Venice beach, California. A crazy place full of equally crazy people, where only the ordinary really stand out. It should come as no surprise then, that wedged in between the fire-walker, the stoners on their longboards and that one crazy guy (Yeah, you know who. If you've ever been to venice, you know who) there was a homeless blind teen with torn up sneakers, sitting comfortably against the wall of a music shop with a large can in front of his and a cardboard sign.
Today is a beautiful day and I can't see it, the sign read. So help a bum out. Money will be spent on food, weed, or a combination of both. You've been warned. (Ps, I asked someone to write this for me, so yeah, I'm actually blind.)
It was a rather big sign, and the last part was on a whole separate square of cardboard that the teen had taped to the first. With a sigh, the teen leaned back and exhaled upwards. Over his eyes he had a pair of scratched up black aviators. A grungy, multicolored Obey beanie with a pom was pulled down around his ears, keeping the sea breeze out. He wore several layers, first a blue Nirvana shirt, then red flannel, then a black hoodie, then a blue jean vest with various pins strewn across the front. His black jeans had a few rips here and there, but the item of his outfit that was the worst off were his shoes.
They used to be brand-new DC skate sneakers. The black and white shoes were torn up, missing rivets and laced with grimy strings. Hell, both the soles had holes where his feet, clad in ripped white socks, peeked out. The stitches were coming out and the rubber was a horrible off-white.
The teen himself was tanned nicely for spending so much time out in the sun. A shaggy mane of jet-black hair fell all the way down his neck, nearly to his shoulders. Despite needing a wash, it still fell in feathery layers. The kid looked kinda like a blind, homeless version of Elijah Wood. His right hand clenched the signature red and white 'long cane' while the left ghosted over his inner thigh, tapping out a rhythm that only he could hear. He let himself be carried away in other people's voices and conversations as he waited for someone to approach.
"Hey, bro, are you going to the party? I heard…."
"I swear dude, she was a fucking ten!"
"Idiot! I said Monday, not Wednesday! Now I'm going to have to rehash my…"
"I swear, I'll be home soon…."
"Yeah, I know. The asshole dented my fender. I hope to god he has insurance, but he looked like one of those illegals…"
"I don't fuck with that Lego shit, nigga. I'd rather step on a…."
"... please? C'mon, Elsa, he looks so sad sitting over there by himself!"
"I said no… probably a scam. A blind person couldn't write a sign." The teen perked up as he heard footsteps coming in his direction, moving erratically. Hell, it sounded like someone was being dragged over. His hand picked up its tempo as the footsteps came to a halt, right in front of him. He heard the rustling of fabric as someone bent closer.
"Hi there!" A girl's voice, he thought. She sounded around the same age as he did. It was light and pleasant, full of energy. Just those two words made him wanna smile and babble on about snowmen for some reason.
A groan came from his left, another woman. This one sounded much older, maybe mid to late twenties. "Anna, don't. You could just give him the money, without starting a conversation." That voice was much more reserved, cold and distant… like ice.
"Don't be rude, Elsa!" A pause followed and the teen imagined the girl sticking her tongue out with a slight smile. "You're a real ice queen sometimes," the girl said, and from the sound of fabric rustling and rubber on concrete he could tell that she was facing him again. He raised his left hand in a two finger salute.
"Yo." His own voice was husky and rough, belying his lanky stature. At least the teen thought he was lanky, he couldn't really see himself anymore after all. He felt lanky. "S'going on, princess?" In the background he heard a long-suffering sigh. Not that he was focused on that… no, he was far more focused on the fact that someone had just sat down next to him.
No one sat next to him. After all, who'd wanna hang out with a homeless teen? He probably smelled awful, the only showers he used were the public ones at the beach.
"My name's Anna," the voice said with almost unreal peppiness. The boy received a friendly slug on the shoulder and started in surprise, turning his head to the right, in the direction the blow had come from. "Ignore my sister, she can be a little frosty sometimes."
"Just realistic," the faintly snobbish voice protested from afar. Still, footsteps came closer and the boy got the impression of someone hovering over him.
"You know it's true," Anna protested. "I mean, can't a girl just have a conversation with a friend?" Arms looped around the boy's, and he found a body being pressed up against his arm. He hid his grimace and fought the urge to shift away… he was used to people not touching him, and the sudden contact was kinda an overload for his enhanced senses.
"And now you're touching him," Elsa said in that regal way of hers. The sound of a shoe tapping impatiently sounded from directly in front of him, canvas against concrete. "I'd hardly call him a friend, you know. The both of you have hardly exchanged two words."
