What I didn’t tell you about was the real life stories I wrote. They are labeled as “Self Series” in my google drive.
This story in particular is from 1992. It’s named, “On the Roof” and is the day before the Landers California 7.3 magnitude earthquake. I lived in San Bernardino at the time, and it is one of the scariest experiences I’ve ever had.
This is the opening scene. I would hang out on the roof listening to the radio for hours on end recording the songs I loved the most. Norton Air force base was only a few miles away and planes would drift overhead every hour or so.
This scene kind of reminded me of the movie “Friday” where the whole movie is based in Ice Cubes house and front porch.
Rrrirrrrrrirrr went the tape player. I let go of the rewind button and hit play. Nirvana’s ‘Come as you are’ came on mid-song.
“Nope,” I said.
I slammed the stop button, rewound it, and played the tape. The end of House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’ ended and the Nirvana song cut in a few verses too late. I stopped it again and rewound the tape for a few seconds and pressed play. As ‘Jump Around’ ended, I stopped it. I flipped the dial back over to FM and music flew through the air.
I laid down on the roof next to my boombox for who knows how long, listening to the radio. I lazily watched as the airplanes flew above me. We lived pretty close to a military base and all kinds of planes flew overhead. Song after song played, most of which I’d already recorded, the ones that I liked at least.
I don’t know why they did it, but when a popular song came on, the DJ would always announce it. It was a good thing, but sometimes a bad thing. It was good when they started the song right after they introduced it. However, when they would start the song in the background and then talk over it, I recorded the whole song without the DJ in it. Getting the DJ in the recording always bugged me, so I would wait for another opportunity. I had nothing better to do. Summer break was the best.
I turned around on my stomach and crawled to the apex of the roof and peeked over the top. There was a huge military tent propped up in the backyard. I let out a deep sigh, scooted back down next to my radio and laid on my side.
We had family friends living with us, and I had to be careful about lounging on the roof. Joe, the dad of that family, was pretty militaristic and didn’t like us doing things like sitting up here. I’d been coming up here for a long time and with them moving in, I had to be careful.
“Pssst,” I heard someone say.
I scooted down the roof and saw my ten-year-old brother Nate, which was short for Nathan, down by the gate.
“What?” I whisper-yelled.
“Can I come up there with you?” he asked.
I shook my head, I hated when he came up here with me. I just wanted to be alone.
I heard the radio jockey, “..and now Nirvan—” I rushed over to the radio and hovered my fingers over the record and play buttons. As soon as he finished, I pushed down on the buttons as the song came on. I mouthed a mute “Yes!” and pumped my arm up and down.
“Hey,” my brother said from behind me.
I looked at him, put my finger to my lips, got up and bent over, creeping out of the tape recorders range. About half-way there, I turned and waved for my brother to come with me. He wasn’t careful at all, just walked right over to me. I facepalmed and shook my head.
Luckily, he didn’t fall on the way over. I sat down and he did too.
“What’s up Henry?” he said.
“Taping songs, what about you?”
“Bored.” He was always bored, and somehow, it always became my problem.
“Where’re your friends?” I examined the area, he always had his little friends around somewhere.
“I dunno.” He turned and looked at the edge of the roof when he said it.
“Well, why don’t you call them and do something,” I suggested. Anything to get him out of my hair.
He didn’t answer me but he stood up and walked over to the edge of the roof.
“Careful!” I warned him.
“How much you wanna bet I can jump down there?”
I didn’t want him to jump down there. Heck, I didn’t want to jump down there. Our house was only one story tall, but a ten-foot drop was more than I wanted to jump. I got up and walked over next to him. I scooted forward carefully and looked over the edge to confirm the distance. The front lawn was just beyond a small cement path below. He could probably easily clear it, but I wasn’t comfortable with the distance.
“Naa you shouldn’t do it,” I said.
“What, you don’t think I can?” he quipped and scooted forward ready to jump.
“Don’t mess around, Nate.”
“I’ll do it.”
I grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him away from the edge and said, “Stop fuckin’ around.”
“Leggo,” he said as he broke from my grip. When he fully recovered, we briefly made eye contact, he took a step forward and launched himself off the roof.
My heart stopped and everything seemed to pause. I turned to grab him, but I was way too late. I rushed over to the edge and saw my brother crumpled up on the ground.
Shit.
I rushed over to the gate, lowered my feet down onto it, balancing and turning to the lawn and jumped down. I looked to where my brother fell and he wasn’t there. I was confused. I walked from the side of the house to the front. My brother and three of his friends were there. As I came into view, they burst into laughter.
“You should see your face!” my brother shouted.
“You little shits!” I said and stomped my left foot on the ground like I was going to chase them.
They scattered like roaches. I felt powerful and pissed at the same time. I inhaled deeply, closed my eyes, and then remembered the radio on the roof.
My brother and his friends were self proclaimed “Bad-asses” of the neighborhood. My brother in particular then and now has a sort of charisma that draws people in. It’s unfortunate that he doesn’t fully utilize technology to harness his gift.
I hope you enjoyed this little excerpt from my self series. If you like it, let me know and I’ll bring more of the story forward so you can have another look.
Thanks,
Katherine
Author Katherine Phillips 