Friday, November 19, 2004

5 Year Reunion With Melody, my childhood neighbor (Detroit, 1980s)

13 things Melody recalled and told me on November 29, 2004

That once when I was little I went #2, wiped my bottom, and then chased Melody around the yard with the dirtied toilet paper.

That one year Melody became anorexic and that year she improved her grades so much that her anorexia won her a full-ride Music scholarship to Michigan State.

That once when I was little I walked in on my brother while he was masturbating. My mom told Shirley’s mom, who told Melody. I have no memory of this.

That Melody’s mom ran off to California to live with a psychic who channeled with the dead and other worlds.

That Melody saw a real ghost in her old house with a long black turn-of-the-century dress on.

That Melody used to abuse her cat Smitty (picking it up by its tail, putting its head under the water). In the following years she would always sleep on the floor next to the cat so that it would forgive her.

That Melody’s uncle used to abuse his wife and now as an old man he’s suffering from painful chronic illnesses.

That she took a comedy acting class but failed at it because upon acting she could only be sexually perverted or present a profoundly developed serious character.

That Melody was boy crazy.

That when Melody was 7 she used to go to her mom’s art classes at Wayne State and when they were on break she would get up in front of the class and start teaching.

That we always ate hotdogs in my house.

That from my house and Melody’s neighboring house one could hear constant bickering coming from our parents.

That on her school trip to London to sing in a concert Melody got bored with the group and went off on her own for the week, nearly missing the return flight back because traffic was very bad and she was stuck in a double-decker bus on the highway.