Jersey's Voice
Chapter 14
I walked into my apartment and tossed my apron with it's stuff in it to the side, having it land on the chair I had put to the side of the door for just said purposes. Flicking on my lights I stopped dead in my tracks. There was something on my coffee table with a sheet over it. Walking over slowly I looked down and saw that their was a note stuck to the top with a safety pin. Unlatching it I picked up and recognized Gerard's tell tale handwriting.
"First off, Reta gave me a key. I didn't break and enter, I promise. Next I know that we were suppose to be here longer before we left but that's how music goes. But most of all I know that we were suppose to be here for your birthday, your very first in Jersey. And now we won't be. So the guys, Sharon and I left you our gifts on the table as a surprise. We thought it might make up for it a little bit, not entirely, but some. And don't wait for your birthday to open them, open them now. Don't go out, stay home and open gifts. We'll be thinking about you every day on tour. Know that as fact.
Missing you already,
~Gerard, Frankie, Mikey, Bob, Ray and Sharon"
I smiled at the note and placed it on the couch next to me as I sat down and lifted the sheet off the pile. And it really was a pile. There was a box of some sort from each of them wrapped in various styles. I knew which one was Frankie's by the way it looked like a three year old had wrapped it. A three year old on a sugar high from hell was more like it. Laughing I picked that one up first and opened it.
Inside the odd shaped box was red water gun, a stuffed lizard that had a handmade name tag telling me his name was Frankie, and a vegetarian cookbook. And last was a fairy calendar, with a note on the outside that told me to mark the dates listed down on it and to mark each off till they came back. Leave it to Frankie to pick the weirdest gifts ever, and yet ones that I would love.
Bob got me a rubber devil duckie set that had like six different kinds, some of which lit up and blinked different colors when you ran a finger across their undersides, and an ashtray that looked vintage almost from the sixties, and was this great yellow color. Ray got me an amazing silver Zippo lighter that had gorgeous designs etched into the silver, a bottle of lighter fluid, along with an Ugly doll that made me smile as he had bought a little guitar and slung it on the doll.
Mikey's was wrapped in the comic strips from the newspaper, ever so Mikey. He had given me an Iron Maiden CD, a do it at home sushi kit, a pair of gorgeous looking chopsticks and my very own My Chemical Romance t-shirt with a note saying that it was the first one they had pressed for the tour, brand new design and all.
Sharon's was wrapped beautifully, everything matching and all the corners perfectly folded. It made me smile thinking about the time she must have spent just wrapping the box in it's glorious ochre red paper and purple accents. Inside was a pair of flats I had seen at Waste of Breath, that were a toxic green color with orange bows, she had said when we first saw them that they clashed so loud they were literally screaming my name. Also there was a bottle of black nail polish, a new book I had wanted to buy and an appointment card from Star's salon. Guess I really did need a touch up on my color.
Last I opened Gerard's present, and it looked as if he had taken as much time in picking out the wrappings as Sharon had in wrapping hers. It was black and white striped paper with a yellow bow and a red and purple ribbon with a blue card with my name on it. Smiling I opened the box and peered inside.
I took out the first one that was a frame wrapped in blue tissue paper. Tearing it off I gazed at the six pictures in the frame that was rectangles set off one another. There was the half shot of me laughing that he had taken that first day out, and the one of the two of us together that he had also taken that day. There was one of all of us outside the venue of the second show I had ever attended, this picture being in color unlike the other two. Then in one was a pencil sketching of the picture of me, a copy of the photo of me that was in the frame already, the black and white one that was only a partial shot of my face laughing. His attention to detail was amazing. The next one was one of Frankie I had taken in the car that first trip to a show, when Ray had dumped orange soda all over him. Gerard had made it black and white, but the orange soda I had caught mid spill had been left bright orange. Frankie's face was purely priceless as the cold beverage had fallen all over him. The last was one taken at night, and one I hadn't taken actually, so it must have been one he had taken. It was a time lapse shot of near the Welcome to New Jersey sign on the busy interstate. There were cars driving past at fast speeds, leaving trails of colors from their lights, yet the sign was in focus. I loved it.
I remembered Gerard asking to take some of my photos from their performances to use to promote their band. I had said yes, and it seemed that he had taken more than just those photos from my computer. Not that I minded.
Placing it down beside me I dug out the next, this one being wrapped in a burnt sienna colored tissue paper and having a hefty weight to it. Unwrapping it I saw it was a new lens for my camera, which must have cost a fortune. Smiling I piled all my goodies on the table and got rid of all the wrappings, making sure to keep the note from the sheet.
Garbage taken out to the dumpster and disposed of I went back. It was now almost ten o'clock and I was more tired than I had expected. Back in my apartment I picked up the picture frame piece from Gerard and looked for a place to put it. Finally I found it. Grabbing a nail I had lying around from hanging other things up I grabbed my hammer and went to work.
