Rattlin' Bones

I always wondered what a pair of bones would do in the dark... So I wrote a little ol story about it. How about you ever wonder about something that doesn't really matter? Enjoy the story. And definitely... Check out the artist behind photograph. This image happens to be one of my favorites. kisses, m. 

photo credit: tyler shields c/o tylershields.com

       

Rattlin’ Bones.

(3-13-2011)

“Rattlin’ Bones,” Tommy hollers with a nod of his head.  “Can you hear ‘em?”

A shortcut through the cemetery after a night of drinking was the quickest way to get home without the good ol blue boys picking you up. Not to mention the graveyard was most often the quietest way to find yourself home in a pinch. Dead men ain’t got much to say even when there’s company in their backyard. Unlike your nosy neighbor they don’t much give a damn what you’re up to as long as it don’t interfere with their business. Cause a dead man, sure enough always has a bit of unfinished business. Don’t get me wrong, it ain’t at all as pressing as the business of living but sure enough it matters quite a bit to that dead bastard. Almost so much he might interfere with the business of your living.

Understand that a dead man hardly wants your life. He’s already had one of those. And since he’s been dead there ain’t a damn bit of good your life will do him. Not in his current condition. But he certainly won’t think twice about following you home if you disturb his peace. And unless you like waking up to a pair bones in your bed I suggest you leave that dead man alone. His sense of humor is a bit different than yours or mine. 

What exactly will he do? That dead man will set up shop in your house, piss off your old lady and make a fine mess.

Don't believe me? Just ask my pal Bobby. He couldn’t help himself one night out in the graves. Dancing and whooping through the bones’ business. The following week his old lady left him. She left on account of their house being haunted and blamed him for losing her wedding ring in a bet. Bobby don’t gamble and the house wasn’t much haunted after his old lady left. Where's the lesson in that? Don’t cross a dead man. While he can’t change his fate, but damned if he don’t affect yours.

Tonight wasn’t any different from any other. Same old shortcut since we were kids. Same old Tommy had himself too many and extended himself to walking good ol’ Frankie home. You might say we were loud enough to wake the dead as we made our way across the better part of the 1800s. Somewhere near the cusp of 1882 there wasn’t anything like the sound of it.

“Rattlin’ Bones” The bones were moving about and hear them you could. Much like the coyotes cry you can sure as hell hear the bones when they rattle. There isn’t another sound much like it. I know what Tommy means by it, but there’s Frankie that ain’t been around much so he has a look of wonder about him.

“Oh my child do you know about the bones?” Not much did I ever really know when my grandmother used to ask me that question but I’m thinking it the same tonight. For what can a man know about the dead? The bones ain’t exactly like you or me. They spend their time much more leisurely than the living. Their business is theirs. Our business is ours. But unlike the living like to believe some of their business is a lot more like ours.

For instance, Love. Passion. A dead man remembers what that was like in his bones. That don’t ever truly change. And on a night much like this you can hear them dead lovers in their graves rolling like they never lost a beat.

What do the dead do in the dark? Can’t tell you personally but good ol’ Frankie found out for himself about three steps into the 1920s. With a loose piece of gravel and shift of his foot Frankie landed himself amid a dead lover’s coupling. With a scream and the sound of wallop the noisy bones fall to a dead still all around us. I’m not sure what Frankie saw but he was much paler when we reached the 1930s.

Around 1942 Frankie looks nervously at Tommy who can’t quite wipe the grin off his face. Like they didn’t miss a beat the bones’ resume their noise much louder than usual but that don’t stop Tommy from saying it again with a laugh. “Rattlin’ Bones.”