Ok. I was listening to the radio the other day in the car and this song came on. Normally I would have changed it, but I was too lazy. Anyway, I've heard it before, but I never listened to the lyrics. So, I listened. When I heard this, even though it's a different time period, I though of Jasper. So, this is what I came up with. Lyrics included at the end. Song is Jamey Johnson's, In Color.
I don't own the song or Jasper or anyone Twilight.
I was sitting on the floor in Alice and my room. It had been, maybe twenty years since I've gone through the boxes in the back of our closet. As I pushed pass the floor length gowns Alice had, I saw several wooden boxes. Some ornately decorated, others were slightly planer, but one caught my eye. I saw a once grand chest, now grey and weathered. Immediately, I remembered that as my chest from centuries ago.
I reached for the chest and brought it to where I was sitting. I carefully opened the lid and the smell of gun powder and the cattle ranch where I grew up. To think, my entire human life, well over 200 years ago. I lifted up my Confederate uniform and put it aside. Even though, as you become an older vampire your human memories fade, I still remembered those years in the war well.
As I sifted through the trunk, I stopped at a picture of two young kids. While I was staring at the picture I felt the change of the emotional air around. It tasted…tired. It could have only been Renesmee. I looked up and my suspicions were correct.
"What are you doing up at this hour?" I asked her softly.
"I woke up," she said cheerfully. We'd been trying to get her out of the habit of using her gift all of the time. "What are you looking at?"
"This?" I asked. She nodded.
I really didn't look at the picture. I was looking at the people in the picture. Now that I was looking at the picture, I saw exactly how old it was. Creased down the middle and more brown then it was grey. It took me a couple of minutes to exactly remember about the picture.
"This picture is of my brother and me." I told her, who was now sitting on my lap. "I was, I think, ten. He was, oh, about eight. I can remember that we were going on a long distance ride on the horses. We were going to stay out under the stars that night and we were afraid of the wild natives."
"Oh," was all she said. She waited several minutes while I stared at the picture before rummaging in the box with extreme care and puling out another picture. "What about this one?"
This one was slightly newer, probably only by a decade. This one was of me in my uniform.
"Is that you?" She asked.
"Yes, that is me. I was eighteen. That was just after I made it higher into the ranks, in my new uniform. They wanted me to send something home for my family to show them."
"Who is that man standing next to you?" She asked.
Honestly, I hadn't been looking at the picture that much. I was just trying to remember everything before I was turned.
"That was Robert Anderson. He was my best friend. He joined when I did, but I shot up through the ranks. Technically, I was in charge of him." I chuckled a little. I hadn't remembered that far back for so long.
"What about this one?" She asked handing a newer one. "Is that you and Aunt Alice?"
I looked down at the one now in my hand. It was Alice's and my wedding day.
"Yes, yes, it is." I said with a smile. "You probably wouldn't believe it, but I was more afraid of her," I gestured to the picture, "here then I was with the other two put together."
"Why?" She asked.
"Well, even though I loved your aunt and I still do, but with my brother, it was young childhood fear. And in the army, you knew you had to die something. But with that I was immortal. I was alone for so long. And then I met her. She brought the idea of finding Carlisle and Esme and living as we do now."
I stopped for a minute letting her soak it in.
"You don't look that scared in any of the pictures." She said just before she yawned.
I
thought a moment before I finally said, "A picture's worth a
thousand words,
but you can't see what those shades of gray
keep covered, you should have seen it in color. That's the story of
my life right there in black and white, and if it looks like we were
scared to death like a couple of kids just trying to save each other
you should have seen it in color."
And she was asleep in my arms.
And there it is!!! I hope you enjoyed it!! Review Now!! But first, as promised here are the lyrics to the song:
Jamey Johnson, In Color Lyrics
I
said, Grandpa what's this picture here And if it looks like we were scared to death This one here was taken overseas And if it looks like we
were scared to death A picture's
worth a thousand words This one
is my favorite one That's the story of
my life And if it looks like
we were scared to death A picture's
worth a thousand words You
should have seen it in color
It's all black and
white and ain't real clear
Is that you there, he said, yeah I
was eleven
Times were tough back in thirty-five
That's me and
Uncle Joe just tryin' to survive
A cotton farm in the Great
Depression
Like
a couple of kids just trying to save each other
You should have
seen it in color
In the
middle of hell in nineteen forty-three
In the winter time you can
almost see my breath
That was my tail gunner ole' Johnny
McGee
He was a high school teacher from New Orleans
And he had
my back right through the day we left
Like a couple of kids just trying to save
each other
You should have seen it in color
But you can't see what those shades of
gray keep covered
You should have seen it in color
It's me and grandma in the summer sun
All
dressed up the day we said our vows
You can't tell it here but
it was hot that June
That rose was red and her eyes were blue
And
just look at that smile I was so proud
Right there in black and white
Like a couple of kids just trying to save
each other
You should have seen it in color
But you can't see what those shades of
gray keep covered
You should have seen it in color