It's Our Time to Shine
Going Down Memory Lane.
“So, Lina”, Mrs. McCracken began, looking me in the eyes with her warm smile as it was only me and her now standing in the living room.
“A little bird whispered in my ear that you are afraid of flying. Is that correct, sweetheart?”
“Yes”, I replied, looking down at the floor.
“Let me tell you something, dear. I have to admit – I am a little bit afraid too. That is perhaps the reason why I’ve never flown before.”
The comforting sound in Mrs. McCracken’s voice made me feel somewhat relieved.
Even though I didn’t respond, I knew by the look on her face that she was aware of my gratitude towards her.
At that point, Bert came down the stairs, closely followed by Quinn.
“Found it!”, Jepha suddenly burst out before entering the living room with his cell phone in his hand.
“Well, as we are all here now – are we ready to go, kids?”
“Yeah, mom, I guess so. I mean – are we, guys?”, Bert asked while scratching his stomach while looking at all of us.
“Yep, let’s go.”
Jepha was, according to the eagerness in his voice, the one who was the most excited to go.
I remembered him telling me months ago how much he loved Japan and how he got caught up by its amazing culture and wonderful people the first time he visited the country.
The country itself inspired him so much that he just had to come back to once again experience the feeling of being all alone in an unknown city and to connect spiritually with yourself.
He was in Japan just before the summer now where he was looking for an apartment that he could use whenever he felt like going back there.
Apparently, Japan had his heart from the moment he set foot in the country.
“Well, shall we go?”, Mrs. McCracken asked with a smile, making us all head towards the hall to the front door.
There, I put on my Converse shoes and grabbed my backpack before I headed outside to the porch.
“Hey, aren’t you forgettin´ something?”, Bert suddenly asked while looking at me with raised eyebrows.
“What? I think I’ve remembered everything…”
“Your hoodie, maybe?”
“It’s in my backpack.”
“No, I mean the one I gave you yesterday when it was only just the two of us.”
“Oh!”
“Yeah. Here”, he smiled, handing me the black hoodie with the print of the three skulls that was hanging on a knob.
“Oh, my – it’s cold outside”, Mrs. McCracken said, entering the house again to get a jacket.
“You kids can go to the garage while I fetch something warm to wear.”
Quinn, Jepha and Dan were already outside, standing next to the locked SUV in the garage with their bags on the ground when Bert and I joined them.
“Man, does this bring back memories”, Bert said, looking around in the garage.
“Yeah, it sure does”, Jepha agreed, followed by Quinn’s nod.
“Why?”, I asked with a puzzled look on my face, not sure what they were talking about.
“We used to jam here back in the good old days when we’d just started out as a band”, they explained.
Dan of course couldn’t go down memory lane on this one, considering the fact that he wasn’t a part of the band back then.
“Yeah, we used to practice here all day”, Quinn added just before Mrs. McCracken came and un-locked the SUV.
“Hurry up, children, or else I’m afraid we’ll be late”, she smiled.
In a way, I actually liked the way she was referring to us as ‘kids’ and ‘children’.
Somehow, it made me feel like as if I was her child, a child she loved and adored, and would never let down.
That was something I had been lacking throughout my entire life.
“Where am I going to sit?” I asked after we had loaded our luggage into the SUV.
“In the back with me if you wanna”, Bert said smiling. “There are two extra seats there.”
“Oh, okay. Sure.”
He sat down in the backseat, making me do the same thing at the seat next to him.
“Shotgun!”, Dan burst out before getting ready to sit down.
“Come again, Daniel?”, Mrs. McCracken asked, clearly not knowing the meaning of the term ‘shotgun’.
“The front seat, I call for the front seat. Is it okay with you if I sit there?”
“Of course, dear! How nice of you to want to sit next to me”, she smiled as the both of them sat down in the front.
Quinn and Jepha were sitting in the middle seats in front of me and Bert, both of them now fastening their seatbelts.
“Are we ready to go now? Have you all put your luggage in the back and fastened your seatbelts?”, Mrs. McCracken asked, while lighting/starting the ignition in the SUV.
“Yep, we’re all set”, Bert answered, making her back out of the garage.
As we were driving down the street and leaving the neighborhood, I started noticing things I hadn’t seen around here before.
I hadn’t really seen Orem like this before, sitting in a car and watching the scenery as we drove by like we were doing right now.
