a guitar called blue
It was a cold wet morning when I woke up, well I didn't wake up I was told to wake up a police officer he was a very tall dog a German shepherd about 5'6 he was very clam speaking when he said, "sorry sir you can't stay here or sleep here I'm going to have to move you on", so without saying much I got up cold, looking very dull as in just woken up and I grabbed my things and walked off he just walked off in the other direction looking around as he did.
I'm a horse a 7'6 shire horse that's hit it hard, I have a back pack with spare clothes in, a book for writing story's down and some books to read, other than that it's my clothes that keep me warm, the only extra item I carry but it's the last thing I own from my family is a AMP no guitar though, it keeps my head dry but it's not very useful, other than sitting on when you're waiting for something or just can't find a seat.
I'm very simple, simple clothes, a big leather jacket to keep me warm, some jeans that where worn and faded but well loved and some t-shirts that where old and used some shoes butt there rusty and need cleaning that's why I walk around in bare hoofs other then that I have nothing else my bag's worn but has been with me for years, the book I write my story's in is worn and well used but no one wants to buy them but I still write the only reason is because there furry sex or are not very understandable, I can't sing but I can write songs but again no one wants them as there too easy or too long they just want simple lines.
How did I fall on hard times you ask? well I was a good worker, showed up on time did hard work but I took stuff, as in a nicked stuff, it was only because I was homeless so I needed the items food and clean clothes to live on, I got fired and was sent to jail only for a few mouths seeing as I wasn't after much, I'm a very nice person to know but after that incident I couldn't find any work so I'm out on a limb, out of a job and have no money, bins are the only food if you know which ones to rummage though for a bite, maybe a nice person will give you some food that's only off or out of date but still sealed, plus if your nice and help with the unloading the cafes will sometimes make you a cup of coffee or give you a half full cup of the stuff that some ones left behind, it keeps you up and makes you feel good plus there might be food with it.
One day I was walking past a shop as I do looking for a place to crash or even just to rest when I looked in the shop. It was a porn shop not that kind of porn shop! The shop where you porn items, I loved it in there, he loved me, if he had an item he didn't know what it was or it was too modern for him I could say what it was and possibly repair it, I was also very skilled with my hands, sure they look like coal shovels and are big but they can take great care of items, I've fixed clocks, games, computers you name it's been fixed by my very large hands, one day I went in there with a few books I'd found and read, if I found a book in the trash or in the bin or it was going cheep I read it and then sell it, it got me some money to put food in me, one day in the shop as I looked though the boxes of items I love to look though random boxes of things to find odds and sods I saw in the back room a blue guitar, I walked though as they he knew me if it was anyone else it would have been "get out of here" but with me because he knew me he let me wonder into the back so long as I didn't take anything which I never would. The guitar had just come it but it was no good, the strings where worn and almost on the point of braking off or snapping, the pickup was gone and it was missing the plug but the color was as bright as the day it rolled off the factory line, It was in the most beautiful blue, I think they called it moon blue because only once in a blue moon a guitar like that comes along.
"Sweet guitar", I said as I picked it up and had look at it, it suited me well, it was the right height, the right size, and the right color for me, "yeah it's just come in I'm thinking of lobbing it though, its worn and is out of tune and looks like it's had a bad life", "I'll take it off your hands please I'll do anything!" I pleaded to the shop owner to not lob it, gray the shop owner was a badger, he was 6'4 male and was like me, enjoyed the older things in life, he was black and white he had a very bushy breed almost like Santa's but a little longer, he also had glasses, when he was looking at an item he would fiddle with them and then he clean them and then he'd put them on again, "tell you what David, you can have it if you have a look at this other item", he slowly padded outside to the truck that had the other items, there were mirrors, clocks, tables, and cupboards and loads of other items all of which had been porned.
