I had 48 pieces for the show. I slowly transported them from the studio to the gallery. I drove a red minivan. To make more room I took out the middle seat and pushed the back seat all the way up. I could fit a lot in that van, but even still, it took few trips. Once all of the art was in Kronos, Kris went to work getting it ready to display. I had not realized that a part of the art is in it's display. I watched in awe as Kris added brackets and hooks to my pieces. Then we started putting them up for display. I watched as each one of my pieces found a home on the wall of Kronos. Kris made an event poster using a scan of one of my pieces, and I made up an artist bio. In it I talked about my dreams of going to art school, like a total big shot.
The night of the show had me buzzing like a florescent light bulb. I could not sit still. Every five seconds I was checking this, or straightening that.
"Charley, would you calm down!" Kris said reclining in his chair.
"I can't!" I said re-stacking my artist cards.
Zane grabbed my shoulders. "You need to chill!" he said. "Look we have an hour before the show, lets go to the Dungeon. I'll get you a Monster!"
I perked up a little.
"Yea that is the last thing we need" Kris said "Something to make her more on edge!"
I rolled my eyes.
"Well?" Zane motioned to the stairs.
"See you in a bit Kris!" I yelled as I leaped down the stairs.
I chugged that Monster. Zane chugged two.
"So what's the deal tonight, like what all is going down?" He asked between burps.
"Well the art show starts at 5 and runs until 7. The bands will show up at 7 and set up. Anyone who is already at the art show gets discounted and early entry, everyone else pays full price and can't come in until doors at 7:30. Make sense?" I explained.
Zane nodded.
"Wait say that again." Liz asked.
Liz always worked the door for us. Let me take a moment to tell you about Liz. When I first met her, I did not like her. Not even a little. She started hanging around us in the fall, right around the the time Kronos had it's first show. She started just showing up everywhere. Downtown, Kronos, the skate park, the dungeon. Nobody really knew who first brought her into the circle. I think it was Mae. Mae was always getting new friends, anyone that would take her away from her family and help her not think about them. Liz fit the bill perfectly, see... Liz lived out in the county, like way out. Her parents owned a bunch of land and built a house that could fit probably all of our houses inside of it. So when she came to town, her parents had to drive her. And trust me, that is a luxury none of us had. Nothing about her life was even remotely close to any of ours, so we all felt a little weird hanging out with her. But Liz could dress. Now maybe it is because she has a bunch of money to buy a bunch of clothes, but maybe it is just that she has really good taste. There was one moment that actually made me kind of like her. And that was a moment we had at the skate park. I was sitting on the bleachers with Mandy, Mae and a few other people when Liz jumped out of her mom's SUV.
"Oh for fucks sake." I said rolling my eyes.
"Yea for real." Mae said.
"WTF Mae, you are her friend, that is why she is here." Mandy said punching Mae in the arm.
"Yea, well that was before she became a little bitch and snitched on me for drinking." Mae said rubbing her arm.
"Say what?!" I said.
"Yea man she totally told her mom that I was drinking in my attic one night. And her mom told my mom, and that is why I was grounded for so long." Mae scoffed.
"Ooooh. Well, it looks like she is coming to hang out." I said nodding towards Liz who was quickly walking our way.
Mae just shrugged.
Oh this will be fun. I thought.
Liz came over and sat right next to Mae. "Whats up?" she asked eagerly.
We all just sort of stared at her.
She made a confused face.
"What's up Liz?" Mae said with a stone face.
"Not much, kind of bored." She looked around. "Hey I was thinking.... Can you guys help me gauge my ears?"
Mandy laughed.
I swear Mae's eyes turned red with evil.
"Charley gauged all of our ears, she's really good." She smiled at me. "You'll do it right Charley?"
I had no business gauging anyone. But I did it, because it was fun.
"Sure." I said as I dug through my bag for my taper.
Liz jumped up. "Really? Really really?"
"Yea." I said. "Sit down."
Liz sat down in front of me. I took a look at her ear. She had a tiny stud in it. I pulled it out and looked at it's post.
"Oh shit." I said.
"What?" she asked.
"This is an 18." I said shaking my head.
"What does that mean?" she asked sounding panicked.
"That means this is going to hurt. A lot." I said trying not to grin.
Mae started to snicker, and Mandy elbowed her.
I expected Liz to chicken out. Jump up and leave.
Not many people would willingly jump from an 18 to a 14 gauge in one go.
"Just do it." Liz said bracing herself.
My mouth hung open for a minute.
Maybe this was just pure ignorance. Ignorance is bliss right?
So I grabbed her lobe, and placed the taper.
"Ok, I am going to count to three, breath in on numbers 1 and 2 and release on 3 got it?" I asked.
"Got it." She said.
"Ok. 1....2...." I paused to make sure she was breathing in. "3!" I said as I pushed the taper through her lobe. It made a popping noise at the end, and blood starting oozing out. I quickly grabbed the 14 captive hoop I had and followed the taper through the bloody mess.
I looked at Liz's face. I couldn't tell if she was ok. She was already so pale, I wasn't sure if she was losing color.
"You ok?" I asked.
She had this sort of stunned look, with wide eyes that she moved only to look at me.
"Do the other one." she said without really moving her mouth.
So I did.
Then I asked her if she'd like to work the door at Kronos for free entry.
I figured she had earned it.
Today I looked at Liz, who still had those 14's in her ears, but they looked much better now that they had healed.
"Dammit Liz, weren't you listening?" I rolled my eyes. Just because I was starting to like her didn't mean I had to be nice right? Not yet, Damn.
I repeated the whole thing, which she protested to.
"How will I know who is already there? What if someone says they were at the art show, but left and came back. What are the rules for that? Do the bands have a plus one? Do I have a plus one? I should have a plus one."
I just stood up and walked away. We go through this every show.
Liz kept talking as she followed us to Kronos.
When we got there I turned to her and said what I usually say.
"What do you think Liz?" and left it at that. I don't know why, but it always worked. She would figure out every answer to every question herself, and there never seemed to be a problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment