It was the perfect
Valley town, as humble as they come
Sun-blessed, simple,
and as pretty as a picture
Teenagers drinking
milkshakes as they got their homework done;
then they’d dance
to jukebox records in the diner.
--
And here comes
Eugene: he’s the starting quarterback
for the Panthers,
who ain’t ever lost a game.
Eugene’s fleet of
foot, and he’s never missed a pass,
and if he’s
tackled – why, he gets right up again.
Six foot two with
Olympian build,
and the most
piercing baby blues you’ll ever see.
They say they’re
lining up to hand him scholarships;
Eugene just says:
“Well, what will be, will be.”
But nobody knows
that when Eugene is at home
the headaches start
to hammer at his skull.
The pain is
overwhelming and he has to lie right down
as the panic and the
pressure takes its toll.
And Eugene’s
drinking whisky from the bottle every night
just to snatch a
desolate hour or two of sleep
and he’s starting
to feel slower, and he’s starting to black out
on the field, but
nobody’s noticed yet.
His sweetheart,
Mary-Lou, a vision in a floaty dress.
A brown-eyed redhead
classy and petite.
She’s top of all
her classes, destined for the highest grades,
and she’s got the
future at her tiny feet.
But Mary-Lou’s got
secrets that not even Eugene knows;
not least one
growing right there in her womb.
It’s too painful
still for her to even start to recall how;
that night her uncle
came into her room.
She’s been swiping
tranx and anaesthesia of late;
her daddy is the
Valley’s only dentist.
Mary-Lou’s got a
clutch bag full of sweet barbiturates
and something very
special for tonight.
Cause Sugarcane
Valley High School’s celebrating
with a dance inside
the gym, and all are guests.
One last bash, a
party for the champions-in waiting -
Those Panthers, man,
the wonder-team. The best.
The perfect couple
strides into the building, hand in hand,
to cheers and to
handshakes: they’re the Valley’s hopes made flesh.
And when nobody’s
looking, the girl finds the bowl of punch
and laces it with
fentanyl of rhino-stopping strength;
and when he can,
Eugene steps out, and turns on the gas taps,
the gym begins to
fill with silent death;
he reaches for his
best gal, and they slink under the bleachers
and solemnly, and
slowly start to fuck;
they watch the
townsfolk yawn and droop
glasses smashing on the hardwood floor;
the drugs take hold,
the bodies fall,
insensible and
breathing shallow now;
Eugene and Mary-Lou
lock eyes. It’s time to end this game.
It’s time to
really blow this joint – and how!
She opens up her
Zippo lighter, coaxes out a flame;
the lovers laugh –
the High School gym explodes.
--
It was a perfect
Valley town, they say, the ones who did survive;
it’s hard to tell
amidst the charcoal wreck;
but here once played
a legendary side
unbeaten, with a
Greek God at its head;
and here danced the
most beautiful girl;
who had the world
and stardust at her feet.
But ask no questions
- move on quickly, traveller -
the answers may be
ones that haunt your dreams.
