Backlog: Artie & Mercedes
Who: Artie & Mercedes
When: August 2011
Where: Target, Lima, OH
What: School Shopping
Royce looked at his little sister as they headed into Target to get their supplies for the school year. He had been blackmailed into bringing Mercedes by his father, telling him that if he wanted to have a back to school party for the seniors at the house, he would need to take Mercy shopping too. And even though he complained the whole time in his car, she was glad he was taking her instead of mom.
“Remember what I said, you do your shopping and I’ll do mine. Text me when you have everything and I’ll meet you at the checkout.”
“Fine.” Mercy replied. She had her list from the school website and she had her allowance she had been saving. She wanted to get tank tops to wear under her shirts. Wrapping an ace bandage around her boobs hadn’t done any good at all because it itched and moved around. So instead she was going to do layers of tank tops.
The brother and sister dispersed and she headed to the women’s section, afraid she’d see someone from school in the junior section and she’d be laughed at for even looking at clothes in that size.
Artie and his family were also at Target then doing their school shopping, both for supplies and clothing. The school supplies part was done, now they were on to clothes. Bored out of his mind, Artie followed behind his mom. It was like that Daffy Duck cartoon where Daisy Duck is going to have babies and Daffy loses the egg and then replaced it with an egg he found, which had an alligator inside it. When the baby hatched, they ended up with a baby alligator and the alligator family ended up with two baby alligators and a duckling. Artie was the duckling following the alligators.
“Mom, I’m going to go look for myself in the guy’s section,” Artie said, looking to see where James, his younger brother, had gone to and not seeing the boy anywhere. Great. At 13 James was already taller than he was standing and since Artie was paralyzed from the waist down, he was never standing. It wasn’t fair.
“You stay here and wait, Artie,” his mother, Lashelle, instructed, “James’ already wandered off and I don’t want you to as well. Just wait on the tile if you don’t want to go into the racks.”
With a sigh of woe and boredom, Artie moved his wheelchair out of the walkways where he could see his mom and sister without actually being near the girls clothing and pulled his cellphone out to play Angry Birds while he waited.
An old Tina Turner song was playing through the piped in Muzak of the store, and Mercedes found herself singing softly. “What’s love got to do, got to do with it...” She hated her damn body! There were no cute t-shirts here with funny sayings. Apparently you couldn’t have a sense of humor if you weren’t a single digit size.
Hearing someone singing, Artie craned his neck up to see who it was. She had a good voice regardless. A moment later, Mercedes appeared through the racks and Artie smiled. “Hey ‘Cedes,” he called, going over to where she was, though he stayed on the tile. The carpet was like tile, almost, it was so hard and flat, but Artie still wanted to avoid it as much as possible.
She turned when she heard her name, her singing stopping immediately. “Hey Artie. What are you doing over here?” She knew he was petite, but he wasn’t exactly the kind of guy that would want to wear girlie clothes.
“My mom and sister are going school shopping,” he replied, gesturing to the clothing racks. They were somewhere in there. “And James is...somewhere. Probably checking out the video games. I got stuck here waiting,” he sighed, chin in hand. “It’s my turn next. You?”
“Dad talked Royce into bringing me. He’s somewhere over in sporting goods looking for new stuff. Trying to get my basics and stuff. My mom is taking me clothes shopping in Columbus.” She dreaded that trip so bad, but what could she do?
“That’ll be cool,” going to Columbus was always fun, though he didn’t go all that often. “You find anything good here?” he asked, peering at the clothes she held on one arm.
“Just some tanks.” She replied as she unconsciously pulled her shirt down more. She had on some black capri pants and cute wedge sandals. She had on two tank tops in red and black, then she had a blue shirt over those that had an asymmetrical hem. She made sure the tank tops would cover her bottom.
“Fun,” Artie smiled, not really knowing anything about fashion or what was cool. He liked how she dressed, but then he liked how Tina dressed too and they did not dress alike at all. It was just how Mercedes’ dressed and that was it. “I saw a sweater over there with buttons and squiggly lines over the shoulders. It looked pretty cool,” Artie was a fan of sweaters and sweater vests and things like that. His mother liked them too since he looked ‘very respectable’ in her words.
