Garfield's Story
Chapter 1
Sal's music store sat close to the center of Jump City mall. It was small, but very popular. They were widely known around the city for the custom work they would do for local musicians.
A lone customer wandered over to the guitar section. All manner of brands and styles lined the wall and floor. All carefully arranged and displayed to catch the eye of any perspective buyer.
The young girl made her way over to the bass guitars. She was small in stature, only about 5' 3" with a slender build. Her ebony hair ran down just past her ears, standing on stark contrast to her pale complexion. She wore mostly dark attire, that further drew attention to her light skin tone. On her feet however, she wore a pair of bright red high top boots.
"It'll be ready in a few minutes Rachel," a woman's voice called out from the behind the service counter.
"Okay, thanks Sarah. I'll be over by the amps when you have it ready," Rachel answered back as she made her way into the small soundproof room towards the back of the store.
Rachel had been coming into Sal's for as long as Sarah could remember. Over the years, they had run into each other at various clubs, shows, and concerts. Sarah was a skilled guitar player and they had even played a number of gigs together. It wasn't long before they had become good friends.
Sarah was also in charge of most of the custom work that Sal's offered. She had become quite good at airbrushing and detailing. She could create works of art out of any musical instrument. It was for that reason Rachel had come to see her.
Sarah admired her own work as she finished restringing the instrument – a Gibson Thunderbird 4 bass guitar. Its usual natural wood finish was replaced by fresh coat of dark metallic green paint. She gently picked up the heavy guitar, careful not to damage the new paint job. A few moments later, she made her way over to the sound studio at the back of the store to present her work.
Rachel had knelt down in front of one of the bass amps and plugged in one of the cheap, low-end bass guitars, and was now playing a few notes. She appeared to be alternating between high and low pitched notes, trying to judge the quality of the amplifier.
"Thinking of taking a step back in performance?" Sarah asked teasingly.
"What?" Rachel asked, not looking at her as she adjusted the tone on the amplifier and continued playing the same set of high and low notes.
"Well, I'm not saying that Ibanez doesn't make quality guitars, they do," Sarah continued. "But that isn't one of them."
"Oh," Rachel mumbled as she continued adjusting the sound of the amplifier. "I was just trying...to see...if," she slowly trailed off as she again played the same notes. It was as if she had forgotten why she had come in that day.
"Well Miss Lock, if you are interested, I have this lovely Gibson Thunderbird bass. Complete with a brand new paint job."
Rachel stopped playing and quickly turned her attention to Sarah and the instrument she held in her hands. Rachel quickly stood up and as she haphazardly leant the bass she was playing against the amp. It promptly slid off and fell to the floor with a loud crash that reverberated through the amplifier.
"Hey!" Sarah exclaimed in protest as she watched the Ibanez clatter to the floor. "I still have to sell that!"
Rachel muttered a half-hearted "sorry" as she quickly took the instrument from Sarah.
"Well, is it to your liking?" Sarah asked as she picked the discarded Ibanez that was laying face down on the floor and inspected it.
"Oh Sarah, it looks beautiful!" Rachel exclaimed as she looked over her newly detailed bass.
"I'm glad you're pleased with it." Sarah sighed as she placed the bass back on its display stand. She unplugged the cable and handed it to her friend.
"And the engraving?" Rachel asked as she plugged the cable into the Gibson.
"On the back of the neck."
She quickly flipped the bass over in her hands. There, she found the quote etched in black ink. "Every master was once an apprentice. Every beast was once a cub." Rachel squealed happily. "It's perfect!"
"Perfect? Well, thank you. So, you never told me, why?"
"Why what?" Rachel asked as she began plucking the strings.
"Why you had me detail it? That one specifically?" Sarah picked up one of the guitars that were strewn around the room. There were plenty for her to choose from. People would come in, and try them out, and simply leave them scattered about, without returning them to the sales floor.
"Umm...that is one of the services you offer isn't it?" Rachel asked.
"Yes, but that's not what I was talking about," Sarah said, as she took a seat on the stool next to her with one of the guitars in her hands. "Of all the basses you own, of which there are many."
"Seven," Rachel clarified.
"Okay, sure, seven. Of those seven, you took your, by far, most valuable one, had me sand it down, repaint it, and put a custom engraving on it, all so you could give it away?"
"Not give it away. Give it as a gift," Rachel stated.
"A gift to who?"
"Garfield," Rachel smiled.
"Your boyfriend?"
"Yeah. He's taking his first lesson in a few days." Her smile grew wider. "I'm more excited about it than he is, I think." Rachel began playing the opening notes to the Tool song 'Schism'.
"I can tell." Sarah laughed. "I swear, it happens every week. At least two or three times."
"What does?" Rachel asked as she continued to play.
"Someone picks up a bass and plays Schism. Or tries to anyways."
"Well, what do you expect? It's the 'Purple Rain' of the bass guitar," Rachel said jokingly.
Sarah joined in and began playing along with her friend. They continued to play several more songs as they discussed different bands and styles. It was a topic the two friends had talked about plenty of times before. They never could settle on a decision as to who their favorite band was. Sure, they each had their favorite musician, but they never could settle on who was the best band.
After a while, the topic moved back to Garfield. "So he's going to learn how to play, huh?" Sarah asked.
"Yup, it's going to be amazing!"
"So you're giving him your Thunderbird as a gift? So he has something to practice on?"
