Tuesday 8 April 2014

Chapter 25 - Gen 2 - Tapestry


River had gone absolutely ballistic at me for spending the night in the woods with Crystal.

I was starting to feel uncomfortable sat there with the stone pit fire digging into my back, so I had lay us both on the grass and fallen to sleep with her ... I was pretty stupid really because I never thought for one second about those bad men that she had been telling me about, they could quite easily have come when we were asleep.

My phone had woken me up early in the morning,  River going absolutely mental at me wanting to know where we had been all night, neither of our beds being slept in.  I presume Denim must have noticed that we were both missing when he came in to our room.


River straight away guessed that she had done a runner and I'd gone chasing after her ... but I lied trying to keep the peace ...  and told him I'd taken her to the woods because she wanted to dig up her teddy bear, we'd lay on the grass talking and fallen asleep.  I don't think he believed me at first until he saw the dirty smelly yellow teddy bear and he backed down.  He bought the lie eventually but still wasn't happy with me for spending all night out without letting somebody know where I was.

Life after that changed, the weeks start flying by and Crystal gets better and more human and less wild as everyday passes ... as long as she is getting plenty of hugs and friendly kisses she seems to be perfectly happy ... and the hugs and kisses are not just from me either.  She now is quite comfortable around River, he too now has to hug and kiss her all the time, she is still a little wary of Denim sometimes, but she is getting closer to him, she will let him hug her but he's not allowed to kiss her ... her rules ... I am not even sure what that is all about but it amuses us no end.  He now tries to kiss her head like he does mine and she waves her finger at him and runs off giggling ... like it's a game that she is playing with him.

While she is becoming more civilized, one thing she doesn't seem to be losing is the childish behavior.  She is still just an over grown child, so we have to treat her like she is child most of the time.  She drove me mental for days after seeing a dolls house on the television, I ended up having to go out and find her one just to shut her up.  She sits for hours playing with it ... River says she is just living out the childhood that she missed out on and should grow out of it eventually.

She doesn't scream at anyone in the house anymore ... in fact the last time she screamed was when I took her teddy bear off her and threw it in the washing machine.  It stunk to high heaven, over 20 years worth of dirt and stench clung to it.  She sat on the floor in the kitchen watching the teddy bear inside the washing machine going round and round, all the time she sat there screaming telling me to get him out of the machine, I swear she thought I was trying to fade her teddy bear!!!  The screaming went on for hours until the washing machine cycle stopped and the teddy bear was out.  Then she started again when I threw the teddy into the dryer.

We all had a headache by the time the teddy bear was dry and she had it back.


I won the battle over her future, surprisingly without any argument from Dad once I'd told him her story and how she's had to live since she was six years old, I knew he wouldn't refuse to help her because that is the kind of person that he is.  It's all arranged that she will be going back to Sugar Valley with us and Jazz will be wiping her memory back to when she became sick and I found her in the woods.  She will still recognize me, from the bench outside the hospital and chasing her around town, so it should be easy for me to reconnect with her again, she just won't remember all the time she has spent here with us, we will be strangers to her when we get her to Sugar Valley which is all our family need to see.

I am actually starting to worry about how crooked Dads brain is starting to work.  We are all going back to Sugar Valley together, but we will be going straight to the vampberry den while they set up our return for the following day.  Crystal he plans to have her sedated and dumped outside the hospital after Jazz has wiped her memory.  We all know she's going to kick off when she wakes up at all the strange people around her, so he's going to be hanging around when they bring her in and call Mom and Affair in, another colourless person should calm her down.  Dad says Mom is bound to want to take her in and look after her, and if she doesn't suggest it then he will. So when I come home she will already be there.

Crystal is actually spending a lot of time with River as he is now teaching her how to read and write and educating her in the facts of life ... a lot better than I could.  I wandered whether we were wasting our time teaching her things if Jazz is only going to wipe her memory, but he says life skills she won't forget ... my Mom is an example of that ... she doesn't remember any of her life before the coma but she can still read and write and do everything like before her coma.  We never really remember how and when we learn these things do we.


Crystal spending time with River has freed up some of my time, so I'm getting a lot of time to work on my own musical mission and she isn't the only one who's getting to learn things, I've learned to cook a lot more things and Denim has even taught me how to drive.  River wasn't too sure about letting me behind the wheel of a car me not being able to read, but I see in pictures and the road signs are actually not a problem to me because I learned most of them on our long journey in the car getting to Rainbow Valley, me and River used to play a game with the road signs ... neither of us realizing that one day it would actually help me to be able to drive.