He got into the truck and groaned, he had a thick fur coat on and today was a hot day, "here it is" it was an old grandfather clock, it was old and looked like it had been dug out of a house that had fallen down, it was dusty and needed major work, I had a look and it was full of wood worm and rotten panels I wonder what gray wanted me to do with it, "if you can fix it then that guitars yours" he cleaned his glasses again looking at me as if to say "you won't fix it but your worth trying to" "alright gray I'll fix it, if you let me use your shop and tools" he padded off the truck, "well it's your chose" he went into the shop to get a drink, I then got the loader to unload it, it was old and very rotten I took care when removing it even though the clock weighed a ton I was carful with it, after we'd got it off the truck the other person started to unload the other items on the truck that needed to go in the shop, I helped the lad seeing as it was only a small ferret, about 5'2 not very strong looking, white with some brown on him, his father was in the truck smoking a big old cigar reading a paper leaving the kid to do the work, after the items where off they left their truck rattling as they left, I then moved the items inside and out of the way so that I could work on the clock all under the watchful eye of gray, he was a kind old person but when he got mad run, he was okay but he was a very watchful person didn't trust anyone until he was sure they where okay he watched me while he drank his water.
After all that was done I then started on the clock, it was even worse then what I first thought it looked more rotten, the first thing I did was see what wood it was so I knew what to replace if any where to gone, it was a mixture of three that's very rare in a clock as most of them are three sections but are all the same wood, the base was made of oak very well aged and very well polished even though it was full of wood worm, I then looked at the middle bit that's the bit with the pendulum, that was made of ash it was rotten and faded plus the glass panel was missing too or so I thought as I looked inside there was a load of broken glass some fell out and I cleaned it up it was very rotten, then the top, that's where the workings of the clock are, it was made of brass and was incased in a very nice mahogany dark brown box it was full of wood worm as well but was in sound shape, as I looked in the selves for the wood worm treater, gray was watching while manning the shop, he put the radio on, he was a very 50's person so he had the radio on classics.fm it only played tracks of the 50's and 60's.
As I worked treating the wood worm before dismantling it I then had a look at the clock its self, it was taller than me, at least 8'0, it weighed more than me as well, I think it was at least 400 pounds, and it was so beautiful or it once was before it got into this state, after I'd finished coating the base and top in wood worm treater, gray went outside and had a smoke, he liked to smoke small cigars, as he did he kept a watchful eye on me, I was now ready to start on the inside, the clock, ready to tackle the internal workings and find what horror's where inside rotten or otherwise.
I very carefully and with help from gray after he'd finished his smoke removed the top, the pendulum was first to be removed, it was only hocked on to the clock workings, it was dusty bent and moldy but I would worry about that later, then the top was removed with the help from gray again, the clock case was in such bad nick that as I held the clock workings as gray held the middle he then moved it off with care and skill while I watched and it showed a bunch of dodgy repairs that had taken their toll on the ash, but that would have to wait first thing is to fix the clock get that working then work on the rest of the clock.
Clocks are very hard to fix this one was going to be very hard, clocks have small gears and workings one slip and everything goes everywhere, the owner of it had kept it clean and wound it on but it looked unused, like he'd died and someone had got it but left it to ceased up, the key was easy to find, it was in the back of the base left there when he'd died or something, that might be the reason why it was no longer working, after a quick poke around and a quick tickle and a good coating with some freeing spray I put the key in and wound it, for the first time in however long it was it ticked away with the most beautiful sound a very soft ticking sound, I checked everything it all worked the cogs and the gears and it looked great, when you see the workings of a clock working you really feel for the people who made them, the chime worked as well it was off time but worked, as when I was working on fixing the pendulum cleaning it and repairing it, it chimed four in the afternoon, even though it was one in the afternoon, it tinged with such a nice tune and it was so nice to listen to, I then fixed the pendulum more so it was in a straight line not bent or off, I then gave it a quick polish and it came up a treat then I attached it to the clock, it swung and looked great, then gray came in from the shop front, he'd seen what I'd done and was impressed that I'd got this fair without saying I hate it, he cleaned his glasses and had a good look at the clock seeing as all I'd done is just fiddle with it to make it work, but he was the better person, my hands where good but his where even better, as I watched him work waiting for the 2nd coat of wood worm to take effect I'd put some of the stuff down the holes to really make sure they were dead I watched him work his magic.