It was really beautiful and now I knew what Quinn meant when he told me he loved the scenery around here.
“No way! Mom – crank up the volume on the radio!”, Bert suddenly exclaimed before he leaned forward.
“Sweetheart, must we? That song sounds terrible.”
“Mom, come on. Please?”
“Very well. As long as it doesn’t interrupt my driving”, Mrs. McCracken sighed as she turned up the volume.
Bert immediately leaned back in his seat again, grinning like an idiot as he looked at me, now almost head-banging to the song that was being played on the radio.
“Who’s playing”, I asked, hiding the fact that I was wrinkling my nose.
“You don’t know?”
“No, sorry…”
I was feeling like a moron for not knowing at that point.
By the sound of Bert’s shocking reaction, it almost felt like I was supposed to know the song.
“They’re called Converge! Babe, I swear to you – they’re the most brutal band on the face of the planet”
“Oh…”, I answered, hesitating before it finally got to me.
“Oh! I know Converge. They played on the same day before you guys did at The Hove Festival!”
“Yeah! It was raining pretty badly, but still, that day felt like my birthday, getting to see my all-time favorite band.”
“Yeah, me too”, I said, looking at Bert with a shy smile.
“Did you see ‘em too?”
“No, I couldn’t. I was waiting for you guys to get onstage then.”
“But we weren’t on before, like, 9 pm or somethin´. If I remember correctly, Converge played at 6 pm. Hey, how long were you waitin´ for our show, anyway?”, he asked with a confused look upon his face.
“… 12 hours.”
“Are you fuckin´ kiddin´ me?”, Quinn suddenly asked, turning around and facing me.
“Please watch your language, Quinn”, Mrs. McCracken added from the front seat.
“Oh, sorry, Mrs. McCracken. But, Lina – 12 hours?”
“What?”, Dan said, also turning around and looking back at the rest of us.
“Did you know Lina waited 12 hours to see us at that festival we played at in Norway earlier this summer? And it was raining like crazy too!”, Bert explained almost amazed.
“I didn’t know that. Dude, that’s respect. Seriously, you did?”
“Yeah! Why is that so hard to believe?”, I giggled. “I was committed and determined and I really wanted to see you, especially from front row.”
“You really are our biggest fan, aren’t you?”, Quinn grinned, not waiting for a respond as he and Jepha turned their backs and faced the direction of the traffic.
“And that’s my excuse for missing out on Converge”, I smiled, looking at Bert who was still listening to me.
“Yeah, I get that. I headed over to the stage where they were performing and I heard a couple of songs before I had to leave again”, he said.
“I know. You told the crowd later when you guys were onstage.”
He met my smile as he his eyes were sparkling.
“I seriously love this song, it’s so rad.”
Even though Converge was on the radio right now, I didn’t make much out of it.
To me, they were too hardcore.
Still, the look on Bert’s face as he was listening to the song was entertaining enough for me.
“What’s the song called?”, I asked.
“’When Eagles Become Vultures’.”
“… It’s brutal.”
“Yeah, it is. I love it.”
I could see he was enjoying himself now, being so wrapped up in the song.
It wasn’t hard to tell that it was his favorite band that he was listening to.
“Quinn?”, I said, leaning forward while tapping him gently on his shoulder.
“Yeah, what is it, buddy?”, he asked as he turned around with a smile on his face.
‘Buddy’. I smiled.
“I was just wondering…”, I began. “Is it going to be a long drive?”
“Nah, not really. It depends on the traffic, but as far as I can see now, I bet less than an hour.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you”, I responded before he turned around again.
“Thank God that terrible song is over. It was dreadful! Let us change the station and listen to something a little more bearable”, Mrs. McCracken said, now switching on to a random chatting station on the radio.
“This is something you should listen to, kids.”
It was, according to what I was able to hear and understand, a Christian radio station that spoke God’s holy words.
It gave me memories from my childhood, and just by that, it gave me shivers that ran all the way down to my spine.
To put it this way; my childhood had been affected by violence and abuse, all mixed together with a dash of alcohol and immoral Christianity.
In other words – not at all harmonic.
As for me? At least I got away from it all…
“A little bird whispered in my ear that you are afraid of flying. Is that correct, sweetheart?”
“Yes”, I replied, looking down at the floor.
“Let me tell you something, dear. I have to admit – I am a little bit afraid too. That is perhaps the reason why I’ve never flown before.”
