This week in York. . . (Bob Marley Story)

On Tuesday Alex and I split wood for Steve all day. At the end of the day Steve came back and we ate whitetail deer for dinner with Julie and Bob(?), who moved to York last year. The deer was amazing! He seared it on both sides then left it to stew all day with onions- it just fell apart when we ate it. The closest thing I can compare it to is lamb, but it's so much better than lamb.

Steve had gone to Kay's house that day to train her dog. While he was there he told her about us and she said that she'd love to have some painting done. I called her that night after dinner and we arranged for me to go down the next day and start painting. After that Alex, Julie, Bob and I all went down to the bar and had a few drinks and a few shots of Alex's new favorite whiskey Early Times. Before we parted I told Julie that I'd come read her tarot cards the next day.

In the morning I was HUNG OVER! Terrible headache, but I pulled myself outta bed and drove out to Helena to start painting for Kay. Turned out I spent the whole day sanding down the porch. Kay was amazingly nice and bought me a latte in the morning and took me out to get crepes in the afternoon. The owner of the crepe shop does all the major catering in Helena, especially for the Democratic Conventions Kay said. Kay's a democrat, difficult to find here in Helena, and we've had some great conversations about the president and healthcare and racial equality.

I went to read Julie's cards that night, and some of the things in the cards really clicked with her. And she told me this great story about how she once met Bob Marley:

Well I was really depressed and I was living in Portland. And there was this guy that was trying to date me and I really wasn't into it. But one day he told me, "Julie I want you to come meet someone, not a date, no boyfriend and girlfriend thing, I just want you to come meet this guy cuz I'm worried about you and I don't like to see you unhappy." So I go with him to this bar. And in the bar there's this big tough looking guy, the kind of guy where if you were walking down the same side of the street you'd cross to the other side. But I looked in his eyes for three seconds, I counted, three seconds and he had the kindest most open eyes of anyone I've ever met. Just so kind.

And he and I became friends, he thought of me like a little sister. He was a music promoter and so we saw a lot of shows. And one time we jumped in his car and drove all the way to Brooklyn, New York to meet his family and I got to meet all his friends back home. We took 2 and a half weeks to get there stopping on the way.

Well one day I'm bored and I give him a call, "What're you up to?"

"What're you up to?"

"Nothin, I'm bored."

"Well, I'm tryin to get some paperwork done but I keep getting interupted." He owned a bar and so I offer to come down and help out. It's illegal cuz I'm only 19 at the time, but I offer to just jump behind the bar and get things when people need them so he can sit down and finish his work.

"You'd really do that? I only need about an hour" he says and I said "Well sure."

Now, I was only there for about 45 minutes, and by that time the old guy reading a paper in the corner had left and the two guys drinking beers were gone. I was alone in the bar and I started to hear this knocking on the bottom door, you know, the door that opens out to where things get delivered from the street. I here this knocking and I remember that he told me that if anybody knocked on that door, not to open it, to go straight to him.

So I go into his office and say, "Hey"

"I just need 10 more minutes!"

"Well there's someone knocking on the bottom door."

"There is?"

"There is."

"Well, I guess you better come with me." So I follow him out to the bar and down the stairs and when we get to the bottom there's this big black guy, I mean HUGE, and next to him is this guy with long long dreds wearing a red, yellow and green western shirt. And my jaw drops and I look at him and I reach my had in my pocket where I have a Marley cassette, I pull that out and I point at it, and I point at him and say, "You're Bob Marley? This is you?" and he throws his head back laughing and smiles, "Ja man".

So we all go upstairs and lock up the bar and Bob and me and my friend all sit there in a semicircle and I can't understand a word Bob's saying. I tell my friend and Bob catches on and says emphatically, "You don't understand me?" he smiles and then he pulls out a huge joint, like the size of a quarter at the end, and we all sit there and smoke this huge Bob Marley joint together. And the whole time I'm smiling and absolutely floored.

Now, he only stayed for about twenty minutes. And my friend told me later that he normally wouldn't let anyone be around him and Bob, but that I really needed to meet him. Bob had come to tell my friend that if he didn't already know that he had a brain tumor and he just wanted to let my friend know that everything was gonna be alright. And that's how I met Bob Marley, he just popped up out of a door and then went back down again.

I wanted to share that story cuz I thought it was so cool!

Well today I went back to the porch and got it half painted. Tomorrow I'll finish it and Kay's gonna make dinner for Alex and I! Hope everythings going well for you!