#5 Happy Holidays?

The party was dead to begin with. There was no doubt whatsoever about that. It’s pretty hard to have a good party where no one shows up. When I walked into Ikea’s big Hanukkah extravaganza, I was shocked by the turnout, or lack of turnout. I was the turnout.

I’m not Jewish. Well, my grandpa was Jewish and that’s it so I guess I’m Jew-ish, you know what I mean. I went to the party just ‘cause I had a soft spot for Hanukah. Everywhere in this damn town is all Christmas this, Christmas that. There are wreaths on every house, carollers all over, and the town somehow even got Mariah Carey to walk around and sing at people. I was just walking home from work one day and was vocally assaulted by Mariah Carey’s falsetto, she nearly busted my eardrum out. On top of that, all anyone talks about are all their presents. This little girl Jupiter ran up on me the other day and gave me this little knitted mitten, and I barely know her. Plus it was just one mitten, like what am I supposed to do with only one glove, I’m not Michael Jackson

Anyways, I showed up at the IKEA party expecting big crowds. I was the only one there. Some party. I was still there to buy some new furniture, so I guess it wasn’t a completely wasted outing. My hunt for whoever robbed me was unsuccessful, and I was ready to buy a new shit for my torn apart house. They promised 8% off for the 8 days of Hanukah, who would pass that up? Apparently the rest of this town would.

I walked the aisles, surveying the big box store for anything I needed, then something caught my eye. A neon green suit appeared before me, and I bent over to pick it up. It was a mascot costume, but for that Dr. Seuss character that hates Christmas. Boy does this town need a Grinch character. I picked it up and bought it, ignoring the heater and TV I had intended to buy.

Everyone loves Christmas, but won’t even appreciate a party for Hanukah? And our big Christmas party costs money to attend, the Hanukah party practically paid us! These people are Christmas obsessed, and not even for the right reasons. They are making Christmas all commercial and sold-out. I remember waking up for Christmas morning, spending time with my family, and spreading love. I don’t remember all these giant christmas trees, wreaths everywhere, and focus on presents. I walked out of IKEA with a mission: to make Christmas Great Again.

First stop, stealing all the wreaths.

#4 Whodunnit

Winters in this town are rough.
Winters in this town without a heater are hell. And unfortunately, that’s what I’ve had to struggle through lately. My little heater was stolen from me, along with my sleep, comfort, and my ability to feel my toes.
Today I actually made an attempt to socialize and, as expected, it didn’t go so well.
For some reason I got invited to another thing. First the environmental forum, now some murder event. If you recall, last time I went to one of these events I got robbed, so I’m not too keen on these town meetups. However, 20 people packed in the 7th room storage closet? Sounds like a recipe for warmth if you ask me. I threw on my nice shirt, still wrinkled from my sister’s wedding, and headed up to the party.
The event lost me with all of its confusing plots, but I feigned an heir of intelligence whilst assuming my role as a Doctor for the night. Whew, that was a lot of effort to act so smart. To be very honest I don’t think it worked that well. There was this 10 year old named Jupiter who played the role of an esteemed college professor spot on, putting my acting to shame. I guess I’m just less of a Doctor Gray and more of a Dr. Dre if you know what I’m saying.
I was talking to Michael when the shit hit the fan. I think I was in the middle of my “Dr. Grey vs. Dr. Dre” joke; I was about to say Dr. Dre’s name when someone started screaming. Now Michael probably thinks I’m just a big fan of Grey's anatomy, but really I like Dr. Dre more. Oh well. That’s when the lights flashed off. I knew it was a murder event but I didn’t realize it would be so realistic. To say the least, I was out of that closet in seconds. I ran to the stairwell, hearing voices rise behind me. I heard the lights flash back on, in a roar of electricity.

#4 Whodunnit

Winters in this town are rough.
Winters in this town without a heater are hell. And unfortunately, that’s what I’ve had to struggle through lately. My little heater was stolen from me, along with my sleep, comfort, and my ability to feel my toes.
Today I actually made an attempt to socialize and, as expected, it didn’t go so well
For some reason I got invited to another thing. First the environmental forum, now some murder event. If you recall, last time I went to one of these events I got robbed, so I’m not too keen on these town meetups. However, 20 people packed in the 7th room storage closet? Sounds like a recipe for warmth if you ask me. I threw on my nice shirt, still wrinkled from my sister’s wedding, and headed up to the party.
The event lost me with all of its confusing plots, but I feigned an heir of intelligence whilst assuming my role as a Doctor for the night. Whew, that was a lot of effort to act so smart. To be very honest I don’t think it worked that well. There was this 10 year old named Jupiter who played the role of an esteemed college professor spot on, putting my acting to shame. I guess I’m just less of a Doctor Gray and more of a Dr. Dre if you know what I’m saying.
I was talking to Michael when the shit hit the fan. I think I was in the middle of my “Dr. Grey vs. Dr. Dre” joke; I was about to say Dr. Dre’s name when someone started screaming. Now Michael probably thinks I’m just a big fan of Grey's anatomy, but really I like Dr. Dre more. Oh well. That’s when the lights flashed off. I knew it was a murder event but I didn’t realize it would be so realistic. To say the least, I was out of that closet in seconds. I ran to the stairwell, hearing voices rise behind me. I heard the lights flash back on, in a roar of electricity.

#3 Suspicions

I look around, checking everyone at the forum for signs of guilt. Then again, whoever robbed my flat probably has no remorse for what they did. Remorseful robbers are seldom successful.

I am at the forum, but my mind is back at the moment I walked into my apartment, finding it ransacked and robbed. I thought about what I had lost. My Television, my computer, my winter jacket. All were merely material objects. I could live without them. But what I couldn’t understand is why the robber took my flashdrive.

