The Truth in the Stars

Part 3: Jason's Guitar Shop

A week later the store was opened and I got a call from Eddie. Since it was Saturday I was free to hang out. I threw on a pair of jeans and a green shirt with four stripes. The green shirt matched the color of my eyes.

"Mom, I'm going out into town with Eddie!" I yelled.

"Did you do your chores yet?" she yelled back.

"Yes and I'll only be gone for two hours!"

I threw on my black leather jacket.

"Okay, have fun!"

I met Eddie outside the store. He was wearing a red t-shirt and blue jeans that matched his navy colored shoes. His golden hair reflected the bright spring sun.

"Hey, Mark!" he yelled when I came closer.

I picked up pace and met him at the door. Instead of an awning the shop had a metal sign with blue lettering that said Jason's Guitar Shop. It was decorated with music notes and a few instruments. The glass windows revealed all the string instruments in the shop, since this is a corner shop.

"I know it's nice!" Eddie mentioned.

"Can't wait to see the rest of the inside."

"Well then, I guess we'll head in."

We walked into the store and were greeted by the ringing of the bell above the door. The place had been completely remodeled. There was a new section in the corner farthest away from the window that had a musical sound coming from it. A man opened the dark brown door and walked out revealing the musical sound of a guitar.

"Oh, I didn't realize anyone came in," he apologized.

"Sorry. We aren't here to buy anything sir," I started.

"That's fine. I'm Jason the owner," he said extending out his hand to both of us.

"I'm Eddie."

"I'm Mark. Nice to meet you. It's nice to see some change around here."

"Yes, I figured as much. A run down old flower shop probably didn't look too great on a street like this," he said as if he knew the place.

"Where are you from?" Eddie asked.

"Actually, I grew up here. My wife Marie used to own this shop until she had to move when I got a job elsewhere. It just happened that all her flowers died around that year. She actually reopened her shop on the other side of town when we got back."

That explains why he looked familiar to me. Before the flower shop closed, there was always a dark haired guy that showed up at the shop everyday to talk to Marie. My mom used to buy flowers to put around the house from here, so we came here often.

"Whoa! That's a cool history!"

"Anyways, is there anything I can help you boys with?"

"Nah, we're just here to glance around," I stated.

"Okay, just let me know."

He walked away and sat at the counter. Stringed instruments lined the walls and windows on stands. The wind instruments were set in their cases making aisles to walk though. Some were on shelves as if he didn't finish setting up. There were also instrument accessories like guitar picks and replacement pieces behind the counter hanging on a pegboard. The walls were painted two different colors; white on the top and blue on the bottom.

"Mark, check out this drum set!" Eddie exclaimed. "It's just like my brother's!"

He tried to play a drum solo, but he ended up sounding like a little kid banging on pots and pans.

"I don't think your brother's talents were given to you too," I joked.

"Oh, yeah? Why don't you try?"

"Not like I'd be any better."

"That's what I thought."

We made our way through the store checking out speakers, amplifiers, microphones (pretending to sing like professionals), and other instruments until we reached the stringed instruments. My eye caught a nice acoustic guitar and I picked it up to see how it would feel. It felt natural.

"Man. That's a nice guitar. Basic, but cool."

"I know. I wish my parents would let me buy one," I said as I sighed.

"Try playing a chord," Jason insisted as he walked over toward us.

"I've never played before though."

"Here," he said as he pushed my fingers into different places. "That's a G-chord. Try strumming it."

I took a stroke downward and it made a musical ringing sound with a few dead humming sounds.

"Good. That wasn't too bad. Try not to touch any other strings when you play it."

I took another stroke down and this time there were no dead strings.

"Perfect! You're not bad. Are you thinking about getting a guitar?"

"No. My parents would never let me buy one," I responded putting it down.

"You should try to convince them though," Eddie encouraged. "Guitars are awesome."

"Well, if you want you can always stop into my store and borrow one of our test guitars for a while," Jason said pointing toward the back room.

"Thanks, but I doubt I could. Thanks for the offer though."

"No problem. If you ever need anything feel free to stop in. This is a store," he joked.

"Maybe someday I'll come get that guitar from you, " I said hopefully as we walked toward the door.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind. See ya boys!"

We began to walk down the sidewalk talking about the store. The traffic was about average for the street today, since we only saw one car.

"Nice store, huh?" Eddie asked.

"Uh, yeah," I said pulling myself away from thinking of that guitar.

"If you wanted to buy that guitar, my dad could probably offer you a job helping him put on shingles."

"Wait, really!"

"Yeah. It might take some convincing, but he trusts you enough."

"Thanks Eddie."

"No problem."