Friday, May 29, 2009

RICHIE - CHAPTER SEVEN (Twitter Novel / Keitai Shosetsu)


-well what immediately
springs to mind is why are we
on the roof–

richie looks up at the sky

-receptions better besides its
cooler up here you think–
and i go

-its definitely colder- and he

makes a retardy face -har dee
fuckin har- bends over the
speaker

attaching wires in the back i

look up -its nice to be able to
check out all the stars-

richie stands up -yeah itd be

even clearer if we could get
rid of those- points to the arc
lights in the quad

then makes a gun with his

thumb and index finger and
shoots them out with a
-blaow-

i start shivering -okay so

again were up here because-
wait for him to fill in the
blank and he smiles

-were gonna look for the

mysteries that still exist
somewhere out there on the
airwaves- and taps the radio
receiver with his foot

-why bother doing all this we

already get satellite radio in
all the dorm rooms- and
richie goes -i dont

-mainly because it sucks and

its totally pre-programmed
and predictable and sterile
and theres no mystery about
it at all

-besides which- he makes a

disgusted face -i had to get
you away from that g5
bullshit- turns to me

-what was that anyway have

you had enough bitch- he
says it shaking his head -did
you think that was cool dee
dee-

i look at my sneakers -it was

just idk something i said-
and he goes on -do you think
theyre gonna like you now-

laughs -let you play their

reindeer games- and im just
-whatever richie- and i
gesture to the receiver
-where did you

-even find this thing- and he

rocks back on his heels -it
was in with a bunch of stuff
from science class storage-

i go -they keep that over

here- and hes -mm-hm you
just need to know where to
look- and hunkers down

starts fiddling with the dials
-so what did you do break

in- and hes all -of course-

-why you couldve gotten

busted for nothing- and he
looks over his shoulder at me
-didnt you ever see a locked
door and want to know

-what was inside what kind

of secrets it kept inside- and
im all -um no not at all-
and he turns back to the radio

-well thats where you and i

differ locked doors are like
a personal affront to me- a
loud squawk comes out the
speakers

richie leans in begins making

minute shifts to the dial -here
we go- and after a moment

a mans voice emerges from

the speaker deep and
resonant and authoritative

-one-zero-zero-three-seven-

and the slight echo on the
voice intensifies on –seven-
and then it goes on

-eight-two-four-four-zero-

and richie stands up and
smiles at me and im like

-what what is it- and he goes

like gleefully -i dont know
no idea spies aliens a
weather report couldnt tell
you

-you hear that echo thats like

deeper when he says –seven-
and i listen again and go
-yeah- and he goes -yeah

-no idea what that is none is

it a recording accident or to
stress the –seven- in the
series to whoevers listening
and probably writing it down

-i dont know this goes on for

hours almost every night its
a mystery all right- and i just
look at him like -wow

-if thats really all we came up

here for- and he looks down
at the radio disappointed
-well that really should be

enough dee dee

-but ill see what else i can

find to entertain you- and
hunkers down in front of the
dial and starts moving it back
and forth

and for the most part its like

creepy christian broadcasting
or sports talk but then he
finds something else melting
into big band jazz but it
eventually

resolves itself into a girl

singing and playing a fuzz-
tone guitar and i lean in -is
this like a real station-

and he shushes me listening

intently and she keeps
singing -here in surf city life
is hard no god or
government to bring me
down

-mister president yr bionics

dont work no more i can no
longer see through yr hollow
plastic eye- and the guitar
gets louder but then

it gets overridden by the big

band music which comes
blaring in super loud and im
like -get her back get her
back- and richie

immediately drops to his

knees and starts moving the
dial back and forth but after a
couple of minutes sits back in
defeat -yup we lost it

-too bad too that was a good

song- and im like -what was
it called- and he looks at me
like im an idiot -dee dee

-i have no idea i was hearing

it for the first time too- and i
just shrug -those lyrics were
crazy i wanted to look them
up

-see if she was saying what i

thought she was saying- and
richie just smiles at me
-youll never know- and i just

shrug again and he

drops back down in front of

the receiver -im gonna
switch to am sometimes i
have some luck at the far
ends of the dial-

and he starts playing with the

dial again and except for the
tinny high end buzz its
basically the same stuff

guys talking about sports or

jesus and old swing music
that my grandparents would
put on sometimes

but then richie finds this guy

speaking spanish in a really
smarmy voice and he turns
up the volume

and goes -the spanish

stations are pretty cool you
can hear some weird things
on here sometimes- and
settles back to listen

so i sit back too and theres

some pretty basic salsa stuff
that doesnt do anything for
me and a bunch of ads

all in spanish and the smarmy

guy comes back on and im
about to ask richie to keep
looking when theres this

crazy blast of mariachi horns

and it resolves into a big
stomping beat and some
distorted flamenco guitars
and richie goes –aha- and

