jar of flies

Trifecta's word this time is "safe", and I kinda cheated (yet again), but, eh.


We spent most of our time together at my (parents') house. The few instances we spent time at his house stand out vividly in my mind, even though nothing special happened. I think his father's everyday things, still occupying their home and spilling out of their medicine cabinet three years after his passing, alarmed me enough to pay attention.

Usually we went there so I could use his computer. He'd put on music, I'd complain about it, and he'd launch into some dissertation that I barely heard, let alone comprehended. He had taught himself six instruments by ear. I am tone deaf. You'd think the "winner" in these arguments would be clear, but when the basis of one person's argument is, "This shit is getting on my fucking nerves Turn It Off!!" things can get a little murky. At least that's the way it happened in his basement, anyway.

One band that could always get me to shut up was Alice in Chains. I remember when he bought the "Jar of Flies" EP. One of my favorite songs opened with the words, "I want to travel south this year. I ... Oh I won't prevent safe passage here" The EP was released in January, I always want to flee to warmer climates during winter, so it worked for me, actual meaning of the song be damned. Simpleminded as I can be, I loved the plastic flies encased in the edge of the CD case. I'd tilt it this way and that, watching the fake flies jumbling together, stuck, but with just enough room to allow them to crash into each other. Those flies were greatly symbolic of how I felt about my life at the time, but I'm not going to pretend I was cognizant enough to realize that then. I preferred the simple idea of listening to stuff that didn't suck while playing with a toy.