Daniel Mattei

Loose Leaves Of Family Trees

St. Johnsbury, Vermont was a town filled with strange people. The middle school kids had names for some of them in particular. There was Mr. Mini, who was a regular at the local drug store. He would come in every other day and buy a large Hershey’s bar and pick up his prescription, the top of his head just reaching the counter top. Near that same drug store, was a stoop where the bearded lady sat everyday and smoked. She didn’t have a beard really, only a few goatee hairs strangling from her chin upon chins, but they were quite long. You saw Rockin Rick near the movie theatre, a washed up groupie in leather who chased you down to sell you his new EP. Big Red, who wasn’t really strange, he was just big, and would catch your eye with his long flowing red hair. He would usually pass the town’s Dunkin Donuts, which was a well-known place to get free donuts or cocaine, but only after eleven. Amongst many others, like High-pockets, Floyd, Monkey and even Wes, there was Ghost.