Weird Jack

By Larry Godfrey

This is the story of a super-genius we nicknamed Weird Jack because he acted like no one else. He led me and my cousin Jeff on a series of misadventures from a Krishna Temple to a mental institution in just two years.

Jack began acting strange and was committed to a mental hospital by his father. I wasnt sure he belonged there and helped him escape.

Sorry, cant give away the ending . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 14, 2002
• ISBN: 9780759681644

Larry Godfrey

I was a twenty year-old rebel with out a clue living in a tiny east Texas community. Drifting aimlessly in the hot summer Texas breeze, hanging with my cousin Jeff, I was recovering from a devastating breakup from my girlfriend. But an unstoppable force was on the way to change life as I knew it. That’s where this story begins.

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© 1999, 2002 by Larry Godfrey. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written

permission from the author.

ISBN: 0-7596-8165-1

ISBN: 978-0-7596-8164-4

1stBooks – rev. 12/28/01

Contents

Acknowledgements

Prelude

Summer 1974

The Quest

Sept. 2000

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Mom and Dad, Jack, Jeff, Vicki,

Jude, Buck, and friends.

Prelude

Pull over and let me drive, I said with growing agitation. My girlfriend, Janet, and I had been at the Showdown, a tavern twenty miles from home. Janet had met with her girlfriends at the club, and they had given me the cold shoulder all night. I sensed a growing conspiracy. My mood was darkening. On the way back home, I lost control.

Let me drive, goddamnit, I spewed.

She relinquished and pulled over.

Alright, Larry, but you’re too drunk to drive, and it’s raining, she said, exasperated.

"No, I’m fine," I said with heavy slur and sarcasm. Once so close, we were drifting apart. I was lava, she was dry ice. She had been trying to tell me it was time to end our two-year relationship and I couldn’t bear to hear it. So I did the only thing I knew: get mad. I peeled out on the wet pavement, hammering down on the accelerator. We headed down a hill and spun out of control. Janet screamed as the car jumped into the ditch and seemed to gain momentum. It was impossible to see where we were going. Rain and tall grass were all that shone in the headlights. All of a sudden the ground was no longer there. We went downward. My little blue ‘71 mustang landed in the creek at the bottom of the hill. We came to an abrupt halt as steam hissed from under the hood. I sat stunned while Janet opened the passenger door. She screamed again as cool water came rushing in. We waded out of the creek and into the pouring rain…

We got out ok but needless to say, it was over after that night. Over the next few weeks, I had plenty of time to think. The only subject I could think about was the lovely girl/woman lost. I decided that something had to change; mainly me. Little did I know that change was lurking just around the corner.

Summer 1974

I was working on my car when my cousin Jeff came pulling up in his old red Ford pickup. Jeff was 16, it was his first vehicle, and he was proud. With him was a stranger. His name was Jack. He was chubby, with a round owl face, dark rimmed glasses and bowl-cut black hair. I gave him a quick nod and said hi. His answer was quick and concise.

Hi, how are you doing? It’s nice to finally meet you. Jeff has told me a lot about you, he said, extending one hand out the window while poking his glasses up with the other. He seemed to have an abundance of energy, nervously fidgeting around. We talked for a few minutes before Jeff decided he had to go for a ride. He backed up and peeled out down the road. We lived about 100 yards from each other, so Jeff and I were more like brothers than cousins. Gangly and funny looking as a kid, he was rapidly growing into a muscular, good looking young man. He had straight brown hair, dark eyes and was already as tall as me, a towering 5’8". It occurred to me that I should start treating him a little nicer, just in case.

Things were going well in my life. I had a good job and a steady girlfriend, the things that constituted a successful 19 year-old cocky, self absorbed young man. So when I was dumped [she wanted to expand her horizons] I had a lot of time on my hands. Plenty of time to think and hang with the guys, drifting in the hot summer Texas breeze.

To make a little extra money, and for something to do, Jeff, Jack, and I started hauling hay at night. You could be your own boss, if you had a pickup and the willingness to pick up a few square bales of hay weighing 70 lbs. apiece. We would load them up in the field, then stack ‘em in the barn. Jack had a red on white ‘67 Ford pickup with