“Sweet.” She smiled. Artie was the king of sweaters and she didn’t think anyone else could pull off the look but him. He was a sweet guy, and he was really smart too. “I hope my mom lets me get some boots with a heel this year. She said I wasn’t old enough for them last year.” She chewed on the corner of her lip as she spied a really cute tshirt at the edge of the juniors section.
“‘Boots with a heel?’” he repeated, clearly not sure that he quite understood it. Girls clothes had a lot of crazy names and whatnot. Boots with a heel, boots without a heel, what did it matter? They were boots. “I bet that you can get them. You’re in high school now,” he made a face thinking for a minute, “You want me to hold that or something while you keep looking?” he finally asked.
“You’re not a moving closet, Artie.” She said with a smile. “Hey, do you think your mom would let you go over to the music section?” She had a cart a few feet away, she had just forgot about it while she was looking.
“Um...” he looked over to where his mom was, “Hey, mom, I’m going to the music section with Mercedes!” he called to her, then waited for some sort of acknowledgement. A moment later he turned his chair, heading down that direction, “I wanna get the new Jay-Z album that just came out, the one he did with Kanye,” Artie was excited for it. Kanye was...well, he didn’t like admitting that the guy was amazing. He was also the worlds biggest asshole. Jay-Z though was just amazing.
Mercedes grabbed her cart and walked next to him, discreetly snagging the t-shirt she had been eyeing in a large. She’d make sure to keep the receipt and not take off the tags. “Will your parents let you get it?” She laughed softly, imagining the preacher’s son rapping along to the songs.
“Not the explicit version,” Artie made a face, he disagreed with that, “but in general, yeah. It’s gotten good reviews. Kanye’s a jerk, but he’s a jerk who makes good music, you know? And Jay-Z is just like, the king of rap basically. I like music,” which she knew. They were both in the church choir. He also played guitar.
“Cool, I want to get the new Mary J. album, and ooh, I think Trey Songz might have a new one too.” Trey was awesome and sexy and yes, R&B for the win.
“Oh, I got a new band, you ever check out the Noisettes?” Artie asked. “They’re this indie band from England, very Motown. And James Morrison. No relation to Jim. Also, not dead. White boy got some bluesy soul, it’s impressive,” he used the term ‘white boy’ heedless of his own skin colour or that he too had soul and had been referred to the exact same way, as if they were the exception, not the rule.
“Really? I’ve got some James Morrison songs on my iTunes, he is really good. You’ll have to hook me up with some Noisettes though.” They got to the CD area and began going through the selections.
“Of course,” Artie had no problem sharing music, “She reminds me of those girl groups from the early 60’s. Think like, early Supremes, Joan Collins or maybe Martha and the Vandellas. That sort of thing. It’s pretty badass,” yeah, the preacher’s son just used the term ‘bad ass.’
Mercedes smirked as she held up a Drake cd and laughed. “I still think of him as the guy that was on Degrassi.” Ironic too that he played a guy that was shot and was in a wheelchair. “Are you going to do band in school?”
“I auditioned for jazz band,” Artie nodded, “It’s the only one with guitar or bass,” he had been taking lessons since he was 8, he had better get in! “And choir. I’m exempt from PE, but I can’t get out early or anything like that, so I have to take another elective.”
She nodded her head and rolled her eyes as they passed a section of music focusing on Britney Spears. “You’ll get in, I have no doubt on that. When you play in church Sister Josephine always starts rocking in her spot.”
“That’s because she hears voices,” Artie pointed out with a grin, “She’s schizo. Not even making that up, I hear all sorts of crazy. But I did get in. I auditioned back in May and knew in June,” which was good because he’d had the entire summer to work on stuff. Well, around having surgery and going to vacation bible school and summer camp. That was about par though for his summers. “Are you doing choir?”
“Don’t say that!” She had to hide her chuckle though because she had heard the same stories about her. “Yeah, but I’m kinda nervous. Singing at school isn’t the same as singing in church. Most of the people there have known me since I was barely talking, let alone singing.”
“What?” Artie laughed, looking up at her, then pushed his glasses up with a finger, “I’m serious. She legit is schizophrenic. I overheard my dad one day talking to someone about it. I know all sorts of stuff they don’t think I know,” of course, with Sister Josephine it wasn’t really a secret so it wasn’t like telling it was all that bad. The really important stuff Artie didn’t talk about. “You’re amazing though, ‘Cedes. You’ll blow their socks off.”
