A/N: Hi, Everyone! I know I haven't kept my promise with the updates, I'm really sorry! My life has been busy that I couldn't really focus on my writing. I'm going to edit these chapters before I start updating, okay? There's some things I'm cringing over as I look over the old drafts. I hope you'll like the changes :D
This is based in present time 2012 and the Summer of Alternate 1967 of the Monkees t.v. Universe.
Southern California was filled with nothing more but crystal blue skies stretching across the beautiful city of La Jolla. My light brown eyes captured every bit of it all as I walked along the solid cement earth with crowds of tourists and locals passing by. Summer was here and became the explanation of it all. I had finally finished my third year at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), studying hard for a career as a Marine Biologist. Being born and raised in "America's Finest City," the ocean was always there at my door step and became a big part of my life ever since I can remember, so why not dedicate the rest of my years to the seas? It's always something I've dreamed of doing and it's finally coming true.
It was going to be a long summer. I knew it when all of my friends from school went away spending their vacations in places like Paris, Rome, and London. Anywhere away from California. It would have been tempting to go out and join them but I wanted to stay close to home and hopefully make the very best of it. It was always something my mother would do to try to make each day brighter by doing the best as possible as my father would say to me.
Growing up, my dad would bring up stories about her, constantly telling me how much I reminded him of her from the wavy curls of my tobacco colored hair to the same warm personality that was brighter than the sun.
Sometimes, I really wish I knew her as she died a few minutes after giving birth to me due to complications. Though those last minutes, my dad remembers her last spoken words as she held me in her arms and gave a sweet smile calling me "Marilyn, my sweet little Mary". She told my dad how much she'd loved him and me before closing her eyes forever and left the Earth.
I was named after the famous 1950's Hollywood actress, Marilyn Monroe, who my mom admired deeply while she grew up loving classic films in the 60's as a young girl. While my dad gave me the middle name, Rose, because it was my mom's favorite flower and it also became my favorite too. I really owed him for everything he has done to raise me as a single dad. I love him more every day for being there for me, especially during my awkward teen years. He has taught me so much and always did his best when I needed a mom. I'll always cherish the stories he told me about the first time he met my mom in the late 1970's in college and how they both grew up in the 60's, the era that changed history forever. They were both influenced by the music of the Beatles, The Beach Boys, Supremes, and much more. My fondest memory is when my dad would play his record collection for me to listen to every day of my life. It's what sparked my love for that era of great music and one band that stolen my mother's heart and mine as well.
They were known as the Monkees.
A television show that was ahead of its time, the Monkees were about four young men living in a beach house in Southern California as struggling musicians trying to find a way to pay their rent while going on wild adventures. Eventually, these four boys did become a real rock n' roll group and Monkeemania was soon born and at one point were more popular than the Beatles and Rolling Stones combined.
On my sixteenth birthday, my dad surprised me with a vintage aqua colored suitcase record player that belonged to my mother along with her personal collection of Monkees memorabilia and records she'd kept over the years. He told me how she wanted me to have these things and cherish the "feel good" music of their time when they were kids and I did within a heartbeat.
Though the years passed and I was twenty going on twenty-one in August, but I'm still a fan of the 60's and everything legal about it, including my love for the Monkees still going strong. Even if my friends think I'm strange for liking music set before my time, they didn't understand my love for great music.
As I continued to push myself pass the countless stores of local businesses selling novelty souvenirs, beach clothes, and china antiquities. I wanted something different than the guilty tourist items hanging in the shop windows. After walking around a few corners and being in less crowded streets with only a few backpack happy tourists, I came across this one store that instantly caught my eyes. The building was small and somewhat older than the other shops in the area, it was a few miles away from home and finding it to be an antique shop which brighten my curiosity to go inside.
The sound of a small bell ranged from above the door once I entered inside, finding a middle-aged woman standing behind the cashier's counter. She had a soft smile on her face revealing her middle-aged wrinkles as she greeted me. She looked a little bit of Carole King, but I knew it couldn't be the talented singer and songwriter.
"Hello, miss." She let out as her voice was soft and very Californian. I smiled back at her in response and started to browse around looking at all the neat things displayed for sale.
There were statues and boxes placed on shelves, paintings, and stuffed heads of exotic animals decorated the walls while the most delicate items were encased inside glass cabinets.
The smell of old books and sweet lavender filled the atmosphere inside the store, a combination of two of my favorite things as near the large bookcase was an old wardrobe and even more taxidermist animals such as a sunglasses wearing tiger laying on its stomach and a polar bear standing on its hind legs position by the register with a sun hat on his head and a boa scarf wrapped around its neck.
There were about four different rooms with each one separated by long beaded curtains that reminded me of an old fortune teller's shop. Each of these rooms stored more interesting items but there was nothing in here that really caught my eyes to be a possible birthday present to myself. At this rate, I may be on my way home empty handed as the only last bit of hope I had left were the delicate items placed in the glass cases extending around the register carrying all types of vintage jewelry that people have owned within their lifetime.
