i broke the law and i used a gun

I met Kenny Rogers last night. I was at some kind of junior high or high school event/reunion. I saw old friends and acquaintances. It had the feel of some sort of ceremony; we were in a big hall with lots of seating. The lights were low.

At some point Kenny Rogers got up on stage. I was standing nearby and heard him start a really terrible song but it was great because it was classic Kenny Rogers and everyone, including Kenny, knew it. And he sang a beautiful song; I listened to the lyrics floating in the big, darkened hall. I went up to him and told him that I listened to the Gambler album a lot with my folks when I was a kid. I mentioned one of my favorite songs “Tennessee Bottle” and about how I brought my parents’ tape with me when I went to college and listened to it all the time in the dorms. He was handsome and very kind. I got his autograph after we talked for a few moments. Then I realized how cool it would be if he’d sign something to my mom. A small line had begun and, as I looked around, I saw my mom there, already planning on asking for an autograph.

Later, we were in some sort of hallway, it seemed like a hotel, but I think it was still a part of whatever place we’d been at for the school event. I was walking with two other people from school and Kenny. One of the other people was my old friend Damien, I’m pretty sure. I was dressed in puffy red pants and a puffy blue grey jacket and I wondered why the hell I was wearing such stupid clothes.

We reached some sort of opening in the hallway, a lobby of some kind, with two beds in it. Kenny got ready to lay down in one—apparently, he didn’t have a room for the night. We all talked some more and I gave Kenny a hug and I thought again, why the hell am I wearing this puffy jacket and these red puffy pants? We weren’t all celebrity-worship, we were just chatting but then Kenny said “You’re all starting to hang out,” which, it was obvious, meant “I’m trying to go to sleep now and have had enough.” So, we took off.

I exited some doors from Hughes Junior High and went outside to get my bike. It was dark with a big night sky. Once I got to my bike, there was a combination bike lock around it and I couldn’t remember the combination. So, I went to my grandparents’ place, thinking that if I could just find a calculator, I’d be able to recall the combination. I went into my grandpa’s office and tried to use his computer but I couldn’t remember the password for it. I was a bit frustrated until I picked up the keyboard and a calculator fell out from it. I tried using it but the batteries were dead. The computer had batteries, too, so I took those out and tried them in the calculator, but it still wasn’t working. My grandpa, who was out in the kitchen, heard some noise as I was changing out the batteries and yelled “what the hell are you doing?” He was really mad. I yelled back “all these fucking batteries are dead!” Then he came storming in, really irate. I got up and we yelled a bit as I was leaving. Getting out into the garage, I noticed his black pickup truck was dirty, so I found a hose and started washing it off. I heard my dad’s voice say “I’ll ask Papa tomorrow who cleaned his truck.”