I came into school one day tired and dragging my feet. Wet toast and water and tylenol and there I was. My bag was half-open and people buzzed around me, all more awake and enjoying the morning like they knew just how. I limped up to my locker, or what I thought was my locker, and started opening the lock. I didn't even realise; I was in the senior's hall, on the whole wrong side of the building. I had come in a different entrance 'cause I caught the city bus that morning and I was all turned around. Anyway, not only did I get the wrong locker, I got THE wrong locker, I got Jamus Gart's locker. The super-popular, had-sex-at-thirteen, senior that everyone loved and wanted to be. And even more amazing than that, in my tired stupor, I got my lock combination way wrong, and somehow guessed his correct combination. The locker clicked open and I was preparing myself for the smell of a flat apple and the look of a Batman Forever poster, my usual daily routine of disappointment. Instead I was greeted to a fine musk, a rich smell similar to animal fur or, like, a sweaty prince. The locker was tidy, books stacked on a middle shelf he had installed himself, a pair of sailing shoes sat neatly at the bottom, thin planks of cedar in the top compartment to neutralize possibly aromatic locker neighbours. Soft music seemed to play, like a thin veil of Curtis Mayfield and the Ave Maria, and a small mirror sat humbly and easy at eye level. A little photobooth photo stuck out from under the corner. A vision of beauty, a strong defiant bone-structure with a high collar; Jamus' college-aged girlfriend. I knew the whole time, at some level, I had made a mistake, but for a second I remember clearly thinking, "Woah, I really do have my shit together."
A love letter, probably the best love letter ever written, mailed in its original form from address to address, in an attempt to visit every home at least once. By the time I receive it, the words are smudged completely, the words are totally unreadable, fingerprints and coffee stains and locks of hair. But I think I still get it. 'Cause what's to get, right?
[Buy the brilliant Warm Brother]
[Digital Leather previously on StG]
Posted by Dan at October 6, 2009 3:11 AMThis is good - thanks for posting.
Posted by Christian at October 6, 2009 5:14 AMI don't comment very often, but the story for "Photo Lie" might be one of my favourites of the year, thank you. Great song, too!
Posted by Mikaella at October 13, 2009 5:16 AM
and it will begin playing. All songs are also available to download: just right-click the link and choose 'Save as...'
