LJ Idol Week 1- Quality

[fausts_dream]

For my favorite musician, KB

************

I was in agony, in a hospital bed, morphine barely able to take the edge off. Surrounded by flowers and gifts and hand written cards by half of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. My daughter Magnolia had come, and was holding my hand. Nothing else mattered, only that, eased to the pain a little. The light grew brighter, then shrank to a pinprick.

I woke in a sea of sunflowers. A 5'8 man with a wisp of a goatee, brown skin and brown eyes, passed me a joint. "You assholes, think of sunflowers as weeds, but I always loved them, what the fuck do you people know anyway."

"Am I?"

"Dead? Yes, and thank all my favorite stars. You were stubborn as fuck, wouldn't leave until your daughter made up her mind to come see you. I didn't nudge her, I saved you from a heroin overdose when you were 31, I don't make a habit of intervening twice. You're lucky you didn't try to shoot that much smack when you were 27, there is something about that year in human life... Well it's a secret your mind wasn't made to understand. Pancreatic cancer sucks. I was willing to pull the plug months ago, but I'm glad you saw her.", the Man smiled at me, when I noticed he wasn't a man at all, She was a sour looking Asian woman in her early 60's.

"Are?"

"Your parents here, of course they are. You guys made up that hell stuff from whole cloth. I have to put some dudes in time out for a while, but I have a seat saved for Hitler at the dinner table, sometime around 2141ish, you know, depending." She produced her own joint from her blue jeans and sparked it up.

"I think your second wife Angie, will want to live with you when she gets here if she doesn't find someone she vibes better with in the meantime", now he was a solidly built, Hispanic construction worker.

"I have so many questions", I said.

He fixed me with a smile, "And I will send Gabriel to answer some of them, he wants to know if he can sit in with you guys on trumpet when the last couple of you guys get here anyway. That guy is better than Google, but as far as his trumpet work goes, he's no Miles Davis. It low-key pissed him off when I made that guy"


"The guitarist and songwriter for A-Muse finally gets to play the big room. While we're waiting on Angie to get here I've got some big news."

The third song on your fourth album, "Saving Susan", it's a pretty good tune. So good in fact I put it in the Canon.I even do a cover, it's real high quality stuff man", now he was a fat, aging Italian guy.

And when He sung my song I heard it again for the first time, and all the pain and misery, all the fighting and the chaos, all melted away.

Saving Susan is forever. And so am I

Comments

[adoptedwriter]

Very cool!

[fausts_dream]

Thanks so very much

[krispykritter]

An interesting view of the afterlife. Nice job!

[fausts_dream]

Yeah it's kind of in keeping with my own feelings about the afterlife if there is one.

[vik_thor]

yeah, I very much like this in general. :)

[simplyn2deep]

Wow. That was stunning—raw, surreal, and oddly comforting. It reads like a psychedelic epiphany wrapped in grief, grace, and music. “Saving Susan is forever. And so am I” gave me chills. What a powerful way to capture release, legacy, and the strange beauty of the afterlife.

[fausts_dream]

Thanks so much I was mostly happy with the way it came out.

If I can close with a good line so much the better.

[used_songs]

Oh! I really like this!

[fausts_dream]

Thanks, I greatly appreciate it.

[drippedonpaper]

This is so beautiful. The thought that someone would find ...who find one's song worthy of singing.

I love the ideas that hell isn't real and that g-d is all genders, all nationalities.

I needed to read this today. Thank you for sharing.

[fausts_dream]

What a nice review, thanks so much for reading and commenting I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Yeah I never understood the concept that God is love oh and here's an elaborate torture realm.

[vik_thor]

VERY much agree with this
(what both drippedonpaper and fausts_dream have said)

[marjorica]

Beautiful. I like your vision of the afterlife.

I am trying to work out who the musician is!

[fausts_dream]

Well I'm an actor not a musician but I guess I'm a partial inspiration.

Got to love those author avatars.

