1
Blue mats covered the floor and walls, and the gym’s name was printed in white and light-blue letters along with the school’s symbol. Sweat permeated the air while bleach mingled with it. Alone, I sat cross-legged staring at the gyms lobby waiting for a friend to enter. Someone to speak with. Someone to train with.
Dressed in a suit, medium-length blonde hair parted to the right, a man walked towards the locker room pulling a red tie off of his neck, focused and smiling. That was Jamie. I always thought it interesting that my first memory of him was of him shedding formality in order to be hands on.
2
It’s summer and the sun is high and hot. Cars zoom by, trying to make the light. A yellow Lamborghini is idling in a No Parking Zone, roof off and music blasting. I comment on the color. Jamie decides my message needed to be broadcasted.
“Excuse me, sir.”
No response.
“Sir.”
No response again.
“You, in the yellow Lamborghini…” Jamie paused for effect. “Taxi! I need a ride somewhere. Come on, TAXI!!!”
3
I led them to the Astor Place 6-Train, the only sober person of the crew. We schlepped from Tompkins Square Park down St. Marks as a group, me in the lead and Jamie by my side, dodging Hare Krisnas with their joyous tambourines along the way. Inside the station, Jamie took a seat on a wooden bench and eyed a woman a bit away from us, standing by the platform edge. It looked like he was considering something deep, his head slowly starting to nod.
“You know,” he began to monologue. “We’re 60% water, man. And water is the building block of life. It’s in everything. Do you know what that means? It means we’re all connected. But think about this, water flows. It moves in waves. It comes in and it goes back out again. And if you drop something in a puddle, waves will flow away from the spot the object hit the water. That means, if I put a thought out there, I can set off a chain of events that all move in line with what I thought.”
“For instance, do you see that woman over there,” Jamie pointed at the woman by the platform edge. “All I have to do is think about her sitting right here next to me and because we’re both made of water, it’ll happen.”
He stared at the woman the way that Jamie always stared, piercingly. No more than two minutes after he finished his monologue, the woman turned and walked to the bench and sat down next to him. The whole crew stood there, wide eyed, mouths open, surprised at what had just happened. Jamie leaned back in his seat, stuck his chin in the air and smiled, nodding at all of us.
4
Help with, help with
Help with what you got
Help with, help with
Help with what you go
A video of a dear friend sharing a message you forgot.
Posted by Daniel