Roller Coaster/ BARN FIRE

EVERYDAY-Buddy Holly

And the power went out. 

And he was a Blues guy, who allowed himself to have fun with this girl. And played their common ground. Showtunes and Great American Songbook.  And even learned parts do he could do duets!!

--

Sinatra

There were times she was terrified. Him too, she'd sing: just what makes that little old ant/think he can move a rubber tree plant?

It worked on Laverne & Shirley!!

---

Silence 

The night they broke down in the wilderness, no rescue for miles. Deciding to curl up in the car until a passing motorist took pity.

Tell me what NYC was like. In the early 60's...

Greenwich Village?

It was her happy place, a fantasy, and it was the same for him too. Better than he remembered and worse.

He didn't tell her about how beautiful it was to be married in the spring. Barefoot in the Park. How idyllic it was, until it wasn't. 

No, he stopped telling her stories about how happy he was, the few times he was married.

After seeing her cry, all night, between the nightstand and the wall, he couldn't ever tell her how to be happy again.

---

FIRE///Several years later

And the beautiful barn, more full of trash than art. Sitting there, seething at him.

He opened the door and there was a giant leak in the roof. All over her canvases. If he had cared, he would have come here to visit with her ghost on break from the last tour. As it was, this was more than a year since he'd been back inside. It was more than 2 years since he'd last seen her. He wanted to save something of hers. Looked around through the junk, couldn't find anything worth keeping that wasn't ruined. 

He got angry, then frustrated. An old temper rose in him, one that he had forgotten he'd possessed. It was good to FEEL something again.

It wasn't until he found himself staring at the barn ablaze that he'd remembered why he worked so hard to keep that temper down. He had an empty whisky bottle in his hand and the taste of it on his tongue. And a big blank space where his memory was.

Then he remembered the box.

How he had hidden it inside the barn. Because someday she'd be back.

By then, he'd had so much to drink//he'd been so disoriented that he couldn't tell whether he loved her or hated her. 

The flames had caught onto some of the materials, but the box was just inside, inside a coffee can by the "kitchen" by the door.

He remembered seeing it all burn, wondering how it would feel if he walked into the fire. And he remembered the feel of the hot coffee can against his hand. Lid nearly melted off.

When he woke up the next morning, with his familiar hangover, the barn had burned itself out. And he was laying on the grass, next to the coffee can. His left hand and arm burned something awful. 

The ring was still inside.