Someone Was Burning Incense in the Room - Melody Cryns

I am 10 years old, sitting cross-legged on the shag carpet in the cozy den of the flat I live at in San Francisco. The big-screen black and white TV is on and my brother Michael and sister Jennifer sit on the floor and watch TV. I think Dennis the Menace is on, but I am not sure. I feel safe surrounded by all of the warm things I’m familiar with, the basket chair with the bright-colored pillows, and the rocking chair with the bright green cushions on it. My mother is sitting in the kitchen reading a book – on a yellow plastic kitchen chair at an angle just like it always is. She always sits at that same angle to read a book, always with a tall bottle of Diet Pepsi and tab sitting on the table next to her and an ashtray with cigarette smoke spiraling around my mother’s head. It is almost magical, watching the cigarette smoke swirl around my mother making her look like a spirit. Ricky Solis, one of the six Solis boys who live up the street, is over, and we have a board game stretched out in front of us – I think we are playing Sorry.

Suddenly, we hear the doorbell ring and our dog Nikki starts to bark his high-pitched bark, and I can hear his feet pitter patter down the long hallway of our flat on the hardwood floor. I jump up and dash down the hallway noticing that my mother has looked up from her book of the day. She chews books and spits them out and has them for dinner.

I peek through the curtains and see my mother’s good friend Fred with the long, long hair – in fact Fred is the first person I had ever met when I was just a little girl of six who had long hair like that. A year later, I started to see lots of guys with long hair. He is with his “old lady” as he calls her, Elaine, who is also very nice and their big dog. I cannot remember his name. The dog is golden-colored and large and very nice. I immediately open the door and they say hello. Fred smells like – like, is it incense? I am not sure, but he is very nice and gives me a hug. Fred and all the guys my mother knows with long hair are very nice – they are good to us kids.

The dogs bark at each other now and run up and down the hallway making a lot of noise. My mother emerges from her perch in the kitchen – it’s a miracle! I follow Fred and Elaine down the long-dark hallway into the bright kitchen where they sit at the kitchen table with my mom. Whenever my mom’s friends come over, they almost always sit at the kitchen table. That’s just the way it is. Although sometimes they wander back down the hallway to the living room where the stereo is – the living room is a lot fancier than the rest of the house with a beautiful upright Chickering piano and candelabra. The living room is the only place where there is an actual carpet and mom keeps all the breakable pretty stuff in there.

Fred, Elaine and my mother are now talking and laughing, sitting at the table. I stand next to Fred and he gives me a hug. I miss my Dad who has left and I think Fred knows it. He is very nice. He never tries to take advantage of my youth and I will always feel safe with Fred – my entire life. Later there will be someone I do not feel safe with.

I go back to playing my game with Ricky Solis. After a while Fred, Elaine and my mom wander down the hallway towards the living room and I hear music playing – Mellow Yellow by Donovan, and I hear the words float down the hallway, “They call me mellow yellow, that’s right slick…!”

Suddenly my body just wants to move to the music. I feel I must be there with the music no matter what. I beat Ricky Solis at Sorry and say, “C’mon! Let’s go!” Michael and Jennifer are so engrossed in the television that they don’t even notice as me and Ricky head down the hallway towards the living room.

Someone has burned incense in the room, and it smells so sweet and fresh – mom and Fred and Elaine are laughing, the dogs are running around and no one cares that we’ve walked into the room.

“Play Beatles, Mom – will you?” I ask as if it’s a special treat. I grab the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club band album – I just love the colorful album cover with all the people on the front – it’s the Beatles’ latest album. My mother smiles and puts the record on to the stereo turntable carefully removing the Donovan record.

Then we all dance and sing to “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band,” even the grown-ups.