If Rock and Roll Were a Machine (22 page)
Read If Rock and Roll Were a Machine Online
Authors: Terry Davis
Bert kept his eyes on Scotty's face.
“I haven't forgotten an ounce of the heartache I caused or the heartache I
felt. I still feel it. People think the past goes away, but it doesn't. Not the stuff done to us or the stuff we do to others. A guy carries that shit on his back forever. We can get strong enough so it carries easier,” Scotty said. “But we carry it till we die.”
Bert knew Scotty was talking about himself, but it felt like he was talking about Bert's life too. But how could he be? How could Scotty know?
“You're strong, Bert,” Scotty said. “You've got strength and you've got desire. Look at you now. You make a deal with yourself to go work out, and that's what you by God do.” Scotty tapped him on the shoulder with the side of his fist. “Go get 'em,” he said.
*Â Â *Â Â *
Bert rode his Norton through the cool blue shadows toward the golden streaks of setting sun. So there was the name for what abides: strength. Strength and desire. What more could a guy need? What more could he ask for?
I could be a rock-and-roller, Bert said to himself. I could be a guitar hero. But chances are I won't. He smiled into the wind. But if rock and roll were a machine, it would be a motorcycle, he said. And I've got one of those.
He turned his throttle and the volume rose. He lost himself in the music.
Terry Davis
is an American novelist who lives near Spokane, Washington, and is a professor emeritus of English at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he taught creative writing (fiction and screenwriting), as well as adolescent literature. Davis, who has been a high school English teacher and a wrestling coach, is the author of three novels for young adults:
Vision Quest
,
Mysterious Ways
, and
If Rock and Roll Were a Machine
. He has also written
Presenting Chris Crutcher
, a biography of the respected young-adult author. You can visit him at
writerterrydavis.com
.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text copyright © 1992 by Terry Davis
Originally published in 1992 by Delacorte Press
Jacket illustration copyright © 2015 by Nick Yarger
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Also available in apaperback edition
Jacket design by Lizzy Bromley; interior design by Tom Daly
The text for this book is set in Perpetua Std.
CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4814-5633-3 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-5632-6 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-5634-0 (eBook)