I sort of suspect I'm in for a dirt nap but if there is an afterlife I hope it's someplace cool.

[eeyore_grrl]

the idea of Gabriel sitting in is great!

[fausts_dream]

I try to introduce a little levity if I can. Thanks for reading and commenting.

[serpentinejacaranda]

The framing of this scenario is so unpredictable and novel! Really enjoyed this.

[fausts_dream]

Thanks for the wonderful praise.

[roina_arwen]

Very neat take on the topic!

[fausts_dream]

Yeah I gave the idea of quality some thought and was thinking about the measure of quality being something that lasts and it just took off from there.

[bleodswean]

Love the dark poetics of this! Nice to think a piece of harried art can become a beacon of hope and light!

[fausts_dream]

I hope so I think we're going to need art more and more as other things seem to be progressing.

[halfshellvenus]

It low key pissed him off when I made that guy
I love the idea of the angel Gabriel feeling thwarted by Miles Davis' existence.

And I really liked the ever-changing God, appearing as anyone, and over time probably as everyone.

[fausts_dream]

The Old Testament God just isn't flexible enough for me. I guess we'll find out when we find out.

[solstice_143]

It's rare that I find a concept of the Divine so casual and yet so accurate to my own beliefs. I love it.

[fausts_dream]

Thanks so much, I was happy to have something for some of my favorite people to share with this entry, you are at the top of that list.

[vik_thor]

!It's rare that I find a concept of the Divine so casual and yet so accurate to my own beliefs. I love it.

YES!!! Total agreement!!!

[hafnia]

Ha, I loved the nod to the "27 Club". Nicely done. :)

[fausts_dream]

Yeah I mean it's almost a throwaway line but I enjoyed it.

[muchtooarrogant]

This was great, particularly how your supreme being kept changing identities--something there for everybody.

"That guy is better than Google, but as far as his trumpet work goes, he's no Miles Davis. It low-key pissed him off when I made that guy"

LOL Um, yeah!

Great story!

Dan

[fausts_dream]

There's an old joke I don't remember all of it and it's not worth telling its entirety but it ends no he is God he thinks he's Arnold Palmer. This is something like that I guess.

[muchtooarrogant]

Hahaha, I know the joke you're talking about. :)

Dan

[rayaso]

This was a wonderful, thoughtful description of death and the afterlife. I liked the reference to the 27 Club. I do not know your reference to Saving Susan - is this a real song?

[fausts_dream]

Thanks so much, A-Muse is a fictional band and Saving Susan is a fictional song.

Kind of a Mcguffin standing in for really fine art of all sorts.

[vik_thor]

thank you for verifying this. :) I was about to go in search of the song.

[murielle]

You're back! And bringing the spirit realm with you!

Very well done! Oh, it is good to read your words again!

[fausts_dream]

Thanks I enjoyed you're very personal entry as well.. good to be back competing with you

[vik_thor]

LOVE this!!!

Yes, Gary said you are safe, since (he?) messed up the link...
you are the 3d entry I have read so far. well, technically 4th, but I read mne before the poll opened...

I hope you get the MOST votes of anyone this week...

I like your take on the Divine being (any/everyone) And even the fact that Mr. H will eventually work out his problems, and join everyone else at the dinner table.
(I was originally going to use my general Satyr icon... But I think Dionysus would fully approve. :)

[gunwithoutmusic]

Ooh, I liked this quite a bit. It's certainly a nice view of the afterlife. Great work!

[mollywheezy]

I loved your descriptions of God changing race and gender, and smoking a joint, LOL. This was great! :)

[alycewilson]

Love the dreamlike morphing of these characters and how the protagonist has no trouble following the changes. I also love the humor in this piece (one of your fortes). Great job!

Unexpected

[shakespeares_sister]

Vivid description of the afterlife. I like to think (hope) it will be like this. Love that you injected a bit of levity as well as serious considerations. Lots packed into a short piece!