#look at my john he looks so joyous im going to cry

[sketchbookstatic]

The crisp air burned through Georgia’s lungs and the cornstalks whipped her face as she ran through the field, gasping for breath as she followed her brother. This was it, they were finally running away, just as they always talked about. Up ahead she could hear the rumbling train as it passed.

Hey guys! instead of doing inktober this month because I hurt myself trying to do it last time, im going to be writing a piece of this story everyday, and posting it here!

The crisp air burned through Georgia’s lungs and the cornstalks whipped her face as she ran through the field, gasping for breath as she followed her brother. This was it, they were finally running away, just as they always talked about. Up ahead she could hear the rumbling train as it passed. It was their ticket out of there, all they had to down was jump onto the still slow moving train as it departed from the depot not to far away from their house.

A gun went off, the sound thundering through the air as the bullet whizzed past her face, a reminder of what they were running from. Their father was a deadshot with his rifle. There was a shout from up ahead from her brother Henry, but she couldn’t make it out. She could guess what it was about though, they were nearing up on the tracks, and that's when she saw it, like a ray of light in an endless abyss: one of the boxcar doors was wide open. Another crack from her father’s rifle struck her out of her reverie, there was no time to be joyous yet, they still had to get on the train.

It was so sudden that she was thrust out of the field, out in the open at last, no longer protected by the camouflage of corn. Henry was already by the train, running parallel to it as he prepared to jump on.

“Georgia!” He yelled, barely heard over the din of the train. God it was so loud now, roaring above everything. “Come here! I’ll pull you up!” And with one swift lunge he made it onto the train, wobbling as he stood up to turn and reach for her.

Another crack of the gun.

Henry crashed onto the floor of the train.

She couldn’t even react, she just blanched as she continue to run after the quickly accelerating train. She far too far now to reach the car her brother now lay wounded in. Her only hope was to grab onto the caboose. This train passed by her house every month for as long as she could remember, it was old, and most of its cars were dedicated to passagers. Unlike most trains it still had a caboose, a frilled up one most likely for people to take pictures with. Today she was going to use it to escape.

She could hear her father yelling obscenities and threats the closer she got to it. She didn’t have much longer to get on. She swiped at the railing, but it was just out of reach. Her father fired again, missing just barely, hitting the side of the train. She kept reaching for the bars, sparing one glance back at her father, who was doing an unfortunately good job at reloading his rifle while running after her.

She almost fell over when she felt a firm grip on her arm. There was barely time to orient herself and look at who it was before she was being pulled off the ground and over the railing. One last shot from her father, flying through the skirt of her dress, and then she and her savior were collapsing into the caboose, door to the outer balcony closing behind them.

Georgia’s chest burned and her legs ached. She struggled to focus on the man talking to her.  “Hey, hey kid? I need you to take deep breaths alright?” She made the effort to turn over and look at him. He was tall. That was the first thing she noticed, he was much taller than her. The next was his clothes. He looked like he jumped out of another decade, old boots, tan high waisted pants, a muted rainbow sweater, and to tie it all together, red tinted round glasses. With his long wavy hair and scraggly excuse for a beard, he looked like someone fused Shaggy with John Lennon. “Hey? Kiddo, can you hear me?” Oh no, did she miss a question?

“I- yeah I hear you. Where-” And then she remembered Henry. She shot up, frantically looking around the car. “Where’s my brother? Did you see him is he okay?”

The man’s big hands were on her shoulders, and he kneeled slightly to meet her eyes. “Calm down. Yes, I think I did, the kid who looks like you right? Short black hair? Got shot?” She swore she was about to cry, nodding with her eyes full of tears. “Don’t worry. He’s gonna be okay, he’s just in the other car.” The man guided her to sit down, and then gestured towards the door that lead to the next car. “I’m going to grab him, okay?” She nodded again, and it struck her that there was at least one thing she needed to know.

“Wait!” She called out to him as he rest his hand on the door.

“Hm?”

“What’s your name?” He chuckled.

“Its Jack. What about you? Your brother might listen to me this time if I told him your name.”

“Its, Georgia.” It was quiet for a moment, and then Jack smiled.

“Alright Georgia, you just sit tight then, I won’t be long.”

And then he was gone.

[popofventi]

Take A Wissen! Favorite 100 Songs of 2018 :: #20-1

Cooking, driving, working, blogging, cleaning, playing, parenting…whatever. I’m listening to music. Throughout the year. All the time. Every day.

