Mom and I were walking the dogs down an aisle of only trailers, with the dogs in front of us, walking along. We talked about some things as we then turned around, seeing the gated small playground by the road and a little building, with some kids on it. They then went on a bus that stopped, and went away. So Rex must be among them, I thought. He said it was across the street. We went back, and later at the R.V. sat down in the lawn chairs outside, and talked as a short haired old lady passed by. We said hi to her, and got in a conversation, as she sat down on the bench with her bag, that she was going to use when she was going to the restroom. She said that she was a security guard at a construction site, and that she would usually bring the R.V. and make turns around, her husband sleeping some and then herself sleeping, off and on. She was usually guarding against graffiti people and kids, and related to us one time how she came to kids and told them that she had the 91 on the phone, only one digit remained. They didn't bother her again. But she also related to us, through breaks in the dog-walkers coming around and the dogs barking furiously at them, pulling on us. I walked Rocky, who needed to pee, a little bit.
Then I saw Rex, him walking with a back-pack on the street away from me. I said hi, and he stated that he would be back at noon. I said goodbye to him, wondering if we would make it back at noon. But, I listened to the lady again. She was opinionated and had a raspy voice, but was pretty nice, just kind of gruff. She then went to tell us about the old great grandmother, who died a while ago. One of her sons got cancer, another a motorcycle accident, and one of them married a "JAP. (I thought she meant Japanese person.) Do you know what that is? Jewish American Princess. I hate her guts. She will always show us all the jewelry he gets her. Personally I don't think he's happy." It was interesting to learn about her family and all that happened to them, and their names also. Pretty bad things happened to them, and they weren't very together anymore. Kind of sad. I'm glad that my family isn't like that. They were a really ill-fated family, I must say. Well, we said goodbye to the lady after a while, and she went away to go take a shower, and for a few minutes we stayed outside, before taking the dogs in. Dad and I talked about how we were going to go to Dallas to see the JFK Assassination site, and I saw a movie on BrainPop about Theodore Roosevelt, and it mentioned that McKinley was his predecessor, how was assassinated. Pay attention to this, it will come back later in the blog.
So we were going to Dallas! It was decided, that we would go to Cowtown (an R.V. park) the next day. I was excited to see Lauren, and texted her telling to tell her Mom if it would be okay to meet. She replied that her Mom was in a bad mood and might say no so she would ask later. We just hoped she would ask soon enough. But anyhow, we got ready to go and then came into the car. Before coming inside Mom gave me some multiplication flash cards, and told me to do them with Rebecca. Back in the car, I brought my Tramp book, which is what I'll be calling it from now now on. We drove out of the R.V. park, and down into Austin. I was trying to be nice to Rebecca, even though she made me annoyed and answered them slowly. We came up a hill into a neighborhood, and we saw some cool flat houses with cutting edge architecture, and it was really cool and retro. Kind of futuristic also. They were like Brad Pitt's Make-it-right homes, but not shotgun homes, more regular and all slick. Rebecca stopped doing multiplication facts when we came in here, looking at the different colored homes and everything. We went back down the big hill, and Rebecca answered the questions and problems slowly and in a funny way. I was annoyed.
But then we came into Austin, and only a little ways away from our R.V. park, on the University of Texas. We came upon the Longhorn's stadium, and looked around before coming on the LBJ Presidential Museum, which is actually on the property. Later we would look at more of the homes and areas of the University, and it would be really cool. But for now, we would pull into the parking lot and get out. There were square buildings, grey brick, and they were held up by rectangle columns. It was a kind of... uh... dull and boring two buildings. I hoped that this wouldn't be a foreshadowing of what the inside was like. Locking the car, we walked, looking at the grey sky above us and the uncertainty of rain possibly. We walked up between the two towering block buildings, and we then I saw on my right a T.V. and lounge chairs, inside of the building on my right. We walked on, and to the right was yet another building like the other ones, and this was the Presidential Library and Museum. The other rooms were meetings for the council and executives, and the Plaza and waiting area. It had little to nothing to do with the museum. Well, we saw the security guards outside and also behind them the skyline of Austin, all the buildings. It was really pretty. So far, my favorite city was San Antonio, but later in the blog that might change.
