The seventh installment of a tale of a journey into the southern swamps wherein I relive rage
After our stroll though the park, we drove about 20 minutes to head back into Manning proper.
Witness the idyllic tree lined streets.
Gaze upon the First Baptist Church in all it's properly restrained glory.
I basically hated the people who went to this church. To make a glaring generalization, these were the sort of people who lived in the country club and looked down on me for hanging with pot heads and admitting to having sex. You know, the boys who spent their weekends drunk on beer and misogyny. The girls who took it up the ass so that they could retain their purity, treating their hymen as a commodity.
This is the Future Home Clarendon County Museum & History Center. The sign is next to a building that used to house (I think) an insurance agency. Please note that this is not the Future Home OF the Clarendon County Museum & History Center. This hurts my brain.
Here's one of the main streets in Manning. In the very center of town. The empty sidewalks constantly left me unnerved. I'd forgotten what that was like.
One of the honestly pretty spots in Manning also happens to be the law office of State Senator John Land III. This used to be a carriage house, as you can tell. And I know at some point I went to a play held out here. I can't remember a single detail about the play. It must have been late fall though, because I don't remember being eaten alive by mosquitoes.
Another fairly cute spot was a park in town that we used to hang out at on occasion. There wasn't much to it. A single covered picnic table and small bridge that spanned the large ditch between the park and the tennis courts on the other side. As a general rule in Clarendon county, you're always near either a golf course or a tennis court. Or both.
Well, the park where we used to lay around and smoke and talk about music and play Three Billy Goats Gruff on the bridge (no really, prom night, and I filmed it) has been... renovated.
In fact, they tore down the bridge.
And put up a lot of fence and a sign that says you're not allowed to be loud, obnoxious, or skateboard. The staples of our youth.
One last thing in town I wanted to see was... the house. It was one of the older homes in town, and for some reason, it stuck in my head as beautiful. I used to dream about this place when I was little. Me and my vampire would totally live there someday. Cause I was totally going to end up with a vampire. An Italian one. But even better, Cristal told me that a gay couple bought the place, fixed it up, and were going to turn it into a B&B. This delights me, because I know it horrifies Manning.
Sadly, there was a for sale sign out front. But, I'm not surprised. I mean, what does Manning have to offer an awesome gay couple? I'm sure they're off to somewhere smashing. And at least one of them glitters. It's just like I dreamed as a little girl. Only better.
Finally, we headed out toward Alcolu, where the rest of Cristal's family lives. Where the Thompson's have their land. This is the place where Cristal says she is from. It's also where we went to elementary school. Yup, I used to ride a bus from 15 miles outside of town on one side, to get on a bus at the middle school, to take a bus 15 miles outside of town in the other direction to get to my elementary school. Uphill. Both ways. Mosquitoes the size of cars.
From the outside, it looks the goddamned same.
Seriously, like this bus, could be the same bus that I threw Crystal Bryant up against in 5th grade.
One of my few acts of actual violence on school grounds. And it was because someone had told me she was making eyes at the boy I adored. (Note that I say adored, not even going steady with.) Of course, I think they told me that just to watch me flip out. And flip out I did. I remember holding her by her shoulders and slamming her against the back of the bus. "Just stay away from him," I told her in my best soap opera drama tone. Yes, I was once much crazier than I am now.
While we were standing around here, taking pictures and chatting, I eavesdropped on a conversation between Shane and John. They were going on about how asking people around there for directions was an exercise in futility. "Oh just go until you see the old mill, then turn left," they joked. "Of course, the old mill was built 50 years ago, hasn't functioned in 20 years, and isn't actually even standing anymore. But somehow, it's still a landmark."
They paused in their joking long enough to hear Cristal explaining to Sarah how to find Bunnie's father's house without taking the long way down the dirt road. "You know that old store that isn't a store anymore, go by there... and then take a left at my cousin's house." I'm paraphrasing, of course. But... not by much.
