Julio Jiménez: Vinyl

Mark always hated birthdays parties. When he was a child this type of meetings were the perfect excuse for his parents to let out all the hatred they had toward each other. A children meeting ended up becoming an endless war.

An awkward smile was seen through Mark’s beard when his friends and acquaintances give him the gifts, some of them know his cloudy past, so they deliver the gift trying not to violate the unseen Mark’s personal space, which is delimited by his eyes.

The hug of an ignorant acquaintance erased Mark’s shy smile, his friends feared the worst; the holy wrath! But, he he replied with a sarcastic and humorous comment; Take it easy, man! Mark said, Your hug will make me burp!. And then Mark went back to submerge in his solitary world like a solipsist.

From a corner of the room, Teal sees the reaction of his boyfriend, she knows him very well that she can read his facial expressions like he were an open book. Man and women make eye contact, she smiles, he looks down.

Mark’s friends don’t like Teal; they smile at her from afar with false courtesy, her witchy goth look scares them, “hipsters don’t like goths” think some of them. Her black lips like oil, her long nails decorated with curious esoteric forms, her tattoos and that dark and strange sexuality, is too much for them. For Mark’s friends, Teal is some kind of alien who coaxed Mark, and drove him away. Mark’s girlfriends form a group away from Teal to “talk” about her.

Teal Tiphereth Swan sees the “coven” of the girls with lasciviuos curiosity, she is accustumed to see others speaking behind her back, her father used to tell her “ Your beauty is going to intimidate some people, get used to it, that’s why a gave you the name Tiphereth in honor of the sixth sefirot of the tree of life of the Jewish mysticism of the Kabbalah, Tiphereth means beauty, but when you see some one talking crap about you, remember, the universe is dual, so use your qliphah Thagirion that means pain, and get back at them!”

– Look, The way she crosses her legs! She doesn’t care if her black underwear is seen by anyone! Look the way she smokes, it’s looks like she was doing a blow job!- Said one of the girls in the “coven”.

Some how, Teal heard the comment. Furious, Teal puts out the cigarette and walk toward the girls. Mark’s girlfriends watch her approaching, “Oh, No! She heard!” Murmured one of them.

– Girls, Do you want something else? – Asked to them Teal sarcastically.

– No, thanks! – Answered Laura; the girl who made the negative comment.

– If you need something, please tell me, I’ll be sitting right there listening and waiting for you all, ok…? – She said a with false smile.

– Ok, ok, thanks, you are very kind! – Laura said.

Teal returned to her chair and lit another cigar. The girls looked at each other ashamed.

Mark noticed the misunderstanding between Teal and his girlfriends, Teals look at her boyfriend in recriminatory way, he immediately knew that thanks to Teal’s rage he would spend the night on the full house bed. “What did I do?” He murmured to himself.

The gift delivery session ended, there’s a pile of gift paper destroyed in the middle of the room, and a pile of black sweaters size M next to Mark. “We don’t know what to give you” Said his best friend “You are a complicated man, Mark!” he finished.

– Don’t worry, I like black clothes – Mark replied politely.

– We know that you love the black colour! – Chales said while he points at Teal, who is picking up the paper from the floor.

– Black is eternal – Teal said.

Charles answered something to Teal, but Mark didn’t hear it, because something caught his attention; one last gift forgotten on the floor, it seemed to be an old vinyl wrapped in an old newspaper from June 1966. Charles and Teal kept arguing while Mark picked up the object.

– Who gave me this? – He asked at loud, but everyone ignored him.

Ignored by everyone, Mark looks for an empty room to analyze the strange object. He went to his room, then, he rips off the paper from the vinyl. “It’s old!” He said “Smells like the 60”. The cover of the album was white but yellowed by the passage of the decades, in the middle of it there’s a hole, through which he can see the center of the vinyl; there’s an inverted pentagram with the head of a red goat.

– Oh, no! I don’t like any kind of heavy metal! – He said – I am a computer security technician! What I supposed to do with an old heavy metal vinyl? – He said while he takes out the vinyl of its sheath. There’s only one song recorded in the album – This have to be a joke! Mark left his room, and shout at loud again: Who gave me this?! – No one seemed to know the origin of the gift, including Teal. – Great! He said.

The meeting is over. Mark picks up the empty dishes and takes them to the kitchen. While he is cleaning up the apartment, his attention is cought by the vinyl with devilish aspect. He walks toward it, the vinyl is on a table next to an empty pitcher of beer, Mark takes the vinyl and analyzes it with his eyes half closed. A shadow passes quickly in front of Mark, He looks up but does not see anyone, his eyes return to the vinyl, then Mark feels like some one is watching at him as a predator sees its prey.

– I’m Leaving! – Teal said.

Mark turns to see Teal, who is standing by the door.

– Where? – Mark answered.

– To my house!

– What do you mean? This is your house!

– No, Mark, it’s yours!

– For god’s sake, Teal! You’ve been living in “my apartment” for months! This is your home!

– Must go to feed my cat!

– I’ve told you thousands of times: bring that thing to live her with us!

– My cat is not a “thing”

– Ok, ok, I’m sorry – Mark apologized

– Besides, we have not formalized anything.

– What do you mean!

– I mean, what the hell are we?

– C’Mon! Not again! You are my woman, and I’m you man! that’s all! – He puts the vinyl on the table – Don’t go, stay, please!

– You lied to me!

– No! I didin’t!

– Yes, you did, you told me that she would not come… but, she came! And she said horrible things about me!

– She means nothing to me! Teal, she is the past! You are my present!

– Is she?! Is she?! – Teal asked.

– She is! She is!

– Tell me the truth! And I’ll forgive you! I just asking for the truth!

– There is not truth to say! She and I are just friends!

Teal looks disappointed, I’m leaving! She said.

– You are being irrational!

Teal leaves the apartment without looking back.

– Teal! – Mark screams.

Mark have to work on some important algorithms for a an application for a well known bank, but his mind is stuck on Teal. She doesn’t answer the phone or the text massages. Frustrated for non being able to concentrate on his job, Mark turns off the computer. He needs to get her out of his thoughts, so he thinks on the vinyl, “well, I have nothing else to do” Mark said as he shrugged.

Mark puts the vinyl on an old turntable that belonged to his father, old melodies burts into his mind, he remembered when as child he sat on his father’s lap to hear the classics of the Rock music; Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Stones, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, among others. “Oh, The old times…!” he said while he pushes Play.