The Weight by Jeff Boyd

Author:Jeff Boyd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2023-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

26

KEITH CALLED WHILE WE WERE eating brunch. We jumped in the van to pick him up on our way out of town. Skyler drove. William sat shotgun. It was Saturday, our sixth day of tour. When we rolled up to last night’s venue, Keith had his thumb out like he was hitchhiking.

“Can’t we just leave him here?” Skyler asked.

“Babe, no,” William said. “He’s our bass player.”

Keith got into the van. “Hey guys, thanks,” he said. “Let’s go to Sacramento.”

Luigi’s Fun Garden was a matchbox-shaped pizza parlor and venue in downtown Sacramento. After sound check was over, I stepped outside to call Ida. It rang and rang without an answer. She hadn’t answered when I’d called her in Pendleton or San Francisco, either. Those times I’d hung up. This time I left a voice message: “Hey. It’s Julian. Just calling to say hello. Haven’t heard from you in a while. You alright? Did you drop your phone in a body of water? Happens. One time I was floating down Sandy River with Richmond and Liesel. Did you know they broke up? Have you talked to either of them since? Anyway, we tied our tubes together so we could all stay close. It was one of those days where the world feels like it was made just for you. Wildflowers everywhere, even on the rocks. Sunlight flashing behind the trees. Everything was great until we approached these two big rocks. After the rocks there’s a rapid, so you aren’t supposed to be tied together because it makes it harder to navigate, but we were tied together, and the dangerous rocks were rapidly approaching. I tried to untie my tube from the one I was connected to, but the rope was wet and knotted up tight, so I couldn’t untie it. Things were looking bleak. Then, out of nowhere, this high school kid who was supposedly a lifeguard came at me with a large knife. He cut the rope. My tube flipped over, and I was stuck underwater. I went down the rapid that way: upside down, fighting for my life. Scratching my arms and hands against the rocks while trying to protect my head and the rest of my body. For a moment I thought I was going to die. Wouldn’t that have been sad? To be a Black man who drowned in a river surrounded by white people? Man. If I ever die like that, please let the media know I was a decent swimmer and the only reason I had THC and alcohol and whatever else in my system was because I was trying to live my life as a child of privilege like all of my friends. When we got back to Richmond’s car, I realized I had my cell phone in my swimming trunks. I went home and did the rice thing but it didn’t work. Did something like that happen to you? Did your phone take a bath and now it’s dead? I hope not. I miss talking to you.

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