Character Story : The Night I will never forget

The smoke filled the broken down rock and roll house on bourbon street, a little shack that usually consisted of all kinds of blue’s players and anybody with a little bit of soul and a little bit of groove in their blood. Yeah they preferred only the best but sometime’s you’d go in there and here the local thinking he could play when really he was the average Joe with a guitar and a dream but on some nights, the greats would come through, guy’s like Stevie Ray Vaughn and BB King would come in, order themselves a cocktail and jam for hours on end and the place would be packed out. Guys decked out in their pin striped suits and fedora’s with a big old cigar in their mouth, some just smoking it to blend in some knowing what good taste is smoking one slowly and enjoying every last inch of it. Ribs and BBQ cooking from the big smoker in the back added a little spice to the night and if the food and the drinks and the music weren’t enough for yeah there would always be the beautiful woman you would have under your arm. It was like a necessity, a woman, an ice cold soda for the non-drinkers, a big plate of food and some of the best blue’s music you would ever hear. It was more than just music you know, it was something unexplainable, watching a man pour his heart out on the stage through his guitar and leaving it all out there for you to reach out and grab a hold of your story, that’s what it was about at least, a story, a story about loving and living and woman and heartbreak and everything in between. Song’s about going to heaven and trying to live right on earth and it all just seemed to go together. It all just flowed. I remember one night walking out of the blue’s club and seeing this gentlemen on the corner he had a fedora on with a black pinstripe suit that was ripped up and looked kind of worn and torn, he was tan with an unshaved beard and frizzy hair and he was just standing there outside the club with a soda in his hand relaxing, he was just bobbing his head around and when I went to ask him what he was doing he made an immediate “shhh” sound and told me to listen. So I listened and I watched him as he took a sip out of the can and started singing the song that Stevie Ray Vaughn was jamming too, it was the “Sky is Cryin” and this mysterious man who told me to “shhh” begin singing it word for word in a beautiful voice he sang “The sky is cryin….” he held “I can see the tears roll down the street”…He was just sort of lost at that point, lost in his past, lost in his thoughts, lost in anything perhaps but he became found again. He kept singing that song and after he got done he had a tear rolling down his cheek and he looked at me all funny as if I hadn’t seen him cryin and he said “ The names Flack” I said “hello the name’s Roy” “I am” I began and he just sort of cut me off and started talking. “You were in there” he replied with a stern voice “ yeah” I replied “You understand the blues”, “I guess so”, “ you guess so”, “ well yeah I mean the lyrics and the playing they are about hard times and pain and sorrow” I replied wondering why he is asking me questions about the blues?” “Son let me tell you something “ I guess he didn’t realize that I was 25 and he looked like he had maybe 20 years on me but maybe he was younger, but he was rough looking maybe he was one of those people who was young but lived a rough lifestyle or maybe he just didn‘t care about appearance, go ahead. “Go ahead sir” he looked at me, “Go ahead sir” I replied. He began “ The blue’s aint just about a feeling, they are about a deep deep deep he emphasized, sense of trying to get something out that you just can’t seem to get out of you, whether it be how much you love or don’t love somebody or some kind of pain or some kind of hard time that you went through or something” he continued “ and you know what else, God loves the blues, he does, he does let me tell you, God loves the blues my boy.” “At this point I thought maybe that wasn’t soda that Flack was drinking, maybe it was juice as the boys in the club called it” “ and you know what else Flack said, “ you don’t need the drankin or the smoking or the woman or the drugs to get the feeling you get when you go into that club, no, what you need is some Jesus, some Soda, a good ole girl from the church and most of all a heart ready to be poured into and you ready for some blues.” he spoke with a southern bluesy kind of draw and when he talked his face sort of began to light up and he slowly went into conversations of how he heard the greatest of them all over and over again and how the one’s who died sounded so good and that it was a shame that I missed out on such a good crew but that perhaps one day I will be up in a beautiful place listening to the blues singers, some of em at least he said. I looked at him like he was crazy, is he talking about heaven and seeing old blues singer’s in heaven, that’s a peculiar thought, I thought. “I have been all over the world my boy, I use to be a pastor down at a little church around the way and God just kind of took me from there to all over the place with my wife and we did the lord’s work that’s why you won’t be finding me in there he said pointing at the bar, all that drinking and smoking and woman coming in there clad the way they are, you can save that I just, I just want the music you know why.” “ Why I said” “Because it makes me remember the day’s where I had all that, the day’s where I had my church and my new suits, my wife and we would travel and I would just speak and preach the word in the church’s without air conditioning and afterward we would get some BBQ and just fellowship, yeah those were the day’s” he sort of slipped away at that moment as if he had left his body and was transported to another place“ sir” I said, catching his attention again “ Where are you from?” “I’m from a place that you can’t see yet nor have you ever been” “excuse me” I said Flack looked dead at me and tilted his hat back a bit and said “ come on follow me” “to where” I said. “I’m going to take you to hear some real blue’s” he leaned in and said with a huge smiling that