These are my favorite 100 songs from the past year. Notice I’m not egotistical enough to proclaim my love of them makes them the “Best Songs of the Year” like other year end lists. They are simply my favorite; the ones I do not want to forget and are now in Jay’s musical rotation from now til eternity. OR until Spotify goes under and all my playlists are lost or the world ends. Or my world ends. May they make you move, sing, cry, close your eyes, smile, do the white man’s overbite or the Elaine dance. Like Eddie Murphy’s Buckwheat said, “Take A Wissen!”.

20.  “Shallow” by Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga

"In all the good times I find myself longing for change And in the bad times, I fear myself"

19. “What Do You Want” by Nico Vega

"You can go ahead and hate me For bringing in news"

18. “Heavy” by Birdtalker

"If your face is down Take a look around Do your fingers move? Do your lungs inflate? Are you tired are you weary Of the hidden hate you've been holding?"

17. “Me & My Dog” by boygenius (Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus & Phoebe Bridgers)

"I didn't wanna be this guy I cried at your show with the teenagers Tell your friend I'll be all right In the morning it won't matter"

16. “Mariners Apartment Complex” by Lana Del Rey

"I fucked up, I know that, but Jesus Can't a girl just do the best she can?"

15. “Summer’s End” by John Prine

"Well you never know how far from home you're feelin' Until you've watched the shadows cross the ceilin'"

14. “Geyser” by Mitski

"Though I'm a geyser Feel it bubbling from below Hear it call, hear it call Hear it call to me Constantly And hear the harmony Only when it's harming me It's not real, it's not real It's not real enough"

13. “The Right Time” by Ural Thomas and The Pain

"Ural Thomas could have been a crooner, a funk singer, a smooth R&B artist. He could have bounced between Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. Instead he disappeared for decades. Fortunately, his reemergence shows roots across the R&B spectrum, but isn't indebted to any of them. Instead of a throwback to a given line, we get simply Ural Thomas in the present, something that's easy to dig."  -- Pop Matters

12. “Neon Moon” by Cigarettes After Sex

"There's a rundown bar 'cross the railroad tracks I've got a table for two way in the back Where I sit alone and think of you"

11. “Come Out And Play” by Billie Eilish

"But I love it when you're awfully quiet"

10. “I Only Dance When I Want To” by The Spook School

"You say "it's my favourite song" You said that about every one And you're reaching for my hands now But I don't wanna dance now"

09. “The Hype” by Shopping

"The drums wallop, the guitar skitters, and bassist Billy Easter's corkscrewing bass urges the track forward, lending extra oomph to their provocations. Around the halfway mark, Aggs lets loose with a brash guitar solo that explodes like a piñata. “The Hype” is Shopping at its best."  -- Pitchfork

08. “The Wish” by Bruce Springsteen

"Well, last night we all sat around laughin' at the things that guitar bought us And I laid awake thinkin' 'bout the other things it's brought us Well, tonight I'm takin' requests here in the kitchen This one's for you, ma, let me come right out and say it But if you're lookin' for a sad song, hell I ain't gonna play it"

07. “1933” by Frank Turner

"If I was of the greatest generation I'd be pissed Surveying the world that I built slipping back into this I'd be screaming at my grandkids: "We already did this""

06. “Is That Alright?” by Lady Gaga

"Nothing you say wouldn't interest me All of your words are like poems to me"

05. “You’re Somebody Else” by Flora Cash

"Well you look like yourself But you're somebody else Only it ain't on the surface Well you talk like yourself No, I hear someone else though Now you're making me nervous"

04. “New Birth In New England” by Phosphorescent

"The most significant things can happen at the most insignificant moments. With a sultry swing, and a relatively joyous piano melody, the track chronicles Houck meeting his new love in a random bar in New England."  -- The 405

03. “Normal” by Sasha Sloan

"Keep on playing that song that I don't like I just wanna feel normal for the night"

02. “This Is America” by Childish Gambino

"What Gambino put together is a true picture of America, where so many of us get to dance and sing and laugh and create. All the while others are largely ignored and trapped in the background, struggling and sometimes dying in a sea of ugliness that many of us would rather not acknowledge, knowing it would ruin the pretty pictures we’d rather focus on. By the end, Gambino’s carefree dancing becomes a full sprint from the madness. He couldn’t escape the reckoning. Neither can America."  -- CNN's Issac Bailey

01. “Seventeen” by Welles

"In our heads we're like winners Though we're just beginners At some miserable game I'll take you out to Ar-kansas Where there's beer and molasses We'll let the times fly on past us The whole world, kiss our asses Through red trees and white trashes"

#100-81

#80-61

#60-41

#40-21

2018 Favorite 100 Songs :: SPotify Playlist

2017 Favorite 100 Songs :: Spotify Playlist

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