He got out from his kit a strange tool, his kit was very large but had such great tools, he used old tools as well as new ones but only because he couldn't find an old one or it cost too much for one, he placed it in the clock and it ticked away much better than it did before it ticked without that annoying tick tock noise more a consent tick, tick, tick, then he fixed the chimes, it was only making a small sound of ding, ding, not ding dong, he then got out another tool from the same box and fixed that problem with a few touches of the tool, then a customer came in, he put his tools down and went to serve them seeing as he'd fixed it I put the tools away for him, I then got started on the wood.
The base was okay, it was made of oak so after a few coats of filler to fill in the holes that the worms had made it was ready for its vanish, I had a look at the top but that was still attached to the clock and seeing as gray was still busy with it making sure it worked fully I had look at the middle it was made from ash, but at some time it had been repaired wrongly, it was in bad shape as whatever glue they used to repair it was bad, as it had made the wood rotten or react badly, the base was okay I just sanded that and it was fine it hadn't attacked the oak but it was going too if left any longer, I added some wood treater to the oak base and it looked great in the light, gray then came back in and fiddled with the clock some more noticing I'd put his tools away and in the right place he got them out and fiddled more, after an hour of careful work by gray it was fixed and fully working, the music played on as I started to look for bits of ash to replace the middle but gray had none, only other bits, "gray, you got any ash wood only the middle bits rotten and no good", "no sorry David only got the odd small bits not the big bits you're after, hang on watch the shop and I'll see what I can do", he plodded out the back got in his pick up and drove off, the pickup was an old 60's Chevy blue, rusty on the surface but well maintained the find of pick up you can remember from childhood.
As I looked at the base it shone in the light it was really looking nice the top was too as I'd left it in the case and with care vanished it, then I heard the front door go the bell on the door went then went again, two furry's had come in, one was a kid about 13 maybe 14 couldn't see his face but he was warring a hoodie he looked like a wolf though as the tail was gray and wolf shaped wolf height too, the other furry was a little old lady with a very nice old smile she was a nice old fox about 4'6 she wore an old dress it was yellow and faded but like my jeans well loved and was very kind, "hello dear is gray in?" she asked looking to the back "No he's popped out for something, I'm here though", "oh well in that case, my husband's been dead for years now and I was cleaning his draws out and I found a few old items", she pulled out from her bag a bit of news paper, in the news paper that was dated 1934 and very aged was a tin toy, it was in great condition no damage or rust, she then pulled out some old medals dating from the 1800's right up to the 1940's, all where in fair condition only need a good bit of polish they looked like they only came out on the day that we remembered the fallen, then she pulled out a gun, it was an old cowboy gun it was real too and it was in great condition, "I'm only selling them to pay the bills", she said as she looked away I then looked the wolf fur was still here he was now eying the guns looking like he liked to fire them, "well the gun I'm not very good with, but the toy and the medals well I am, the toy, may I ask did it have a box?" I asked and she looked, "I think so but I think it was lobbed out after it was trodden on", I looked and frowned tin toys are worth more when in there boxes, "okay and the medals? Did they have cases?" "Oh I don't know dear I'm still cleaning up there might be", "okay well for now keep them but as for the toy and gun, well the gun I can offer you $300 the toy $100 but if you want to you can wait for gray to get back" I smiled as I said this hoping that was the right price for guns and a mint but missing its box tin toy, "oh my I was hoping for a bit more oh well that'll do for now plus I don't want to bother you or keep you" as I turned I looked, the wolf guy was now right behind the old lady, he had something in his hand I didn't know what though, as soon as I opened the till he leaped over the counter grabbing the gun and put it to me head, "alright dude make no move and just hand over the cash!"
