It was around April, 21 1988, I was 19 years old, full of myself, and very proud of my Red Mustang GT. It was a Friday, so me, my best friend Ray Krause, Jamie Spangler, and Jimmy Bernard all piled into my car, cranked the volume (the 15's were hittin') and headed from our hometown of Beaumont, Texas down to Galveston.
You see we'd been there just two weeks earlier and the place had been packed with beautiful girls from all over SETX (that's Southeast Texas for the uninitiated) and we'd had a pretty good time so we decided to head down and try our luck again.
School let out around 3:30p but I'm pretty sure we'd left at lunch, I'd hidden my car in a small park a few blocks from school that morning so it wouldn't be a problem getting past the rent-a-cop (I forget his name) that had the keys to the chain the effectively kept us all locked up in the parking lot. We made it to the car with no problems, fired her up and blasted outta Beaumont as quick as we could. Soon we were heading down I-10 at about 110 mph jammin' out to Bon Jovi and Motley Crue, needless to say we made it to Galveston in record time.
The only problem was we got there too early, it was only 2:30 in the afternoon when we arrived and nobody, I mean nobody was around. Well being the optimist in the group I suggested we get something to eat on the Strand and then come back to the beach and fly one of those cool kites. You know the kind that have two strings that you can control. I could tell by his look that Ray was convinced that I was gay, but he just shook his head and said 'whatever'. Jimmy was all for it and Jamie, well he thought it was gay too but he went along anyway.
So for about three hours we flew kites, in our Ropers (low cut boots, no really) and our jeans and really had a pretty good time, until Raymond had enough. He found a phone on the seawall and called somebody, I'm not sure who, and announced that Galveston was sucking and that we needed to head to Jasper for a party. Now Jasper is quite aways from Galveston, about 145 miles according to Google Maps and it was getting late, around 6:00p when Ray propositioned this little venture. I forgot to admit that I was almost always designated driver, so I rarely drank, well OK I didn't drink that night but the boys were putting away the Bud pretty good before we ever got to Galveston and by 6:00p they were already running low and we needed to make a beer run on the way back up to the lake. So we stopped at the little liquor store on Crystal Beach and reloaded, and I gassed up on some good ol 95 octane (we only have 91 in CO where I live now) grabbed a coupla Dr Peppers and lit it for Jasper. Once again we weren't hanging around, coming down the intercoastal bridge outside of Sabine Pass I swear I hit 150, nobody said a word, they were either too drunk or scared outta their minds, I'll have to ask Jamie since he's the only one left, anyway we were making real good time again. Just a quick diversion here but I know it sounds like I'm stretching the truth on traveling over 100 mph on public highways and byways, but I swear to you that it's true, Call Jamie Spangler or Cary Stone sometimes and ask them if I didn't drive that fast on the interstate, they will verify, but I digress.
Well we made it to Lumberton in record time and buzzed through there as quick as we could, it was starting to get dark when we rounded the bend for Silsbee so I turned on the highbeams and kept on truckin'. We were just outside of Silsbee when we were chased down by an old friend of ours who had recognized my car and told us to forget Jasper, that the big party was in Silsbee that night and we'd be remiss if we didn't attend. He mentioned some girl named Star or Devine or some such name that perked Ray right up, and before any of us could say anything he said 'Lead the way Bub'. So now we're partying in Silsbee, not that I ever recall Silsbee being a real hotbed for parties but that night it certainly was. Well we found the party and I guess the word had gone out all over SETX 'cause everybody was there, even some of the girls we'd met in Galveston a few weeks before. By not drinking a 12 pack of Bud I was sober and was really enjoying the conversations that I was striking up with various girls about their plans to attend college and what they wanted to do with their lives and so forth. In fact I'd met a real cutie named Bethany who was a few years older then me and already attending TCU and we'd really hit it off about the time the sheriff showed up, ...all of 'em (the sheriff and his deputies that is, I counted 8 patrol vehicles boxing everybody in so we could be duly processed and hauled to jail.)
Well it took some convincing and about an hour but I was finally able to convince the sheriff not to arrest everyone of us, (remember I was sober) and that if he'd let us go we'd all show up wherever he wanted us to for a court date, if he felt that was necessary. Somehow he went for this, gathered everyone's driver's license info told the local kids who were all pretty lit to stay at the house that night and to show up in the judges chambers the next morning at 8:00a or else, Me he just looked at me and said, 'you can go home to Beaumont but you'd better have your friends back here by 8:00am, you understand?' 'Yes sir, we'll be here,' now by this time it was 2:00am I was tired Jamie and Ray were passed out in the back seat of the Stang and Jimmy was trying to keep me company in the front by playing Tesla and explaining his idea's about the spirit-world that happened to coincide with my driving fast, ...and , well, other things.
We slowly exited Silsbee and then booked it around the big corner and hit Lumberton doing about 110, when I saw the lights go on, and we were pulled over again, this time by the Lumberton Police. 'Well Bubba, I don't think you're gonna get us outta this one,' were the encouraging words from my copilot. 'I don't either', I thought to myself as the patrolman walked up next to the car. I already had my window down both hands on the wheel with license, insurance, and papers ready to go.
All I remember him saying was something like 'Well, well boys what's the big damn hurry?'. And I started 'splainin as quick as I could that I was dead sober and that we were trying to get home to get some sleep before we (gulp) had to turn around and head back to Silsbee at 8 o'clock to meet with the judge in his chambers, please don't arrest us. He shown his flashlight around the car noting the myriad stacks of beer cans and my three inebriated companions, I distinctly remember him shining the light at Jamie's wide open mouth (he was asleep) and noticing that he didn't seem to have any cavities. ... Well all of that light shining and the quietness of the stereo finally brought Raymond around from his slumber. It never failed to impress me how quickly Ray could take in a situation and start to figure a way either into a bloody mess of a fight, or an artful departure from dangerous realms, well that night right on cue he looked at the police officer and said 'hey I know you, we went fishin' with my cousin last year in Village Creek!' And no lie the man said, 'I thought that was you Ray! What are you boys doin'', so Ray went through the whole story I'd already been telling and after a few minutes we were set free on our own recognizance and were back on the road again, this time barely hitting 60 as we entered Beaumont and ever so quietly made our way up the stairs at my parents house to crash in my room. I distinctly remember it 4:45a and getting lighter already.
Well long story short we made it to the judges chambers, were given a stern East Texas reprimand and sent on our way the next morning. We also witnessed everyone of those Silsbee kids being hauled in by the deputies, one-by-one and I don't think they got off as easy. Later as I was dropping the boys off Jamie being the first, before he got out of the car asked 'so what are we doing tonight?', I answered 'I don't know we'll figure something out.' Dear Lord thank you for protecting us from ourselves, but thank you also for letting me get to know Raymond Earl Krause and Jimmy Bernard and Jamie Spangler, three of the best friends a young man could ever ask for.
Ray, Jimmy I miss you, I will see you again, but not yet, not yet ...
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