We walked in, and the doors opened by the security guards. In here was a large counter, some T.V.'s, and a lot of brochures. Nice place. On the left was a door and there was a large opening on the right, with cases and dials and all of the other things you would see in a professional museum. We walked up there, and an old blonde haired lady told us many things to do, old heart. She talked about the top floor and the mock oval office, plus a special exhibit of about the history and legacy of Security guards, and some other things. She said a movie was about to begin, and that they were the ones that started it up. We thanked them as half of us went to the restroom, the girl half. Dad and I went up a step and opened a door by the entrance of the museum, and we found ourselves in a cool red theater, with stairs downward. Nice seats. I looked at the map and brochure, with the glossy paper. It stated that this was the only Presidential Library that didn't ask for pay from people. Only generous donations. That's pretty nice. Well, we said it talked about the place that he was born, on a ranch. He was a country boy. We talked a little before Rebecca came in, and a small thin old African American lady came up, and leaned against the railing on the ramp and stairs that went down to more seats. She cleared her throat.
In a soft and kind of high voice, she told us that this was the only presidential library that people didn't pay in, and something about Lady Bird wanting to be a journalist. She also mentioned that she did a garden outside sometimes and was very active in the community. She was nice enough, the old lady, but her talking had no sense of direction, it seemed she just said what was on her mind, mentioning the LBJ ranch at Johnson City, Texas, and where he was born on a farm near Stonewall, Texas. After a while the old lady said she would go start the movie, and waddled away, slowly but surely. She went into the back and then the lights dimmed and the movie's lights on the screen flashed up, and the movie watcher was brought into the all-too familiar dream that is called a movie. It was short but pretty good, going over LBJ's whole life from his humble beginnings in Stonewall, Texas and him going to High School, and becoming a teacher to mostly Mexican children, and how that's how he got his legacy for wanting children to have education. It showed articles and went over his life in only a few minutes, which was good to have a beginning before going into the museum. He went into D.C. as he became a secretary, went into the House of Representatives and then lost the Senate, before then getting elected into the Senate. It was very interesting.
After the movie we got out of the theater. It was pretty good. Outside now, we started in the museum. It was a timeline, with artifacts below all of it, and the live of LBJ and the time period were both on there. I read EVERYTHING. It went through time periods, starting with WWI and talking about his family and pictures on the wall of his farmland origins. On the right Mom called me his grade sheet, a small brochure size thing talking about his grammar. He got a few C's and B's. Can you believe that? A president of the United States got those average and pretty bad grades? Man, that is beyond me. But, even though this museum was about LBJ, there was also talking about Lady Bird. Her real name was Claudia, to a good family, but they had a nurse that mentioned she was as, "pretty as a lady bird." The rest is history. She, on the other hand, had wonderful grades and was a vocational speaker, very good with her words. It seemed that she would make a great journalist. Well, on the timeline it said that that he graduated from Johnson City High School, and that was in 1924. As I moved along, I came into the next timeline, the Roarin' 20's. It talked about that Charleston Dance, and in a large glass case to the right was a 20's fashion lady, doing the all-so popular dance. Well, not too popular nowadays.
Back to Johnson's life. You know that city's name that I mentioned earlier, Johnson City? Well, it's name after him, if you can believe it! But he moved away from that, to teach in a small grade school in Cotulla, Texas, to mainly Mexican kids in a very poor place, the kids not even having money for such a thing as soap and shoes. Johnson supplied it to them, from his mother back in Johnson City. He did that just to wet his feet in the real world, afterwards getting a Bachelor Degree of Science in Southwest Texas State Teacher's College. He met Lady Bird who was a graduate from University of Texas, and they had a 11 week courtship as Johnson went to become secretary to Congressman Kleberg. Some person observed that Lyndon was very enthusiastic and as full of juice and energy as a 5 year old girl or that Reed dude who used to be on American Idol. (The friend didn't say that, I did.) He also remarked that although the Depression was in full swing and it was so bad, Lyndon was having very good Expressions about the Depressions. That guy, whoever that guy was (I forgot) is very witty. I might have to call him for jokes in the blog. Well, he's probably dead by now... but anyway.... He married Lady Bird in 1934 and she joined him in Washington.
