Rumblefish
After five years of marriage Rob lost his wife Renee to pulmonary embolism, a blockage of the main artery in the lung. Rob now lives in a different town and is staying in an apartment by the diner. He has neighbors, and skaters who hang out on his front steps drinking beer, and cranking Polish hip-hop on his front steps. Listening to a mix tape his wife left behind, he goes through her boxes and finds a tape that he had never heard her play before. The tape had no list of songs on the cover, and just a title "Rumblefish". He puts it into his tape player and is swiftly reminded of her. Memories come pouring out.
Rob and Renee never really threw anything out, you could call them pack-rats, but more stylish than messy. They had dozens of tapes, tapes for falling asleep, dancing, cleaning the kitchen, making out, and even walking the dog. Renee had an MFA in fiction, yet never got anything published. Nonetheless, she kept writing anyway.
Renee was a tough country girl, and Rob was a shy, Irish geek from Boston. When they were married they resided in Charlottesville. The apartment wasn't very nice and the roof would leak drops of water whenever it would rain. They managed though. Rob and Renee went to every show in town, whether they were garbage or not. Their philosophy was that if they only went to the good shows, they would have been waiting around for a long time. Charlottesville was small so they had to entertain themselves somehow. At the end of the day they would rub each other and sing songs by Pavement to each other.
Being rock critics, they got into freelancing for the Village Voice, Spin, and Option.
They were DJs at the local radio. Every day after work they would go into the nearby record store and skim through vinyl records, always finding something new. As much as they wrote, there was always more music. It consumed them, it was their life.
Renee was definitely a "doer" she enjoyed adventure and had passion. Rob was the opposite; he hid away, avoiding passion and adventure. He compares himself to a wallflower. Until of course he met Renee, after that he clung to her bright sparkly life, and passion for adventure. Without her he did not want to do anything.
Rob spent more time with Renee more than anyone, but he still wanted more of her. He wanted to be hers forever. Five years, they had five years. Five great years, they enjoyed those years and didn't waste a second. They had more good times than he had expected. Five years and he still wanted more of her.
Rob gets scared about forgetting any little detail about Renee. He wakes up in the middle of the night with a pounding heart, he asks random questions about Renee and then answers them days later. He always answers them but in that moment he panics.
Rob plays Rumblefish the rest of the night and memorizes it word for word. With all of the adventure in this new town, he isn't going anywhere.
After five years of marriage, Rob lost his wife Renee to a pulmonary embolism, a blockage of the main artery in the lung.
Nonetheless, she kept writing. anyway .
The apartment wasn't very nice and the roof would leak drops of water whenever it rained .
Charlottesville was small, so they had to entertain themselves somehow.
They were DJs at the local radio station .
Renee was definitely a "doer"; she enjoyed adventure and had passion.
Rob spent more time with Renee more than anyone, but he still wanted more of her.
Five great years, and they enjoyed those years, never wasting a second.
This is sad and very interesting, I'm glad it was me that got to edit!
:)