"Not true," Anna protested, her tone shifting from pleasantly teasing to slightly petulant and mischievous. It made the boy wonder what she was planning. "He said four words, exactly."
"Six, if you count the two you said to me," the boy added with a slight smirk. His voice felt like canvas jeans; rough when you first get them, but after awhile you break them in and they're just as soft as silk.
"Yeah, see!" He felt like she was looking directly at him and fought the urge to flinch away. Even being blind, he could feel the stares, the judgement they brought. Still, his sign did say he had the propensity to purchase a certain herb with his hard-begged money. "He didn't even get a chance to say his name, which he would've if you hadn't interrupted us." The voice carried a slight undertone of accusation, prompting a sigh from the girl in front of him. Much to the teen's amusement, he pictured a non-descript business-woman rubbing her forehead in annoyance.
"I don't use my real name anymore," he said with a soft grin, his lips barely parting so he could draw breath in a whistling fashion. "but everyone calls me Delphi." A dry chuckle for a break before he continued. "Y'know, cause I'm blind and I can see the future…"
"Really?" A gasp sounded from his right as the girl released his arm in shock. "You can see the future?" From the front, the sound of flesh meeting skin in a soft slap. A smirk crossed Delphi's face as he realized the woman in front of him just facepalmed.
"Of course not, Anna. God, do you have to believe everything people say?" Irritation floated across the surface of Delphi's skin like the kiss of a razor and he found himself shivering, despite all the layers he was wearing and the fact that it was seventy-five degrees out.
"Well at least I believe in something," the girl shot back with a little venom behind her words. "You should try it sometime. Oh, sorry, I forgot the supernatural doesn't figure into your logical view of the world."
"You're right," the voice persisted, the edge to it's tone sounding more like weariness. "It doesn't." Delphi felt the teen girl next to him tense up and to avoid further drama he gently stretched out his right arm, approximately hovering in front of the girl's chest. "You know, there's really only one way to find out." His words acted like a balm, soothing the tension between the two sisters for the moment being. He tilted his head back towards where he thought Elsa stood. "Want me to tell your future?" he deadpanned. Hesitation rolled off the woman in waves as he moved his arm towards her, palm up and out.
"You want money?" A snort of derision that cut deeply. "I'm not falling for that scam, thank you."
"I was asking for your hand," Delphi persisted, "not your handout." Slowly but surely he felt a hand descend into his, smooth and silky against his roughly calloused palm as the world around him faded.
A queen's hands, skimming against a peasant's.
With practiced motions he flipped the woman's hand palm side up and traced his fingers across it, his touch lighter than a feather. His head tilted upwards, and he let the sun kiss his tanned skin.
"You play piano," he said suddenly. Her fingers were long and slender, yet there was muscle beneath the deceptively soft skin. "It's the one thing that comforts you whenever you think of your parents, your job, your sister, the stress you're fielding. Like a river spilling into the ocean, you spill your soul onto the keys and become a part of something greater if only for a while." The soft intake of breath told Delphi that he was right. Not that he ever doubted himself, of course. "But you came for me to talk about your future, not about the past… Still, I'm sorry about your parents. That ship, by all rights, shouldn't've sank." Beside him he could feel Anna stiffen, disbelief lacing the air along with a deep sadness that tasted like water from a mountain lake; freezing cold and shocking to the system.
As he continued to skim her palm, he traced the lines on her wrist, purposely stroking his thumb across them. "The road ahead is going to be rocky and difficult. Love will prove elusive. If you truly want it in your life, you will have to fight for it." he withdrew his hands from hers and offered a slight smile. "On Tuesday you're going to be promoted to district manager, if that helps." Delphi rubbed his palms together and wiped them on his stained jeans as the world around snapped back into focus with a resounding pop. He grimaced and clenched his left hand into a fist, reaching for his cane. "Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear… I'd better go, huh?"
"That…" the woman trailed off, unable to reconcile what she'd just experienced with her worldview. "How did you know all that?"
"I told you he could see the future!" Anna yelped brightly, the anguish she'd been giving off moments before now buried under her natural bubbly self. "He even looked into your past, our past!" On it's way to his cane Delphi's hand was intercepted as the back of Anna's hand was thrust into his palm, and her right wrapped around his wrist. He fidgeted uncomfortably.
"Are you sure? I don't bullshit readings… You might not like what I have to say."
"Of course!" she insisted, bringing her hand up to what was eye level, for her at least. "C'mon, I wanna know!" With a sigh, the blind teen slid his right hand over her left, searching for answers.