River has taught both me and Crystal something that I keep taking the mickey out of him for doing, something that his Grandmother taught him, I tease him even though I'm now doing it myself ... Sewing.  Crystals clothes being a problem, it's okay keep raiding Winter's wardrobe of the clothes she's left behind but she can't live in blue clothes forever.  It seems the only way to get colourless cloths is to make them yourself ... something I've never questioned because you can buy colourless clothes in Sugar Valley ... but not in a coded town.  Colourless sheets, curtains and table clothes give us plenty of material to make her some clothes.

I'm lying on the bed laughing while I'm getting a fashion parade, Crystal comes barging in from the bathroom, where she has now learned she has to get dressed without being told, prancing around in a dress that we have spent the last two days making.


"What do you think?"  she giggles as she starts spinning round in front of me.

She really makes me laugh because she is like an excited child all the time especially when she is doing new things.  Her mood swings and tantrums have now completely disappeared, she always appears to be happy, she constantly has a smile on her face and is laughing and giggling, which rubs off on everyone around her.  She is always so full of life and cheerful you can't help but smile and laugh when Crystal is in the room.

In a way I think she's made this whole experience of being away from home and everything that's happened for me a whole lot easier ... she's made me forget all the bad stuff, because she's suffered a lot worse, and she constantly makes me happy because she always has a grin on her face and so have I.

All I can see right now is how long her legs are and how short that dress is!! 

"It's a bit short isn't it?  Won't your legs get cold?"  I laugh at her.

I should know better than trying to joke with her, she doesn't understand most of the time, she takes everything you say literally.  She frowns at me as she looks down at the dress and tries to pull it down forcefully like she can make it longer, and like with everything she does she's very heavy handed and I have visions of her tearing the dress in half.   

"No don't!!"  I dive off the bed grabbing her wrist  "You'll rip your dress pulling it like that ... and I was only joking!!  It's very nice!!"  she pulls a face then smiles at me.


When I let her wrist go she carries on spinning round and round giggling like an excited child in front of me.  I can see what is coming next, she's going to make herself giddy and fall over.

As soon as I think it, she stops spinning, stands there wobbling, tries to walk loses her balance and comes flying towards me, I try to stop her but she hits me with force and we both go flying backwards and land on the bed ... she's sprawled out on top of me laughing her head off, which makes me laugh and we just lie there laughing.

After we've calmed down and the laughing subsides she continues to lie there sprawled across me just staring at my eyes.  "Why don't you ever take those orange things off your eyes?"  she asks me.  "I want to see your proper eyes."

"My colourless eyes are a secret remember!!!"  I had hoped that she might have forgotten about my eyes being colourless by now, but obviously not.  "Remember you can't tell anyone!!"  she smiles and says she knows or the bad men will start looking for me too.

This surprises me for a moment that she still might be thinking that the bad men are still after her, I wander if she feels safe here  ... I suppose those bad men are something that she is never going to forget, sometimes she shouts out in her sleep and sometimes she even jumps into my bed in the middle of the night asking for hugs like she's scared and she's having nightmares, I wander if that is what she is dreaming about because I've never really questioned her.


"What are those things in your ears?"  she goes to pull my earring, I start to panic inside, the way she is so hand fisted with everything she is likely to rip it straight out of my ear.

"DON'T PULL THEM!!!"  I shout at her and she quickly snatches her hand back much to my relief.  "They are earrings, you have to have your ears pierced to wear earrings."

"I want some ... can you do my ears pierced?"  I laugh at the way she has just said it  "River has earrings too."

"No I can't do it ... you have to go to a special shop to get your ears pierced ... when I take you back home to Sugar Valley I'll take you to have your ears pierced."   she smiles at me ... I really wish she wouldn't smile at me like that.

I really shouldn't be letting her do this, lie all over me like this, I really need to move her off me because she's making me feel very uncomfortable.  In her childish mind she wouldn't even know what she is doing to me ... I don't know what is wrong with me lately, I'm starting to feel thing when she's around me that I shouldn't be feeling, especially when she touches me, or smiles at me ... sometimes I think I'm going mad.  Her lying on top of me like this is just stirring up a whole lot of trouble!!

"You look better when you take those glasses off!!"  she says suddenly and I just laugh.

"Oh man you don't wanna know what this looks like from over here!!"  Storm starts laughing, I know exactly what he's thinking because I'm beginning to wander myself, she's making me go cross eyed keep staring at me straight in the eyes like she is.

I turn my head to look at Storm.


"Shut up you idiot ... she's a child ... she doesn't know what she's doing!!"