Not knowing what to do I looked at the lady, she had been knocked out of the way and fallen to the ground, I then said "you know it's not wise to sneak up behind horses don't you?" "Err no why?" He said as I kicked him lightly in the balls, he feel and groaned holding his balls, I pushed the alarm button to call for the police, I then hopped over the counter to check on the old lady that had been pushed to one side "you okay dear?" I asked as she rubbed her head and looking a bit dazed but I'd left the till open, the wolf got up moaning at the pain he was in and then saw the till was open and the back door was open too, he grabbed the money and the gun which he clicked, he then slowly backed to the back door but then he was hit on the head with a bottle of empty jack Daniels, "gray", me and the lady said, gray had come back and seen him with the gun so quietly plodded in, grabbed the first thing that wouldn't do much damage and hit him on the head, I got up and he helped the lady up with gray's help, "hello Doris, what are you doing in my shop you little minx you?" She just giggled and said "well gray I've brought some nice items along, and this young horse helped me saying what they were", the police soon arrived and they put the wolf away, then they left, and so did Doris she now had an extra $300 for the medals as some where very rare, "thanks David, without you I'd be dead, if that had been me I'd have been dead or worse" he shook my hand, and then went out to his pick up, "help me with these would you?" I then walked out and saw two long bits of ash wood, "how where?" I asked as ash wood is very hard to get hold of, he just laughed and said "it helps to know others in other business" I unloaded the wood and placed it in the shop, the clocks on the wall then chimed five in the afternoon, I'd managed to just measurer all the wood before it was closing time I tidy up and put the clock's bits to one side out of the way before heading out of the shop.
Gray turned the lights off and locked the front door turning the neon lights off that where in the front of the shop and the main one and I looked for somewhere to sleep, little did I know in the dark gray watched me he was impressed by me, I found a nice area but I was told to move on by the police as I was in the way by the same one as this morning excerpt he was going home, I looked for somewhere warm to stay to or be warm for a few hours, I went into some bars but I was lobbed out as I had no money and they only wanted to know you if you had money, I sighed I then looked and saw a news paper stand, it had some old news papers, I grabbed one and then lay on a bench, I then put some hand chuffs on my arm and then the other bit in on my AMP, it then started to rain, I just put the paper over my head, gray looked out and took a sip of his jack Daniels and had a look at the things I'd done, I'd repaired the base and fixed the top which he looked at and did more then I'd done, he then turned the light off and went to bed, smoking a cigar just before putting the light out, I made sure the hand chuffs where on and then I started to sleep, I tried to sleep but the rain made it very hard to making a load noise as it hit the paper, soon the paper was nothing more than a wet pile of paper, I sighed and tried to get some sleep getting wet again.
In the morning I was awoken up by the sound of a bus stopping, its air brakes better than any alarm clock, I got up and checked myself out, still had all my clothes, hair, body parts, and my AMP, I then yawned and looked as I got up and was told to move on by an officer the same one three in a row, I yawned and looked though a trash can and found a full cup of coffee and a half eaten taco, I then saw that gray's was open so I walked in, "morning gray" gray just looked as he opened the till up and put the money in, I then put the coffee down and had a look at the clock, it looked great even better then when I left it last night, I then started to cut the wood for the sides, the old wood was still in one peace but was rotten and un savable but it was still good for the right sizes, I then made sure to label each bit so that I knew which side was which, I then started to cut them out very carefully, all under the watchful eye of gray, if it was a quiet day no customers he'd go in the back and work on something, after an hour of cutting and sanding I only had the back and front left, I put the sides on they fitted like a glove going in the right place on the oak base, I then cut the back and then had the front but there was a problem with the front, the front had a glass panel missing, I wanted to leave it as it was but gray wanted to make it look like it was new, I had a look around in the back where old porned items go to die or are only bits left after looking for an hour I found an old clock front from another dead clock that was in worse condition then the one I was fixing, the front glass fitted great it was a mix it looked great it had clear bits with bits of gold in it and some smoke glass on it as well, then came the big moment, fitting the top, gray watched me still helping only a little bit, I then very carefully put the top on and then started to fit everything into place, everything slotted into place and it was great, then gray wound the clock up and it ticked and chimed like it was new, I was a wreak and weak, I was covered in sawdust and varnish, I then moved it into the shop a few furry's had a look at it mostly at its grandness but purely for its greatness.
