Jamie

Jamie – December 2006

The mall haunts me
as I sell books
and try to block out
the 77 other stores
filling this building

But it is not the other stores
that haunts me
Or the fact that in 1969
I would ride my bike there
or take an hour’s bus ride
to meet my girlfriend
who lived nearby
We’d duck into the woods
which is now
parking lot A-10
and make out
A couple of 13-year-olds
Looking for paradise in those woods

But I’m haunted by something else
A store that stands no more

It was about 1975
that my cousin Jamie
got a job in the mall
A piano salesman
He’d spend all day
playing the grandest pianos around

Easy going and funny
Janie’s thick black curly hair
would bounce along the shoulders
of his suit
as he played

he was always in a suit
he was always smiling
he was always playing

The last time
I saw Jamie in the mall
he played
Mind Games
by John Lennon
smooth and flowing
so the people strolling by
(and probably his boss in the back room)
would think it was a classical piece

“And really,” Jamie said, “it is classical, now, isn’t it?”

While playing, Jamie recounted
how he got some acid the other night
that was soo good
he and his friend were lost for three hours
a couple of nights earlier
only to discover
they drove his friends car
into the back yard
and weren’t moving

“But, hey,” Jamie said. “We had ‘The Lamb’ on
8-track
to keep us engaged.”

(NOTE to all you non-proggers:
The Lamb is the Genesis masterwork,
“The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.”)

Nothing ever seemed like it got Jamie down
he rarely seemed upset
his flowing relaxividy
and constant smileology
were contagious

Every time I would go to visit Jamie
and as I left
I would hear the sound of the piano
filling the corridor of the mall
I knew it was Jamie

But that store is long gone now
and Jamie is gone as well
dead for many years
since an early morning
car accident
took him away at 23
The only thing
that could have saved him
we were told
was a seat belt
a seat belt
he should be here today

It’s sad
such a cool guy
who I wish my kids
had a chance to meet
is gone

And
while working in the mall
every once in awhile
when my mind drifts away from the books
and there is a piano playing
in the piped in, background music
I sometimes think
for a brief second
that the sound of the piano
is drifting towards me
from a piano store
and then I catch myself
(and later regret that I caught myself)
and am transported back to reality
although I don’t want to be
I really want to drift back to the piano store
I want to have
one more visit
With Jamie




One last thought:
Please buckle-up