THE BEST OF RAY STEVENS

I had a bunk bed for more than 10 years of my life.  And I was an only child.  What kind of monster makes their child sleep on the bottom bunk of a bunk bed when there’s no chance of anyone else sleeping on the top bunk?  No siblings, no friends.  Nobody.  Years and years of staring up at the springs and random boards holding the bottom side of the top bunk together.  I can count on one hand the number of friends who actually slept over.  The last one being Ron Doogan, who actually fell off of the top bunk in his sleep.  Word got around the school and from then on, there were no takers. 

“The Best of Ray Stevens” would play on my ladybug-shaped record player on certain nights as I stared up at the springs, shift my eyes over to the sad NFL curtains my mother had picked out, who desperately hoped I wouldn’t wind up a fag because of my lack of a father figure, and wonder what it was like to have a brother.

-SLL