As I cleaned up the mess from the ash I looked as gray served a customer, he then called me, "David, need your help, bring the trolley", I got the trolley and noticed a sold sticker on my clock and it was the item going it had only been out there for a few hours and it was sold, I then picked it up and loaded it onto a truck back, I then saw gray take a load of money as he smoked a cigar, I then got off the truck and the furry who brought it spoke "I say good sir, did you repair that clock?" I looked and said "yes sir", "a fine job you've done, it will look grand in my Manson" he then shook my hand and left, I went back in and then tidy up a bit more, as gray counted the money he went in the back and got something, "hay David, here and thanks for all the help", he handed me the guitar but it was in much better shape than when I first saw it, it was clean and had been fixed, the strings had been repaired as well and there was a plug on the eng of the wire I looked and it was great "thanks gray" I looked at it and then he spoke again "I also notice your living really rough, I need some help around here as I'm not getting any younger so would you like the spare room?" he took me up the stairs and showed me the spare room, in there was an old bed made of wood and looking great, plus there was a sofa in red, worn but nice and a very nice old wardrobe with a set of draws next to it and a very nice television on top of it, it was small and basic but I loved it, it was better than any bench and ally way "if you help around the shop and help repair items then it's your room free of charge", I placed my bag on the bed and placed my AMP under the bed, I then put a very nice clock in the room it was another grandfather clock, it had been sitting there in the shop for ever so I got it gray said it was okay, I then looked at the guitar and I strummed it plugged in.
It sounded great I played it and it was so great it was like this guitar was made for me, I played it more, I then put it down as the back door buzzer went, more items to sell fix and more stuff to do I put my guitar down and went to answer, I was happy and for the first time ever since I first went in that shop gray smiled more, as I un loaded the stuff, he didn't watch me anymore or very much he trusted me, he then started to go out and get items, leaving me in charge of the shop, it was very nice knowing that you can be trusted even though you've been in jail, most of the items that came on only needed small repairs but with me a gray they got a full looking over even if it was a simple fix, any other shop would have just have said "yeah its fine sell it", but with us we made sure it was going to last for at least 50 years plus.
Then one day gray hurt himself, he was unloading some boxes of old radio's old heavy ones and one of the ramps snapped under the weight of the radio's and gray, the ramp was made out of an old pallet board, it snapped and gray lost his balance, falling and breaking his leg, he was in the hospital for some time, his leg was badly broken the doctor's said he might never walk again that didn't stop him though, he was a tough old badger never giving in, a week later he came back and was in the shop while I fixed things out back, he also started to smoke in the shop but only when no one was around or in the shop, he still smoked the mini cigars, and he would always listen to the old music radio, he was getting on I think he was in his 60's where as I was only just coming up to being 20, as I fixed things he started to get slower, he snoozed a lot in the shop only being woken up by the bell, sometimes I had to watch out as youngsters would come in without ringing the bell, so they could touch things that they weren't allowed to like the guns of knifes he would just sit in his chair and sleep behind the till.
One day me and gray where talking and looking at a gun, it was an old riffle, it wasn't loading though, I looked at it and gray looked at it he then said "stick it in the bin" but I kept it gray was now getting on, his pick up outside never moved as he was too old to drive it now and his leg as well I did drive it though wonder full old thing, he sighed and then saw me working hard fixing the gun it must have reminded him of what he looked like working in this shop with his father and his father before him, he then got out of the chair he sat on and spoke to me, "David can I have a word with you?" he said as he started to light up his cigar, we walked outside and he spoke, "David my grandpa started this shop way back in the 20's when nothing was worth anything but some things where, I've seen it all from china going up in price too falling like a butterfly on its last trip, I've seen so many wonderful items pass though here all of which I've fixed" he was really getting sad now as he smoked his cigar his old badger hands shacked and he started to sound softer not his raspy voice, "I'm not long left in this world, I want you to take over, I've seen you you're like me back in my younger days, you have great selling powers and just like me you can fix things" he coughed hard his cigar almost falling from his mouth "I want you to take the shop off my hands but only when I'm 6ft under, until then you're still working for me", "working?" "Yes boy working from this moment on you are now a working man for grays porn shop" he put his paw out and I put my hoof into it and he said "welcome aboard David".