The comforting sound in Mrs. McCracken’s voice made me feel somewhat relieved.
Even though I didn’t respond, I knew by the look on her face that she was aware of my gratitude towards her.
At that point, Bert came down the stairs, closely followed by Quinn.
“Found it!”, Jepha suddenly burst out before entering the living room with his cell phone in his hand.
“Well, as we are all here now – are we ready to go, kids?”
“Yeah, mom, I guess so. I mean – are we, guys?”, Bert asked while scratching his stomach while looking at all of us.
“Yep, let’s go.”
Jepha was, according to the eagerness in his voice, the one who was the most excited to go.
I remembered him telling me months ago how much he loved Japan and how he got caught up by its amazing culture and wonderful people the first time he visited the country.
The country itself inspired him so much that he just had to come back to once again experience the feeling of being all alone in an unknown city and to connect spiritually with yourself.
He was in Japan just before the summer now where he was looking for an apartment that he could use whenever he felt like going back there.
Apparently, Japan had his heart from the moment he set foot in the country.
“Well, shall we go?”, Mrs. McCracken asked with a smile, making us all head towards the hall to the front door.
There, I put on my Converse shoes and grabbed my backpack before I headed outside to the porch.
“Hey, aren’t you forgettin´ something?”, Bert suddenly asked while looking at me with raised eyebrows.
“What? I think I’ve remembered everything…”
“Your hoodie, maybe?”
“It’s in my backpack.”
“No, I mean the one I gave you yesterday when it was only just the two of us.”
“Oh!”
“Yeah. Here”, he smiled, handing me the black hoodie with the print of the three skulls that was hanging on a knob.
“Oh, my – it’s cold outside”, Mrs. McCracken said, entering the house again to get a jacket.
“You kids can go to the garage while I fetch something warm to wear.”
Quinn, Jepha and Dan were already outside, standing next to the locked SUV in the garage with their bags on the ground when Bert and I joined them.
“Man, does this bring back memories”, Bert said, looking around in the garage.
“Yeah, it sure does”, Jepha agreed, followed by Quinn’s nod.
“Why?”, I asked with a puzzled look on my face, not sure what they were talking about.
“We used to jam here back in the good old days when we’d just started out as a band”, they explained.
Dan of course couldn’t go down memory lane on this one, considering the fact that he wasn’t a part of the band back then.
“Yeah, we used to practice here all day”, Quinn added just before Mrs. McCracken came and un-locked the SUV.
“Hurry up, children, or else I’m afraid we’ll be late”, she smiled.
In a way, I actually liked the way she was referring to us as ‘kids’ and ‘children’.
Somehow, it made me feel like as if I was her child, a child she loved and adored, and would never let down.
That was something I had been lacking throughout my entire life.
“Where am I going to sit?” I asked after we had loaded our luggage into the SUV.
“In the back with me if you wanna”, Bert said smiling. “There are two extra seats there.”
“Oh, okay. Sure.”
He sat down in the backseat, making me do the same thing at the seat next to him.
“Shotgun!”, Dan burst out before getting ready to sit down.
“Come again, Daniel?”, Mrs. McCracken asked, clearly not knowing the meaning of the term ‘shotgun’.
“The front seat, I call for the front seat. Is it okay with you if I sit there?”
“Of course, dear! How nice of you to want to sit next to me”, she smiled as the both of them sat down in the front.
Quinn and Jepha were sitting in the middle seats in front of me and Bert, both of them now fastening their seatbelts.
“Are we ready to go now? Have you all put your luggage in the back and fastened your seatbelts?”, Mrs. McCracken asked, while lighting/starting the ignition in the SUV.
“Yep, we’re all set”, Bert answered, making her back out of the garage.
As we were driving down the street and leaving the neighborhood, I started noticing things I hadn’t seen around here before.
I hadn’t really seen Orem like this before, sitting in a car and watching the scenery as we drove by like we were doing right now.
It was really beautiful and now I knew what Quinn meant when he told me he loved the scenery around here.
“No way! Mom – crank up the volume on the radio!”, Bert suddenly exclaimed before he leaned forward.
“Sweetheart, must we? That song sounds terrible.”
“Mom, come on. Please?”
“Very well. As long as it doesn’t interrupt my driving”, Mrs. McCracken sighed as she turned up the volume.