“It still doesn’t take away from the fact you’re a really awesome guitar player and singer.” She replied after her giggles had died down. She got the Mary J CD she wanted, but didn’t see anything else. She felt her cheeks warm a little. It was nice to hear someone give her a little praise. “Thanks Artie.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied simply, though it was the truth. He saw no reason not to tell it. “Anyways, still nervous about school starting? I’m more excited now. I mean, we’re gonna be in high school!” that was awesome, even if he still looked like he belong in elementary or middle. Maybe he’d grow.
“A little of both. I’m excited because it’s new and I’ll get to do more than in middle school, but I’m scared the teachers will all be mean and the upperclassmen will lock me in a closet with spiders or something.”
“You can step on spiders,” Artie pointed out. Spiders did not bother him. “I heard they throw slushie drinks on people. The cheerleaders and stuff, I mean. My sister was talking about it,” that worried him more than the teachers, “but just think, high school, then college.”
“I can’t step on a spider if it’s bigger than my foot!” She said in protest, shuddering at the thought. Mercedes wasn’t a pansy type of girl most of the time, but she could not handle spiders unless they were fake and on the front of a superhero costume. “And I heard about the slushies too. Royce says every football player has to slushie someone when they make the team. I told him if he did that to me I would beat him down in the hallway for all his friends to see.”
“I doubt there are spiders that big in Lima, OH,” Artie pointed out with a laugh, looking at the itunes gift cards. He much preferred MP3s to CDs, but he needed itunes gift cards for that since he didn’t have a credit card and wasn’t allowed to put those sorts of things on his parents cards. “You really think your own brother would slushie you?” Artie was appalled. Sure, he and his siblings fought sometimes, but nothing like that! There was the time that Shay had tried to mail him to Nepal, but she had only just managed to get him in a box before he had bit her and screamed bloody murder and there were a few times where she or James had dumped him from his chair, but there were plenty of times where he had fallen out just in the course of playing too. It wasn’t all that big of a deal.
“I don’t know anymore really. He is so stuck up now, and he doesn’t want anything to risk that. He’s a shoe in at getting a scholarship to OSU, so he wants to go out with a bang this year. What better way than slushing some dumpy freshman?” She replied.
“Because you’re his SISTER?” Artie was still appalled. There was absolutely no reason for this to happen. At all. “Maybe I’ll see if my dad wants to do a sermon on sibling love or something,” he mused. That was always a good way to get people thinking like that.
“Royce is...” She had to shrug because even she didn’t know anymore. He changed over the summer just like her boobs did, overnight. “I don’t think he’d do it, I hope he wouldn’t, but when he’s around his friends he’s a different person.”
“Well...” Artie didn’t know what to say then, “he’ll only do it once. Then your mama would tan his hide and you know it,” Mrs. Jones was a formidable woman when she wanted to be. Royce would only cross her once.
“You ain’t lying.” She laughed at the thought of her mom taking off one of her slippers and wearing Royce’s 6’2” ass out. “But let’s hope for my sake it doesn’t happen.”
“Seriously,” Artie agreed, there would be little worse than being slushied by your own brother.
Speaking of which, his brother was coming jogging up the walkway, “Mom wants you to go look at clothes,” James informed Artie, casting a glance at Mercedes and a slight nod. He knew her from youth group too, though they weren’t as friendly as she was with Artie.
Mercedes smiled politely in greeting. “I’ll see you Sunday, Artie. Oh, want me to send you a copy?” She asked as she held up the cd’s she was buying. Her parents still had a CD player in the den, so when she wanted to listen to music not through her iPod that’s what she had to use.
“Sure, just email it to me or whatever,” he would import the music into his itunes on his computer. Other than the CD drive on his laptop, he couldn’t play CDs at home. Maybe his parents had something somewhere, but he didn’t. “I’ll see you later. And give you a copy of my CD too,” he added.
“Okay.” She waved at him as she headed off to the health and beauty department to get a few things as well. She really hoped she ended up in at least one class with Artie, he was a cool guy to have as a friend.