It was great I was getting paid the shop I worked in was okay, a bit old but I started to sell modern things, I could repair more newer items where as gray could repair the old items, but a few months later gray became ill very ill.
Gray stayed in bed most of the time only coming down to see how I was doing, I doing fine selling items and porning items old and new and fixing them with care, his old face smiled as he went back up stairs to his warm bed he then light up a mini cigar and wrote something down on a bit of paper, then after he was done, he drank some jack Daniels smoked the last few inches of his mini cigar and then settled down to sleep, but before he said something that no one but he herd and the lord herd and that was this, "lord I'm coming to you please make sure David looks after this shop", he then closed his eyes and breathed once twice tried then he stopped breathing.
At five in the afternoon after a whole day of porning and getting items and selling them David locked up, turning the lights off closing the windows and then I checked on gray, "gray? Only me just checking on you gray?" I walked in and over to the bed and saw that gray wasn't breathing, I checked his pulse but there wasn't one "oh gray", a tear came out of the shire's eye as he looked at the now at peace badger, I then saw the note on the side table, and read it;
"David, thanks for a few mouths of the best time in my life, as you read this I'm either out of the room and your snooping around or I'm up there in the sky with the lord, if that is so then I want to thank you for all the help you've been with the shop, the guitar was my gift to you now as a final gift from you to me could you play it for me just like they do on the radio? It'll make my day or in this case make me happy even if I'm gone", a few tears are seen on the paper as I read the paper I then go into my room and grab my amp and guitar then I puts them in grays room, I then plug in and I say, "gray this is for you", I then play some music and then plays like no one has ever heard before, I play as if it's my last, the guitar sound plays so softly and then so greatly then hard and great, I then starts to play softly and then very quietly stops playing, and I say "RIP gray".
The next morning the courier came and they removed gray's body, he was buried in the local graveyard, and then David said some words even though no one was there to hear them other then the priest;
"gray you where the first person who took pity on me, giving me shelter and warmth instead of kicking me out into the cold like other stores and then you give me your shop as well, I thank you for everything and I thank you and I hope that you are happy in heaven", "ashes to ashes dust to dust" the priest said as the coffin was lowered into the grave, it then started to rain, David watched until the coffin was in the grave then he watched as the grounds men put the soil over gray, then the gravestone was shown as David left to open shop getting wet as he walked the grave stone read; gray; wonderful old badger, very kind and very skilled with his hands rest well old man for eternal slumber starts now but at least you can sleep without the clock going off.
As David got into the shop it seemed quite no sound of "mutter" or "darn thing where is it?" David then smiled and opened shop, well there are things to sell and things to repair after all it's a good day to be selling items, as David opened the shop by turning the lights and items in the front window on he stood behind the till and found gray's glasses, he then for a laugh and to see what it was like though his eyes he put them on and he then saw the past, he saw the shop in the 50's he saw a young gray running around putting things in boxes and looking at the new items coming in and like David repairing them and watching his dad repair them, the shops outside where selling 50's things, beer, magazines and coke a cola and other wonderful things, the cars where all 1950's cars, all new and shiny even gray's old truck looked new like it was fresh off the production line, the music on the radio played hits of the day which we'd now call golden oldies but in the day where new and very hip, David then took the glasses off and saw the weather outside it was raining not a nice sunny day like when he looked though gray's glasses, he then put the glasses back on but only saw the shop now only blurred not back in the 50's he took them off, and then chuckled to himself as he put the glasses in their case and then put them in a high place behind the till and made sure that they couldn't be found by others, he then started to serve the first person of the day and he had a smile on his face, for the fact was that he'd seen life though gray's eyes, and he had enjoyed it seeing what the 50's where like even if it was for a few seconds, every time David plays his guitar he thinks of gray, and every time one of grays tracks comes on the radio that he used to jig to that made David laugh as he looked silly he thinks of gray and if you very quiet and on a very quiet day when there isn't any one around you can almost hear him working on something in the back room or you'll smell his mini cigars fill the air or you might just see him in the corner of your eye just out of sight, he's still there watching David making sure he does things right just like it suppose to be not cutting corners and getting it done quickly.