Nail finally in and frame piece hung I stepped back to admire my work. There had been a low lying branch painted on the tree on the white wall, sticking out all on it's lonesome and it was the perfect place to hang the frames. It looked almost as if the little individual frames all held together into one geometric piece were fruit of the tree. Almost as if Gerard had painted the limb for just said purpose. Smiling I took my other gifts and walked into my room and placed them on my bed.
I quickly hopped into the shower before sliding into pajamas for the night and putting my gifts on top of my dresser, taking the group note with me to put away as a memory. As I crawled under my covers I leaned over to my small bedside type table that contained one little drawer. Pulling it open I stuck my hand in to pull out my journal but came in contact with soft gauzy ribbon instead.
Sitting up straight I pulled the drawer all the way open and stuck my hand back inside once again and pulled out the foreign object. It was a thin white rectangular box with shear black gauzy ribbon tied around it then forming a bow on the top. There was a small tag tied to the bow which I had to untie to get to it. Sliding the card off I brought it up to read.
"Sometimes words aren't the art but the tool for purveying the hidden meaning
-G"
Smiling I put the little card beside me and finished untying the shear black ribbon to be able to lift the lid from the small box. I lifted the lid and pushed back the black tissue paper that had been oh so neatly folded to enclose the gift below.
As I pulled back the final piece I felt myself gasp a little. Sitting on little wooden risers were two gorgeous pens, worked with silver, gold and bright colored enamels. I simply stared at them as I ran a finger over the smooth texture of their shiny bodies. I had no idea if, nor when ever, I would ever use them as my pens generally had a tendency to end up in my mouth to be chewed on while thinking. I cringed inwardly at the idea of even unconsciously harming these pens. But then again I knew I couldn't NOT use them as that would be not very kind. Sighing I placed the white box with it's exquisite gifts on top of my bedside table and cracked open my journal and began to write with my old chewed pen as I normally did.
"The guys left early today, for tour, and I found myself unable to deal with the news. A hole has been placed on the little bit of Nirvana I had come to call Jersey. I was greeted with a pile of wonders at the end of the day. They remembered. I was given tools to inscribe the world as I see it, and as he said, sometimes words aren't the art but the tool for purveying the hidden meaning. Jersey is speaking to me a bit more, through badly wrapped packages and clashing satin ribbon."
Satisfied with my entry I placed the note from them all between the pages along with the small note from the last gift and then closed the journal.
"First off, Reta gave me a key. I didn't break and enter, I promise. Next I know that we were suppose to be here longer before we left but that's how music goes. But most of all I know that we were suppose to be here for your birthday, your very first in Jersey. And now we won't be. So the guys, Sharon and I left you our gifts on the table as a surprise. We thought it might make up for it a little bit, not entirely, but some. And don't wait for your birthday to open them, open them now. Don't go out, stay home and open gifts. We'll be thinking about you every day on tour. Know that as fact.
Missing you already,
~Gerard, Frankie, Mikey, Bob, Ray and Sharon"
I smiled at the note and placed it on the couch next to me as I sat down and lifted the sheet off the pile. And it really was a pile. There was a box of some sort from each of them wrapped in various styles. I knew which one was Frankie's by the way it looked like a three year old had wrapped it. A three year old on a sugar high from hell was more like it. Laughing I picked that one up first and opened it.
Inside the odd shaped box was red water gun, a stuffed lizard that had a handmade name tag telling me his name was Frankie, and a vegetarian cookbook. And last was a fairy calendar, with a note on the outside that told me to mark the dates listed down on it and to mark each off till they came back. Leave it to Frankie to pick the weirdest gifts ever, and yet ones that I would love.
Bob got me a rubber devil duckie set that had like six different kinds, some of which lit up and blinked different colors when you ran a finger across their undersides, and an ashtray that looked vintage almost from the sixties, and was this great yellow color. Ray got me an amazing silver Zippo lighter that had gorgeous designs etched into the silver, a bottle of lighter fluid, along with an Ugly doll that made me smile as he had bought a little guitar and slung it on the doll.
Mikey's was wrapped in the comic strips from the newspaper, ever so Mikey. He had given me an Iron Maiden CD, a do it at home sushi kit, a pair of gorgeous looking chopsticks and my very own My Chemical Romance t-shirt with a note saying that it was the first one they had pressed for the tour, brand new design and all.
Sharon's was wrapped beautifully, everything matching and all the corners perfectly folded. It made me smile thinking about the time she must have spent just wrapping the box in it's glorious ochre red paper and purple accents. Inside was a pair of flats I had seen at Waste of Breath, that were a toxic green color with orange bows, she had said when we first saw them that they clashed so loud they were literally screaming my name. Also there was a bottle of black nail polish, a new book I had wanted to buy and an appointment card from Star's salon. Guess I really did need a touch up on my color.