At this point Dad needed to go to the restroom, coming back to me from his stay up farther in the museum. I liked the way it was designed. Rebecca needed to go too, and she told me to take her down, but Dad volunteered in my place, saying it was good that I was reading all the things in the museum. At the beginning of each section was a column of words about that decade of time, and an overview before you read more. I was reading about Babe Ruth, and then came upon the 40's. Ah, the 40's. The war starting up, and then the end of that decade. I watched a movie and photographs of Johnson bursting with excitement as he went into Washington D.C., and getting friendly with President Roosevelt who made him Texas Director of National Youth Administration, and right before how he got into the U.S. House of Representatives, in the 10th District, whatever that means. He wanted to get in the Senate, and about that race Lady Bird said that it was a lot of fun going to rallies and meeting people and doing all that, even though they lost. Then U.S. entered the war. Johnson did a lot of stuff, going to different battles and flying a patrol bomber that was hit by a Japanese. I saw the silver star for gallantry he received, and I looked in the glass case and saw a Navy uniform, and an army one and a pilot one. It was cool that this wasn't just about LBJ, but about the history of the U.S. and the world also, his life tying into some of it.
FDR was fast friends with LBJ. Hey, a question, why do we feel the need to use their initials when talking about them? Is it because their names are too long? Nobody goes GWB for George W. Bush or RWR for Ronald Reagan. I guess they just did it for the older presidents, maybe. But what about Abraham Lincoln for... oh wait he doesn't have a middle name. And why doesn't he have a middle name? But anyway, back to the blog.
He was in the Special Duty officer, naval intelligence, and then in the U.S. Navy Reserve. They showed us his cool hat he wore. He had left earlier in 1941 the House, to get away from politics a while. In 1948 he went into the Senate for Texas on Nov. 2nd, and then also was elected again in 1954 and in 1960. I passed out of this area of moving flat blocks where the info was, now into a large hall, and there was a large concrete or marble staircase going up to the next floor. To my left I saw Mom on a bench, watching a little movie on the television, and there was a black limo underneath the wide stairs. I watched a little, and she said hello, telling me to look at the black part that was "The Day the Earth never forgot" or something of the sort. I mentioned I wanted to do the timeline in order, and not do that yet. She was looking at a video about Johnson's motorcade car (that limo was the one) that followed JFK the day he died. I looked at the video a little bit longer, but drifted off into a section about Johnson's outer family and all the pictures, accidentally starting at the opposite end your supposed to start in. I looked at recent pictures of the Johnson's, and looked at the caption. Nice family. Since they only had two girls, Lady Bird and Johnson, so their are no namesakes. Well, I have a teacher named Mrs. Johnson! Maybe he had a long-lost daughter!
Andrew, what a numb butt you are! A lot of people have the name Johnson! Do you know how common it is? But I walked on, staying to the right wall. He was leader in the Democratic party in the Senate, and about that same year Spupnik was launched, in 1957. Apart from the big blocks and the maze squiggly line formation that the museum had prior taken, I now had the timeline at the top, and only a little bit of things, only a small line really, on the right wall, with artifacts downward. It was pretty cool though. On the cold war and the Russians it spoke about exclusively. He also led a campaign, to strength the space race, to establish the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Earlier I had been showing cool things to everybody, and showed a few things to Mom also. It seemed that he didn't seek the presidency, he was nominated for vice presidency by Speaker Sam Rayburn at the Democratic Convention. He was defeated by John F. Kennedy, a democrat from MA. But, in a dramatic turn of events, JFK, thinking that LBJ was smarter and older than the younger new president, unanimously voted as nomination for Vice President. The people of Texas made him Senator for a third term, but he soundly resigned three minutes after being elected. You can't do two jobs at one time.
