Street Interview: Chief

“And me, I ran,
I couldn't even look at him,
For fear I'd have to say goodbye,
And as I start to leave,
He grabs me by the shoulder
and he tells me,
"What's left to lose?
You've done enough.
And if you fail, well then you fail,
but not to us.”

- The Format, On Your Porch

Chief: Dad went to have some kind of surgery - he was supposed to be in the hospital.

He came there to the house and he was going to have some surgery done and he thought it was his time to go.

So, I mean…he blew me away other than the fact that I was already high (laughter). It really blew me away, I mean it just cut through everything. Here he is, here’s this man that come to me and said “This may be it for me, please look after mom.” and “Goodbye.”

And, here I am sitting in a house, full of girls (laughter), and full of addicts (laughter) and I let him leave and he took off, went to the house. I think he was supposed to go that night, or the next morning. Finally I got out of, you know, the stage of being shocked. And so I jumped in the car and went to the hospital and they said he wasn’t there.

So I said, “well, you know, this is weird”. I couldn’t get a hold of mom, because, what had happened was, they had gone to Birmingham. They didn’t tell me which hospital he was going to.

So, I took off.

And that was after I’d been pulled over for something…and almost got busted for possession. One of the guys that was riding with me threw his pipe under mine and the officer thought it was mine. But, the guy was good enough to say, “It’s mine. It’s not his.” So they let me go and they took him. And I said, “That was it for me, I’m getting out of here. I’m getting out of this house. I’m getting out of this situation.”

Because, what he had done when he had come there and told me he was fixing to die, I mean, it just – I mean, it just shot clean through me that, you know, life’s more important than what you’re doing here. You’re just wasting away doing nothing. Destroying yourself. And you’ve got this man that came to you wanting…you to look after his wife. I mean it just, It rung my bells. So, like all kids at that age, you know, I took off, and I shot off to Oklahoma.

 

Chief (Mike) is the brother of The Contributor director, Tasha French. He is currently under house arrest with his parents in Alabama. He is looking for work and helping to take care of his father. In a recent email he said “I believe my being here will help and maybe help my problem with dad getting older. All I can do is pray for strength in seeing him getting worse. I talk with him and keep it upbeat. I don't think having me cry around him will help - so I mainly ask him what would he like to eat or drink.”

Interview by Will Connelly & Tasha French. Photo by Tasha French. Audio and photos available at: www.sanshouses.com.