The Story Of Jen

A crisp wind blew through a grey April day. Evening began rolling in as low clouds blocked out the sun. I was waiting for my band mates to arrive. It was going to be our 5th get together as a band. We had me on the drums, Adam on guitar, Jay on vocals, and Jon... well, he was in waiting for a part. They were running late and my stomach was yelling for something to fill it. My hunger overcame my desire to sit and wait and I headed to McDonalds.

I arrived back at the empty house as my band mates were getting there. It was impecable timing, although it would have been a lot better had they gotten there when they said they would. I noticed a 4th person with them though and quickly recognized her as Jennifer! I hadn't seen Jen since 8th grade! It had really only been about two years or so, but it seemed like forever.

Jen and I had met under very bizzare circumstances. On the afternoon bus home from school she was assigned the seat behind me and another kid, Jason. Jason developed an immediate crush on her and me and Jon, who sat in the seat across from Jen, would always tease him and talk to Jen about him. Jen was one of the first stops on the route and so we were never able to talk much, but it was fun when we did.

Jumping back to 10th grade now, the guys went downstairs to the basement with Jen and I finished up my meal. After that I headed downstairs also. Jen reintroduced herself to me because she didn't know if I'd remember her. Of course I did! And she was as pretty as ever! I was honestly impressed that she remembered me.

We got one song practiced and ended up just having too much fun goofing around. We gave up even trying to play and just had fun. As the night wore on I was getting tired and sat on the couch that we had pushed up against the wall. After staring at the wall for a few minutes I noticed Jen coming over to me from the guys. She sat next to me and whispered to me that the guys were planning to come tickle me. I thought this sounded a bit... gay. But it was just a ploy by her to distract me and she quickly started tickling me! Oh did I love it! I in turn tickled her back! There was a lot of touching, a lot of flirting going on upon that couch for those few minutes. But then it took an interesting, and in my opinion better, turn. Jen tackled me to the floor! Not just a wide open space, we're talking the narrow one foot passage between the couch and the wall! With no where else to go, she ended up laying on top of me! Well, let me tell you I was in heaven! I kept tickling her and she kept tickling me but I was unable to take my eyes off hers. They were amazing eyes, the likes of which I had never seen before.

We tired out after what seemed like only a couple seconds but was probably really about 5-10 minutes. I wanted it to go on. Lord did I want it to go on. But the guys were wanting to leave and they were her ride. Unfortunately it didn't occur to me to tell her I could take her home later if she wanted to stay. I got a kiss on the cheek and just felt the electricity in her lips. Hey, it was better than nothing!

As we did with all of our sessions together, we recorded that night on a blank tape. The tape ran out long before Jen and I's little escapade, but she was caught on audio tape, mostly as background laughter, but it was a way to still hear her voice. And I was still able to imagine her wonderful face, gorgeous smile, and entrancing eyes.

About 3 years later, I was with a friend who also sort of knew Jen. He didn't know her quite like I did, but he had known her for longer. He had once shown me where her brother was buried in the children's area of Violet Cemetery.

"Have you talked to Jen recently?" I asked him.

"You don't know?" he replied.

"Know what?" I said. He sighed for a minute.

"Jen died last week." I couldn't believe it. It had been three years since I had seen her but her memory was still strong in my mind. She had died of a blood clot in her brain. She had left behind a husband and an infant daughter. I went home that night and listened to our session tape with her laughter and her voice on it. Even though I hadn't seen her in so long I could still remember her face. I closed my eyes and remembered us laying on the floor, looking to her eyes. I felt that magical kiss on my cheek. I had known for a while I was probably never going to meet up with her again but it still hurt to know that she had died.

I think about her every now and then. I wonder how her life had been during the last 3 years of her life. I wonder how her widowed husband and motherless child are doing, stuggling through life without her. Sometimes on a cloudy, brisk April evening if I close my eyes real tight, I can still see her facing shining down at me. I can still feel her warm kiss on my cheek. And mostly I can still hear the wonderful sound of her laughter echoing through the basement.