And so we circled the outskirts of France. Dirk and I spent one or two nights in quaint motels where the big event was which wine to have with dinner; and then off to the next point which usually was just as far as we could go before getting tired.
Dirk was always in a hurry to get somewhere, but I don’t know where. I always wanted to stop and take pictures. It was a small car, but the seats could fold backwards and that was how we usually slept. Dirk had a very bad snoring problem; so most of the time I took my sleeping bag and found some place quiet in the woods to sleep. One morning, I woke up to see that we were parked near what looked like a house from an old (and this is an obscure association) British Dracula movie – from the Hammer series. You know, maybe you know the ones with Christopher Lee and… Peter Cushings?
But they appealed to me because there was usually a buxom girl, usually backlit, and well – generally what nowadays you’d call a hot babe. But almost all of these movies took place in a haunted run-down house, or castle; they took the classic Poe stories, and turned them into hip well-lit movies.. Not only couldn’t I tell if anyone was living there; but there was even this tar-colored moat that encircled the place.
Dirk was still asleep in the car while I wandered around looking for a good spot… and all these years later… that morning feeling of something spooky going on, with Dirk snoring in the car, and thinking I might have seen a glint through one of the windows… and after taking the shot I made enough noise (on purpose) to wake Dirk up… so we could get on our way.
Comments