I Could Be Wrong

The boyfriend at the time spent about half of 1987 just south of Knoxville, Tennessee, while I stayed behind in Middle Tennessee.  I used to go up there just about every single weekend to see him, and we'd hang out with friends partying, going up in the Smoky Mountains for hikes and various sightseeing adventures and grilling out, or go into the city of Knoxville to see what we could get into.

One frequent activity on the Saturdays I was there was getting up to go to the Alcoa Flea Market, a great big huge flea market held just south of Knoxville where you can find - well, anything.  A bunch of us would pile in the car, and off we'd go. 

One of the girls and I used to hit the bikers' booth up there every time to see what new cool silver jewelry they had for sale, and I came away often with several pairs of awesome earrings.  One weekend that I didn't make it up, the boyfriend went home with a rabbit purchased at the flea market.  We still had him the first six months we lived in Memphis, when we moved down here the next year.

On another weekend trip, we hit the flea market and then drove on into Knoxville, mainly just driving around, though we stopped a time or two - once for pizza at Stefano's, another time stopping by the Sunsphere - left over from the World's Fair in the Eighties - just to walk around and look at it.  Drove through the grand old neighborhoods like Fort Sanders and Fourth & Gill, just sightseeing and looking at houses.

The only music we had was on a portable cassette player I carried around in my car all the time, and had brought it along on one particular adventure in someone else's car since they didn't have a stereo.  I put Public Image Ltd.'s Cassette tape in for the drive back down south of Knoxville.

On the way home, the married couple who owned the car we were all riding in started bickering and, within a few minutes, were on the verge of an all-out fistfight.  Boyfriend at the time and I just kept glancing at each other in shock and wide-eyed, not knowing what to do. 

Before things got really out of hand, they settled down - still bickering back and forth a little, though - and it made for one of the most miserable rides home EVER.  Everyone in the car was silent except for the two bickerers the entire trip home.  Well, and Johnny Rotten, singing "Rise" in the background of it all.