I turn my head back towards Crystal planning to move her off me.  She must have been going to kiss my cheek which would have been facing her while I was looking at Storm, as I turn back to face her, she misses her target and her lips land softly onto mine ... well at least I hope that is what just happened!!

Oh fudge!!  she freezes for a second, her eyes widen then she moves her head away from mine and her hand darts up to her mouth.

"Told ya!!" Storm starts laughing

I ignore him and continue to lie still watching her ... I wander why she's sat there like that, frozen wide eyed and touching her mouth ... did she feel what I felt ... or does she think I'm going to shout at her like I did last time she tried to kiss me.  At least this time she didn't give me a thick lip.

Now what the hell do I do with this?!  I have to pretend like it never happened.

"You need to get off me you are going to crease all your dress up!!"  I grab her round the waist and move her off me.  She sits on the edge of the bed and starts running her hand down her dress like she's trying to flatten it out, while I try to control my breathing ... fudge!!

I can't help notice ... that dress is way too short, now she is sat there all I can see again is her long legs and the dress is only just covering her underwear ... my heart starts racing ... what the hell is wrong with me, I shouldn't be feeling or thinking like this ... I need shooting!!


"Why don't you ever wear a dress?"  she says suddenly which distracts me from my problem and makes me laugh  "Don't you like your legs getting cold?"  Storm starts howling from the corner of the room which just makes me laugh even more ... I picture myself in a dress and start howling with him.

"Men don't wear dresses!!"  I try to say through my laughing, she asks why not?  Now what do I say?!  "Men don't wear dresses because we have hairy legs and it doesn't look very nice."  She sticks her leg out and starts to inspect her leg  "Woman don't have hairy legs so they look nice in dresses"

"Let me see your hairy legs"  she says as she dives back on the bed and starts pulling forcefully at my trouser leg.

"No Crystal, you can't see my legs ... they are private remember."  She's not listening, I'm already regretting mentioning the hairy legs as she tries to pull my trouser leg up from the bottom and I have to shout at her to stop.

"What are these things anyway?"  she asks as she pulls at my leg again, I tell her they are trousers  "Take them off I want to try wearing trousers."


How the fudge do I keep getting myself into these situations with her!?

"No ... I'm not taking them off and you can't wear men's trousers!!" 

Crystal has now got her hands on the waste band of my trousers, she's trying to undo the button and pull down the zip ... she's determined to get my trousers off me ... her childish mind yet again doesn't know what she is actually doing!!   

"Crystal STOP IT!!"  I'm fighting to move her hands away from me but she won't stop, she's giggling, she now must think its a game.  I end up having to slap her hand pretty hard and shout at her really loud to stop, because her hands keep brushing against a part of me that she shouldn't be anywhere near.

"Don't worry about hiding your snake I've already seen him!!" she says and starts again trying to remove my trousers.

That's it ... I've now totally gone, me and Storm are rolling around in hysterics while I'm still fighting with her hands, tears are streaming down my face as I dive off the bed so that I can finally get her hands away from me.


Denim walks in asking what's so funny he can hear me laughing in the living room. When I can manage to talk I have to get him to take Crystal into Winters room to root through her wardrobe for women's trousers before she pulls mine off me and does any more damage.

When she goes off into the bathroom to try on all the women's trousers that Denim has pulled out for her I go into River and throw myself down on the bed face first.  He shouts out because I've made the bed jolt which hurts his back.

"Sorry!!  I forgot!!"  I mumble to him then just lie there moaning.

"What's up with you?" River laughs at me

"When is she going to realize shes a woman and stop acting like a child and understand what she's actually doing to me?"

"Why what has she done now?"  he asks as he puts his book down.

"She just decided she wanted to see my hairy legs and try my trousers on ... I told her she couldn't but she wasn't listening and she tried to take them off me herself, button, zip the lot!!  Her hands were everywhere, she's creating problems I don't need!!"  he raises his eyebrows at me  "Don't look at me like that ... any man would have the same problem when a grown woman is there mauling the front of their trousers!!"

"So how did she find out you have hairy legs?"  he raises his eyebrows

"I told her because she wanted to know why I never wear a dress."  he starts laughing



"Oh Tap ... Berry help your kid!!"  he's laughing at me  "She is going to be very confused!!"

"What kid ... I'm never having any ... especially if kids keep asking questions like she does and Dad was probably right ... they would definitely have no hope with me as their Dad!!"  he stops laughing suddenly and has a strange look on his face, I'm not sure why. 

"Is that what all the laughing was about that I was just listening too?"  he frowns at me  "You know laughing will just encourages her to carry on, she probably thought it was a game, if you laugh at her she'll think she's doing something clever or good that you like so she'll just do it more because you are laughing at her  ... she thinks like a child remember ... you should have shouted at her not laughed at her."