almost engulfed his face. We stepped around the corner and walked for what seemed like a mile past burning trash cans, bottles littered the street and signs began to look crooked, but we finally got to what appeared to be a little shack that was falling apart, the windows were busted out, the roof had been falling apart, the paint must’ve chipped decades ago and the door barely looked like it was hinged right and Flack opened it up and there sat a stand-up bass in all it‘s beauty, the wood was old and the strings looked like they were about to fall off , a drum set and a guitar that had been occupied by two gentlemen already. “Roy” meet the gang, this here is “ slim” the best guitar player you will ever meet and this here is well just call him “Sammy”. These two men as well were dressed sort of like vagabonds but then again some how I just ended up in this little shack and was ready to hear some music not really caring about what they looked like or appeared to be like . Flack went over to that big old base and started playing it, he began with a smooth bass line that was just so powerful and the drums picked up and then the guitar came ripping through the scene and the dust flew off the bass and next thing you know I was caught up in a whirlwind of blues and soul and taken back, my heart was leaping as this music just hit me in the deepest cores and it was so different it was like they were playing with a purpose not just playing, they had meaning to bouncing off of each other, each player told a story through there instrument and after they were done they wiped off there sweat filled faces and slapped each other a high five and it was the best one hour session I had ever heard in my life, even up to this day. “Well” Flack said. “ Man , Sir, that was awesome, why don’t you ever play at that club up there you guys would kill it” “ No, No we don’t play in public” “ well, why not” “because you see the guys in public they are so good no doubt about it but a part of us blues players get’s lost when we go public with our music, but when the music is straight from our hearts at the time, not written down, not promoted it still stays real.” “ well” I said “ That’s a shame Flack because you are missing out.” “ No” Flack said. “You are” here Roy come with me let‘s walk back to the blues club and I will explain to you on the way“ I don’t understand” I said as we walked down the street. “Roy you still haven’t learned your lesson have you Son” “no’ and why do you keep calling me son” “ Because your like a son to me, well, actually more like a brother” “I’ve only known you for like 2 hours flack” “No” and “Yes” you have known me for only 2 hours but I have been around you your whole life, always waiting there out front of that blues club, Always making sure you didn’t reach your limit, always watching over your shoulder” “ what are you, some kind of stalker,” “No , I am your guardian angel, Can’t you tell, I mean , I dress like you, I don’t smoke and drink, which by the way you need to quit, and I won’t go to those places that are bad but I will stand out front and always keep an eye on you to make sure that you are doing ok, every night when you are sleeping I stand out front of your house and just play my bass and groove to the sound of your protection” I didn’t know what to say at this point, I felt like running or maybe calling the cops but at the same time I had an overwhelming sense of peace in my life for the first time. “Roy, when I was a pastor and I lost my wife things got hard for me, God, studying my word and playing music, the blues, were the only things that could help me cope, When it came time for the lord to take me I asked him “If I could stay here and watch over just one more person until I go to heaven? And God said “I knew you would say that, and that’s why I have chosen Roy for you to watch over, but, he won’t be born for another 100 years or so-so, you will have to stay on the earth and make sure that everything goes according to the plan so that he gets there on time, So here I am, your guardian angel, a bass playing, blues loving, suit wearing..” “wait wait wait, I said “ if you’re an angel what’s with the suit and all that stuff and why a shack and everything else and why me?” “ the suit because God gave me style, it’s a 100 years old so yeah it’s pretty rough looking, the shack because I got all I need and oh yeah by the way where else are you going to play with guitar slim and Sam Carr” My jaw dropped. “ yeah that’s right son the legends themselves God Chose you because he loves you and oh yeah who do you think started blues, well at least who do you think put the idea of blue‘s on someone‘s heart, that‘s right it was God using me to do it, your guardian angel Flack(Fully living abundantly caring kindly) Flack ” “Well I only have so much time to tell you what I needed to tell you because I have gotten you hear to this point you ready, number 1, always keep your eyes and heart on God because since you will be preaching one day you are going to need to have his wisdom, number 2 start working harder at what you want to be this story should be a good first page for the book you are working on and number 3, enjoy this life always putting God first, fall in love, have some kids, fill them with God and Love and never desire any riches or anything in this world but always keep your eyes and heart focused on the next. Oh yeah and I will always be watching and right around the corner so don’t do anything stupid and God say’s high by the way”. At that he was gone except for the little bass chords I could hear playing in my head and the occasional sip out of the soda pop can and every once in a while I thought I felt his hat on my head. That night was just a night at a club, listening to some music but it quickly became a night that I will never forget. A night that a meant my destiny and realized what I was supposed to do for the kingdom. A night where an angel and a sinner had a conversation about God and Music and about love and living and about everything in between. Yeah that night, I will never forget it. Well that’s the first chapter of my book what do you think?