Mechanical rooster

SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. -- There's plenty of nice scenery out here in the wide-open spaces of Bullitt County. After driving through rolling hills and farmland I came upon a sight that Mother Nature can't top: dozens of mattresses piled about a hundred feet from my motel.

I guess the place is under renovation. Then again, maybe the management is just airing out the mattresses to have them nice and fresh for the Derby crowd that will be rolling in Thursday night. I hope the feral tabby cat prowling by the dumpster didn't mistake any of them for a king-sized litter box.

This morning, at about 4:30, I was awakened by a metallic crash that sounded like an explosion. In my sleepy haze I thought maybe a truck had shown up to collect the mattresses and dump them somewhere else. Thousands are employed to move large objects from one place to another, so maybe a long-distance mattress trucker was working the graveyard shift.

I managed to fall asleep until about 8 o'clock, and I looked out the window and saw all the mattresses were still there. So was the cat, but the dumpster no longer was overflowing. So it was the garbage man waking me before any rooster was stirring.

Went to the 24-hour Denny's next door, and as my scrambled eggs and grits came, the Wurlitzer juke box began playing Billy Joe Royal's 1966 hit "Down in the Boondocks." I'm not sure why, but suddenly I had the giddy feeling of being in tune with this little corner of the universe. It was an emotional moment.