When I told him I was laughing at her saying not to worry about hiding my snake which she's already seen, he laughs and says he'll have a word with her.

He thinks it should get a lot better when she's spending time with my Mother and other females, at the moment she does not have any female company and doesn't know how women are supposed to act, she's watching me and Denim acting like little boys, so she's just copying our behaviour, some things that she needs to learn and needs teaching are better coming from another woman.

"You are falling for her aren't you!!"  he says with a smirk on his face, I just lie there saying nothing.  "Well are you?"  he says when I don't answer him.

"No."  I mumble

"Liar!!  You aren't fooling me little brother ... nor Denim!!"  he frowns at me  "I think you and me need a little talk!!"

Oh fudge!!


My phone starts ringing so I jump up off the bed quickly to answer it and get away from the conversation that I think might be coming.

"Hi Tap, it's Rocky ... do you have a few spare hours?"  he asks which takes me by surprise, I tell him I'm free until 6pm when I'm due into work  "Do you mind if I come round?  I'm free for the rest of the day if you wanna hang out."  he says ... why the fudge would he want to hang out with me?!  I instantly worry about Crystal who has been a little hyper today, Storm will have to keep her in the bedroom again like he has the other times he's been here ... so I tell him its okay.

When I open the door, I notice he has his guitar with him, he hands me something that looks like pieces of paper when we are in the hall which I frown down at.

"Concert tickets ... it's my last gig in town tomorrow night before I move on."  I repeat move on and frown at him ... I presumed he lives in Rainbow Valley.  He laughs at me  "I've got two more gigs to do in other towns, then I'm off home for six months and doing absolutely nothing, the baby is due soon remember."



"Where is home? ... I thought you lived here"  he smiles at me  "No I live in Berry Shores ..." he pauses for a moment and studies my face almost like he's waiting for some sort of reaction from me, I'm not sure why, not knowing where Berry Shores is, I've never heard of it.  "Grumpy lives here ... I don't care for how they do things in this town."  I smile at him not really sure what he is trying to say  "I thought you might want to see how our song goes down ... I'm playing it for the first time tomorrow night." 

I look down at the concert tickets in my hand again then I smile at him, laughing in my head at him calling it our song, when it's his song I've just messed about with it.  He tells me when I hand in my tickets I should be given back stage passes, if not I'm to ask for them because he wants to speak to me before he leaves.

I'm pretty much blown away, I've never been to a live concert before and have always thought that I never would, there are never any held in Sugar Valley and I didn't think that there was any way of me leaving to go to a colour coded town to actually see one.

"We need to get together soon ... work on some more songs, Grumpy is already bending my ear about us getting that album out and our two songs are not going to fill an album!!"  he laughs.

Rocky has taken me to Grape Studio's a few times over the past few months and we've spent  whole days there messing about in one of the studio's and have written two new songs together, Rocky wrote the lyrics, I did all the music for them, guitar, keyboard and drums, that is how we have decided to work together.  He wants us to do a whole album together and wants to keep it separate from his own stuff on Apple ... so it is going out on Grape ... Grumpy has kind of laid his claim on me, as he found me, which kind of amuses me, even though I can't see any way that that record contract that he has got ready and waiting for me is ever going to get signed by me ... that is just my impossible dream.   

"So I thought, give me about 3 months with the baby then maybe you could come out to Berry Shores, I've got a studio at home ... you will be back in Apple Hill by then I take it?!"

"Yeah, as soon as River's back is completely healed ... another few weeks hopefully and we'll be off!!"  he smiles at me  "He's walking around now, but it's still very painful for him."


He puts his guitar case down on the floor and opens it, I thought he was getting out his guitar but he pulls out what looks like a handful of paperwork, which he waves at me  "Is it okay if I have a quick word with River?  He needs to look through these and you'll need to sign them if he's okay with them, then I can start getting some of those songs released."  I show him into Rivers room.  "If you can bring the paperwork signed tomorrow night for "All or Nothing" that would be a great help to me ... I still want it to go out next like I originally planned ... the rest you can take your time over ... I'm not in so much of a rush for them yet."