When: August 2011
Where: Target, Lima, OH
What: School Shopping
Royce looked at his little sister as they headed into Target to get their supplies for the school year. He had been blackmailed into bringing Mercedes by his father, telling him that if he wanted to have a back to school party for the seniors at the house, he would need to take Mercy shopping too. And even though he complained the whole time in his car, she was glad he was taking her instead of mom.
“Remember what I said, you do your shopping and I’ll do mine. Text me when you have everything and I’ll meet you at the checkout.”
“Fine.” Mercy replied. She had her list from the school website and she had her allowance she had been saving. She wanted to get tank tops to wear under her shirts. Wrapping an ace bandage around her boobs hadn’t done any good at all because it itched and moved around. So instead she was going to do layers of tank tops.
The brother and sister dispersed and she headed to the women’s section, afraid she’d see someone from school in the junior section and she’d be laughed at for even looking at clothes in that size.
Artie and his family were also at Target then doing their school shopping, both for supplies and clothing. The school supplies part was done, now they were on to clothes. Bored out of his mind, Artie followed behind his mom. It was like that Daffy Duck cartoon where Daisy Duck is going to have babies and Daffy loses the egg and then replaced it with an egg he found, which had an alligator inside it. When the baby hatched, they ended up with a baby alligator and the alligator family ended up with two baby alligators and a duckling. Artie was the duckling following the alligators.
“Mom, I’m going to go look for myself in the guy’s section,” Artie said, looking to see where James, his younger brother, had gone to and not seeing the boy anywhere. Great. At 13 James was already taller than he was standing and since Artie was paralyzed from the waist down, he was never standing. It wasn’t fair.
“You stay here and wait, Artie,” his mother, Lashelle, instructed, “James’ already wandered off and I don’t want you to as well. Just wait on the tile if you don’t want to go into the racks.”
With a sigh of woe and boredom, Artie moved his wheelchair out of the walkways where he could see his mom and sister without actually being near the girls clothing and pulled his cellphone out to play Angry Birds while he waited.
An old Tina Turner song was playing through the piped in Muzak of the store, and Mercedes found herself singing softly. “What’s love got to do, got to do with it...” She hated her damn body! There were no cute t-shirts here with funny sayings. Apparently you couldn’t have a sense of humor if you weren’t a single digit size.
Hearing someone singing, Artie craned his neck up to see who it was. She had a good voice regardless. A moment later, Mercedes appeared through the racks and Artie smiled. “Hey ‘Cedes,” he called, going over to where she was, though he stayed on the tile. The carpet was like tile, almost, it was so hard and flat, but Artie still wanted to avoid it as much as possible.
She turned when she heard her name, her singing stopping immediately. “Hey Artie. What are you doing over here?” She knew he was petite, but he wasn’t exactly the kind of guy that would want to wear girlie clothes.
“My mom and sister are going school shopping,” he replied, gesturing to the clothing racks. They were somewhere in there. “And James is...somewhere. Probably checking out the video games. I got stuck here waiting,” he sighed, chin in hand. “It’s my turn next. You?”
“Dad talked Royce into bringing me. He’s somewhere over in sporting goods looking for new stuff. Trying to get my basics and stuff. My mom is taking me clothes shopping in Columbus.” She dreaded that trip so bad, but what could she do?
“That’ll be cool,” going to Columbus was always fun, though he didn’t go all that often. “You find anything good here?” he asked, peering at the clothes she held on one arm.
“Just some tanks.” She replied as she unconsciously pulled her shirt down more. She had on some black capri pants and cute wedge sandals. She had on two tank tops in red and black, then she had a blue shirt over those that had an asymmetrical hem. She made sure the tank tops would cover her bottom.
“Fun,” Artie smiled, not really knowing anything about fashion or what was cool. He liked how she dressed, but then he liked how Tina dressed too and they did not dress alike at all. It was just how Mercedes’ dressed and that was it. “I saw a sweater over there with buttons and squiggly lines over the shoulders. It looked pretty cool,” Artie was a fan of sweaters and sweater vests and things like that. His mother liked them too since he looked ‘very respectable’ in her words.
“Sweet.” She smiled. Artie was the king of sweaters and she didn’t think anyone else could pull off the look but him. He was a sweet guy, and he was really smart too. “I hope my mom lets me get some boots with a heel this year. She said I wasn’t old enough for them last year.” She chewed on the corner of her lip as she spied a really cute tshirt at the edge of the juniors section.
“‘Boots with a heel?’” he repeated, clearly not sure that he quite understood it. Girls clothes had a lot of crazy names and whatnot. Boots with a heel, boots without a heel, what did it matter? They were boots. “I bet that you can get them. You’re in high school now,” he made a face thinking for a minute, “You want me to hold that or something while you keep looking?” he finally asked.
“You’re not a moving closet, Artie.” She said with a smile. “Hey, do you think your mom would let you go over to the music section?” She had a cart a few feet away, she had just forgot about it while she was looking.
“Um...” he looked over to where his mom was, “Hey, mom, I’m going to the music section with Mercedes!” he called to her, then waited for some sort of acknowledgement. A moment later he turned his chair, heading down that direction, “I wanna get the new Jay-Z album that just came out, the one he did with Kanye,” Artie was excited for it. Kanye was...well, he didn’t like admitting that the guy was amazing. He was also the worlds biggest asshole. Jay-Z though was just amazing.
Mercedes grabbed her cart and walked next to him, discreetly snagging the t-shirt she had been eyeing in a large. She’d make sure to keep the receipt and not take off the tags. “Will your parents let you get it?” She laughed softly, imagining the preacher’s son rapping along to the songs.
“Not the explicit version,” Artie made a face, he disagreed with that, “but in general, yeah. It’s gotten good reviews. Kanye’s a jerk, but he’s a jerk who makes good music, you know? And Jay-Z is just like, the king of rap basically. I like music,” which she knew. They were both in the church choir. He also played guitar.
“Cool, I want to get the new Mary J. album, and ooh, I think Trey Songz might have a new one too.” Trey was awesome and sexy and yes, R&B for the win.
“Oh, I got a new band, you ever check out the Noisettes?” Artie asked. “They’re this indie band from England, very Motown. And James Morrison. No relation to Jim. Also, not dead. White boy got some bluesy soul, it’s impressive,” he used the term ‘white boy’ heedless of his own skin colour or that he too had soul and had been referred to the exact same way, as if they were the exception, not the rule.
“Really? I’ve got some James Morrison songs on my iTunes, he is really good. You’ll have to hook me up with some Noisettes though.” They got to the CD area and began going through the selections.
“Of course,” Artie had no problem sharing music, “She reminds me of those girl groups from the early 60’s. Think like, early Supremes, Joan Collins or maybe Martha and the Vandellas. That sort of thing. It’s pretty badass,” yeah, the preacher’s son just used the term ‘bad ass.’
Mercedes smirked as she held up a Drake cd and laughed. “I still think of him as the guy that was on Degrassi.” Ironic too that he played a guy that was shot and was in a wheelchair. “Are you going to do band in school?”
“I auditioned for jazz band,” Artie nodded, “It’s the only one with guitar or bass,” he had been taking lessons since he was 8, he had better get in! “And choir. I’m exempt from PE, but I can’t get out early or anything like that, so I have to take another elective.”
She nodded her head and rolled her eyes as they passed a section of music focusing on Britney Spears. “You’ll get in, I have no doubt on that. When you play in church Sister Josephine always starts rocking in her spot.”
“That’s because she hears voices,” Artie pointed out with a grin, “She’s schizo. Not even making that up, I hear all sorts of crazy. But I did get in. I auditioned back in May and knew in June,” which was good because he’d had the entire summer to work on stuff. Well, around having surgery and going to vacation bible school and summer camp. That was about par though for his summers. “Are you doing choir?”
“Don’t say that!” She had to hide her chuckle though because she had heard the same stories about her. “Yeah, but I’m kinda nervous. Singing at school isn’t the same as singing in church. Most of the people there have known me since I was barely talking, let alone singing.”
“What?” Artie laughed, looking up at her, then pushed his glasses up with a finger, “I’m serious. She legit is schizophrenic. I overheard my dad one day talking to someone about it. I know all sorts of stuff they don’t think I know,” of course, with Sister Josephine it wasn’t really a secret so it wasn’t like telling it was all that bad. The really important stuff Artie didn’t talk about. “You’re amazing though, ‘Cedes. You’ll blow their socks off.”
“It still doesn’t take away from the fact you’re a really awesome guitar player and singer.” She replied after her giggles had died down. She got the Mary J CD she wanted, but didn’t see anything else. She felt her cheeks warm a little. It was nice to hear someone give her a little praise. “Thanks Artie.”
“You’re welcome,” he replied simply, though it was the truth. He saw no reason not to tell it. “Anyways, still nervous about school starting? I’m more excited now. I mean, we’re gonna be in high school!” that was awesome, even if he still looked like he belong in elementary or middle. Maybe he’d grow.
“A little of both. I’m excited because it’s new and I’ll get to do more than in middle school, but I’m scared the teachers will all be mean and the upperclassmen will lock me in a closet with spiders or something.”
“You can step on spiders,” Artie pointed out. Spiders did not bother him. “I heard they throw slushie drinks on people. The cheerleaders and stuff, I mean. My sister was talking about it,” that worried him more than the teachers, “but just think, high school, then college.”
“I can’t step on a spider if it’s bigger than my foot!” She said in protest, shuddering at the thought. Mercedes wasn’t a pansy type of girl most of the time, but she could not handle spiders unless they were fake and on the front of a superhero costume. “And I heard about the slushies too. Royce says every football player has to slushie someone when they make the team. I told him if he did that to me I would beat him down in the hallway for all his friends to see.”
“I doubt there are spiders that big in Lima, OH,” Artie pointed out with a laugh, looking at the itunes gift cards. He much preferred MP3s to CDs, but he needed itunes gift cards for that since he didn’t have a credit card and wasn’t allowed to put those sorts of things on his parents cards. “You really think your own brother would slushie you?” Artie was appalled. Sure, he and his siblings fought sometimes, but nothing like that! There was the time that Shay had tried to mail him to Nepal, but she had only just managed to get him in a box before he had bit her and screamed bloody murder and there were a few times where she or James had dumped him from his chair, but there were plenty of times where he had fallen out just in the course of playing too. It wasn’t all that big of a deal.
“I don’t know anymore really. He is so stuck up now, and he doesn’t want anything to risk that. He’s a shoe in at getting a scholarship to OSU, so he wants to go out with a bang this year. What better way than slushing some dumpy freshman?” She replied.
“Because you’re his SISTER?” Artie was still appalled. There was absolutely no reason for this to happen. At all. “Maybe I’ll see if my dad wants to do a sermon on sibling love or something,” he mused. That was always a good way to get people thinking like that.
“Royce is...” She had to shrug because even she didn’t know anymore. He changed over the summer just like her boobs did, overnight. “I don’t think he’d do it, I hope he wouldn’t, but when he’s around his friends he’s a different person.”
“Well...” Artie didn’t know what to say then, “he’ll only do it once. Then your mama would tan his hide and you know it,” Mrs. Jones was a formidable woman when she wanted to be. Royce would only cross her once.
“You ain’t lying.” She laughed at the thought of her mom taking off one of her slippers and wearing Royce’s 6’2” ass out. “But let’s hope for my sake it doesn’t happen.”
“Seriously,” Artie agreed, there would be little worse than being slushied by your own brother.
Speaking of which, his brother was coming jogging up the walkway, “Mom wants you to go look at clothes,” James informed Artie, casting a glance at Mercedes and a slight nod. He knew her from youth group too, though they weren’t as friendly as she was with Artie.
Mercedes smiled politely in greeting. “I’ll see you Sunday, Artie. Oh, want me to send you a copy?” She asked as she held up the cd’s she was buying. Her parents still had a CD player in the den, so when she wanted to listen to music not through her iPod that’s what she had to use.
“Sure, just email it to me or whatever,” he would import the music into his itunes on his computer. Other than the CD drive on his laptop, he couldn’t play CDs at home. Maybe his parents had something somewhere, but he didn’t. “I’ll see you later. And give you a copy of my CD too,” he added.
“Okay.” She waved at him as she headed off to the health and beauty department to get a few things as well. She really hoped she ended up in at least one class with Artie, he was a cool guy to have as a friend.