Basket of Mehron

"You piece of garbage!"1

I throw myself onto my white couch, the fabric's some rough and unknown material. I shield my ears with a pillow, but even within this makeshift sanctuary, I am vulnerable to my father's lashings of anger.2

Apparently I had "smarted off" somehow, although the way I remember, I wouldn't do my brother's college-level homework, which scaled the heights of argumentativeness into a full-out brawl, which my parents would always win.3

"You trash! When someone in your family asks for help, you say yes without a question!"4

Once again, terms were misused here. MY family's idea of "help" was me doing a four- or five-page essay on some obscure topic, to dig my brother out of his self-made hole...5

I stare up at the smooth white ceiling, snug in an afghan of darkness, comfortable on the hard carpet. For some reason, I can't stop laughing...6

"Hat!"7

I'm lost in convulsions of mirth, my voice growing hoarse from the raspy sounds made to invent the inside joke. T rolls over and looks at me with a huge smile growing on her face, as silence falls over the house.8

A seems to drift into sleep, ecstatic the "Hat!"s have died down...9

Until...10

"....hat!"11

A long crescendo of the beautifully absurd sound sends the two floor-dwellers into spasms once again...12

Within an undulating mob, tier by tier, my screams drown in the collective banshee-waves pulsing forward toward the stage. So long, these free tickets were going to pay off...13

"Hey Seattle!"14

The decibels grow to ear-bleeding proportions as this beautiful Evanescent siren grabs the instrument of her trade and begins to weave a metal dream of angels and Persephones.15

2 am, filled to bursting with the rare ambrosia of Dick's cheap and heavenly burgers and fresh browned fries, drifting into a slumber, lulled by the songs just spun...16

An embrace.17

Five years of sun hats, Reynolds crows, Agatha Caulfields, locked into a marble of time, a moment of silence worldwide.18

I run up the hill, Japanese techno pounding in my ears, fighting back tears, frantically running...19

What a Faye moment.20