They start talking about the royalty payments ... this really makes me laugh I swear I'm still tripping ... River is sorting everything out for me because I'm useless not being able to read anything ... Rocky and Grape have already had quite a few conversations about it all with River who is not too happy with me getting mixed up with Rocky's music right now, he would rather this wasn't happening until we are back home ... we've already worked on and mixed up five of his songs as well as created two new ones together ... all I know is my identity is being kept totally anonymous for now.  Grape has been kept at bay by River telling him I'm not in a good place right now in my life and once I'm back home after he's recovered from his broken back then I'll be in touch ... but I know when he gets to hear the truth that I'm a mixed berry with a colourless Mother from Sugar Valley it won't be happening, he'll probably run a mile ... what I'm doing with Rocky can be fairly well hidden, I'm just an anonymous songwriter, if I have my own music career there is nowhere to hide.

I stand in the doorway while River and Rocky are talking because I can just about hear Storm and Crystal shouting at each other in the bedroom, I giggle to myself as I hear her telling him, like she always does when she gets mad with him, that his grave is in the cemetery and maybe he should go and use it.


"HOW MUCH!!??"  River shouts suddenly, he looks like his eyes are about to pop out of his head  "Seriously!?"  he says staring up at Rocky who starts laughing  "Is this for all the songs?"

"No that's each ... there is a separate paper for each song ...and those are only an estimate on my average sales ... so it will end up being more or less depending on how they go ... and the two new songs we wrote together being a 50/50 split will be considerable a lot more, as you'll see when you get to them."  River starts flicking quickly through all the papers in his hand and looks at me wide eyed for a moment, then back at Rocky.

"I think I'm going to quit medicine and get into music!!"  Rocky smiles and tells him to read through them carefully, if he's happy with them get me to sign them then phone Grumpy and he will sort the rest out.  "He's got you then I see!  I notice the new songs are on Grape paperwork!  Are you switching labels?"  River asks him  I'm only half listening to their conversation concentrating on the racket coming from the bedroom ... I doubt Storm is having a lot of fun in there!  It sounds like Crystal is giving him a really hard time!!

"No I'm staying with Apple, Taps stuff is staying on Grape ... I can juggle both labels ... I've had to cave a little it's my future I'm looking out for too ... I'd be an idiot to let Apple get their hands on Tap ... until he decides to go off with his own career his anonymous identity is working in all of our favours!!  Especially Grumpy's."  Rocky smiles at River.  "Although if he does as well as we think he will ... Apple are not going to be too impressed when Tap is out there on his own and they find out he's the anonymous on half a dozen of my songs!!  I'm always getting whipped for pushing people in Grumpy's direction!"


After River and Rocky have finished their conversation me and Rocky go into the living room and start messing about on our guitars jamming.  We hadn't been in the livingroom long when Crystal suddenly comes flying into the room, she's giggling and she grabs hold of me, when she spots Rocky who she's never seen before, she stops laughing and tries to bury herself in me nearly breaking my guitar in the processes.  I could have faded ... the last thing I wanted is for Rocky or anyone to see her here.

Rocky just stops playing like I had and smiles at her, he doesn't react badly to her like I thought he might.  Oh well he's seen her now, the damage is done!!  No doubt this will be the first nail in the coffin of my music career!!!  I try to peel Crystal off me and hold her gently at arms length and ask what's wrong with her.

"I want you, I have to show you something."  I laugh at her as she's eying Rocky suspiciously trying to hide from him  "He said I have to stay in the bedroom but I don't want to ... I want you to come and see!!"  she's talking about Storm, that must have been why she was shouting at him.


"Crystal, I'm busy with my friend ... go and watch TV for a while please!"  she looks at me then at Rocky then starts hugging me like she's not going anywhere

"No you have to come ... bad man!!"  she says eying Rocky again, I think she thinks everybody in the world is a bad man, which is going to be very interesting when she gets to Sugar Valley and our house which always has a constant flow of people running through it all the time.  I'm expecting her not to stop screaming for weeks.

"He is not a bad man, he's my friend like Denim and he won't hurt you ... Please Crystal, go and watch the TV"   she carries on clinging to me and shaking her head ... oh berry!! 

"If you go and watch TV when my friend has gone home, we can make some more cakes if you want"  she looks up and smiles at me, she loves making cakes, not that either of us are very good at it.  "I won't be long!!  Please Crystal!" 

I kiss her head and she smiles at me then scurries back off towards the bedroom shouting Storm telling him we are going to make cakes ... oh fudge!!  I hope he doesn't ask who Storm is ... but still I can't help but laugh at how excited she gets over the simplest of things.


I pick up my guitar and start playing it again, hoping to avoid the awkwardness that I think is coming.  Rocky starts laughing and puts his hand on the strings of my guitar to stop me playing.

"Who's the girl?"  he asks me.