What was funny was that LBJ was fast friends with JFK, just like he was fast friends with FDR. Lady Bird and Jackie got along well too. Well, this right little spot focused on the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and in a cubicle was a T.V. interview where JFK talked about all the missiles there, and addressed the nation. I leaned up against the carpet black wall. Well, finally, after that, I was to that part that Mom had said I should go to. Right in front of it was a picture that I can only describe as horrifying. It was of a Buddhist Priest in China protesting the Vietnam War. How was it horrifying. For one, he was bald, and his hands were raised up at the sky, and the flames, orange, red, and yellow, were engulfing him and burning him, and his fiery eyes were looking straight at you. Man, it made me so scared that I couldn't see straight. Those eyes, the face and all the charred black and brown unnatural skin color, it was enough to make a brain surgeon puke. Enough to make a maker of wax monsters be afraid to sleep the following night. But anyway, away from that, I signaled to Mom that I was going into this dark area, the "Day the World would not forget." And I would never forget that exhibit. Never in my lifetime. Then I saw it.
The movie T.V. had a women's voice played over tapes and video and pictures of JFK waving, and it was Lady Bird's voice, her saying that it was such a beautiful day that day, and that she heard a pop, and then saw JFK fall down, and talked about all the people she was waving too, and that Agent Youngblood made them get down after the shot. I went on, seeing a small timeline and numbers and dates, and a large picture of LBJ being signed in as 36th President of the United States, on Air Force One, putting his hand on a small Bible and being the first president sworn in by a woman, Sarah T. Hughes, and how Jackie was right by him, in a blood splattering jacket. Then, I read further around the corner to the right, now at the end of this small exhibit, of Jackie Kennedy writing a heartfelt letter, four pages long and written on a hotel sheet with the logo on there, and saying that she kind of wished that LBJ was never president, because of the loss of her husband, and that she loved them and would never forget them, recalling good times. She said that she loved Lynda Bird the most, because she had known her the longest, and that they had sat together at a Democratic Convention before the Presidency, and that she never knew that she would be in such circumstances with her as they did happen, at that moment. It was very bittersweet, the letter was. Sad, but nice at the same time. Jackie was a good writer also. That was a really touching exhibit.
The rest of the first floor was about the trials and tribulations of LBJ's presidency, how he addressed the nation saying he wouldn't be perfect, and that he would try to push for rights of all kinds. Mom told me that Dad and Rebecca were already on the second floor, and to push it up a bit, as I went through a section about civil rights, a sculpting of hands that were all tied together, and sit ins. Turning right into a little corner with no exit, I came upon a really cool sculpting of all these different bills that LBJ pushed for and made, and that he wanted every person to have education, and that thinking was influenced by all the Mexican kids while he was a teacher. They were all in a line in front of me, and were up over a paragraph about each of them. Among the laws he made to make the country better were:
-Civil Rights (the sculpting was of a white hand and black hand interjoining.)
-Education (in this case it was a kid with a pencil and book, all of this was very colorful)
-The Environment (a small little sculpt of the world)
-Head Start (it's about helping poor underprivileged able to have a education, and it was poor kids smiling.)
-Job Corps (grain, and shovels and farming tools)
-Medicare (a stick with snakes on it,)
There were two others, National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities, which was instruments and a palette, and War on Poverty too. But can you believe that LBJ did Medicare? Some of the bills were influenced by JFK's laws, but most were LBJ's. Yeah, he did all that great bills, enriching people's lives. I know that much of his presidency is shadowed by The Vietnam War, and a lot of people say he wasn't a good president because of that. Don't deny it! You all know who you are. But anyway, he did a lot of things before that, and I'm trying to think if any of you could've done better. Because half of you, some of you oldies, depend on that for your financial support, and it's his doing! Oh and I'm talking about Medicare. And YOU know who YOU are. But anyway, I'm done yelling at you. Don't be offended if you don't do that. I'm not accusing you of anything. This talk is for the people who did do it. And they know who they are. Now, let's get back to the blog.
I got out of the dead end, satisfied with this part. Backtracking myself I came into an alcove that came into the bigger region, and turned right where it talked about the Vietnam War and the Gulf of Tonkin, and how Johnson dealt with it. I didn't do this section long, as Dad and Rebecca came up behind us. I wanted to be able to do the museum with them, not just Mom, and to speculate and laugh and talk with them too, not just have them speed along. They said they were done with the second floor and the third floor was all that was left that they didn't do, that they would do it with me. I looked and took a final swag of the bottom part, as Rebecca and Dad sat down on the bench on the right side of the large staircase, and Mom and I went up, alone. Sigh. That part isn't of much interest of the blog down there, it was just a closed off dark exhibit, some talking about marines and pictures of people who got the Purple Heart, and funny cartoons and people who were criticising the President. Not too nice stuff either, I must say. Well, we walked up, seeing the so high ceiling and above us and forward glass high levels of beige shelves and books, all in a fat beige container, numbered. We didn't go in there, but all the documents were sealed tight. That's pretty cool.
