Thanks, Doug. Dead right you are about the over-Ray-ing on that line.
Bill
> On 6 Aug 2015, at 4:05 am, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> i like the portraits,too, Bill.
>
> Get that ‘of,’ but it does perhaps jostle a bit. I also wondered if the repeat of Ray in 'as Ray's. Ray Molloy used to race’ is a bit too. Maybe ‘that way. Ray Molloy…’?
>
> Doug
>> On Aug 4, 2015, at 4:26 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Just got to pop round to Ray's
>> for a minute to see if he might
>> have a tail light for the trailer.
>>
>> Ray's: quaint that Dad would still
>> refer to his local service station
>> as Ray's. Ray Molloy used to race
>>
>> Minis, a cheeky, grease-faced loon.
>> Sold me my first car: a crimson
>> Morry 1100. Lasted six months.
>>
>> Ray'd shaken his head. Con-rod's
>> shot right through the back
>> of the manifold. It's buggered,
>>
>> he said, but I've got another
>> one in the yard. He did too:
>> white, rusty, peeling duco
>>
>> but the engine was toey-er
>> than my red one. Might be worth
>> transferring it to the better body.
>>
>> Or I could just have it as is,
>> for $100. Red one never got
>> a look-in. I slapped on the P's.
>>
>> Now, some old guy limps
>> out to Dad, shakes his head.
>> Jim, they don't make bulbs
>>
>> like this any more. Could try
>> Bunnings I suppose. Feel free
>> to put some air in those tyres.
>>
>> Dad's put 30 in one and started
>> phfffting about on the other
>> when the old guy shambles over
>>
>> with a dusty packet and a screwdriver.
>> Might just give this one a go for you.
>> Sure enough, the long globe
>>
>> does the trick. How much?
>> Oh, five bucks. Dad looks
>> at me. I take out a fiver
>>
>> from my wallet. You remember
>> my boy Bill, Ray? Hell,
>> it IS Ray, just fleshier, slower.
>>
>> He doesn't even look up,
>> just finishes screwing. You
>> sold me my first car, I say.
>>
>> Know what he did for his 75th
>> birthday last year, Dad asks,
>> eyes on the road.
>>
>> Took a cruise. Down the Rhine.
>> Ray's petrol always was dearer.
>> I used to go to the Caltex
>>
>> over the road. Now Ray's stands
>> alone. And over the road six
>> storeys of apartments are rising.
>>
>> bw
>
> Douglas Barbour
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuation 2 (UofAPress).
> Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
>
> Done in by creation itself.
>
> I mean the gods. Not us. Well us too.
> The gods moved into books. Who wrote the books?
> We wrote the books. In whose dream, then are we dreaming?
>
> Robert Kroetsch.
>
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