"She's a homeless girl, I found her in the woods, she was sick and fading so I brought her home, my landlady is a doctor, she fixed her up because the hospital wouldn't have treat her."  he smiles then his face goes serious for a moment ... oh here it comes.

"So what are you going to do with her ... just throw her back out onto the streets?"  he asks

"NO!!! She's staying here and I'm taking her home with me!!"  I can't help but snap disgustedly at him thinking I might throw her back out onto the streets, I feel like I have to get on the defensive before he starts attacking me.  "I don't care what you or anyone has to say either ... she shouldn't have to live like that, She's been on the streets since she was 6 years old her parents just threw her out with the garbage and the poor girl gets attached for just being colourless it's disgusting and it isn't right, she lacks colour because of a medical condition which isn't even her own, it's her parents faulty genes that have created her and she's a human being just like the rest of us!!"

"Good!!  I'm glad to hear you say that!!  I knew I liked you for a reason!!"  he starts laughing while I stare at him a little shocked ... I never expected him to say that!!  "You need to get her out of this hell hole and move her to a colour mix town!!"

My shocked expression amuses him.


"You aren't from no coded town are you!!"  he says smirking at me  "Only someone from a colour mix town would look after a colourless girl like you are and see her as a human being and not a freak ... I know ... hell everyone from coded towns would rather spit on them than help them!!"  I just stare at him not knowing what to say ... I'm confused!!  "So which one is it?  Sugar Valley or Cherry Hill because I've never seen you in Berry Shores and it's not that big a place."  I'm so confused now by what he's saying I think I've lost track of the conversation  "I only know to those three colour mix towns ... unless there are more I don't know about."  he starts laughing loudly and wags his finger at me  "Sugar Valley would be my guess ... seeing as Apple Hill is right next door!!"  Oh heck he's got me!!

Then something he's said clicks in my brain.

"Hang on ... did you just say Berry Shores is a colour mix town?"  he smiles saying yes Berry Shores is a mixed berry town  "And YOU live in a colour mix town?!"  now I'm shocked again  "Why?!"

He says even though he could actually live in a coded town, he much prefers the people who live in colour mix towns, they are not narrow minded like the rest of the world when it comes to colour or the lack of it and he classes himself as a mixed berry and goes into the is teal green or blue debate, and he thinks it's blue like half of the world does and not green.  His brother and sister also live in Berry Shores.

I just stand staring at him like an idiot, seriously not believing what I'm hearing him saying.

He is a mixed berry!!

He lives in a colour mix town!!

Maybe there is hope for me yet!!  That can't be possible ... I ask him how he get's away with it?


"Its no secret that I'm a mixed berry ... but when you have money and fame ... it's over looked ... they are nothing but hypocrites!!  That's why I'd much rather live among the mixed berries ... they are not false like the hypocrites in the coded world!!  I know if my old man wasn't loaded and famous, and I wasn't famous, I'd be confined to a colour mix town just like the rest of the mixed berries."  he laughs at me  "If you went out in town wearing these pants you would get arrested ... I do it on purpose, I had them made specially  ... I'm big on rebellion!!"  I start laughing ... I think I love him!!  He frowns at me  "So what's a pure looking berry doing in a colour mix town?"

"Born there ... my mother is colourless."  he smiles  "Not orange colourless either"

"Awww ... lucky you, you look like a pure berry unlike me!!"

I know I am now perfectly safe with him, so I take off my glasses and remove one of my contacts, he starts laughing   "Don't you just love coloured contacts ... "

He starts to tell me about his nephew who is a mixed berry, he's green all but for his blue eyes, and how Rocky quite often takes him out on tour with him. His nephew wears green contacts but only to stop the staring ... and how he tries to encourage mixed berries to use hair dye and coloured contacts and escape their cage,  but most of his friends are two scared to even try the disguise and venture out into the world!!

"Is that what is holding you back from taking the music career Grumpy keeps trying to give you? Do you think you can't have one because you are a mixed berry?"  He frowns at me

"Yes ... plus there is other stuff . I'm complicated - ADHD, colourblind, dyslexic ... I cant even read or write my own name!!"


"None of that really matters does it ... there is only two things you need, which you have definitely got ... the voice and the music talent ... hell do you know how many hours I've spent having music and singing lessons and being TAUGHT to get where I am now ... you have a natural gift, not one damn music lesson ... I don't think you even realize what you've got!!"

"But I'm still a mixed berry ... I might be able to hide being a mixed berry with orange contacts, but I can't hide my parents, my colourless Mother and cousin, my multicolored family and Sugar Valley can I?!"  he starts to laugh really loudly 

"Seriously you won't need to hide it!!  Tap you know you CAN NOT let being a mixed berry stop you ... and I'm not going to let you ... look at me I'm not hiding it the whole world knows I'm a mixed berry and proud of it ... and you are already wearing the disguise you look like a pure berry, they won't bat an eye lid at you!!."  he starts laughing  "You know who Creed and Ziggy are don't you?"

