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| 14 year old me with a baby Simon Cat. |
Today I share with you all not only one of my old pictures, but also an old story I wrote in the 6th Grade. Some of the women in my writing group used to marvel at the way that I could capture the 12 year old voice in my writing. I was able to do this for two reasons:
1) I never got rid of anything I wrote from about age 9 until now. As soon as I realized that I wanted to be a writer I started preserving everything I wrote in case it might be useful later. Therefore, I have preserved my younger voice on paper. I also kept every letter that was ever passed to me in school, so I also have a lot of other voices that I can work with.
2) My inner 12 year old is still very much alive and well in my heart.
The following story (it was supposed to be an essay, but I took some serious liberties) is about what I thought I would be doing 5 years from the time of composition. It makes me laugh, just how unacquainted with that which we call reality I used to be. I still love Christian Slater, and I still wish I were rich and quasi-famous, but I think it worked out for the best that I didn't drag him off to Crescent City to get married when I was 17.
Christian Slater
When I was a little girl I had a dream. My dream was that when I grew up I would meet and possibly marry Christian Slater.
I fell in love with Christian after I saw Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves on TV for the Easter special. Easter is a Christian (excuse the pun!) holiday, so I suppose it was in the eyes of the Lord that I fall in love. After I saw Robin Hood I became infatuated with Christian. I didn’t see many of his movies, but the ones I did see I saw over and over and over and over and over.
After I for my driver’s license my friends Heather and George decided to take a summer vacation to L.A. George and I drove most of the way because back then Heather seemed to be possessed by Evel Knievel.
After driving for 48 straight we got to L.A. The only thing I could think about when we got there was the song “Under the Bridge” by The Red Hot Chili Peppers. When was a little girl, I used to hear that song on the radio and think of Christian. The part that said “The city I live in, the city of Angels, lonely as I am, together we cry,” seemed like Christian wrote it. He had two weaknesses. Women and drink. Every time he got drunk, a girl would dump him.
We went to all of the great places in L.A. and Hollywood. We went to Universal, The Chinese Theater, the Walk of Fame, and of course, The Hard Rock Café.
After being in L.A. for a week, we decided to just browse the shops because of course most of the stores in L.A. were so expensive that even if we put all of our money together we wouldn’t have enough money to buy anything.
On our second day of browsing we were leaving a Versace store and walking back to our hotel. We were talking and I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and ran right into the finest man I had ever seen. I knew at once who it was.
“Oh no!” I said. “I am so sorry that I ran into you! My name is Joyce and this is George and Heather.”
“Hello,” he said. “My name is Christian.”
“I’m sorry I ran into you.”
“Oh, it’s quite alright.”
“May we invite you for a cup of coffee?”
We went for coffee at some Italian café. Might I add that the cappuccino was excellent! But, back to the story. When we were done with our coffee. I knew a lot about Christian and he knew a lot about me. The real shock was when he was about to leave and he asked me out on a date. George and Heather were so shocked! Of course, I accepted. I gave him my hotel address and we left. I had to meet him in the lobby of our hotel at 6:00! Heather did my hair and George had my dress dry-cleaned. I was so nervous!
When he picked me up he took me out for a night on the town. He was so sweet and we had so much fun, I felt just like Cinderella. We went on dates like this just about every day. Sometimes George and Heather doubled with us.
Those two weeks went by so fast. But one day we realized we had to go back to little ol’ Crescent City, Florida. It pained me to tell Christian the news. When I told him he didn’t seem fazed. I asked him if he was alright and all her said was “I’m going with you.” I didn’t want him to have to live in Crescent City. But he said he wouldn’t mind living in a small town. You know, getting away from the hustle and bustle of L.A. and all. So I agreed.
Going back home wasn’t the least bit boring. Christian and I had a lot to talk about. George and Heather took turns driving my car and Christian and I drove his car. We all decided that before we went home we ought to go to Mexico for a week. That way we could figure out how to get Christian into Crescent City without the whole population of Southern Putnam County finding out. Gossip is a popular pastime around Crescent City, as George, Heather and I well knew.
So we went to Mexico and had a vacation in a vacation so to speak. We didn’t just scheme while we were in Mexico. Oh, no. We visited Mexico City and the Aztec Ruins. I really wanted to see Tepeyac hill, where Juan Diego saw The Virgin of Gaudeloupe in that one episode of Wishbone.
We did figure out a plan though. Our plan was not to take Christian into Putnam County, but to take him to my cousins Lisa and Brad who live in Seville. Seville is only about ten miles out of Crescent City so it wouldn’t cost too much on gas to go see him every day. He would only have to stay there until we could find him an apartment or something in Crescent City.
Before we left Mexico we called Lisa and Brad to make sure our plan was O.K. It was, of course. Brad and Lisa are so nice, I doubt they would have turned me down if Christian was in the drug cartel. Thank God he’s not! I hope!
After that we were back on the road headed for Crescent City. The drive took us about a day and a half. It would have taken us less if we hadn’t turned the wrong way on a turnpike. We went the wrong way on I4 and wound up in Orlando.
But, finally after a lot more than a month, we dropped Christian off at Brad and Lisa’s and we got home to Crescent City. I didn’t tell mom about Christian because I was afraid she wouldn’t like him. I went to see Christian every day after I got back.
That was hard to pull off with school and band practice but sometimes he would come and watch me at band practice.
After we had been going out for over a year I graduated. I moved out of my mom’s house and moved in with Christian. I lived with Christian and went to college. Christian had to find work. Christian found work but it required a car so I had to get a vehicle of some sort. My dream car was always a white convertible Jeep. Christian knew this and somehow for Christmas, Christian got me one.
So, what did you think? Do you have any writing you could share for #TBT? Let me know in the comments or on Facebook!
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