Blazed Read Free Page B

then to go through with it while the cameras are actually rolling, like, that’s brutal. It’s brave. And most of all, it’s real, which is hard to find in music anymore.
    And I value that.
    I fucking love it so much.
    I was seven the first time I heard them. I woke up really late one night when my mother came home with somefriends. They were listening to the Sound of Silver record, and I crept downstairs to hear it better.
    It took me thirty seconds to fall in love with their music.
    For the next six months, I tried to learn their songs on the piano and the guitar. It didn’t go very well. But I became so much better at both instruments. By the time I was ten, I could play every song off of This Is Happening .
    And although I don’t know shit about my father, I do know that he’s a huge LCD Soundsystem fan. I know this because my mother walked right out of this piano lesson of mine once after I cut into the song “All My Friends.”
    I stopped playing. I was stunned and totally pissed off because I was doing so well at that moment. My instructor, he told me not to take it personally.
    â€œHow could I not?”
    â€œIt’s the song you’re playing.”
    â€œShe loves this band.”
    â€œShe found out that your father and his new wife flew to New York for their last show and hung out with James Murphy afterward.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œSo she can’t listen to the music anymore?”
    â€œJaime,” he said. “You know your mother.”
    â€œRight. I do. At least she’s consistent,” I said.
    He shook his head and grinned. “Your insight into other people’s emotions. It’s so impressive.”
    â€œI don’t know what you mean.”
    â€œYou’re one of the brightest and most talented kids I’ve ever taught, Jaime.”
    â€œI don’t believe you.”
    â€œYou don’t have to.”
    â€œI can’t believe my father kicked it with James Murphy. Like how?”
    â€œWhat do you know about your father?”
    â€œNothing.”
    â€œGoogle him,” he said.
    â€œNo. I would never do that to my mother,” I told him. “Never.”
    Back to breakfast now.
    After I flip both omelets and turn the bacon, I get a new message in Google chat.
    It’s from this girl Cheyanne, who lives in Chicago and goes to DePaul University. She’s a freshman majoring in journalism. She’s been a huge fan of my video blogs and my writing on Tumblr and WordPress for almost a year.
    Loved the new video, Jaime. So gorgeous. The mood, that nostalgia in each line, it was so suffocating. But so liberating, too.
    Thank you, I type back.
    I’m going to work on getting you published in a cool lit mag.
    That would be incredible.
    I can’t believe you’re only fourteen.
    It’s just a number. I’m a fucking geezer if you’re going by experiences.
    LOL. Right. So what are you doing right now?
    Cooking breakfast for me and my mom. I Googled my father, too.
    You don’t know him???
    No.
    What’d you find out?
    That he’s way successful. He lives in San Francisco, but I already knew that.
    I love SF. I went out there last summer to see some family and fell for the city. What does he do?
    He runs some big-time hedge fund, owns two art galleries. That’s about it. He’s got a stepdaughter, too. She’s seventeen and looks like Ivanka Trump. It’s scary how much they look alike.
    Scary? Why?
    Cos I always thought that if there was a God, he’d be one cruel bitch to only make that kind of beauty once.
    OMG, dude. You’re too much.
    You love it.
    Of course I do. And I gotta go. Later, duder.
    Word. Have a great day.
    I close out of Google and walk back to the stove to begin plating the food while LCD Soundsystem sings about losing their edge.

8.
    I’M ALREADY EATING WHEN MY mother finally emerges from her slumber.
    It’s hard for me to