05 Jul Chapter 11: Outline (Unedited)

The weather was provocative enough to entice Jay and Jane to walk a mile or two to a brunch sitting. They were seated at a patio outside of the restaurant. They both ordered an alcoholic beverage, the norm for them when brunching.

Jane takes a sip from her glass of sangria and says to Jay, “Hey, can I ask you for a quick favor?”

Jay replies, “Of course.”

Jane takes out a small piece of paper and pen then hands them to Jay.

Jane then continues, “Write down the first five words that pop into your mind.”

Jay smiles and begins to write with no hesitance:

An eternity with you, darling.

He then hands the paper back to Jane. She grasps, “Oh my gosh. I love this – this is not what I had expected.”

Jay laughs, “Why did you ask me?”

Jane responds, “Well… that guy I met with about potential business, Tim, he said that he knew you. He told me to ask you that. He said that if I were to ask ten people, nine maybe even ten out of the ten people would give five random words – but he said with you… it’d be different. He said that it would be a thoughtful sentence.”

Jane takes another sip of sangria then continues, “He then said if he was correct, to bring him what you wrote and that he would then join as a client for my company.”

Jay tries to recollect, “Don’t you find that kind of weird? Also, I don’t think I know any Tim.” Jay takes a sip from his beer, “You said that he worked for some company called Seahorse Enterprises?”

Jane nods her head.

Jay continues, “Does Tim happen to have a glass eye with a Seahorse design on it?”

Jane nods her head again, “Yes. That’s him. Do you know him?”

Jay has a slight concern in his tone, “I don’t really know him. But, several months ago… he approached me a few times saying that he knew that I was writing a book and that I need to tell him, ‘what types of words’ that I was using…”

Jane also looks confused, “The types of words you’re using? That doesn’t even make sense.”

Jay responds, “Yeah I know. That’s what I said to him. But, you should definitely still meet up with him again, more business is a good thing, right?”

Jane with a bit of reluctance, “I guess.”

—

Later that day, Jay decided to stop into a local pub, to kill some time before heading to the recording studio to meet 2 witty.

He sits at the bar, orders a beer, pulls some papers out from his pockets and begins to write:

She has a peculiar heartbeat, one that rhythms into an interesting melody,
It’s one that I like to write to, to her, until she has mellow dreams,

She’s has a heart as soft as all of the roses’ petals, encased by threads of all the roses’ thorns

As he was writing he notices a woman come and sit next to him, he pauses. The woman pulls out some canvas-like paper, some colored pencils and orders a drink.

Jay looks over and says to her, “I noticed that you’re an artist, what are you working on over there?”

She takes a sip from her glass, “Oh hey, the name’s Isabella and I’m just working on some concepts for an upcoming art gallery that I have… and yourself?”

Jay replies, “The name is Jay and I’m working on a book. It’s nice to meet you, Isabella, may I see some of your work?”

She responds with a subtle laugh, “I’m actually just starting on it right now. How about this… seeing as you’re a writer. If you write something for me, I’ll draw something for you – we’ll swap.”

Jay, being the guy that respects art and artists, agrees, finds a clean sheet of paper and writes:

She’s got colored pencils and she’s drawing prisms under the light of a bar lamp,
She places them in a gallery for all of the affluent eyes to see,
How lucky of a traveler I must be,
To be the first eyes to see her artistry

He hands her the note and she reads it several times with a warm smile, “This is… this is wonderful.”

Jay replies, “Thank you. I thought you might like that.”
Isabella nods her head and with jubilance, “My turn!”

She pulls out a forest green colored pencil and writes one word, in very small type font, in the middle of the paper.

Jay leans over squinting to read what it says, “What does it say? Sorry, I have poor eyesight.”

She holds the paper up, “It says: Persistence.”

Jay leans back as he typically does when he wants to give a thoughtful answer, “I actually really like that. It’s very simple, but potently simple.”

She responds cheerfully, “Me too. I think I might just put it on the wall when you first walk into my gallery, on a bigger canvas of course.”

Just before Jay has a chance to respond he feels a tap on his right shoulder and Littea’s voice, “I figured I’d find you here.”

She then walks in between them two, “What’s going on over here?” and she looks down at all the papers on the tabletop, “Alright… looks like we’re done here.”

She starts grabbing the papers off the table and putting them in her purse.

Isabella looks startled, “I’m sorry, who are you again?”

Littea looks to Isabella after picking up all the papers, “I’m his wife. Jay, can I speak to you for a few minutes outside about something?”

Jay stands up and looks at Isabella, “She’s not my wife… we’re just good friends. But you’ll have to excuse me, I’ve got to go deal with this real quick.”

As Jay and Littea are walking outside she whispers under her breath to him, “How lucky of a traveler you must be? What the –“

—

After working things out with Littea, Jay walks back into the pub, says his goodbyes to Isabella and that he would attend her gallery when it opened.

He walks back outside and calls a taxi, when he sees Ted sitting on a bench in front of the restaurant. He walks over to him and says, “Hey, don’t I know you from somewhere?”

Ted replies, “Yeah, I met you and Jane at the beach one time… how’s your book coming along? Also, my name’s Ted by the way.

Jay scratches his beard, “That’s right – glad I finally got your name.
I do remember – you also gave me one of your notes before. The book… well it’s getting there, still have a lot to get done.”

Ted responds, “And how is Jane?”

Jay replies, “She’s doing really well. Her business is growing… which she’s ecstatic about – but, its been stressing her out too.”

Ted seems at ease, “Do you have anything you’ve written with you?”

Jay checks his pockets, “Well… I did have a few things… notes more or less that I was writing, but a friend of mine – she, well she borrowed them – more or less.”

Ted chuckles, “Sounds like she’s taking a liking to you. But anyways, I like what you’re doing, I like that you’re writing so I wanted to give you this…” he hands Jay something, “sometimes it helps me when I write.”

Jay examines and it’s a medallion with one of those old-style boxing gloves designed on the front and back, “This is really neat” he says to Ted.

Ted responds, “Glad you like it. I call it a mitted medallion.”
Before Jay has anytime to respond his taxi pulls up next to them.

Jay says, “Hey, I’ve really got to go, I’ve got to be in this meeting at my friend’s recording studio. But, lets try to meet up next week?”

Ted nods, “Sure. Let’s grab some coffee.”

Jay puts the medallion in his pocket, gets in the taxi and they drive away.

—

Tim, Mona and 2 witty were conversing at the recording studio.

2 says, “It’s more like rhyming the syllables too and not just the word itself.”

Mona adds, “Yeah… words are a lot different when you have to enunciate them… there’s a whole new rhyming scheme with pronounced articulation. That’s what we’re about.”

Tim ponders in his chair, “I see. And how do you figure that out?”

2 responds, “Practice. Just always reading, always writing – that’s pretty much it.”
Before Mona gets a chance to respond, Jay walks in and 2 makes an introduction, “Jay – I’d like you to meet Tim. He said that he might be able to help out the studio.”

Jay replies, “We’ve met once or twice before” then he walks over and shakes Tim’s hand, “Nice to see you again Tim.”

Tim responds, “Same to you, Jay. I was just asking your friends 2 and Mona about their stylistic approach to writing music… that’s all.”

Jay plays it cool, “That’s great… hopefully you can help their endeavors.” and he takes a seat in the chair but the medallion falls out of his pocket and lands right next to the table.

Tim is the closest person to it so he reaches down and picks it up off the floor, begins to hand it to Jay, but stops after examining it, “WHERE did you find this?”