"I…" he bit his lip and fidgeted… yet he had to tell her. "You're not a joyful as everyone thinks," he started. "You bottle up the hurt, the pain. You release it later with less than conventional methods." His hand fled her palm and traced her left shoulder, seeking out the scars beneath the fabric. "I don't think smashing up old textbooks is an answer," he covered quickly, lying to protect her… it wasn't his business, not really. "You will find love… and then it will become betrayal. You will be wounded in the depth of your soul… but in your darkest moment, you will be saved. Love will come again, remember that. You must give it a chance." Funny how both readings are about love, he thought to himself as he withdrew his hands. "Also, you're going to completely forget about Ms. Wiedermann's project on Monday and have to wing the presentation by yourself." Silence as the girl struggled to realize that there was one person who could see her scars.
"That's amazing!" she said, burying the doubt and self loathing under some more happy-sounding words. "Elsa, did you see that?! He totally called it!" A pause, and the teen imagined a frown crossing Anna's face. "Man, I actually better get to work on that project."
"Anna, I think we should go." Delphi felt bills being pressed into his palm. Fifty dollars, he knew. What he couldn't see was if Elsa gave them to him out of kindness or out of fear, to end the conversation and run far away from the boy who'd just shattered her ideas of reality.
"No, wait!" Arms encircled Delphi's right and he was hoisted to his feet with surprising strength, barely managing to grab his cane on the way up. "You can't just leave him out here! It's supposed to rain later tonight and he doesn't have a place to stay!"
"I'll be fine," the teen said as he bent over and collected his sign and can. Around the corner was his duffel bag, and he deposited both in a fluid motion, hoisting the black bag onto his shoulder. Oh, he knew it was black. He bought it specifically because it was.
"Nope!" With some surprise he found a finger pressed against his lips in a familiar gesture. "You don't get to argue, mister. You're coming home and that's it. But first..." Delphi found himself being dragged along the sidewalk despite the protests of Elsa that Anna steadfastly ignored. All of a sudden he jerked to a stop and was turned around, presumably facing a storefront. "C'mon!" The dragging resumed for a few moments until he was pushed down onto a bench. He felt the wooden floors through the holes in his ratty old sneakers and he raked his toes across it, trying to dig furrows he'd never see. He head some rustling, boxes being taken out of racks, examined, then replaced. Eventually Anna found what she was looking for, and grabbed Delphi by the arm again, only to be stopped by her older sister.
"Stop dragging him around like a toy," she said as her hands deftly disentangled the two. "Anna, you can't be serious…" the two drifted away to where the teen assumed the counter was to continue the argument. He absentmindedly wondered what sort of strange adventure he'd been dragged into… and how it would all turn out. Silently, he began drumming out a rhythm on his thigh, singing along softly.
Are you ready to make some noise?
Are you ready to make some noise?
Are you ready, are you ready, are are you ready to make some noise?
The drumbeat of his thumb against his thigh shifted as his words did, taking on an entirely new distinction and meaning. Delphi sang, no longer paying attention to the sisters… if it didn't work out he could easily crash on a bench.
With the lights out it's less dangerous
Here we are now, entertain us
I feel stupid and contagious
Here we are now, entertain us
A mulatto, an albino
A mosquito, my libido
A denial, a denial, a denial, a denial
A denial, a denial, a denial, a denial
A denial
Footsteps, canvas and rubber against the plywood flooring. Someone moved closer , and he stood up, not facing either of the women on his left, choosing instead to angle his head towards the ground. Silence ensued and to his surprise, Elsa was the first to break it.
"I suppose…" A pause in which the disenfranchised teen imagined her looking away and trying her best. "I suppose you can stay." Anna squealed and Delphi found himself being lifted off the floor in a bonecrushing hug. Damn… Arms pinned awkwardly to his sides, he endured the hug until Anna saw it fit to put him down, fidgeting awkwardly when she did.
"Sorry." He could imagine the blush, creeping across her cheeks. "Here!" A box was thrust into his arms, and carefully he opened the box, feeling the light wrapping paper and brushing it out of the way. His fingers skimmed across new, factory tied strings and fresh, unbent rubber. A smile crossed his face as he lifted new shoes out from the box. Crosstrainers, he knew, as he sat down and unlaced his crappy old sneakers, stuffing them into the now empty box. Delphi carefully removed the crinkly paper from inside the shoes, tossing it into the box as he slipped into his new footwear with ease. They fit like a glove… and he wondered how Anna knew as a few silent tears streamed down his face.
"Thank you," he managed, sniffing and raising his arm to wipe away tears. "You don't… this means a lot." Wordlessly, an arm circled his and helped him to his feet. This time he was allowed to set the pace, his cane skirting the ground as he walked the path leading to his new life.
His old shoes were dumped in the first trashcan he found.