Work in progress: Record stories

I originally began this blog as part of an exercise in storytelling recommended to me by one of my nieces. At the time it seemed like a good idea. And in a lot of ways, I think it still is. But I tired of it quickly, and this blog twisted in the wind for a long time.

So, I'd like to include writings here that aren't constrained by fixed word-count limits. Welcome to "Write just 50 words (or more) a day"!

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The following is an excerpt from a work in progress.

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Record Stories (excerpt)
All stories Creative Commons 2008 by P.M.G.
Non-commercial use only, attribution, no derivative works.

Frank Sinatra - My Way - Reprise Records, 1969

Shelley bought the record after her father died at age 36. Like most high school sophomores in the late 1960's, she listened to rock. But this record reminded her so strongly of her late father that she spent the last of her weekly allowance on it. She first heard the song on a radio station that she never listened to, while waiting in the doctor’s office for some tests. She’d often play it on her little battery-operated portable turntable when her mother wasn’t around, or late at night when she was up past her bedtime, turning the volume up just enough to be able to clearly make out the lyrics. One day, as Shelley was lying on her bed, the turntable next to her, her mother came home unexpectedly. She didn’t see her mother standing in the doorway until the song was half-through. They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then Shelley got up, ran to her mother, and threw her arms around her. They both started sobbing uncontrollably.

Bobby Fuller Four - I Fought The Law - Mustang Records, 1965

Steve Jameson was a model student. He’d always be the first one who arrived in home room. No teacher ever had to discipline him. He only knew what the school’s principal looked like from a picture from an article in the local newspaper. He wasn’t a straight-A student. A “C” on a French test saw to that. But he landed on the honor roll so many times that even his teachers had lost track. He was good at gym class and made the basketball and swim teams. He was in the math club, the drama club, and the AV club. Unlike his peers, he listened only to classical music, either on records that his father regularly brought home or on the 8-track tape player in the family car as his father drove him to school. Steve occasionally played Bach on his church’s pipe organ.

Each Tuesday, he’d walk downtown to where the Junior Chamber of Commerce was meeting. On his way there, he always stopped at Maxwell’s Grocery, a corner store where he’d buy himself a bottle of Randy’s Birch Beer to drink on the way. On his way to the soda cooler, he noticed that the rack of picture postcards next to the beer cooler had been replaced by a wooden floor display full of 45 RPM records. He spent a few minutes looking them over before his eyes came to rest on the Bobby Fuller single. He picked it up. His jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe someone would actually make a song about breaking the law. He took it and the birch beer to the counter, paid old man Maxwell for them, and continued on his way.

Queen - Another One Bites The Dust - Elektra Records, 1979

Dan had finally lost his virginity. It was at the off-campus apartment of a girl who he’d met in creative writing class last semester. The song was playing on the FM radio in the living room, which was adjacent to her bedroom. He timed his final thrusts to the beat of the music, climaxing just as lead singer Freddy Mercury wailed his wordless vocals in the song’s final verse. He bought the record the following day at the campus bookstore. He’d put it into the mix tapes that he sometimes brought along when he visited his girlfriend. It became their song.