Chapter 31
That Night in the Airstream
Most of us thought hanging out at the Valley of the Vapors music festival our last night in Hot Springs was a good idea, but Big Sam was lobbying to leave before midnight, so we could make that bar in Mamou, Louisiana, by morning. “And what,” Sally said, “be so damn tired you can’t dance?! You gotta be kidding. Not me, I can skip the bar in Mamou.”
“Yeah Sam, we can hit the bar by mid-afternoon if we check-out early tomorrow,” Rocky said.
“Youse jus don’ unnerstand,” Sam pleaded, “it’s a SAT-UR-DAY MORN-IN’ bar – the band’s a playin’ and ever’one’s dancin’. I hear it’s gotta sign, ‘No dancing on the juke box.’ By afternoon, er’body willa gone home, the prett’ girls all taken . . .”
“We’re convinced,” Sunshine said. “Come on Big Sam, ride with us. We can pack an extra twelve-pack before we leave town, and arrive in Mamou half in the tank.”
Big Sam hesitated, thinking Sunshine and Peaches weren’t part of the group just yet, and he might get abandoned along with them. But he felt a rise just below his belt, thinking about making it with Sunshine, and said, “Okey-doke, I’m goin’ with Peaches and Sunshine.”
The music festival was a big deal. Central Avenue was closed to traffic. The restaurants all put tables in the street. A big stage was set up in front of the Quapaw Bathhouse. It was a combo blue grass and country music festival. Huck went back and got his guitar, did an impromptu solo between acts, and was asked to stay on stage and join in. Whatever had ailed all these old-timers, their day in the spas seemed to have worked. Just about everybody was up and dancing to the fiddle music, the weather cooperating nicely.
Rocky and Skip eventually showed up, but Skip seemed subdued and unwilling to do his usual political-baiting routine. This didn’t stop Patty though, holding the camera interviewing anyone willing to speak. When we saw the film later, she had gotten some good stuff to blog. One of the best was, “I voted for Bill Clinton because he was from Arkansas and he could play saxophone. I voted for Obama because he was a Black man and could shoot some hoops. I didn’t vote for Trump because he’s a mentally disturbed white man who can’t dance, can’t play basketball, can’t do shit except put people down.”
About 10 p.m., the festival started to wrap up. Peaches said, “Let’s go – who’s coming with?”
Big Sam said, “Me.”
Then Huck surprised Sam saying he was having too much fun to call it a night, “I’m with ya on the ‘Sunshine Express’ to the next bar. Come on Rocky, what is fun anyhow?”
“Call in the morning when you’re at the bar,” Rocky told Huck, “and we’ll figure out hookin’ back up. Maybe you can grab a fiddle and keep everybody dancing ‘til we get there.”
“Damn,” Sam thought. “Huck tells me what a deep throat Sunshine’s got – and now it ain’t gonna happen!” He couldn’t have been more wrong.
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Sunshine and Peaches. Free-Love types all these years, even now in their 60’s. Whatever else you might think of Sunshine, she was genuine to her era, kind, tolerant and open, always bubbly and bright, and into sex – mutual sex – all types of sex. “Hey, it’s about pleasure!” she’d say.
Peaches’ Airstream had a back “bedroom” with a curtain dividing the back from the driver’s area. First, Huck disappeared in back for a while with Sunshine, while Peaches and Big Sam enjoyed a beer up front. Big Sam wasn’t saying much, but Peaches broke the ice saying, “You wanna make it with Sunshine? I’m sure she’s willing.”
A little later, Huck came back up front and said, “Sorry Sam, Sunshine says she’s worn out. All you get is a back rub . . . No – just kidding, says ‘come on back if you want.’ ”
Later on, for the movie, Huck told Patty everything that happened on the Airstream that night:
“Yep, we finished the 12 pack. Peaches drove the first few hours and I finished up. It was daybreak before Sunshine and Big Sam re-emerged. And get this! Sunshine starts telling Peaches – in front of me, no less – it was the best sex she ever had! ‘Peaches,’ she says, ‘I’ve got some new tricks to teach you. Sam here, knows how to set the mood. Found some late-night L.A. radio station playing soft music. Got my head right before anything else – gazing into my eyes, telling me how beautiful I am, asking me how I liked my sex. And, God knows from where, he pulls out this feather, then he did something no one else has ever done before – he said, ‘Ya gotta give me permission to come.’ Now, that’s a new one! I’ve never been so revved up knowing I was in total control . . . “
“And what did she have to say about you, Huck?” Patty asked for the movie, “Did you try any of our old tricks on her?”
“Hey,” Huck said, “you know I’ve always respected your wish to keep our sex life private. No, there’ll never be anyone as good as you, Patty . . . Remember the time, we . . . ”
“STOP right there, Huck!” Patty commanded, turning off the camera, her face turning red.