Chester, NY – “Blood on the Sheets” – Bodles Opera House – July 22, 2001

There was blood on Soucy’s sheets. Not a lot of blood, just about a pulled hang nail’s worth but nonetheless — blood, and leaves too and a couple of twigs.

“Eww,” we both shrieked and jumped away from the bedding. “This room has NOT been cleaned!” winced a distraught Soucy.

When we checked in at 11:30, the Jello mold disguised as a man at the front desk, was in a foul mood.  I’ve never seen Delucchi so scared as when he returned from checking us in, bearing green plastic keys for the rest of us.

When Deluch asked for a roll-a-way, the grumpy attendant screamed at him and told him he wasn’t about to go looking for an extra bed at this time of night! When Deluc asked where he was supposed to sleep the man told him he to sleep on the floor and mumbled obscenities under his breath. But eventually, he slumped out of his chair like the sick nasty booger he was, and found Delucchi a cot.

Indeed, as we passed the gelatinous slug in the lobby, his vibe was so mean and devilish that no one dared look him in the eye. Once in the room, it was determined, we didn’t REALLY need a wake-up call or late check out (no one was willing to call the front desk anyhow). We chain-locked our doors, bolted the windows, crossed our fingers, and hoped for the best.

Soucy, while alarmed by the mess in his bed was too scared to call down to the human loogie.  Instead he opted to throw a towel over the bloodstain, wipe the sticks and foliage off the mattress and fall asleep fast. The TV remote was on a chain leash attached to the wall and the room reeked of air freshener (another indication of the room’s underlying filth).  I watched a VH1 Behind the Music special on Tina Turner and fell asleep tangled in the remote’s harness. I woke up to the sound of someone splish-splashing in the tub. That someone was Soucy. How on earth he’d gotten brave enough to soak in a hotel tub where there’d been blood on his sheets is beyond me.

At 11 am we went into downtown Chester to catch a bite down the street from Bodles Opera House (the joint we’d played the night before). The only eatery open was a place called 19 Main Street which looked like a cross between a fifth-grade cafeteria and a 1950’s sanitarium.

“Can we still get breakfast?” asked Dino.

“Oh, not today,” exclaimed the little old lady at the counter “It’s pot roast day!” she said. So we all got pot roast for breakfast and a slice of pie to top it off.  Needless to say, we napped pretty much the entire ride to VA.