In (Preacher #65), toward the end of the series, Jesse Custer (our main guy) tracks down and proceeds to beat the shit out of his best friend, Cassidy. You see, sinc the beginning of the series, Cassidy and Jesse have been best friends and yet bad shit goes down-Cassidy makes some bad decisions-and Jesse decides the only way to set things right is to teach Cassidy a lesson by beating him senseless. Amidst the hail of fists Jesse reigns down on Cassidy, he shouts at him "Goddamn you! You asshole! Why the fuck did you let me down so bad!" And if I ever catch up with Stuart again. I'll do the same thing to him.
I was asked to write something about the man, and I am, but instead of talking to you about all the great times we had-the times we flirted with strangers in their homes, the times we ran around Highland Park High doing shit we had no real reason for doing, the times we first introduced pornography and hentai to our various circles of friends, the time we sat down and created Action Figure Theatre-I thought instead I'll tell you abou the day he died...and what happened after.
Here we go.
When Angela first told me the bad news I was performing a small play by Amira Baraka, called Dutchman with Saya Scott in front of an American Lit class (of which Lisa was one of the students-sitting front row, Coincidentally enough.) Saya's phone rings and it's Angela telling me that she had some bad news and was coming to pick me up. After the play I chatted with some people and then waited for Angela. In the car home she told me the news-Stuart had cut his wrist and tried to kill himself last night. And, of course, the tears came immediately because - and i really do believe this, especially now, looking back- I knew already he was dead. He was just biding his time, not wanting to leave without giving the appropriate farewells. And so we saw him in the hospital, and he looked happy, despite it all. The doctors said he was bi-polar.
Nature's Son
4 comments:
Okay, I was trying to avoid being the first to respond to this post since I wrote it. With that said, I don't have much anything else to say except that I hope this prompts other people to respond...
Well allow me to say that I liked the post very much and look forward to publishing the rest of it. I hope others will respond out of some respect for his memory.
I wasn't close to Stuart at all. I met the fellow a handful of times, actually. But this is really great what you guys are doing. Remembering someone without sugarcoating it makes them more real to you and everyone else. Just piling on praise diminishes the memory of someone. This keeps them real.
I agree with Tommy. These posts were a way of remembering your friend Stuart as well as keeping him real. They also shed a light on a somewhat taboo, but all too real, subject.
Having had to deal with a friend taking his life as well, I can say that I understand what you all were feeling, to a certain extent.
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