+1.6+ Face down on the motel room floor ass in the air

The carpeting smelled of stale cigarette smoke, also mildew and dust. The door was open, meaning I was visible to all who walked by. What a sight for the maids, retirees and families with small children to behold. I know exactly what I would have thought if I’d walked by. Not to mention my head ached terribly and I, being so out of it, couldn’t tell if it was still bleeding.

+1.5+ What could bring Jacob Lawder peace and inspiration isn’t here

(for you m.g.–rip)

Jonathan Hex woke up this morning distraught & with a new name.

+1.4+ So you think that’s a cigarette in her mouth? Opening Credits (of a sort)

“Oh shit,” I said, falling back into the couch.

If anyone else had seen this drawing, they probably would have guessed that the black thing sticking out of the girl’s mouth was a cigarette. But I knew it wasn’t a cigarette at all. Having lost my appetite, I got up off the couch and carried my plate to the kitchen, throwing my uneaten sandwich in the trash. I poured a beer. I returned to the living room and slid the DVD into the player, part curious, part dreading what I’d find. The remote had disappeared again (probably out visiting my socks), so like a boy up early watching cartoons on a Saturday morning, I got a pillow, sat down on the floor in front of the TV screen, held my breath and pressed the ‘play’ button.

The DVD began as any movie would begin, with the opening credits (of a sort).

Dear MR. Jonathan Hex

PleASE: PaY ATTENTION!!

Sincerily, the committee

AT Your SERVUS with a SMILE!!!!

 

I am not embarrassed to admit my first thought on reading this was of extraterrestrials, but maybe I should be. I didn’t have time, however, to properly consider the message before the video abruptly cut to the opening scene. What I saw made me so sick to my stomach, I came close to ruining the new carpeting the landlord had finally put in.

Although obscured by what looked like the metal grating of an air vent, the picture on the TV screen was clear enough: the person being filmed lying face down on a motel room floor with his bare ass in the air was none other than yours truly. A near perfect shot, too. And I was barely moving. My right arm was moving a little, but that’s it.

+1.3+ the pic

of the Sad Girl giving me the finger

+1.2+ What I found when I opened the box

was a gold necklace–a red glass heart shaped pendant attached to the chain. What troubled me was that it was the same necklace I had had in my jacket pocket just two weeks prior. I knew that by the chips on the sides of the pendant. Depending on how a person looked at it, one could say that, two weeks ago, I had stolen this necklace, although I really didn’t think about it in those terms. When I dropped the necklace, I didn’t think anything of it.

Besides the necklace, in the box was an unlabeled dvd in a plastic jewel case with a folded piece of paper taped to it. Nothing was written on the piece of paper, only a crude drawing of a sad girl giving me the finger.

+1.1+ What IS in the junk drawer?

I was rummaging through the junk drawer for some scissors when the telephone rang. At the last minute, as the answering machine was about to pick up, I answered the phone, thinking it might have something to do with the package.

“Hello…Hello?” I said.

What I heard was a click followed by a silence–the kind when someone who is really there is pretending not to be and the caller’s breathing is just barely perceptible.

“I’m not fooled,” I said into the receiver. I thought I might have an air horn in the junk drawer, but I couldn’t find one. After the incident at the front door, I wasn’t surprised to find no one pretending to be on the other end of the phone.

I gave up on the mystery caller and on finding scissors, and instead took the knife I was using to slice the tomato with. I put my sandwich and some chips on a plate from the dish rack, and along with the knife and package, went to the living room. I sat down on the couch, pulling the coffee table up close to my knees.

+1.0+ As I listened to A few things to hear before we all blow up

in the kitchen, slicing myself a tomato for a sandwich, the doorbell rang. Expecting to find the package of books I’d ordered early last week, I set the knife down on the counter, washed my hands, then answered the door.

Strangely enough, there wasn’t anyone there. I stepped into the hallway and looked down the stairwell. I stood still & listened, but I didn’t hear anything. I felt no eyes peering at me from around the corner. There was still a package however, on the landing propped against the wall.

Puzzled by the lack of an address label, both for whom the
package was intended and the sender, I looked on all sides of the box for clues. Something to swab. It was wrapped in a cut piece of a brown paper bag with a local chain supermarket’s label printed in red. As crazy as this may sound given the times, curiosity got the better of me and I decided my afternoon could use a lift. So, I took the package inside with me to the kitchen.

Godspeed You Black Emperor!

This being my first post and all, I wanted to make good use of it and mention a band I’ve heard for the very first time:

Godspeed You Black Emperor!

Yanqui U.X.O. is blowing my mind right now

And that isn’t easy.