thinkings

He was listening to the new R.E.M. song. The last new R.E.M. song actually. It was “his jam” as of late. Those were becoming fewer and fewer. The reason escapes me. Could be he was getting older. Could be he was in a funk. Could be clinical in nature. Probably a complex combination of all of the above. Psychology is so simple. Then he clicked on “New Test Leper.” A song from his formative years. The CD was king and bedroom “press the repeat button twice” was in session. He realized he never had his R.E.M. phase. Yeah, he knew all of the radio hits and the MTV hits (not mutually exclusive, of course) but he had never had a Beatles-like dive into their catalog. Hell, he barely knew their 80’s output. Any of it. He decided it was time for his R.E.M. phase. He put out his cigarette and picked up the Wal-Mart fan from the window. He faced the Wal-Mart fan into the sill and blew out any remaining ash or burnt leaves of tea that had been accumulating since he started again exactly 7 days ago, after 21 days of no word from the worldwide leader. He walked down the cracked wood of the attic stairs and washed the cigarette smell out of his hands and his beard. He opened the refrigerator and took out the 9 year old barleywine. The slow pour revealed no carbonation, but a tilt of the glass demonstrated otherwise. The tiniest of heads emerged and he smiled. He walked to his office on the second floor, Karm glass and dusty bottle in hand. He would start with Reckoning. It was the earliest LP of theirs that he had in his digital library. “Harborcoat” started, he took a sip of the 2002 barleywine, noted the bready character, and started. The phase had begun.