Birth of the Blue Missile

Guys,
I appreciate the comments, It's nice to know the story is being read by you guys, and as the new car is built I can only hope you guys become part of the continuing tale.

Back to the road trip:
When we caught up to Barry it was dusk and he was sitting on his porch jamming with a couple of old delta blues players. They were doing a slow twelve bar blues thing. And all I remember is the old black blues player constantly telling Barry to slow down. “Take it easy boy, take it easy” he would say, while he laughed. He knew taking it easy didn’t come naturally to Barry. Barry was just sitting there ripping it up. It was flawless and seemed effortless. Barry said he wanted to go down town to a ‘supper club’ sort of place that BB King was playing at that night. We agreed to take him, and off we went. We got to the club, I can’t remember the name of, I think was either on or just off Peachtree street.

When you entered, it was one large expanse of a room with a bar the full length either side, and a four-foot high stage with curtains at the far end. It could have been an old converted theater. There were about fifty tables, seating four, in the center. You showed yourself to your own table, and a waitress was there in a flash. We ordered some beer and waited for the show to start. Now there was an opening act we had never heard of, so we really weren’t paying any attention. All of a sudden the curtains opened up, and there was Kiss in full makeup screaming, and carrying on doing their thing! We both looked at Barry and asked him if he was sure we were there on the right night? Looking mortified he said he would check. He got up from the table and went to talk to one of the staff and returned. He said that yes BB King was playing that this was the warm up act. Well after some length of time, what ever it was it was wayyyyy to long, their set ended and the curtains closed. A few minutes later the curtains opened up and there was BB King with his band. He stepped up to the microphone, with one of his famous grins and said “ Well, wasn’t that interesting?” Obviously he wasn’t aware of who they were either.LOL He was marvelous that night and played all the songs we wanted to hear. We went back to a club across the street from where Barry was staying and watched him amaze the folks there for the rest of the night. I actually remember in the middle of him playing, half the place emptied out, so we followed them all. It turns out that a smuggled shipment of Coors had arrived in the back of a semi and every one went out to help get it inside fast. We all then went back to nickel beers and listening to Barry play. We crashed there and went back to Ted’s the next morning.

A few days later the trial took place. The courtroom was a small county court. It was a very formal dark oak interior with the normal benches and box for the witness next to the Judge’s bench. I was dressed in jeans and a tee shirt, a nice one though. You see I wasn’t really planning to be in a courtroom on that trip, of course everyone else was either in a suit or a uniform. The prosecution went first and after putting the arresting officer on the stand, the other officer was sworn in. When the officer who found the seeds was on the stand my attorney took the bags of seeds and spread them out in front of him on the ledge of the witness stand. He then asked him to pick out the pot seeds. He said to him, since his ‘cause’ rested on his identification of a pot seed on my seat in the middle of the night through a window with a flashlight, there should be no problem in him identifying a whole bag of them two feet from his face in the well lit courtroom. Well I will confess, see it keeps happening, the real pot seeds were all the dried out shriveled ones I could find in Ted’s stash, so they did not look the part. He picked out a sample and said he was positive they were pot seeds. My attorney snatched the bag up, and threw it up on the bench in front of the judge. The judge asked my attorney what they were, and my attorney said there is a label inside of the bag. The judge opened the bag and opened the label, which was blank. He looked at us and said “The label is blank”. Then addressing me he asked “Son do you know what these are?” while he held up the bag. Since there was only one sample with a blank label I knew which bag he had opened. I said “No sir, All I know is I got them out of the pickling jar in Mrs. Neugent’s kitchen.” He looked at the officer and slammed his gavel down and said, “Case dismissed!” He then said ”Officer this is the third one this week. I want to see you in my chambers now.”
We all were relieved and went back to the Neugent’s and we got ready to leave the next day. What I have not told you is that there was a small stash in the car tucked between the console and the seat, which the cops never found, but that my ‘buds’ consumed while I was in the JOINT. How could they?

The other thing I remember is the water pump’s seal went out and I had to change the water pump in Ted’s driveway with a pair of pliers. I remember that Ted could not get to his dad’s tools and we were on a tight schedule. I was not yet smart enough to be carrying a road kit of tools, yet another confession. But here is what I love about mopars doing the work with pliers was a pain in the *** but it was still possible!

More later
Andrew