Nashville

            During my High School years I spent very little time at home. In my freshman year Daddy and Mama left me with Joann and Joe. I moved back home when we went to Livingston for my sophomore year, and I spent most of the nine months during school at home. It was during this time that Daddy got sick, and we moved back to Campaign. I never spent much time at home after that.

             In the summer between my sophomore and junior year Jimmy was living in Nashville. In Nashville he rented a trailer from a lady that owned a big hotel. It reminded me of the Bates Motel in the Hitchcock movie. She was looking for someone to work on the grounds, so I went to Nashville to work for her after I completed my sophomore year at Livingston. She furnished me a room with a private entrance. She cared for her mother that was bedridden. I worked during the day, and would walk over to Woodbine to visit friends at night, or walk to down town Nashville to hang out.

             The hotel was located on a hill above the state fair grounds. There were stock car races and other events going on at the grounds regularly. We would charge parking at the hotel for the events. I enjoyed Nashville when there was something to do, but often I was along. Jimmy and Linda moved back to Sparta, while I stayed in Nashville. I am not sure if the rest of the family knew that I was living in Nashville along. I wasn’t communicating with anyone at the time. I didn’t have access to a phone that I could use to call, and they didn’t have anyway to call me.  Besides, I didn’t have anything to say if I had called.

             One evening after work, I showered and started walking to Woodbine to see friends, and on the way got lost. It was a long walk, and even though I had been before, I was not real familiar with where I was going. I had left well before dark, but it was now getting dark. I decided that I had better turn around and go home. The Nashville streets can be difficult to learn, and I didn’t know many of the streets. I was lost and didn’t know how to get back.

             After a couple of more hours, I wasn’t any closer to finding my way when a car stopped and ask if I wanted a ride. I told the guy where I was going, and he said that he would take me there. When we got to an area that I recognized, we were going the wrong direction and headed out of the city. I told the man that I wanted out and he wouldn’t stop. He would time his speed as to catch the green lights so that he didn’t have to stop for them. I carried a guitar capo in my pocket that I could use like brass knuckles, so I slipped it on my hand, and waited for my chance to escape. As we approached a light, he had to slow down while the traffic in front of him started moving through the light after it had turned green. He wasn’t going to stop, but he had got slow enough that I made my move. I hit him beside the head as hard I as could with the capo in my fist. It knocked him aside, and I jumped out of the car into traffic. He was nothing he could do but go, and that is what he did. He went through the light and turned around to come back after me. I ran for all I was worth. I was on the Murfreesboro Road, so I knew how to get back to the hotel, but it was a long walk back, but I was not going to take another ride tonight. I watch for him as I walked back to the hotel. The shy was getting light as I made it back. I had been gone for twelve hours, and had been walking most of that time. I was beat, so I went to bed and slept all day.

             That evening I packed my bag, quit my job, and headed to Sparta. It was dark by the time I got on the road. I soon got a ride with a truck driver that took me all the way to Sparta. I was after midnight when I got to Sparta, where I walked the couple of miles to his house. He wasn’t home, so I walked another couple of miles to the Sparta hospital, and slept in the waiting room.