How I Found the Spotlight

As I have been asked what I was doing in the spotlight. Yes I do requests. Here it is and how I got there.

The year was 1948. The twelfth year of my life, and a big change was coming . I had only known one house in my life. My dad built it himself, but Jonboy already told you about that. It was at the end of a dirt road in rural Kentucky. thinking back its name was ironic MOCK ROAD. It was named for the family Mock, but it was a mock road in the truest sense. Just scratched out of the yellow clay. Only six houses scattered along its half mile stretch. That's if you counted ours, although we technically lived on Piedmont, but there was no Piedmont it was only a line on a map somewhere. This however is about something else. My dad had something he had never had in his life. A JOB, Oh! He had odd jobs, but this was different. It was a steady job, with a pay check every Friday. My mother had worked her magic and with the help of the building and loan had a loan. That is something she had never had either. and now we had two houses. The one my dad built and one in Newport, Ky. Oh! By the way the street was paved. Here is the change in my life. Elm street. A Dr. Seuss moment here. ''And Think I Saw It On Elm Street''. Times were different back then segregation and all. The only blacks I had ever seen were at ball games and on the jitney bus. They certainly did not live on Mock Road. They did however live on Elm Street. It was the dividing line between the white part of town and the black part. Another irony north black and white south. As a hick I was out of place in the city. So I gravitated to the other side. The dark side as it were. Making friends with a boy named Golden Hall. He always had a pocket full of money. Quite unusual for a black kid (or any kid for that matter) in '48. It seemed he worked for Screw Andrews who owned the Spoatsman's Club and ran a numbers bank. Soon there after an opening came up to carry the bag. Golden couldn't get it, Him being black and all, so he asked for me, my being white and all. Suddenly I was making as much as my Paw. Didn't seem fair him working in the mill and me only carrying a bag around town. Yet, we all know life is not fair. All this is change in my life, but not the big change. That came when I began to hang around the club. I was always was telling jokes and making people laugh. One afternoon, after dropping off the bag Golden said, ''Screw wants to see you. For a bag boy those words made you shiver, was the bag short, did Screw think I stole the money? My life flashed before my eyes. trying to hide my fear I walked that long dark hallway to Screw's office. He looked up and said ''You think you are funny don't you kid''. Before I fainted he went on. ''The Emcee's drunk, think you can take his place?'' God I thought I'm not dead. I DAH MAN AND THAT'S HOW A LITTLE WHITE BOY GOT THE MIKE AND THE SPOTLIGHT.   © 2007 Naedknarf

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Reviews

[Creepy Swine Guy]

This is a nice opening chapter. The writing has an interesting style. It is technically sound and although there is not an explicit "hook", it has enough interesting elements to make me curious enough to read on. My plan is to read everyone's first chapter in the book group, and then double back and read on in the book(s) that attract me back the most.

[Jonathan Bryant Dean]

This is a true inspiration. I have heard this story and I have read it as well. I know that the original was lost when the site crashed a while ago. I like this version even more. You have given the story a new life with this re-write.

I would love to see your stories printed and bound in a book.

JBD