Her Song

Okay, so, like, I was given this assignment for a class I had last semester:

This reading journal is an exercise in both creativity/imagination and character study. For this exercise, select one of your favorite songs with lyrics and use your imagination to create a character, who is born out of that song's lyrics.

The goal is to picture someone as real as possible, to flesh him or her out, complete with all the details, quirks, flaws, and sins. (It's also an opportunity to find out just how difficult characterization can be as a creative process.)

Your journal entry will be a close study/analysis of that imagined character before, during, and (potentially) after the situation described in the song.

* Copyright: My teacher.

And this is what I wrote:

Trevor was young but he had a good heart. He'd always had his problems but who hadn't, right? Anyway, he'd managed better than most of the kids he grew up with, the ones who beat him up because his eyes were blue and his hair was blonde. That was probably why he knew every word to every rap song Eminem ever made. Eminem understood what it was like to be a victim. Whenever he was mad, Trevor pulled out his pen and his pad and scribbled song lyrics too.

He'd never had any brothers or sisters. And as far as he was concerned, he'd never had a dad either. So his mom was everything, even though she wasn't quite like the apple pie mothers you see on TV. Like one time, one of those kids gave him a black eye and when he got home she just looked at him and told him to wash up. Dinner was almost ready and he wasn't about to sit at her dinner table covered in all that dirt. When he started to cry she told him to be quiet. She said his father had left because of him, so he had to be the man of the house.

Trevor was six. The kid who punched him was twelve.

But Trevor was twenty-two now and the problems were different. He'd met a girl, Jamie. And if that wasn't enough, Jamie was cute, and funny, and smart. They were both waiters in the same five-star restaurant, but while his life wasn't going much of anywhere or getting any better, really, she was taking courses in something to do with medicine. Yeah, she was too smart for him, but she laughed at his jokes most of the time. So he asked her out, and she said yes, and they went out, and she smiled, and he did too. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Eventually, after a bus ride together that had seemed too short, she invited him up to see her apartment. He accepted...happily.

Then one day Jamie was pregnant.

Trevor had a good heart but he was young. He ran away and never went back to that damn restaurant. He never answered any of her calls. Truth was, he knew the score. He was trailer park trash, she was her daddy's little princess, and no dad had ever wanted him around. Two sides of the tracks, may they never meet.

Months crawled by. The calls stopped. He had a new job at the local movie theater. At least he wasn't selling drugs or doing time.

Then one day Jamie showed up.

She didn't have a tummy. They talked for a while, and that was good, and eventually he got up the courage to ask her if she'd kept it. She told him that "it" was a she and that her name was Elizabeth. She'd named her after Elizabeth Blackwell, someone to do with medicine. They lived in that same apartment, just in case he wanted to meet his daughter. No pressure.

Weeks crawled by. Finally he got the courage to take the long bus trip across town. Jamie invited him in. He accepted...cautiously.

She looked so peaceful, sleeping in her stroller. Her mother picked her up gently and whispered in her ear. She opened her tiny, little eyes and grabbed him by the heart. He'd never seen anything so beautiful.

Trevor didn't know if things would work out between them, but Jamie seemed to have hope. She said that her dad actually wanted to meet him and that he understood what it was like. Her parents weren't married either, not at first. Trevor said that would be great, and he really meant it.

On his way out she kissed him on the cheek and gave him a picture of his little girl to keep. Come what may, she told him, Elizabeth would always be his.

He had a lot of time to think during that long bus ride home. He pulled out his pen and his pad and started scribbling, but this time he wasn't mad.

Your Song
Music by Elton John
Lyrics by Bernie Taupin

It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if
I didI'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a traveling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world