My 32GB flash drive in the shape of a skateboard, kind of like those Tech-Decks that we used to use as kids. On this little flash drive, I stored everything. Pictures, documents, and music. Not just music, my music. All the beats I had made. Gone. Every track I had put together. Gone. My lyrics for those songs. Gone. I had been working on finishing this album for years now. Gone.

I snap back to reality. Some chick was saying something to me but I missed it. I couldn’t understand what she said but before I could respond she was gone. Something was off about her. I left the forum.

I start to walk home, my mind rushing a million miles an hour but my feeting barely moving one step in front of another. Why did I even go to the bar? I don’t care about saving energy. I guess I went because I was actually invited to something. But who would even invite me? I don’t know a single person in this damned city who would want me there... I am unwanted. I walk into my apartment. I see where the flash drive used to be.

My dreams. Gone.

#2 “For One Night Only”

Of course I went to the circus. Everyone did. But that didn’t mean I had fun. I filed into the shady tent along with all the folks from Winthrop Place that I ignore on a daily basis. My parents say I should go out more. I tell them to stop trying to control my life. I left Detroit for a reason, to get away from their endless rules and demands. And now I’m over here with a job, and an apartment and my life together and they still are all on me. Ridiculous.

Well I walked into the circus and looked around to find somewhere to sit. I saw families and couples filling the 3 ringed circus to the brim. It’s moments like these that I was I had a friend to sit with. I walked to the far corner of the circus and took one of the only open seats left. It must have been the smoking section or something because there was cigarette smoke everywhere. It was as if I walked into a cloud, a cloud of short-lived buzzes and burnt throats. I myself hadn’t smoked a cigarette in years but the smell unearthed a deep craving, one I had been waiting for for a long time. I asked the man next to me if I could bum one from him but he didn’t smoke either. I realized he was also a loner at the circus so I talked to him for a minute. He seemed a little wired, always squirming in his seat and looking around but he was alright. We both make music and stuff. I don’t know, maybe I could use a new friend.

But once the show started all chit-chat was gone. I wanted to make sure I got my moneys worth out of the show. I spent $7 on this and sure as hell didn’t want to get ripped off by that sketchy Ringmaster dude. That's like a whole hour of working my dang job. Once the show started I realized this wasn’t an ordinary circus, this was some sort of sick joke. There were these dudes pretending to be lions and others taming them. They were humans they didn’t need to be tamed! A damn waste of my hard earned money.

Anyway, I said farewell to my new acquaintance... Michael? I think... and walked back to good old Winthrop Place. The building was oddly loud when I walked in, the hum of generators was deafening to the point that my ears started to ring. I walked up the stairs one by one, feeling the creaks in the old wooden steps pulsate up my legs and into my chest. I felt like I was watching myself in a movie, the frames clicking along in the dull projector of my life. I had a sinking feeling in my throat, and my palms started to moisten like morning dew falling over a luscious green forest. I kept walking, the fourth floor. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

A busted door frame. A pillaged house. A hammer laid in the doorway.

#1 (Apartment #402) Beets

The day started with a beat. And a beet. I was going through the motions at my job, shelving food at Plaza Mayor grocery store, and then the beat came to me. I was just walking around making music in my head and I lost myself. “TOM, get back to work!”- my stupid boss Mark yelled at me and snapped me out of my daydream. I can’t stand him, all he does is make me work. I told Mark that he made me forget my beat and that just made him more furious. He doesn’t understand my craft of being a musician. I’ll show him when I blow up. Well Mark got so mad over my beats comment that he decided to punish me and made me re-sort our entire beet display in the market. He probably thought he was being clever or something but he’s not. Sorting the beets didn’t even matter because no one even goes to this dumb market anyway. It’s too expensive for most of the people in Winthrop Place; all of them just go to the discount grocery store right across the street from them. Plus Plaza Mayor is all the way on the wrong side of town, and I mean, this town has seen better days so our market is on the wrong side of the wrong town. We are across the street from an abandoned swimming pool, a haunted apartment building, and an empty lot. Talk about great neighbors bringing great foot traffic by our store! I guess our only respectable neighbor is the little State Farm building down the road but I don't even understand what they do there. It seems to me like that whole insurance thing is a scam. Well I organized all the beets for Mark but, get this, no one even bought a beet today. What a waste of time. I swear everyone in this town is tripping.

I haven’t even gotten to the big drama of the day. It was about 6pm, actually exactly 5:40, I was staring at the clock, counting down time til my 6:00 departure from work when I heard it. A ear-piercing boom coming from right next to my ear, man I hit the deck faster than a rock I was so scared. I didn’t get up for a solid 5 minutes and I ran over to Mark to ask what happened. Mark said he didn’t hear anything but I could have sworn I heard a gunshot. Mark said it was probably just thunder.

I ran home through the rain, trying my best to stay dry. On the way back to Winthrop Place I saw some cops by the abandoned lot, with police tape everywhere. When I see a cop my stomach sinks and I get really nervous but I can’t really explain why. I’m not breaking the law anymore or anything. Well I went up to a cop and asked him if someone got shot but he said they were investigating something else. I told him I heard a gunshot but the cop just ignored me. I think something weird is up with them.

When I got back to room #402 today I was exhausted. I was wet, tired, and hungry so I went to open my refrigerator and get this, empty. It’s a little ironic that I work at a grocery store yet I can’t afford to buy the food there. Well, maybe it isn’t irony, maybe it’s just life. I grabbed a box of dry noodles and some canned tomato sauce and made myself a humble bowl of pasta. I wish I could afford some beet-braised short ribs like my Mom used to cook em. I just got to keep up my work, day by day. I would stay up later and write more but I am just beat.