"Yeah, who doesn't!!"


"Well it might surprise you to know they are both mixed berries dying their hair and using colour contacts ... Ziggy is a kid from my town I spotted him busking and singing around town ... it can be done Tap ... it has already been done ... Grumpy will look after you, just like he did Ziggy."  I'm shocked

"Really!!??" 

Grumpy can help you hide it initially just until you've got yourself established ... when you've got a name for yourself in the music world then it can come out ... it won't matter who knows then because they won't care, you could even take out those damn contacts and they will just turn the other cheek!!  trust me they are Hypocrites!!"  he starts laughing  "I'd love to start a revolution - I am only one out of a handful of lucky ones, who can get out into the outside world freely ... the rest of us mixed berries are like caged animals and I want to let them out, if its okay for me why isn't it for the rest of them?!  ... the coded world seriously needs educating ... but Grumpy won't let me rock the boat!!" 

"I'm in shock!!"  until I've taken it all in I don't know what else to say ... he laughs at me

"You know you can forget all this mixed berry crap ... you could use our album as a spring board ... you wanted to be kept as the anonymous songwriter and me to front it ... well we don't need to do that anymore  ... you can come out of hiding and we could go to town with this - a joint project - two discs - one of me singing you playing - one of you singing me playing ... it would be something different for my fans which is what I've needed for a while ... and a good start for you!! ... yeah I think this could be good for both of us!!  You won't find any better way of getting yourself out there ... my fans will buy the album just because I'm on it ... that album could quite well make you straight away!!  With every album comes a tour ... by the time we get back home off the road ... you'll be up there with the rest of us!!"

I just stand there grinning at him ... I definitely love this guy!!


After Rocky leaves my mind is spinning, it's actually doing somersaults I'm really happy thinking that when this is all over ... my impossible dream could well be possible after all ... and if Rocky has anything to do with it, it definitely will no longer be a dream!!

I decide to go to the bedroom to see what Crystal was getting so excited about earlier, and expecting to have a few hours of cake making ahead of me ... when I open the door I can hear the sterio is on quite low, I stop and laugh at Denim who is sat on the bed laughing his head off watching  Crystal and Storm jumping around the bedroom like idiots, Crystal has the biggest grin on her face ... I think the cake making has been forgotten.

"Look I can dance!!"  she says laughing like she's really proud of herself even though she's not exactly dancing more like jumping around. "Can you dance Tap?"

"Can I dance!!"  I start laughing and start dancing on my own by the sterio.

Crystal stops and stares at me, she's frowning as she's watching me.


"That's not dancing!!"  she says to me as she starts laughing and starts jumping around the room again and giggling.  "You can't dance!!" 

I start laughing at her as I watch her jumping around the room like an idiot, I just let her carry on, if I tell her she's not dancing it will probably just upset her.  Storm is an idiot for telling her she's dancing.  I start jumping around like she is  "Is this better?"  I ask her laughing

"Yes that's better!!"  she giggles, she's too busy watching me she falls over the end of the bed and lies on the floor laughing her head off ... she's mad!!  She's lay on her back screaming with laughter so much she's holding her stomach.  I pull her back up onto her feet and she just grins at me before she starts jumping around again.  I don't know where she gets all her energy from.

Denim empties the washing basket and walks out of the room.  He isn't gone for very long when he returns the washing still in his hand and tells me he thinks I should go into River, he pulls a strange face.

I walk into the bedroom and see River is sitting up on the bed with his head in his hands.


I don't realise until I get around to his side of the bed that he's actually crying.  His phone is on the floor between his feet and his tears are just falling onto it as he stares down at it.  I ask him what's wrong and he just points down at his phone without saying anything.

I pick up his phone and look at the screen.  A baby.  Oh fudge!!  Being colour blind all I can see is a grey baby ... so I ask him what colour the baby is.

"He's blue, with orange hair and eyes."  His baby!!

"What's the matter, is something wrong with him or Winter?"  I ask like an idiot not really thinking. He stares at me for a moment without saying anything and I don't know why.

"No, they are both fine ... but I should have been there Tap ... we should have been there ... I want to be there not here!!"


I slide my finger across the photo of my first little nephew not realizing that it would change the picture to a different picture ... another picture of the baby slides into view.