In this so large, room, if you can call it that, I looked around at my square surroundings. Coming up from the stairs, to my left was a cubicle, with pictures and words, and an opening into the exhibit. This was what that lady was talking about, the special exhibit about The Secret Service. Then, there was a wall, with many pointillism paintings of LBJ, and Cubism. On the right were copies of the paintings I had seen at the Museum of American Art and Portrait Gallery, in Washington D.C. They were of the presidents, with captions and their dates and times. This room was huge and airy, I said. Turning around I saw on my left, another cubicle, shaded, saying "Talk to Lyndon. Then there was another wall, the left one, which had paintings of the first ladies, and another glass thing. I didn't know where to start. I guessed I would do the Secret Service thing. I walked over on the hard polished floor, looking at a few paintings as I drifted in. There was a four-sided column, that had all the info on it. It was very interesting, and before McKinley the secret service was authorized to find counterfeiters and stuff. I read a part that had a picture of somebody who did that, and he had a funny story with him. There were sections like the origins and all the times. Then, I saw it.
It talked about how McKinley died in 1901 and how after that the congress made the Secret Service protect the president. I read as through the decades they added it to the close family, and when Robert Kennedy died how they protected the presidential candidates. I went around to the other side, seeing the heroic people who protected Gerald Ford, and the two attempts by women. Then, there was a block of the cubicle all about the wonderful people who risked their life in protecting the president, all their names. Thank you, Secret Servicemen. We are truly indebted to your service. Well, done with seeing this, I brought up Rebecca and Dad, and showed them it, after all their stubbornness. I thought it was a big coincidence that I read about McKinley's assassination earlier in the day, and that now I was reading more about it. Remember me saying you should hang onto that name and remember it? Well, that is the reason. But that secret service deal was very interesting indeed. Mom was talking to some people at one far end, by a balcony door that looked over the whole scene of Austin, while I looked at some different things. I listened to a fake wax moving robot with plaid shirt and straw hat, the old LBJ, who was supposed to be a good story teller, and talked to some ladies along the wall of First Ladies, speculating about these women I had never seen before, most of them, some ugly, some not. The women I was talking to worked there, and were doing trivia to make themselves more known. When Mom was done talking to those people, she talked to those people a little bit.
A part by the balcony had all this things about articles of kings and queens, and that was cool to look at a little. I was only really interested about LBJ though, wanting to know about this guy. We finally finished on the airy second floor, which was pretty cool, but not much about his life, just special exhibits. We were ready to go to the third and final floor, going through a hallway and and pressing on the elevator door. There was another lady who joined us, tall and brown haired. Very sharp dress. Well, we made our way up, going down a hallway and a big area where there was a part of the museum all about Lady Bird, with a platform and podium, and more cases of different sorts. There was also the opening of a room in front of us, where you look at it, with painted walls and a gate not letting you go in. I looked at the Oval Office as it would be in LBJ's time, with paintings of Andrew Jackson (fellow democrat) and FDR (his idol). There was a short table in the middle of the room, with a phone that could come out of a small holder and other thing. The desk was pretty plain. I read a quote from Jackie that LBJ could take down the ship pictures that JFK had, and to make it his own. She is a nice lady. She didn't turn mad like another First Lady who's husband was assassinated, Mary Todd Lincoln. She thought her dead sons were talking to her.
Mom started talking to the lady and then the lady went down back into the elevator, in an act of speed and hurry. Mom told us while we were looking at the Lady Bird exhibit to be on our best behaviors, that the lady was going to get a packet student guide about LBJ Library and Museum, spiraled, Material for Students. We thought that was very nice of her. She wanted to get it because she heard about the trip. I looked around at LBJ's dresses and stuff, and her reports at school and the podium, where she talked about some things. Down in a corner was a part that said she wrote most of LBJ's speeches, and that marrying her was the smartest thing that LBJ ever did. It was funny. But the elevator dinged, and the lady came over, introducing herself as Marsha L. Sharp, and I shook her hand, saying I was delighted to meet her and being extra proper. She was an Education Specialist, and gave us each a spiraled red notebook, pretty big, saying
THE LYNDON BAINES JOHSON
LIBRARY AND MUSEUM
EDUCATION MATERIALS
FOR STUDENTS
with the logo at the bottom. We thanked her very much as she described the pamphlet, saying about it and also she talked that it was cool we were doing this, mentioning places where the other Presidential Museums are, with the contact info on a small page in the packet we had. After talking to her I went right and looked at Lady Bird's office, and it was pretty regular, with all the papers on the floor, for she stated that that was the best way to organize things. Mrs. Sharp described her job, that Lady Bird was a very smart person and that LBJ was a great man. Dad was pooped from the museum, he sat down on the bench, tired, as he looked at a timeline of LBJ's life and inventions in his lifetime. It was very interesting to them that Tupperware and the Atomic Bomb were created in the same year. And that in his life time sunglasses, computer mouses, hula hoops, Mr. Potato Head, T.V. dinner, cable T.V., black and white T.V., and Tylenol were all created during his lifetime. We were all so hungry, wanting to have lunch as we hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, had walked around with the speed of an Andrew (they say "the speed of an Andrew" because I take so long) and it was four so we needed to eat!
We thanked Mrs. Sharp again and said goodbye, and went down in the elevator to the first floor, going to the restroom as we excited the building, Mom and Rebecca in front, in the rain, through the buildings, to the car! They pulled up the car as we got in, and I tried to put the packet inside of my jacket and not get it wet. I'm glad that we went to the Presidential Library, it was very interesting, very informational, and really cool because of all the artifacts, pictures, and all. If you want to learn about Lady Bird, go to the third floor. If you are more of a special exhibit and want to see a funny person, listen to the wax LBJ talk. It has something everything can enjoy, right on the hill overlooking Austin, with a lot of facts and a movie and everything. It's really cool. If you go to Austin, I recommend against everything else, to visit the LBJ Museum. If only one day is your stay, do that. Lyndon Baines Johnson was a great man, and even though he made mistakes in Vietnam, he did a lot of things, helping out education and the economy alike. If LBJ was never president, we wouldn't have medicare or the Job Corps or The Civil Rights Acts of the 1960's. Let's give a round of applause for old Lyndon, aye? Thanks for all you did, man!
LBJ said this of the museum, and I quote, "It is all here: the story of our time--with the bark off...There is no record of a mistake, nothing critical, ugly, or unpleasant that is not included in the files here...This Library will show the facts--not just the joys and triumphs, but the sorrow and failures too." Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1971.
He saw the Library of himself, and the museum, in 1971, two years before his death.
I am so glad we went though. Oh and by the way, all the information I have told you, with the dates, is from that packet that the good lady Mrs. Sharp gave you. Most of it is from the actual Library and Museum, so you can tell it's all genuine. I really owe it to the packet for all the info; thank you Mrs. Sharp. This is the bibliography.
So for the rest of the day we searched for a restaurant, in downtown. Literally, it was down the hill, so it was DOWNtown. We looked at all the college kids getting out of the University, and I pondered a little about what college I was going to and about the dangers of that while looking around at all the towering buildings. We went into a parking garage and then walked down to a cool place with chairs outside, a pitbull, actually tied up to a table. Inside was a Cafe like setting, and we ordered up there. I got a hamburger, and then we went outside on the tables again. The restaurant only had a few inside, and had a counter and then bar and then kitchen behind the counter, with a hallway going down. We passed with our water we got from the concession stand, and talked about the weird guy that had given us food. He had ear rings on that made his ear have a large gaping whole, and there were metal things that made a circle of air. So gross. I asked Mom and Dad as we came outside and passed by some people with the pit bull, awkwardly trying to act casual about the scary beast. We then passed, and sat down at another table, looking out at the passing traffic and the building of apartments that had stuff, and we talked about architecture. Oh and what did I ask Mom and Dad? Sorry I didn't tell you I got carried away. I asked them if there was air or just an earring. Air. Even grosser.
