| Roadtrip to Sparks, Nevada
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| I walked into the bus station, there was a payphone in there
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| It didn’t work, but it was nice to look at
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| Enclosed in vintage ash, nostalgia, nostalgia
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| Payphones saved my ass so many times when I was young
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| Saved me from getting mugged over at the corner of Turk and something
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| Rain was pouring and guys were closing in on me and my new year’s flame
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| I told her, «make a call fast, I got your back"and within a minute,
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| up pulled a taxi
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| Well, the funny payphone memories from when I was younger and dumber
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| I once called my dad from a roadside payphone in Tennesee when I’d fallen in
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| love
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| I told him, «Dad, I’ve fallen in love and I’m getting married.»
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| He humored me and said, «How long have you known her?»
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| He was chuckling
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| He said, «Well mark, let me know when you’ve planned your wedding.»
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| A few weeks later I wasn’t with that girl no more
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| I could hear in my dad’s voice on that payphone that I was a smitten,
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| pussy-whipped kid
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| I didn’t know it then, but my dad did because he was my dad, old and wise,
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| and he knew me better than anyone else did
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| From there, a short trip to Reno, Nevada
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| The bus station was closed but I was so happy to see people of color gathering
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| They were sitting on benches outside the bus station in downtown Reno
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| The sun was glaring on the cement, contrasting with the fall of Sierra snow
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| Cat mountain
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| I saw three payphones inside but the cops wouldn’t let me in
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| I said, «Can I please use the payphone and get a sip of water from the water
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| fountain?»
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| They said, «Hey you, move along.»
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| And when I left I saw a nervous young man crying
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| A lost soul with nowhere to go, he’d just been dropped off at the bus station
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| People were advising him, telling him about small welcoming towns and making
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| suggestions
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| The cops said, «Everybody beat it. |
| Everybody get lost now. |
| Move along.»
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| As I walked back, I said, «Hey my friend, here’s some cash, grab it quickly»,
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| and that he did
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| Who knows what happened to him, maybe he found work on a privately owned exotic
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| animal zoo
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| Maybe he hitchhiked his way from Reno, Nevada to Kalamazoo, Michigan
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| Maybe he’s traveling from bus station to bus station
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| Maybe he’s fine, I heard a woman telling him that she’d pray for him
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| And from there we drove to the Truckee River
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| People were picnicking, happy as can be on that April afternoon
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| I climbed half-way up an overhanging tree where I stood and took a picture of
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| the slow-flowing Truckee river
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| And from downtown Truckee, we drove through Donner Pass
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| Where people ate each other up
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| And further down the 8 to Emigrant Gap
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| When we pulled in, there was a long cabin-like structure
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| She parked while I stepped outside and took a peek and saw people watching a
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| strange film
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| The portion I saw was a close-up of a woman’s skin
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| A kind man stepped outside and said, «How can I help you sir?»
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| I said, «I saw a sign for a payphone at the exit.»
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| He said, «That payphone’s been gone a long time.»
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| I said, «What's going on in there?»
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| He said, «We're showing a film because of our absent lecturer.»
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| I said, «Is he absent because of certain guidelines?»
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| And he said, «Yeah, we’re showing a film instead, maybe drop by another time»
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| I said, «What is this place anyhow?»
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| He said, «It's a rehabilitation center. |
| A 13-month program ranging from people
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| with drug and alcohol problems and also for people suffering with depression.»
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| I said, «Now, that part interests me, now you’ve got my attention.»
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| He told me the website when I left, he said «God bless you and safe travels man.
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| I said, «What did you just say?»
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| He said, «Yeah, that’s right, we’re a Christian-based program for 18 years old
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| and older.»
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| I said, «That's a very large age span.»
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| He said, «Well, 18 is adult.»
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| I said, «I see, just like prisons, when you’re 18 you share the same structure
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| as senior citizens.»
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| And I said, well, he knows, one day, he could have counted me in
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| «I'm intrigued by the part about depression, but I’m not interested in the part
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| about your religion
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| Plus, it’s too close to where the Donner Party happened
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| Plus, this place kind of reminds me of The Shining.» |
| He said, «Well, nevermind you, I didn’t come to you, you came to me,
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| you knocked on my door, I didn’t knock on yours.»
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| And I got in the car and I asked Caroline, «Does this place strike you as the
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| kind of place, with 13 months of time you’ll be healing
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| Or does it strike you as sort of cult-y, in that kind of time when the
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| snowbound place could mess with your mind?»
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| And from there we ended up in Colfax, and ordered pizza
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| And we were mesmerized by a young lady twirling pizza dough
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| And two lovebirds behind the counter were giggling flirting
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| While working away on their many pizza orders to go
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| Young love is so beautiful and painful and mysterious, wondering,
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| where will it go?
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| Will she go off to college and meet somebody new and break his heart while he’s
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| back in Colfax sprinkling cheese on pizza dough?
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| Will they have five children and live happily ever after in Colfax, who knows?
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| Will they leave town in an old Honda Civic and get married somewhere along the
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| Pacific
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| And live in a house in Mendocino with a yard full of abalone shells?
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| And get divorced, and she’s chasing him down for child support and alimony
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| Well, young love is so beautiful and painful and mysterious, where will it go?
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| Young love is so beautiful and painful and mysterious, where will it go?
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| Young love is so beautiful and painful and mysterious, where will it go?
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| I said, «Thank you, Caroline, for this road trip to Sparks and Reno
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| It was nice to go to the American and Truckee rivers and skip stones
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| And to see old payphones, and to drive along 6-foot high mounds of snow.» |