"Yup. I told him I would let him borrow one of my old ones to practice on. I always told him that he was never allowed to touch this one under any circumstances,"Rachel said as she patted the Gibson. "This is going to be a big surprise for him." Rachel beamed.
"Well, yeah, but he'll still be a beginner," Sarah remarked. "You're going to give him a high-quality instrument, but he won't be a high-quality player. At least not right away," Sarah reasoned. "It would be like giving a Bentley to a sixteen-year-old that just got his driver's license."
"I know, but I can't help myself."
"Well – hang on. I'll be right back." Sarah got up and walked over to open the door. She walked out to greet a couple that had come in. A few minutes later she returned and sat back down and picked up her guitar.
"You need to help them?" Rachel asked.
"No. They're just looking, they said."
"So where were we? Slayer, Rush, Metallica? Maybe a little Primus?" Rachel asked hopefully.
"No. No Primus. How about some Rush?" Sarah started playing the opening rift to 'Fly By Night'.
"No. I probably should head out."
"What? Upset I didn't want to play Primus?" asked Sarah.
"No. I told Gar I would meet him in the food court soon." Rachel began to get up and walk to the door.
"You going to give him his gift in the food court?" Sarah raised an eyebrow.
"No. I'll put this out in my car first. No, he's going to meet one of his old friends there at one o'clock. I told him I had something I had to take care of here. So he asked, well, more like begged, me to come up and meet him."
Sarah started gathering up the guitars and moving them back out to the sales floor. "Who is this friend? And why does he want you to meet him so badly?"
"It's some guy he used to hang with back in the day. Before I met him." Rachel began to look around the room. "Where did I put my case?"
"I moved it over by the door." Sarah pointed to the large case leaning on the wall next to the door. "So someone he used to hang out with before he met you? Haven't you two been together for, like, three years?"
"Almost, yeah." Rachel gently placed the Gibson into the case. "I really do hope he likes it."
"I'm sure he will. So, how did you meet him? I know you told me you met him at that diner downtown you used to work at. But what was it like? From the few times I've met Gar, I can only imagine what he is like when he is trying to flirt."
Rachel laughed slightly. "Well you know me, I didn't give him much of a choice in the matter. I used to flirt a lot back then."
"Yeah, you did use to pour it on a little thick at times – a lot of the times." Sarah chuckled.
"I wasn't that bad," Rachel protested sheepishly.
"Yeah, you kinda were."
Rachel shot her friend a glare as they both made their way to the cash register. "Anyway, there was this real bad storm this one night. A lot of rain and hail. This skinny, shaggy-looking guy came in to get away from the storm. He was kinda cute, so I went over to get his order. He was friendly, but a little quiet at first."
"Now I know you're lying. Garfield is never quiet from what I can tell." Sarah made her way behind the counter to gather up an assortment of papers with billing information on them.
"He was that night," Rachel said as she handed over her credit card. "He really seemed like his mind was somewhere else. I didn't really notice it back then, but now that I've gotten to know him, looking back, it was really unlike him. He seemed a little sad for some reason."
"Again, that doesn't really seem like the Garfield I've met." Sarah tried to run the credit card repeatedly. "This damn thing never works."
"He struck me as kind of odd at first, but in kind of a cute way. Does that make sense?"
"I think so," Sarah said, still fighting with the card reader. "Odd how?"
"Well, just little things. But a bunch of little things. Like how he was in town to get things from his old place that was about to be torn down. He just left some of his stuff there 'cause he didn't know that he was leaving for good? Or how he didn't want a ride when I offered. It was raining outside! Or how he was wearing this big, tacky ring."
"Eww. A man-ring. Very odd indeed."
"Well, yes, that." Rachel laughed. "But that wasn't the odd part. When I asked him about it, he said it was given to by one of his friends. One of his guy friends. And ya know? To this day I don't think I've ever seen him take it off."
Sarah stopped and raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Who was this friend?"
"Guy named Victor. Same guy he is meeting here in," Rachel looked down at her phone, "in five minutes! Okay, we kinda need to wrap this up. I've got to run out to my car to put this up first." She nodded the guitar case sitting on the floor.
"Well, if I could ever get this thing damn thing to go through!" Sarah said in frustration as she started to slap the credit card reader.
"Stop, give me that." Rachel took her card back. "Hand me some receipt paper."
"Why?" Sarah asked, handing her the paper.
"Trick I learned working at that diner." Rachel wrapped the receipt paper tightly around the card. "Here, now try it." She handed it back to her friend.
Sure enough, the card ran on the first swipe. "Well, how about that? Learn something new every day." Sarah finished up the transaction and handed her card back.
"Thank you so much again, Sarah. I owe you big time." Rachel started to make her way out the door.
"Hey, that friend of his, Victor?"
"Yeah?" she called back as she headed out the door.
"Is he hot?"
"Don't know. I told you, I've never met him before."
"Well, if he is, bring him by. I want to meet him."
"Okay, I'll see. Bye," Rachel gave a half-hearted wave as she made her way out into the mall.
"This is Black. Do you read me?" The voice on the other end of the line was cold and precise.
"Yes. We're in place." She responded as she looked over their equipment.
"Good. I'm almost ready on my end. Be ready when I give the word."
"Yes Mr, Black."
"If we don't do it today it may be a while be fore we get another chance." He typed a final set of commands into his laptop.
"Understood. It begins today." She motioned for one of her comrades to start the bus.