Summer Rain (773 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 2 on 27 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by gravitas (View user info) at 2006-04-23 12:11:26 EDT
I sit with my old guitar in my hands, pressing my forgetful mind to replay my favorite song. I remember it starts with G, but how long until I switch to A? Ah, six times, alternating up and down. It's coming back now.
My guitar is over 40 years old. Its half-broken tuning pegs are coated in permanent dust, while its worn frets require extra effort to play. My grandfather bought this cheap guitar at Sears and kept it all of these years. When passed to me two years ago, I couldn't have been happier with a Gibson or Martin. I had a guitar.
As the music flows through my hand I look around my room. The walls are bare save for dirty handprints and one poster of guitar chords. My bed, a mattress on a plywood platform, fills one corner, while a folding table pretends to be my desk in the other.
It is summer. Gnats, loving this humid Georgia paradise, visit through my open window to tease me. Young children try to cool off in a garden sprinkler across the street. An old man fans himself while watching the children from a rocking chair on the porch of his unpainted house. Older kids spent most of the morning rescuing a frisbee from my neighbor's roof.
From nothing more than her deep brown eyes peeking over the windowsill, everything goes away. I melt in her smile
Her sweet aroma fills my bedroom as she climbs in the window and strolls over to sit beside me on the floor. I've loved her all my life, but in the 16 years her family has lived next to mine, those words have never found her ears. She is my muse.
"What are you playing?" she asks, twirling her stringy brown hair.
"Nothing, just strumming chords." Why do we lie needlessly?
Like everyday before now, she begs me to play. Even if I try, my hands sweat and tremble. I'm not good enough to play for her. Not yet.
She gives up, so we begin the usual 'what do you want to do' barter. She convinces me of my need for a slushie. I abandon my guitar on my bed to walk her to the quickie down the street.
Strolling across my front yard, she asks about my plans after high school. With my grades, post-secondary means a full-time job, so I tell her I haven't decided. She mentions the two colleges she has in mind, both far away. The sky darkens overhead, as she demands a promise to visit her wherever she goes.
The rain pierces the humid day well before we have slushies. I start to run toward the store but I look back and see her standing, her head turned to the sky and mouth wide open. Life would be so boring without her.
She looks down to yell, "where are you going?"
"What about the slushies? You'll be soaked."
"I've changed my mind. You're already wet, lets dance!"
I can never argue with her logic, not that it matters. She grabs my arms and spins around me. The rest of the world ceases to exist, for now we live in our own world, her world.
For half a second we stop. I stare deep into her eyes. Her smile widens. Mixed feelings rush to my head, but it's too much. I look to the ground for answers.
The rain, demanding attention, pounds harder. Her body starts to shiver, so I grab her chilled hand and run, dragging her back to her house.
She flops down on her ugly orange sofa and I wrap her in the tattered blanket that's always on the couch. When I tell her I have some things to do at home, her energy disappears. I know she hates to be alone, but I some time to think.
I stroll back to my house, the rain soothing my troubled mind. I'm not sure what today meant, but I will practice my guitar even harder. I will play beautifully for her soon.
User Reviews
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-01-10 09:18:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-07-30 16:30:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2007-06-21 11:59:19 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
'roids gone wild
Submitted by sweetkisses (user info) at 2007-06-21 11:40:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by Dirty_Girl (user info) at 2007-06-21 10:20:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by andkon (user info) at 2007-06-21 08:57:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by sorento35 (user info) at 2007-06-21 08:53:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Terrible.
Submitted by Matin_Morte (user info) at 2007-06-20 23:15:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by muhahaha (user info) at 2007-06-20 22:54:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
God you are awful.
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2006-05-04 16:05:27 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
-2 die!
just kidding.
Submitted by goferforhire (user info) at 2006-04-24 21:31:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by gravitas (user info) at 2006-04-24 19:50:46 (#)
Ranking: 2
i like that guys attitude
----------------
I lik yours. And I'm not just saying that because you +2ed my post.
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2006-04-24 05:28:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by stevie_says (user info) at 2006-04-24 02:05:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for my 4,800 review supplier
Submitted by gravitas (user info) at 2006-04-23 21:08:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
this is fiction, but that is how i got my first guitar
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-04-23 16:38:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Doesn't matter how beautiful you think it is. Just play for her, man.
Submitted by shadow (user info) at 2006-04-23 16:00:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
...pussy
Submitted by c1ndy (user info) at 2006-04-23 14:21:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
oooh super
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2006-04-23 14:03:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by FilthyAssistant (user info) at 2006-04-23 13:53:32 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Atmospheric. I like it.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2006-04-23 12:56:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroads, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above, have mercy now, save poor Bob if you please
Standin' at the crossroads, tried to flag a ride
Whee-hee, I tried to flag a ride
Didn't nobody seem to know me, everybody pass me by
Standin' at the crossroads, risin' sun goin' down
Standin' at the crossroads baby, the risin' sun goin' down
I believe to my soul now, po' Bob is sinkin' down
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
You can run, you can run, tell my friend Willie Brown
That I got the crossroad blues this mornin', Lord, baby I'm sinkin' down
I went to the crossroad, mama, I looked east and west
I went to the crossroad, babe, I looked east and west
Lord, I didn't have no sweet woman, ooh well, babe, in my distress
Submitted by mockidol (user info) at 2006-04-23 12:39:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2006-04-23 12:37:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
nice post
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2006-04-23 12:33:25 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by redskieslookfake (user info) at 2006-04-23 12:32:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"I know she hates to be alone, but I some time to think. "
Need some time?
Otherwise interesting work.
Submitted by extacy_red (user info) at 2006-04-23 12:24:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
um.
Have a +2
Submitted by Stagger_Lee (user info) at 2006-04-23 12:13:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2006-04-23 12:13:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
But let me tell you, the slim lazy Homer you knew is dead. Now I'm a
big fat dynamo.
-- Homer Simpson
King-Size Homer