Yeah, it ranks right up there with putting on your best New Englander accent and declaring, "You can't get there from here."
Witness the idyllic tree lined streets.
Gaze upon the First Baptist Church in all it's properly restrained glory.
I basically hated the people who went to this church. To make a glaring generalization, these were the sort of people who lived in the country club and looked down on me for hanging with pot heads and admitting to having sex. You know, the boys who spent their weekends drunk on beer and misogyny. The girls who took it up the ass so that they could retain their purity, treating their hymen as a commodity.
This is the Future Home Clarendon County Museum & History Center. The sign is next to a building that used to house (I think) an insurance agency. Please note that this is not the Future Home OF the Clarendon County Museum & History Center. This hurts my brain.
Here's one of the main streets in Manning. In the very center of town. The empty sidewalks constantly left me unnerved. I'd forgotten what that was like.
One of the honestly pretty spots in Manning also happens to be the law office of State Senator John Land III. This used to be a carriage house, as you can tell. And I know at some point I went to a play held out here. I can't remember a single detail about the play. It must have been late fall though, because I don't remember being eaten alive by mosquitoes.
Another fairly cute spot was a park in town that we used to hang out at on occasion. There wasn't much to it. A single covered picnic table and small bridge that spanned the large ditch between the park and the tennis courts on the other side. As a general rule in Clarendon county, you're always near either a golf course or a tennis court. Or both.
Well, the park where we used to lay around and smoke and talk about music and play Three Billy Goats Gruff on the bridge (no really, prom night, and I filmed it) has been... renovated.
In fact, they tore down the bridge.
And put up a lot of fence and a sign that says you're not allowed to be loud, obnoxious, or skateboard. The staples of our youth.
One last thing in town I wanted to see was... the house. It was one of the older homes in town, and for some reason, it stuck in my head as beautiful. I used to dream about this place when I was little. Me and my vampire would totally live there someday. Cause I was totally going to end up with a vampire. An Italian one. But even better, Cristal told me that a gay couple bought the place, fixed it up, and were going to turn it into a B&B. This delights me, because I know it horrifies Manning.
Sadly, there was a for sale sign out front. But, I'm not surprised. I mean, what does Manning have to offer an awesome gay couple? I'm sure they're off to somewhere smashing. And at least one of them glitters. It's just like I dreamed as a little girl. Only better.
Finally, we headed out toward Alcolu, where the rest of Cristal's family lives. Where the Thompson's have their land. This is the place where Cristal says she is from. It's also where we went to elementary school. Yup, I used to ride a bus from 15 miles outside of town on one side, to get on a bus at the middle school, to take a bus 15 miles outside of town in the other direction to get to my elementary school. Uphill. Both ways. Mosquitoes the size of cars.
From the outside, it looks the goddamned same.
Seriously, like this bus, could be the same bus that I threw Crystal Bryant up against in 5th grade.
One of my few acts of actual violence on school grounds. And it was because someone had told me she was making eyes at the boy I adored. (Note that I say adored, not even going steady with.) Of course, I think they told me that just to watch me flip out. And flip out I did. I remember holding her by her shoulders and slamming her against the back of the bus. "Just stay away from him," I told her in my best soap opera drama tone. Yes, I was once much crazier than I am now.
While we were standing around here, taking pictures and chatting, I eavesdropped on a conversation between Shane and John. They were going on about how asking people around there for directions was an exercise in futility. "Oh just go until you see the old mill, then turn left," they joked. "Of course, the old mill was built 50 years ago, hasn't functioned in 20 years, and isn't actually even standing anymore. But somehow, it's still a landmark."
They paused in their joking long enough to hear Cristal explaining to Sarah how to find Bunnie's father's house without taking the long way down the dirt road. "You know that old store that isn't a store anymore, go by there... and then take a left at my cousin's house." I'm paraphrasing, of course. But... not by much.
Yeah, it ranks right up there with putting on your best New Englander accent and declaring, "You can't get there from here."