Last I opened Gerard's present, and it looked as if he had taken as much time in picking out the wrappings as Sharon had in wrapping hers. It was black and white striped paper with a yellow bow and a red and purple ribbon with a blue card with my name on it. Smiling I opened the box and peered inside.
I took out the first one that was a frame wrapped in blue tissue paper. Tearing it off I gazed at the six pictures in the frame that was rectangles set off one another. There was the half shot of me laughing that he had taken that first day out, and the one of the two of us together that he had also taken that day. There was one of all of us outside the venue of the second show I had ever attended, this picture being in color unlike the other two. Then in one was a pencil sketching of the picture of me, a copy of the photo of me that was in the frame already, the black and white one that was only a partial shot of my face laughing. His attention to detail was amazing. The next one was one of Frankie I had taken in the car that first trip to a show, when Ray had dumped orange soda all over him. Gerard had made it black and white, but the orange soda I had caught mid spill had been left bright orange. Frankie's face was purely priceless as the cold beverage had fallen all over him. The last was one taken at night, and one I hadn't taken actually, so it must have been one he had taken. It was a time lapse shot of near the Welcome to New Jersey sign on the busy interstate. There were cars driving past at fast speeds, leaving trails of colors from their lights, yet the sign was in focus. I loved it.
I remembered Gerard asking to take some of my photos from their performances to use to promote their band. I had said yes, and it seemed that he had taken more than just those photos from my computer. Not that I minded.
Placing it down beside me I dug out the next, this one being wrapped in a burnt sienna colored tissue paper and having a hefty weight to it. Unwrapping it I saw it was a new lens for my camera, which must have cost a fortune. Smiling I piled all my goodies on the table and got rid of all the wrappings, making sure to keep the note from the sheet.
Garbage taken out to the dumpster and disposed of I went back. It was now almost ten o'clock and I was more tired than I had expected. Back in my apartment I picked up the picture frame piece from Gerard and looked for a place to put it. Finally I found it. Grabbing a nail I had lying around from hanging other things up I grabbed my hammer and went to work.
Nail finally in and frame piece hung I stepped back to admire my work. There had been a low lying branch painted on the tree on the white wall, sticking out all on it's lonesome and it was the perfect place to hang the frames. It looked almost as if the little individual frames all held together into one geometric piece were fruit of the tree. Almost as if Gerard had painted the limb for just said purpose. Smiling I took my other gifts and walked into my room and placed them on my bed.
I quickly hopped into the shower before sliding into pajamas for the night and putting my gifts on top of my dresser, taking the group note with me to put away as a memory. As I crawled under my covers I leaned over to my small bedside type table that contained one little drawer. Pulling it open I stuck my hand in to pull out my journal but came in contact with soft gauzy ribbon instead.
Sitting up straight I pulled the drawer all the way open and stuck my hand back inside once again and pulled out the foreign object. It was a thin white rectangular box with shear black gauzy ribbon tied around it then forming a bow on the top. There was a small tag tied to the bow which I had to untie to get to it. Sliding the card off I brought it up to read.
"Sometimes words aren't the art but the tool for purveying the hidden meaning
-G"
Smiling I put the little card beside me and finished untying the shear black ribbon to be able to lift the lid from the small box. I lifted the lid and pushed back the black tissue paper that had been oh so neatly folded to enclose the gift below.
As I pulled back the final piece I felt myself gasp a little. Sitting on little wooden risers were two gorgeous pens, worked with silver, gold and bright colored enamels. I simply stared at them as I ran a finger over the smooth texture of their shiny bodies. I had no idea if, nor when ever, I would ever use them as my pens generally had a tendency to end up in my mouth to be chewed on while thinking. I cringed inwardly at the idea of even unconsciously harming these pens. But then again I knew I couldn't NOT use them as that would be not very kind. Sighing I placed the white box with it's exquisite gifts on top of my bedside table and cracked open my journal and began to write with my old chewed pen as I normally did.
"The guys left early today, for tour, and I found myself unable to deal with the news. A hole has been placed on the little bit of Nirvana I had come to call Jersey. I was greeted with a pile of wonders at the end of the day. They remembered. I was given tools to inscribe the world as I see it, and as he said, sometimes words aren't the art but the tool for purveying the hidden meaning. Jersey is speaking to me a bit more, through badly wrapped packages and clashing satin ribbon."
Satisfied with my entry I placed the note from them all between the pages along with the small note from the last gift and then closed the journal.
Aw, I see you’ve abandoned this. I wish you hadn’t… it’s really good!
10/28/22