'A girl's only hope is jewelry at this point.' I thought to myself, eyeing each piece of bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces.
Suddenly, I found an old brass pocket watch with crescent moons and stars circling the front of the hunter case lid, while the center to see the time was the shaped of a sunflower and showed the hands and numbers of the watch through the flower's outline. It was very beautiful and seeing the small price tag tied around the long chain was pretty affordable too.
"You seem to have your heart set on that pocket watch there, sweetie." My brown eyes looked up at the lady leaning over the counter with another smile on her face as I returned the simple gesture before replying back to her.
"Yes, I really like it. I never seen anything like it before and it's very pretty too. It would be perfect for a birthday gift. You see, my birthday is coming up soon." I smiled to myself, staring back at the pocket watch before looking at the woman. She began to laugh after realizing I wanted to get it for myself.
"Well, there's nothing wrong buying a birthday present even if you're buying it for yourself. Believe me I do it all the time. The pocket watch is in excellent condition, despite its old age. It's from the 1960's and battery operated too. The chain is even long enough to wear around your neck. The only problem with it is the battery, it's been dead since the previous owner sold it to me a few years ago." She began to tell me about the pocket watch and continued. "I've never had the time to get around to replacing the battery and give it new life. I have the spare and I'll give it to you for free, if you buy this beauty. It's funny though, the man who sold me this watch told me, "it was going to make a special girl very happy", but I never knew what he meant by it. Maybe, you could be the one." I watched her red lips extended towards me after telling me about the strange story how she acquired the pocket watch.
'Going to make a special girl happy, huh?' The previous owner's words left me deep in thought as I gradually pushed it back in my mind.
"Yeah, maybe I am. I'll take it." I looked at her with a warm grin to which she beamed brightly.
She removed the keys that were wrapped around her wrist, finding the right key and unlocked the glass door of the case. She gently took the pocket watch from the display case and wrapped up the item in a decorative piece of cloth placing in it a small box. She then searched behind a large cabinet and easily picked up the spare battery placing it in the small brown bag with my new birthday present.
The brisk walk home was not that far from my house. It was a small one story home, painted in a shade of pale yellow, it had a gray roof with a stone walk way leading up to the red front door. The front yard was surrounded with a small white fence overflowing with different types of flowers including roses as it added color to the garden. I shared this house with my best friend, Thora, who has been my friend since our first year at UCSD. Though now, she was spending her summer in London and won't be back until August, when Fall semester begins just one week before my birthday.
Once I entered inside the cozy home, I pushed myself down the small hall and reached my bedroom within a few minutes. I placed my brown purse on my bed with my new present alongside of it as I walked over the left corner of my room. There, I had a small table where my mom's suitcase record player stood and instantly flipped on the record, Headquarters by the Monkees.
The record played smoothly against the needle as the first song began to fill the air. I began to take the small brown bag from my bed, settling it down on my white vanity desk. As I took out the pocket watch necklace and spare battery from the bag, I took the time to admire my new gift. The watch was simply cool to the touch and was even more pretty up close in person while observing it front and back. I found the battery compartment latch decorated with fine engravings of sunflowers. Usually, pocket watches would be winded but it was pretty common to have an electronic pocket in the sixties. I grabbed a small flathead screwdriver, prying the latch carefully as it clicked opened within a few minutes. It was easy to remove the dead battery and replace it with the spare as once it fit in perfectly, the gears began to move to life again and I closed the latch.
Once I held the long enamel chain in my hand, I easily placed the watch over my head and pulled my hair away, feeling the cold touch of the chain behind my beck. The pocket watch rested a little below my chest as I looked at myself in the mirror. A smile spread to my lips, happy to find a great birthday present for myself this year. I held the watch in my hand and began to adjust the stem knob to change the time to its proper state.
Michael Nesmith's voice sang through the room as the record played one of my all-time favorite songs, "You Just May Be the One". There was no doubt he was the one I adored the most out of the four members and it wasn't because of the wool hat. Even though, he looked handsome wearing it. It was actually the creative aspect in which he wrote and created music that was just as good as both Lennon and McCartney combined. And also the fact he has a Texan accent didn't hurt as well.
"All men must have someone...have someone who never takes advantage of a love bright as the sun."
As his vocals sang in tune, I had now aligned the hands of the watch to correct time and easily pressed down the stem hearing the button on top click at the push of my thumb and watched as the hands moved once more. Suddenly my body started to feel light as a feather and my vision began to turn black.
"Someone to stand beside them and you just may be the one...one...one."
I hoped you like this version. I really enjoy the feedback whether it's good or bad. Again, I'm sorry for not updatin, but it make things clear I'm NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY!
Peace!