Kisatchie Bayou

68 degrees at 2:29pm
down the Cane River
past the Yucca Plantation
where
Saxon, Steinbeck and Faulkner wrote
Where
Clementine Hunter painted
her collection of daily occurances
on a plantation
through the eyes of a black woman of slavery
To where the Kisatchie Bayou
ripples across logs and stone,
where small rapids arise
as a rarety in Louisiana.
The south, Cajun country lies
but 50 miles south.

9:56 in the bayou.
2nd night
The hard booze is gone
14 beers left
4 for Redz
and the rest I'll drink by sundown

3rd day in the bayou
Rain falls on Lucinda's rooftop
We stay in our barracks till 12:40pm
as the rain eases
we venture out as the last camper leaves.

I can still catch a flame
as the last piece of wood
was that of a large stretch of green oak
that I managed to split throughout the day with my little hatchet.
I foraged the bayou for more firewood
as our supply has nearly diminished.
Rain falls soft over
the sounds of cannon fire and
automatic rapid fire machine gun.
We initially believed the cannon fire
was thunder
until the late afternoon
or as we found out differently

Was getting prepared to make dinner
with 8 beers left in the cold water
when a red short box step-side P.U.
enters the camp.
He pulls in and abandons his P.U.
to enter the bayou.
We tend to the fire
and put dinner off
while we sit back
and enjoy
the success
of an actual flame.

When the stranger returns
to his P.U.
we secretly watch him
as he is clearly not camping.

He returns to his truck
turns and leaves
the parking lot
and pulls into the dirt road
then hesitates
and turns his Chevy off.

I've been chopping wood
so I have
my trusted hatchet at hand.
The young man
in his mid-twenties
dark haired
comes running
back to our van.

At this point
the hairs go up
on the back of my neck
and I aggress toward him
axe at bay.

Says his name is Matt
he's got a flat
wants to know
if we have a tire pump.
Sure I reply
and retrieve the pump from the van.

His truck
is parked
just beyond
some bushes.

I feel
I have to witness
this flat tire
first hand
to reassure
my curiosity and fear.

Sure enough
dead flat
and I am happy
to notice there is no passenger.

Says he has no spare
so we plug in the air pump
the slow procedure begins
filling his tire.
We locate the hole
which is really a rip
and contemplate how to repair it.

Do you have any duck tape?
Sure
so I return to the van
where Athena has Japhy
and herself
along with the axe
locked in the van.

I reassure her
that it is a legit flat tire
I inform her
that I have my knife on my belt
and that she shouldn't worry.

I find a nylon patch,
a small piece of rubber inner tube
and the roll of duck tape
in which
I return to Matt's truck with.

We managed to fabricate
a considerably secured patch
and he offers to purchase
my small air pump
I sell it to him for 20 dollars
although he wants to
offer 30 for it.
I won't take it though
so he
smiles at me
with a bunch of rotten teeth
and says
bet you'd like to have a good time
once in a while
Say what?
I ask him
and he replies
like them left-hand cigarettes?
And I take him up on his offer.

Then he
goes into stories
about what one should look out for
here in the bayou.
Says the army's blowin' up everything
tanks just through the trees
training for Afghanistan
says that's the loud explosions you've been hearin'.
Says there's lot of them hogs out there
some's them
mix with them Russian boars
ken tell by the colour of thems hair,
and gators get bad here for swimming.
We have to chase them off our docks
'fore going fishing
yep them and a lot of boars.
My friend he shot 17
in 2 days flat.
So what if I see one
will he come at be
or run away?
Don't rightly know
best be fixin'
find a good tree.
To climb?, I ask
Probably jest run 'round it.
And he starts scurrying in a circle
with his hands out
like he's holding the trunk of a tree
red dirt scuffs off his running shoes
as his excitement
and animation employs me.

What would make the hog go away
I ask
Well I don't go nowheres
'thout my gun.

The tire fills with air
and off he goes
with a half-filled tire
and my heart in my hand.