‘Happy Birthday, Bro’ by Shane Brown

I’m gonna dance like Larry Brown tonight.

I’ll have music real loud and a twist in my leg. One fist will be balled up and the other hand flying freely. My head will be freely too. It will bobble and wobble and not think. I’ll spin and shake and smile. Jaws will be dropped from back angled views like the one in this picture of my God Brother, Jonny Miles; thoughts of “Damn, Shane, when ya learn that?” will be tossed in minds. We’ll all feel good tonight. Hearts will skip a few times with the beat of our flow or the sounds of our laughs. This day has always been a good day. This day will always stay a good day. It’s because we choose it to be a good day.

Mom called me last week and told me to be at Ajax tonight at seven o’clock. I asked her for what. She told me it was Dad’s birthday. I wasn’t familiar with the advanced date that far away and I said ok. We do this every year. Every birthday of his is celebrated at Ajax. It was his favorite place to eat. So, on July ninth of each year the Browns are gonna eat his favorite food. The owner of the place and Dad were great friends. Mom called him up yesterday and told him the number of our crew tonight. He told her he would be ready. It’s 5:42 p.m. right now and I bet Randy has prepped his waitress or waitresses and the wait is on. The “no you can not sit there” has possibly been quietly spoken to a few early crowds trying to get our table.

I was helping Paula milk cows last night when Mama stopped back by to drop kids off from the church. She told us she would see us tomorrow night. Mama said she was ready for some catfish cakes. Paula yelled out she was ready for cheese fries. And I was nodding my head with them agreeing and I was saying that I was ready for some fried pickles. Later on in the evening when Billy Ray got home, I asked him what he was gonna eat tonight. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “What do you think? Steak!”

Dad would have been 64 today. There’s a still quietness in the Cool Pad right now at the moment as I write this. Except for the hum of the fan blowing, stirring A Miracle of Catfish manuscript pages pinned to the wall. It’s hard to think of what he’d be doing right now and what I’m doing. I know he’d be getting ready for Ajax. He’d be super excited and hungry. He’d probably be right here typing away and smoking cigarettes. But he’d be dancing later on. Happy Birthday, Bro!

Shane Brown is a HottyToddy.com contributor and the son of noted author Larry Brown. Shane is an Oxford native with Yocona and Tula roots. Shane is a graduate of Mississippi State University and works as a salesman for Best Chance. He has two children — Maddux, age 9, and Rilee, age 7 — and makes his home at “A Place Called Tula.” He can be reached at msushanebrown@yahoo.com.

Copyright Shane Brown, 2015