"So I guess you are calling him Ocean then as he's blue"  he mumbles yes  "Ocean Lane, is he getting a middle name?"

"No it's Ocean Mango Muffin ... when we get back I'm having my name changed officially to River Mango Muffin, that's if they don't lock me up first!!"  he just carries on staring down at the floor.  "I want rid of that woman out of my life completely!!  Maizie, the worlds biggest Joke of a Mother ... this is all her fault!!"

"You can't just blame Maizie ... it was Manderine too!!"

"Tap it is ... shes a damn vampberry ... it was Maizie who took you and Honey to the vampire den not Manderine, that vampire den is why this whole thing has gone so horribly wrong!!  Without the vampberry's we would have been at home now ... happily living our lives!!  They have completely destroyed yours!!"


"What do you mean, they've completely destroyed mine?" I ask him

"Oh nothing ... just forget I even said it, I'm too emotionally messed up right now and I'm not thinking straight!!"

I run my finger across the picture again and another picture of Ocean slides into view ... I start laughing

"How many pictures has she sent you of him just lying there doing the same thing"  I'm laughing because they all look pretty much the same to me, River frowns at me and looks up so I show him the third picture that I'm looking at ... his face changes suddenly.


"STOP messing Tap!!"  he snaps at me as he quickly snatches the phone off me, turns it off and throws it on the bed in temper ... what did I do now??!!

"What's up with you suddenly?!"


"Nothing ... I'm sorry I shouldn't have snapped ... I just ... I don't know if I can keep all this lying up for much longer!!"  he says as he starts to cry again.  "I just want to go home!!"

That makes two of us!! 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Song = Tell the World ~ Olly Murs
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8 comments:

  1. Oh my....that was Tap and Honey's twins wasn't it? In that moment it's a good thing Tap is color blind. Poor River had to miss his son being born, that has to be hard on him.

    YaY for Rocky being so understanding about the color mixing thing. Now Tap has a real shot at being famous! I loved this chapter. Crystal is looking better and is still hilarious, I was busting up laughing when she was trying to take Tap'a pants off. That whole scene was too funny.

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    1. Yes they are Tap and Honey's twins :D They arrived before Rivers son ... and notice he's starting to crack under the strain of it all. Poor Tap thought he was looking at 3 pictures of Ocean ... if only he knew!!

      Yes without Rocky he would never have even tried to follow his dreams :D Yeah she will look a lot better when she starts to put weight on and being with Lilly should help her a lot in other ways ... maybe then she won't keep tormenting Tap - LOL

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  2. Oh Crystal XD Never change please. I love her new hair by the way.

    I had a feeling Rocky would be understanding of Tap's situation if he ever found out about it. Glad I was right :) Hopefully everything can really work out for Tap in the end.

    And, indeed, poor River. After all that has happened, missing his first child's birth was the last thing he needed. How can you tell the hair and eye color before the baby is a toddler though? Did you age him up, and then go back to previous save before his birth? Or did you use Master Controller?

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    1. I am having so much fun thinking up mischief for Crystal - lol Yeah I like her new hair :D
      He's got the chance to do something with his life!!

      Most of the time I play way infront of writing especially where babies are concerned because they take four days from conception to toddler in game it ridiculous so I know what they are going to look like before I even write them into the story and 99% of the time I just take what comes. For story purposes sometimes I change a childs colouring - the colourless eyes mostly - there is a point to that.

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    2. Haha, I guess that makes sense considering you've had Tap and (I'm assuming) his daughter as the main banner for quite a long while now :D

      I did reckon there was a reason for the colorless eyes. Now I really wanna know what it is ><

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  3. Oh thank god Tap is colorblind, or he would have known that those babies were yellow, and suspected them as his and Honey's. I like Rocky a lot! Haha, he's so cool. Tap is so lucky to have met him, he can really have a shot at a music career now! Ahh, Rocky lives in a color mix town, awesome. :) Hehe, it's so true, when you are famous, people don't care, they just like you, LOL. In this case, it works out well though! :) I'm happy nothing happened to Tap and Crystal when they were asleep in the woods.

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    1. Yes it is ... or he would have seen that two of those pictures were actually his babies. Yeah Rocky ... he's probably my favourite born in game sim - he belongs to whitewave and I drag him into all my legacy's LOL (he plays a big part in my Ugly Wishes Wishacy Gen3) I have my own berry very version of him that is always popping up :) He makes the cutest kids as you will see soon ;)

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  4. Oh how cruel!!! Looking at his own children and not even knowing it!! Poor Tap!

    I bet Tap is glad that he met Rocky now. Not only is he a nice guy but he's helping him with his music.

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