turns it up and it becomes

like an old 80s rap song but
with the crazy guitars and
horns and the words are all

in spanish of course except

for the occasional rhyme in
english like –motorola- and
–pepsi cola-

and richie jumps up and starts

stomping around the roof all
stiff legged like a
frankenstein monster and i
laugh

and i get up to watch him and

the mix breaks down into the
flamenco guitar acoustic this
time and the spanish guys
are

rapping the same thing in

spanish over and over again
as it builds up and builds up
and then theres this crazy
blast of mariachi horns

and richie points at me and

screams –dee dee- just as the
beat comes slamming back
and i just spaz out into this
ridiculous rave dance

and richie is like

goosestepping all around me
in a circle and i start laughing
and he laughs too and then
suddenly it screeches to a halt

and richie goes –well that

was awesome- but i shush
him and run over to the
speaker to listen because the
smarmy guy is talking again

and im squatting waiting for

like the band name or the
song title but i cant sort
anything out and then the
salsa starts up again

and i sit back like -shit- and

richies all -what- and i go –i
wanted to find out the name
of that song so i could maybe

-find the mp3 somewhere and

uh you know- and richies
smiling like -what- and i go
–so i could post it on my
blog-

and richie laughs -youve got

a blog- and im all -yeah-
and he goes -sweet cant wait
to read it- and i just sigh and
he walks over and says

-dee dee if you found that

song youd just post it on yr
blog or stick it on yr ipod or
whatever and in a week

-youd be as bored with it as

you are with every other
goddamn song in the world-
and i look up at him and he
smiles

i shake my head and laugh

then he hugs himself and
shivers -jesus what are we
doing up here its fucking
freezing-

10 comments:

Paul said...

That is cool. The voices and characterisations are perfect and the way you capture their age, they feel perfectly that age, brilliant. And then weaving the blog at the end is very clever. If you had time, you could make that blog, my mad mind weaves a plan, haha, blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction as your brilliant writing does.

Anonymous said...

Did you have a bionic man radio too? Oh yeah! The magic of stealing music off a barbed wire fence with a retractable bionic alligator clipped wire would no doubt make my son go all googly eyed and 'what the?!' p2p my arse!!! Give me a shortwave radio and a dial; USB enhanced.

Disturbed Stranger said...

I couldn't stop reading...
Captivating.

Anonymous said...

Nice one. I like Richie, even though he may be a closet psychopath or whatever, he's a great character.

Anonymous said...

wicked cool jason, dark and funny and tactile, like being there

Cocoyea said...

Wonderful writing here. Again, I was fully engulfed in the story. Looking forward to the next installment.

Jason Gusmann said...

again, thank you all so much. i'm going through a really difficult time right now (work mostly) and yr encouragement means the world to me. thanks again.

Tracey said...

Your words are captivating indeed, drawing the eyes forever onwards.

There is a really nice symmetry to this piece as well.

Mental Mist said...

riveting! loved most parts of it, wont forget some, wow. dont forget to show and tell when the novel is over :)!!

Mariana Soffer said...

Pretty good, I thought your poem was trying to say something like the one I am witting next (One of my favorite songs from my teens, composed by roger waters), specially the first part of yours.

[Jim:] "This is K.A.O.S.
You and I are listening to KAOS in Los Angeles.
Let's go to the telephones now and take a request."
[Billy:] "Hello, I'm Billy."
[Jim:] "Yes?"
[Billy:] "I hear radio waves in my head."
[Jim:] "You hear radio waves in your head?
Ah! Is there a request that
you have tonight for KAOS?"
Radio waves
Radio waves
Radio waves
He hears radio waves
Radio waves
The atmosphere is thin and cold
The yellow sun is getting old
The ozone overflows with radio waves
AM, FM, weather and news
Our leaders had a frank exchange of views
Are you confused, radio waves
Radio waves
Radio waves
AM radio waves
FM radio waves
Radio waves
Mind-numbing radio waves
Fish-stunning radio waves
Radio waves
Magic Billy in his wheel chair
Is picking up all this stuff in the air
Billy is face to face with outer space
Messages from distant stars
The local police calling all cars
Radio waves
Hear them radio waves
Radio waves
Jesus saves radio
Radio waves
Radio waves
AM radio waves
FM radio waves
All them radio waves
Radio waves
Radio waves
He hears radio waves
Radio waves
Radio waves
Hopeful radio waves
Dopeful radio waves
Radio waves
Russian radio waves
Prussian radio waves
Eastern radio waves
Western radio waves
Testing radio waves
One two
One two
Radio waves
Getting through to you
More code radio waves
Tobacco road radio waves
South to Paloma radio waves
Oklahoma City radio waves
Sitting pretty radio waves
Nitty-gritty radio waves
Radio waves
[Jim:] "Alright, that's a song called Radio Waves.
You are listening to KAOS
In Los Angeles and we've got Billy on the line."
[Billy:] "I'm from the valleys."