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1:18
Sufjan Stevens on 'Alanson, Crooked River' :
We would steal quarters from our dad’s pants pockets and go down to Andy’s to buy Charleston Chews and Laffy Taffy, which would cost five cents a piece. If there was no change, we took back cans of pop. You could buy a pack of gum with two cans. Bobby would play pretend WWF at the bandstand in the park, doing choreographed body slams, pinning himself down under the imaginary weight of Hulk Hogan, who was the only wrestler I recognized by name. We didn’t watch TV at our house, except The Smurfs on Saturdays and MTV the one time we hooked up cable illegally. For a year, the swing bridge was out of service. Someone spray-painted “Zilwaukee Jr.” under the railings. This made it in the papers.
One time my brother got his leg stuck in the docks. He said he was bug hunting. He said he chased a preying mantis to end of the pier and fell through. He was pinched between two planks of wood. It started to rain, then it started to hail. He dropped our sister’s insect guide in the river, for which he apologized later. Then he started to yell. The firemen had to come and chop him out with an ax. They brought him home naked, shivering, wrapped in a wool throw, his lips ice-cream white.
There was also the time one of our trees got stuck by lightning. My little brother saw it happen from behind the screen door. We spent the next day pulling splinters out of the ground. The papers came and took our dad’s picture. When our dog bit our boss we had to put it to sleep. Our mother cried all day.
Sherry and I picked wild peppermint at the creek and made tea. Sometimes we played tennis. Even though she was in my class, we never talked at school. She was in Special Ed. There was some kind of understanding. We wouldn’t even make eye contact. But after school, in the park, or by the sand bar, we were best friends.
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