They came out with the food, in this city cafe, and we ate the pretty good food while shooing away pigeons. Rebecca and I had fought over a seat earlier and so now part of the meal was sat in awkward silence. Mom looked at me at one point and put my bangs to one side, saying that I was in need of a new haircut. We talked to a man sitting at another table with a laptop, and we asked if there was a haircut place around. The young African American man answered, "Oh, I don't live here. I just have been here for a few months, waiting for the people to send me to another place, to accept it." We asked him who he worked for. He answered Home Depot, a company of hardware. We knew them, of course, because they started in Atlanta and Dad and I both read a book about it. We told this to the man. He said he hadn't read the book, and that he was from Atlanta. For a while we talked about stuff to do as he mentioned where he worked, and we knew right where it was! Then after talking we walked downward into more of Austin, Texas. We walked a while down, seeing some pretty weird people, all of whom were spiked hairdos and mohawks, or tattoos. Dad said their parents never loved them and that's why they were like that.
There was a dude on a bench, a nice blonde haired dude with up hair and a clean face, very young and handsome, with jeans on and a short V blue tee. We asked him if he knew where a good barbershop for boys were, for a little trim and nothing too crazy. He informed us of a place up on the hill, a real traditional barbershop with spinny leather chairs, and all the old materials, plus white suits with black ties. Really old. We decided to go back to the car, for it was far away. Thanking the guy we then saw a Children's Museum, and Rebecca's pleadings of going in were heard on by deaf ears. It was closed and we didn't have time. We got back in the car and drove up to UPtown, which is really upward as much as DOWNtown was downward. We found up there cute little shop things that were a lot better looking than the restaurants of downtown, with tarps and little neat shops, plus funny signs and giant chickens. We parked in a small parking area behind a place, and came out and around the corner it was on. We then walked past a restaurant, and there was a big table outside, with some party girls and a guy, with balloons. Mom took their picture, and we kept going on. Rebecca wanted to get boots in Texas, sort of as a ceremonial thing rather than wanting to wear them all the time, but I also needed to cut my bangs so we were to go to the barber shop before anything. Then there was that spinning cylinder on the wall to the shop, with the swirling red, white, and blue. The barber shop.
We looked into this single room, with little grey cushioned chairs up against a wall, with little coffee tables with magazines on them, and a door on the back wall. We saw people sitting down in chairs outside. Walking in the glass door, I looked around at my old surroundings, the white and black tile floor, the spinny chairs with the men with the up hair, and white suits, and little black ties, cutting the person who has the tarp over them. Behind them on a counter were mirrors, and then all kinds of liquids and bottles, like alchemly or sorcery. The guys stood here. All the chairs that the barbers were cutting people on were full, the three ones outside were full, and the ones along the left wall were all also full. And people were standing. So they were B-O-O-K-E-D BOOKED! I smelled in the sniff of hair and hair products, looking at the brown and black hairs on the floor. Dad said that we would come back later, as we waited for Mom to come down. She asked why weren't we in the barber shop, and Dad said it was full. Mom said we could always wait, you know. But Dad said it maybe would die down. We went more down, and there was a candy store with all sorts of treats, and they got plastic bags and put all the barreled stuff in there, then going to the cash register. I got some cube mints. I'm not a candy person.
Then we came to this one...interesting shop. There was a young man with some clipper, and a brown saddle box, with leather. He was snapping the edges. We asked him why he was doing this. He answered just to get some bad stuff in there out, all the loose hairs and stuff. I looked at the store's windows, and there was some old cameras in there, like the such that Dad collects at our house. I talked about them with him, and he said that that store was a very cool and interesting store. We walked in, and Mom quickly after coming in said that she needed to go to the restroom, but that she should've gone to the restroom at the restaurant. It was a cool little store, with licence plates and old children's books, cameras, CD's, and old clothes. Dad took us, saying it was time to go while I was looking at some books. We went back up to the Barber Shop, and Dad's prophecy was right, there were a few chairs in the middle missing, but people in between them. Dad sat alone and Rebecca and I sat almost at the end facing the street, where a tattooed girl sat. I looked around as Rebecca played on her phone, at the people laughing and talking, and the turning of magazine pages, and all the framed posters around. One was an old poster of H.G. Well's The Invisible Man. It was cool. But then I read some of my book.
