We leave you with a short story stemming from a former exercise they gave us on the course:
How did that come to be?
LED
Jay Harding lived a sheltered life. Dad was always away on archaeological expeditions. Back at home, Mum always seemed too preoccupied with on-line shopping to spare any of her time on little Jay. Every time his father would return, Jay witnessed his mother booting back up. As soon as Dad's finger touched the button of the doorbell, Mum's green eyes flashed like LED lights, coming to life. Jay witnessed his mother with one hope: That someone would look at him in that same way.
The year of Mum's death, Dad was desperate. Jay kept hoping he could get a word out of him or an expression. But Dad's face was a stony as the marbles that he studied and, though Jay noticed that Dad's eyes were red every morning, he had never seen nor heard him cry, or speak a word.
Thus Jay was not surprised when, without any discussion, he found himself following his father when he decided to go back to work. In a way Jay was excited – as excited as a recently orphaned 17-year-old could respectfully be. The loss of his mother was not muted, but joining his father was such a novel experience for him that it blared loudly over the fact of her death.
The summer of 2008 was the happiest time of Jay's life. Against all odds, the minuscule coastal village at which he had found himself, worked wonders. Even Dad started to speak again and -what's more- to Jay: “Everything is so simple here” he'd say “what if we stayed here forever?”
Dad may've been slightly swayed by Petra, the swarthy Corsican landlady. She fed, coddled and watered them, enamored with “Indian Jones” as she called Dad. But for Jay it was someone else.
Andrea. She worked at the ferries that took you to the Italian mainland. Her hair was supposed be black but day upon day under the sun had turned her blonde (that's what she said). Her skin was like Mum's favorite suede purse. She smelled like the beach and her eyes were like LED lights.
Jay couldn't understand why she found him interesting. Out of all the boys in her village: the strapping young men, with broad shoulders and big backs, with the jutting jaws and sinful smiles, why him? But when he looked up from his keyboard, his wispy brown bangs sticking to his glasses in the heat (Why, oh why, must the only Internet cafe in the village not have air conditioning?) he saw her stuck to the window, staring at him, with those eyes. And the eyes were enough.
She would not shut up. She would never leave a moment's silence! Every single second of their time together, Andrea would blather on and on about something or other. The people she encountered on her boats, the pigheaded boys who kept coming on to her, the rude village women calling her a tramp so unjustifiably – all were the subject of her long and blathering ire.
The more she would speak, the more Jay would forget about himself and Mum. The more she would speak the more Jay loved it. And he loved her. Ever since he met her on 06/17/08.
When it came time to go (“I wish we could stay here forever” Dad said) it was not easy. Andrea, for all the talking in her broken, adorable English did not know how to read or write a word. But Jay's love was so strong that he would not let something so silly stand in the way. He would learn Italian! And she could have Enzo the cafe guy read her Jay's e-mails until then! It would be fine!
The plan was for them to save money. A dollar a day for an entire year, from the day they met in June to the next summer. That would amount to an entire transatlantic ticket! And then, beloved Andrea could finally come see young Jay in the U.S.A. It would be wonderful.
Every day, Jay wrote on a one dollar bill: Jay [heart] Andrea. He dated it, he let the red ink dry and then he'd scan it. As the scanner flashed around the edges, taking in Jay's expression of devotion, his father's returned gruffness wasn't on his mind. Jay would think of all the things he wanted to say to Andrea. Things he had not had the chance to share during her summer of talking.
Jay would write, he would spellcheck, he would attach his scan and he would send Andrea all his most lovely and beautiful thoughts, about her, about the world and about their cherished reunion.
And it would have been beautiful and wonderful and fine if not for the fact that, every day Andrea went to the cafe for Jay's letter she would spend her time there talking to Enzo. Broad-shouldered, jutting-jawed cafe guy Enzo, with the sinful smile.
She would talk to Enzo while she waited for her turn and then she would listen to him reading her Jay's letters and then she would talk to him again, to tell him what to write to Jay. Until one day their talking left the cafe, and went on into the street, and then a bar, and then a beach, and then it stopped, because their lips and tongues were otherwise busy.
When Jay sent out the dollar bill marked “Jay [heart] Andrea – 06/17/09” he did not expect the response he got. He thought he and his love would celebrate a year having gone by, the money having been gathered. He thought they would make plans. It was nothing of that sort:
“Jay we are very excused but Andrea is not anymore your girl.
Enzo”
Jay had never felt so angry in his entire sheltered life. He knew sadness well and loneliness - Mum's death had made sure of that. But this wrath that was taking him over was unprecedented. Before he had realised what he was doing, Jay was throwing his monitor out of the window of his room! His CPU was soon to follow, when he heard a shout.
Looking out the window, Jay saw his father. Next to him was the crashed screen, on his face a look of perplexed fear. But looking up at his son -Jay wearing an expression Dad had never seen before- suddenly Dad could understand him. “Whoa, Champ” he said -his father never called Jay that- “girl trouble?”. It was the first time Dad had spoken in the year they had been back...
Years later, a grown up and a man, Jay would think of Andrea and laugh at himself. He would laugh at the silliness of how upset he got over a girl who'd barely let him speak and he would wish he'd have a chance to see her again. Not so that he could shout at her or even so he could see that pair of sparkling sapphire LED eyes again. He'd just wish he could thank her.
For Jay Harding, 06/17/09 was a day that started with him getting his heart broken to pieces by a blabbermouth girl. But in the span of a few slight seconds the meaning of the day had changed entirely. Because it was this very same girl, Andrea, that managed to lead Jay back to his dad.
Lulu - To Sir, With Love
Beard Status:
Sleepy.
Bearbdlog will return on Tuesday 01/16/2010. Have a great weekend and enjoy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
