
when the frost looked like God had dusted sugar over everything
and he was maybe four years old and still asleep and someone
started stabbing a butcher knife into the cardboard box he was
in.
Whoever it was, was screaming profanities about Roy and
his family and how they weren’t really human beings, and that
the planet Earth needed to be cleansed of them—but that didn’t
stop Roy from hearing what was playing on the radio in the guy’s
car, its headlights blinding them as they scrambled from sleep to
escape the freezing blade of his butcher knife.
Green eyed lady, passion’s lady
Dressed in love, she lives for life to be—
What else makes Roy’s brain remarkable is just this—: most of
his memories are linked to music.
One of the reasons he likes Punk and Glam is because it holds
no memories—most of the nightmare that was his childhood is
associated with Rock ’n’ Roll.
One of the reasons he hates Van Morrison—that is, besides
his voice and how he looks and the stupid songs he sings—is
this—: Rick was really into him during what turned out to be a
ROY ROGERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY 1 1