Page 71 of Only After We Met
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: Come down to earth
Fine, address below, but I don’t know how the mail system works here. My mother sent me a package a couple of weeks ago, and it still hasn’t arrived. I live outside of town in a house that looks like it’s about to collapse. I’ll send you a photo later on, but it’s getting dark out, and I’m writing from the porch. The sky’s red. Not pink or orange, intense red like a ripe cherry. I wish you could see all this, Ginger…
I like the idea of those interviews.
And I like hearing you’re excited.
But what you said is wrong. I’m not afraid of getting old. I just like (but am also freaked out by) living with uncertainty. Not knowing what I’ll be doing, not having a plan. It’s addictive. I don’t think you can understand, Ginger, but there’s something freeing about it. Thinking that maybe I’ll be in India next year or New York or here. And the bad part…well, I guess that implies certain things. You know. Solitude. Or the feeling that I’m just treading water sometimes. But I like that. I don’t think I would know how to live otherwise now. And I don’t feel like stopping to think about what I should do or my future plans or what my life will be like in ten years. Maybe I’ll be dead. That’s how hard to predict it all is.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: RE: Come down to earth
Dammit, Rhys, don’t say that. If you were here, I’d hit you. I know it’s true, that the possibility exists that we won’t be in this world in ten years, but it doesn’t even cross my mind. And it shouldn’t cross yours.
You want to know how I imagine you?
Victorious. I think you’re going to end up putting out a song, probably while you’re working in some bar, and hundreds or thousands of people will hear it. Millions. You’ll get famous, you’ll be walking around looking all tough and melancholy,and it will drive your fans (or do you prefer the termgroupies?) wild. Probably you’ll have a kid with some Russian model with an impossible-to-pronounce last name.
And you’ll still be free and off traveling.
What do you say? Is that tempting?
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: [No subject]
First off, yeah, I likegroupiesway better. Thanks. And second, if I had a kid with some Russian model with an impossible-to-pronounce last name, I wouldn’t still be off traveling. I mean, maybe, if I got custody or whatever. I don’t even know why we’re wasting our time imagining this nonsense. Anyway, I wanted you to know I wouldn’t let my kid grow up far away from me. I don’t know why you’d think that.
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker
Subject: RE: [No subject]
I don’t know, I guess you just don’t seem like someone who would enjoy having a schedule and responsibilities and all that. I was just joking, Rhys. Just being silly.
From: Rhys Baker
To: Ginger Davies
Subject: RE: RE: [No subject]
Anyway, I know how to use a condom, so you can discard that theory. I’m working a double tonight, so I’m going to try and get some sleep. XXX
37
From: Ginger Davies
To: Rhys Baker