Who You Know

[Lightning Rod]

My grandfather used to say to me, "It's not how many you know, it's Who you know that counts."

This truth has been verified in most of my life experiences. Who you know can make a big difference in whether you prosper or fail.

When I was in the business of cooking amphetamines it really helped to know Juan who worked at the largest local chemical supply house. Sargent-Welch sold all the necessary glassware and ingredients to manufacture the product. The trouble was that several of the chemicals were on the controlled list which meant that you had to have a special permit to buy them. Also the DEA kept close tabs on the specialized equipment required for the process. So, in other words, you didn't want to walk in the front door of Sargent-Welch and show your ID and try to order this stuff. It would have been like throwing a brick through the window of a police station.

One of my partners in the little speed syndicate that we ran was also the owner of a used car lot. When we decided to do a cook, a car, preferably a long, large convertible suitable for conversion into a low-rider, would appear in Juan's driveway with the keys in the ignition and the title in the glove compartment.

Later that day two of our representatives would drive to the shipping dock at Sargent-Welch and there would be a pallet waiting with boxes containing a gallon of phenyl-2-propanone and a gallon of methylamine, two 4000ml Ehrlinmeyer flasks, a couple of 36" sleeved condensers, four quarts of ethyl ether, four grams of mercuric chloride, assorted tubing and a vacuum pump.

In exchange for a two thousand dollar car, we had the capability to manufacture enough crank to make roughly a quarter of a million bucks. It was a good system. Everybody loved it. (except perhaps the DEA)

"It's not how many you know, it's Who you know."

[jimboloco]

My granpaw once said to me,
"You don't cotton to our ways, we don't want you around here."

Knowing him didn't count,
infact, I would uncount it if I could.

i don't exactly believe in forgiveness
understanding is better.
they voted for ronald raygunz,
no wonder i took sppeeeeddd
happy daze in the park
also sped me right along
smiling at the border
of nowhere
until here

i never liked the insults i got from my family of origin treeeee
fuck them.

met a lot of folk since then,
infact,
i went back there for several years, lived around them, found
a whole bunch of enlightened folk there in northwest louisiana
well small bunches, surrounded by bible thumping belching granpaws, mad that i refused duty in the military,
hahahaha.
then i left for good, broke the key.

no more polite smiles.
just the name,
closer to tyrone than me granpaw
willingham

cook it up, my man.

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