Bert immediately leaned back in his seat again, grinning like an idiot as he looked at me, now almost head-banging to the song that was being played on the radio.
“Who’s playing”, I asked, hiding the fact that I was wrinkling my nose.
“You don’t know?”
“No, sorry…”
I was feeling like a moron for not knowing at that point.
By the sound of Bert’s shocking reaction, it almost felt like I was supposed to know the song.
“They’re called Converge! Babe, I swear to you – they’re the most brutal band on the face of the planet”
“Oh…”, I answered, hesitating before it finally got to me.
“Oh! I know Converge. They played on the same day before you guys did at The Hove Festival!”
“Yeah! It was raining pretty badly, but still, that day felt like my birthday, getting to see my all-time favorite band.”
“Yeah, me too”, I said, looking at Bert with a shy smile.
“Did you see ‘em too?”
“No, I couldn’t. I was waiting for you guys to get onstage then.”
“But we weren’t on before, like, 9 pm or somethin´. If I remember correctly, Converge played at 6 pm. Hey, how long were you waitin´ for our show, anyway?”, he asked with a confused look upon his face.
“… 12 hours.”
“Are you fuckin´ kiddin´ me?”, Quinn suddenly asked, turning around and facing me.
“Please watch your language, Quinn”, Mrs. McCracken added from the front seat.
“Oh, sorry, Mrs. McCracken. But, Lina – 12 hours?”
“What?”, Dan said, also turning around and looking back at the rest of us.
“Did you know Lina waited 12 hours to see us at that festival we played at in Norway earlier this summer? And it was raining like crazy too!”, Bert explained almost amazed.
“I didn’t know that. Dude, that’s respect. Seriously, you did?”
“Yeah! Why is that so hard to believe?”, I giggled. “I was committed and determined and I really wanted to see you, especially from front row.”
“You really are our biggest fan, aren’t you?”, Quinn grinned, not waiting for a respond as he and Jepha turned their backs and faced the direction of the traffic.
“And that’s my excuse for missing out on Converge”, I smiled, looking at Bert who was still listening to me.
“Yeah, I get that. I headed over to the stage where they were performing and I heard a couple of songs before I had to leave again”, he said.
“I know. You told the crowd later when you guys were onstage.”
He met my smile as he his eyes were sparkling.
“I seriously love this song, it’s so rad.”
Even though Converge was on the radio right now, I didn’t make much out of it.
To me, they were too hardcore.
Still, the look on Bert’s face as he was listening to the song was entertaining enough for me.
“What’s the song called?”, I asked.
“’When Eagles Become Vultures’.”
“… It’s brutal.”
“Yeah, it is. I love it.”
I could see he was enjoying himself now, being so wrapped up in the song.
It wasn’t hard to tell that it was his favorite band that he was listening to.
“Quinn?”, I said, leaning forward while tapping him gently on his shoulder.
“Yeah, what is it, buddy?”, he asked as he turned around with a smile on his face.
‘Buddy’. I smiled.
“I was just wondering…”, I began. “Is it going to be a long drive?”
“Nah, not really. It depends on the traffic, but as far as I can see now, I bet less than an hour.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you”, I responded before he turned around again.
“Thank God that terrible song is over. It was dreadful! Let us change the station and listen to something a little more bearable”, Mrs. McCracken said, now switching on to a random chatting station on the radio.
“This is something you should listen to, kids.”
It was, according to what I was able to hear and understand, a Christian radio station that spoke God’s holy words.
It gave me memories from my childhood, and just by that, it gave me shivers that ran all the way down to my spine.
To put it this way; my childhood had been affected by violence and abuse, all mixed together with a dash of alcohol and immoral Christianity.
In other words – not at all harmonic.
As for me? At least I got away from it all…
♠ ♠ ♠
ahh, it felt good to write about when i first saw the used last summer.and, yes; i waited for 12 hours to see them. (:
and, yes; i didn't get to see converge because i was standing in
front of the stage and waiting for the guys all day. xD
but for real, you guys should totally check out converge.
i swear to you - they're fuckin' brutal.
like, seriously, it's crazy. :]]]
and, whoa - in this update you actually got to know some of my so-called 'happy' childhood memories.
well, i'm going to make this story, as i've always tried to do, as real and credible as possible.
if it requires me to put out my life story, then so be it.
i'm going this for you guys. <3
xo,
lina.