Tell Me a Story – Keeping Up the SL Tradition

My SL buddy Gar came out to challenge me for a story one night. And I was in the mood… but those nouns he picked… wow.

Oh, please remind me to get a picture if we ever do a storytelling…. I would have loved to get the picture of Gar in his uniform for this post… -DV

–

One of my best buddies and I found ourselves sitting on the sidewalk cafe at an absinthe bar in New Babagge. Earlier, he had shown up to one of our old hang-out/meet-up cafes in Second Life. When he got to the cafe, Gar was dressed in some cool old-style military uniform. His IM had been a pleasant distraction from my watching the griefers find delight in making a mockery of themselves (some griefers are kind of artful with their methods of dealing out frustration – this one was just boring.)

Gar and I sat and for a while and philosophized the use of a “mute” button. I contemplated the satisfying power of a mouse click on said button and how the simple action could, in this world, silence another human being. Wasn’t it just queer that silence was actually less boring than this particular griefer? In any case, we decided to continue our conversation in a little steampunk town that I have grown to love. I had known that Gar had probably not ventured there before, and as charming as he looked, I thought we needed an atmosphere to match.

New Babagge is darling. And I still go there even though, in a freak penis-gun accident, I had been banned from the sim… smiles… but that is quite another story

Our drinks arrived. Gar and I tried the absinthe, and then after feeling a little green around the gills, decided that we would best drink something a little less unique for us: a glass of Dharma Vineyards Cabernet. The wine quickly brought up the need for a story…

[23:38] Gar Hallard: smiles
[23:39] Gar Hallard: you never did tell me a story
[23:40] Dharma Voyager: do you want to hear a story?
[23:40] Dharma Voyager: three nouns
[23:40] Gar Hallard: smiles
[23:41] Gar Hallard: nouns?
[23:41] Dharma Voyager: yes
[23:41] Dharma Voyager: nouns
[23:41] Dharma Voyager: for the story
[23:42] Dharma Voyager: you thinking?
[23:42] Gar Hallard: oh you want 3 nouns?
[23:42] Dharma Voyager: yes sir
[23:43] Gar Hallard: frigate…table…dress
[23:43] Dharma Voyager: oooo those are tough
[23:43] Dharma Voyager: let me get a drink and I will brb
[23:44] Dharma Voyager: thinks

[23:45] Dharma Voyager: It was years till I found the dress
[23:45] Dharma Voyager: the one with the little small tear at the base of the hem

[23:45] Gar Hallard: listens

[23:46] Dharma Voyager: I really never thought I would see the dress
[23:46] Dharma Voyager: the one she wrote about
[23:46] Dharma Voyager: so long ago
[23:46] Dharma Voyager: it was when she met him
[23:46] Dharma Voyager: the day she first bought the dress
[23:47] Dharma Voyager: but she wore it for a reason other than the one she remembered so clearly

[23:47] Gar Hallard: smiles

[23:47] Dharma Voyager: the reason that it turned out to be
[23:47] Dharma Voyager: was to be beautiful for the man who she fell in love with the first time she saw him

[23:47] Dharma Voyager: the small type in the diary
[23:47] Dharma Voyager: became her personality for me
[23:48] Dharma Voyager: the very small loops in the old fashioned handwriting
[23:48] Dharma Voyager: I was a fast reader

[23:48] Gar Hallard: smiles

[23:48] Dharma Voyager: But I began to slowly run my eyes over the lines which were her penmanship
[23:49] Dharma Voyager: I secretly read the story over and over again
[23:49] Dharma Voyager: of that day
[23:49] Dharma Voyager: the day the frigate came into port

[23:49] Dharma Voyager: ( is it making sense?)
[23:49] Gar Hallard: yes
[23:49] Gar Hallard: smiles

[23:49] Dharma Voyager: when my great aunt had called me
[23:50] Dharma Voyager: about the crate in the attic
[23:50] Dharma Voyager: and the items in it
[23:50] Dharma Voyager: I almost did not think… I almost just forgot… my faith had been gone… I had given up thinking that this dress existed
[23:50] Dharma Voyager: but the as her quiet voice spoke into the phone

[23:51] Gar Hallard: listens

[23:51] Dharma Voyager: she rattled off some of the contents of the crate
[23:51] Dharma Voyager: a mirror
[23:51] Dharma Voyager: a old brush
[23:51] Dharma Voyager: ribbon
[23:51] Dharma Voyager: some sheets
[23:51] Dharma Voyager: and then
[23:51] Dharma Voyager: what grabbed my ear
[23:52] Dharma Voyager: this beaded cream dress….
[23:52] Dharma Voyager: something in my mind clicked
[23:52] Dharma Voyager: although I had not known in that exact sudden
[23:52] Dharma Voyager: but then
[23:52] Dharma Voyager: I thought
[23:52] Dharma Voyager: Oh my goodness
[23:53] Dharma Voyager: and stammered into the phone
[23:53] Dharma Voyager: please auntie, yes, I would like to see the crate
[23:53] Dharma Voyager: and then her soft voice said
[23:53] Dharma Voyager: I think it was my sister’s
[23:53] Dharma Voyager: I felt my heart expand
[23:53] Dharma Voyager: I took a deep breath
[23:53] Dharma Voyager: and slowly blew it out…
[23:54] Dharma Voyager: in my closed eyes I thought… will I see the dress with my own eyes?
[23:54] Dharma Voyager: will I touch it with my own hands…?
[23:54] Dharma Voyager: the dress my grandmother wore the first time she saw him

[23:54] Dharma Voyager: ( ok?)
[23:55] Gar Hallard: very nice
[23:55] Gar Hallard: j… just woke up
[23:55] Gar Hallard: i need to put him to bed and prob go myself…:(

[23:55] Dharma Voyager: okkkk
[23:55] Dharma Voyager: not sure I can pick it up again
[23:55] Dharma Voyager: worth posting?
[23:55] Dharma Voyager: too short?

[23:56] Gar Hallard: that’s ok..sometimes a story is best if not complete..smiles
[23:56] Gar Hallard: i like it do post it
[23:56] Gar Hallard: and maybe finish it smiles
[23:56] Dharma Voyager: awwww….
[23:56] Dharma Voyager: the one nice thing about typing it to you
[23:57] Gar Hallard: yes?
[23:57] Dharma Voyager: is I can get the ideas out with out proofing it
[23:57] Gar Hallard: yes
[23:57] Gar Hallard: best writing is to let it flow and then edit later
[23:57] Dharma Voyager: nods
[23:57] Gar Hallard: you’re good hon..smiles
[23:57] Gar Hallard: night night dharma
[23:57] Dharma Voyager: nite nite

–

As often occurs in the virtual world of Second Life, the time gods made their verdict apparent. The one thing Second Life has yet to equalize are the time zones between two of its users in different parts of the world. Gar had real life to attend to, and honestly, after a long previous night of birthday party debauchery, I needed to grab some rest.

It was sad to leave a story such as this as it was… it was so alive in my mind. And poor Gar. I never got to the third noun he gave me – “table”. For Gar though, I will relay here the final glimpses of the story that came to mind; he at least deserves to know where the finally noun would have fit into the story…

The table was where the

diary was found, oh so many years ago. It was found in a stuck drawer, one drawer that seemed purposely stuck.

Goodnight Garface… -DV

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