People were called up as the minutes ticked by, and there was a guy with a small beard and mustache who was one barber at the back end, and two others, both tan with up hair. Up hair in Up Town. People came in, taking off small old things from the shelves above the chairs, and paying. The guy didn't have a credit card machine, and the one guy gave him the money as he put it in a drawer. Weird. That's an old way of doing things, I observed. More people passed along, as Mom came in. She sat with Mom, and later some seats at that end become vacant as a guy moved. Now we moved over there, with a camera between us. Rebecca sat on Mom's laugh, and giggled a little as Dad tickled her. My hair was in my eyes. Well, then they called up the next person. That would be me. Well, I didn't KNOW that, because the order of people in the chairs wasn't necessarily the order of people. But it was me. I got up, taking off my phone and giving Mom my book, and my jacket. The middle dude, young and with up black hair, and pretty tan, said hello as he lowered the chair and put the tarp over. He told me his name was Manning, or E Manning. I couldn't hear over all the hubbdub. I talked to him about a few things, and asked him a lot about the barber shop.
It had been around since like the 30's, in a few different location, and most of the stuff besides the floor and ceiling wasn't as old as I thought. E Manning had lived there most of his life, and he was a nice guy, kind of smart and focused to his work, not as outgoing but funny. I asked him later what his name; I didn't hear the name. Emmanuel! That made a lot more sense than E Manning. I addressed him as that for the rest of the time, as he snipped off the hair, asking me a lot if I wanted more. He was amazed I only wanted a small trim, and I kept telling him a SMALL trim, as other people that had cut my hair had bad jobs across the trip. Mom told him a few things, as he put in the gel. I asked him about the Invisible Man Poster, and he said that he didn't know where it came from, but that the owner was a collector of stuff. Emmanuel and I talked a little about the trip as he put the liquids in, and Dad got his haircut from the other guy by me on my left, but when you enter the right. We also talked about movies, and after I told him movies that had a lot of action in him he funnily said, "I guess you like Action, don't you?" He said he liked funny movies with good plots, and entertaining, and baseball movies like Moneyball. He asked if I wanted more done, and I said behind the ears. Snip, snip.
Then came the weirdest part. Without warning or asking of consent came this: whip cream like substances on my cheeks, and a razor's cold tips against my soft skin, and the sensation felt. I widened my eyes, feeling my first shave. He was really shaving off nothing more than a few hairs, the beginning of the manhood that comes. It was kind of scary, but Mom took pictures as the memorial moment was memorialized. I was proud of my first shave, at 12, on the Third of February. Ahem. I am a man now.
Emmanuel, the nice guy, was done. He brushed off the stuff and did a few final touches, and turned the chair around. I liked the short trim a lot actually. It was good. Thanking him I told him about the blog, and he asked me when I would be able to tell about him. "Probably on the 14th of February or later; I am really behind." Well, Emmanuel, I am telling about it on the 2nd of March, a little too late maybe. But not too much I hope. I hope you enjoy! Nice meeting you! Thanks for the great hair cut. As I made my exit, and closed the door, Emmanuel ran and opened it again, asking for me to write down the blog address. I wrote it down on a narrow slip of paper, up against the counter, giving it to them. I hoped it wasn't too messy. But thanks again Emmanuel.
We crossed a street light, and came to a boot store, while I texted Lauren a little. Not my sister but the girl that we wanted to see in Dallas. We stopped at there, and came in. Nobody really showed us anything or helped us out, even though we needed boots. I read more of my book after Mom showed me some girly belts, and we tried to find a good one among them. No go. After not finding a good pair of boots for Rebecca in this overpriced and under serviced old place, we went back to the car and drove home, as I waved my groomed fur...I mean my trimmed hair. We went to bed. Goodbye for now. It was a fun day.
Snip, snip! "OUCH! MAN YOU CUT MY EAR!" "Well, on the bright side, on Halloween you can go as an elf." "I'll show you elf, come here!" "AHHHH!",
Andrew.
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| Austin |
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| Before Haircut |
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