[Originally written on this date in 2004]
One week ago was the day that people celebrate their love, .and all that other sentimental bullshit. Flowers die, and there seemed to be a lot that went to waste this year due to lack of purchase. Balloons deflate and then are tossed in the garbage. Stuffed animals lose their cuteness and wind up as a play toy for a pet. Chocolate gets eaten and then complains about being fat are made. Jewelry is just an excuse to say “I spent [insert monetary amount here], and that means I love you”. All of these are cheap ploys for sex or whatever it is people get in return, because I honestly refuse to equate love with materialistic things.
Then again, I never expect anything on V-day because I feel it is ridiculous that we have to feel pressured to express our love for someone thru ridiculous merchandise. However, Jon did present me with a box of chocolate and a funny card filled with money. We dressed in our Carny best, both decked out in black from head to toe with our clothing carrying and overall vintage flair. My hair was tamed into tiny, shallow finger waves, and Jon sculpted his own locks into a heavy parting that was then slicked down. There was also an extra treat that we shared before our lips met briefly and we climbed into the Chevy.
Then commenced the lengthy drive up to the City for the Shocked & Amazed event at the Palace. The video was really good, and of course I would like to get a copy at some point in the future. There were some performances by the Coney Island sideshow crew, followed by James Taylor and other signing copies of his book.
Then came the fun task of gettin’ to Brooklyn, which was a pretty bad idea on a Saturday nite. There was an insane amount traffic everywhere, and when we got to La Casa Bella every table was full. It also happened to be the peak time for outgoing orders, as there were people constantly coming in and out. We entertained the idea of leaving, but were too damn hungry to go anywhere else. Luckily, a few minutes later a table suddenly opened up. The food was fantastic, as always, and it the second time I actually cleaned my plate.
We tried to make it back for the Bindlestiff’s performance at the Palace, but traffic continued to plague us and there was no way we could get back to the City. Instead we returned to South Jersey for coffe and massive joints.
All in all it was a good day, and I am really glad that we had the chance to go out. While I do not talk about Jon to people at work, I thought it would have been nice to meet Keith and Stephanie, since he did kind of help me get the volunteer position. He still has anxiety about being in public places, and with the amount of people that would have been crammed into the Palace, I know it would have been an uncomfortable situation. Which is funny considering he can get up stage in front of a bunch of strangers and deliver flawless pitches for sideshow acts. That’s just Jon tho, and I stopped trying to figure him out because things like that don’t matter.
The real excitement of the day came while we were a few blocks from Jon’s house, just talking while he waited for the light to change. A car starts backing up into traffic, and I thought that maybe whomever was driving wanted to pull out of the parking lot to merge into the flow of traffic. That is, until the car slowly crossed over to the next lane and we realized something was very wrong.
Suddenly Jon cries out “Jesus, there’s a fuckin’ kid in there!” while quickly throwing the Chevy into park. He jumps out, runs across the street and stops the car as it bumped into the sidewalk. Everyone else was just standing there watching in awe. If the flow of traffic had been heavier, that car would have gotten totaled. Jon pulled the boy out of the car, then took the vehicle into a parking lot. Since I knew that it would be a bad idea to leave the Chevy parked in the middle of the road, I got behind the wheel and moved it.
Seems the father of the boy had left him in the car momentarily while he went into a store. Not sure if he didn’t leave the car in park or put the parking brake was on, as Jon said the car was in neutral. The father has no clue how close he came to losing his son that day.
This is certainly something you will never seen on the news or read in the papers. Of course I am extremely proud of what Jon did, as no one else even bothered to make a move. There wasn’t even a hair out of place.
It took quite some time for the adrenaline from the event to die down, tho we did try our hardest to relax while watching some classic horror movies. One of the scenes startled me enough that I jumped into Jon’s arms. He laughed heartily and held me close, joking that he would not let the Wolf Man come and grab me in the middle of the nite. The teasing somehow turned into something more serious, which I am not going into detail about. However, I will say that we put all that built up energy to good use and I slept quite well.
Decadence and Deviance 