What's It All Mean?

“To be sure, there were times you needed tall, tall boots, and every once in a while, if things got too bloated, or someone overreached, Taylor would rare back in his chair and – his one hand triple-tasking a whiskey glass, cigarette, and a pointer finger simultaneously – would direct our attention across the barroom to the opposite wall and say, ‘Hey. Hey. Hey.” Until everyone was looking at the photo-enlarged R. Crumb comic book cover just up the wall from the jukebox and beside the bulletin board with the postcards, bumper stickers, and headline ephemera. On the cover, Mr. Natural – in his robe and wingtips – is riding the sidewalk on a kick scooter. Flakey Foont and Big Baby are peeping over a wooden fence, and Flakey Foont says, “Mr. Natural! What does it all MEAN??’

And Mr. Natural, just cruising on that scooter, says “Don’t mean sheeit…”

Michael Perry
Truck: A Love Story