A year later while I was sitting in a bar with my new girlfriend staring lovingly into each other’s eyes. Mona comes and sits down next to me, plastered and pale. "I just got out of there. I couldn't take it no more. They just kept having all these issues, and crazy love triangles. Everyone that they would meet they would find a way to burn. Archi was getting desperate and possessive. He grabbed me when I tried to leave with my boyfriend. That was it I wasn't going to be his bitch no more. Do you know how much I did for them and didn't get paid neither? I helped them to renovate that whole place and watched that kid of theirs all the time so they could throw their little dinner parties. ... If I had to hear Demi in one of her secret séances again singing opera I was going to puke. Fire man the guy that I was working for did a bunch of work for them taking care of tree's supplying wood for their little potlucks and so they could have heat in their house and he never gave him any money Fire man was doing it for me so that I could stay warm... Ya know he was just so weird to his family to the things that he would and wouldn't let them do he was always changing the rules of the house no one could do anything right. .. "She took a deep breath and sucked down another half of a beer. I looked into my girls eyes and took a deep breath. I hate being the one to enjoy the fact that misery loves company, but it really does.
Portia
After a show downtown I approached a friend of mine that had performed at the Goddess fest last year and hadn't seen since. "Hey lady... how’s it going?"
" It's all right; things have been a little hectic since the last time I saw you." She was taking a giant puppet off of her body and I grabbed a portion of it and eased it down. "You know those folks over at the Art Bridge where you had that festival. I tried to join forces with that Demi and she ended up taking me for a ride. There were some shows that I did over there at their request and they were great only she kept telling me that she was going to send the check in the mail and oops she didn't make it there. I taught a few classes over there and did some advertising for them and they never sent me my money! Now they won't even answer my phone calls. I was going to help them with the kid’s camp that they were doing but she isn't even licensed. Can you believe it?"
Fences
I was helping my new downstairs neighbor Matt put up a dog run and we were talking about getting a fence for the yard for the dogs. They were way out of our price range but would benefit both of us greatly. "I wonder if Bradley could get me some more fencing. I did a job for these people in the hills and they never paid me. Bradley went up there and just grabbed some of their fencing. OF course he did a lot of work for them and didn't get paid. "
"Was that the people at the Art Bridge?"
"Yep, Bradley used to go up there to the functions he said it was fun. But he stopped going once he discovered that they were just using him and all these plans that they were making was just stringing him along. They were always crying poor. "I told him my story
"I always wondered what it was that they were up too. Was it drugs, sex, some kind of cult project?"
"Did you ever find out what that little girls necklace was made out of?"
"NO"
Other words
I was meeting my mom's friend Hilldigarde for the first time at a craft show and her name came up, she was going to do a 'thing' with her. "I told her that I would not be interested in that 'thing' then."
I must have gotten her attention because her face contorted and her silver hair got swiped out of her face." Why?"
"Do you know her well?"
"No I can’t say as I do"
"Well, I just wouldn't be interested in doin anything that involves her is what I was saying? I have had issue's with that family and it’s not good."
"Oh my, she isn't with her husband anymore?>>> would that make a difference?"
"Can't say that it would matter much. They are really shady. I know that they have burned a lot of bridges in this community; well they lost that place that they had too. It is for sale now. "
Sounded like karma was finally taking a hold of their lives.
Music Mama
Two years later... I am on the phone with my kid’s best friends Mama. Just talking round about the town and I discovered that she knew the fire man. "I do too."
"Where do you know him from.?."
"I met him at a potluck from the Art Bridge."
"No way, what was your experience like with them."
"OOOH my god! They are fruit cakes! ... I went to this potluck and had a blast.. Met a bunch of people there , and the next event was on Mountains Birthday well I figured let’s do something together... So I talked to demi and told her my plan, I thought maybe I could barter and volunteer it would be fun. Then she asked if I could bring a wheat free cake. None of the kids I was going to invite would like that kind of cake it was so weird that she would tell that to me. Then she wanted to charge me on top of this, so I gave her some money. The day of the event we get there and I brought all kinds of food and treats that everyone who was there ate including her and her family.. I sang and performed for a set and then I was cleaning up because it was late and the kids were getting restless. She comes over telling me that I needed to clean up. I was like omg, I had already cleared all of our stuff away and she was bugging out on me I was so aggravated. I just couldn't connect with her , it was such an odd scenario...'
"I know..." Then I told her my story..
"Wow..."
"We aren't the only ones, I will never participate in anything that they are involved with.. They have burned way too many bridge's..."
"Did you know that Fire man wants to buy that property? He will run it like it was meant to be utilized. He is such a good guy. "
Halloween Night gathering
my family was watching Jay spin poi. He was another hotty with dirty blond hair and a stocky round little manly body. He was an artist, He could twist wire that would make any mineral look like a million and his clothes snugged his body in the most interesting way as the heat from the balls of fire he was holding made him glisten with sweat. He had like three different toys that he danced with. Rolling balls of fire around him filled the area around us. With a streaming light I desperately wanted to capture this on film. I looked around like the air would help me find my camera and there was Mona. She was softer like her edge's had warn, she was petite but rounded from the last time I saw her.
"Mona, wow you look great."
"Yeah, hey I don't live there anymore" she said in an automatic guilty response sort of way.
" I know I ran into you at the zoo bar and we talked for a while. How have you been?"
"I have been alright; I got outta there that summer. Got married last year, chilled out. That place was crazy. I'm so sorry for everybody that got involved with that place. They burned everyone who ever walked through those doors. They have themselves totally convinced themselves that they never hurt anyone before." I was relieved in a way to hear that. Years of this weight kind of lifted off of me. I had worried about her being so young caught up with these weird people. Who knew what kinds of things she had been through if she lived there with them and hadn't really been a willing participant in burning bridges? I have been known to be gullible at times but I wasn't the only one who had had issues with them. "Ya know that they lost that place and the last time I saw her she was with her mentor from Berkley, the old guy she had known since she was two she said. I was so grossed out.
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