The Rock Star Next Door, a Modern Fairytale (38 page)

As women guitarists, they
were comrades at arms, having
won their rig
htful place
in a male dominated industry.  In the early days, while still doing clubs, they endured the crude remarks of drunken men who thought they only pretended to play their
instruments and loudly proclaimed
there was really some guy offstage doing the guitar riffs and they were just hood ornaments for the real band.

Jessie wished there was something she could do, some way she could reach out to Kyra without getting her hand bit
ten
off. Any attempt to
talk
about their differences
was met with a brick wall
of staggering
resentment.

Was it the fact that Jessie was the lead singer? Did Kyra covet
being the front end? Kyra always said she
liked being in the background, not the front-runner. Lots of energy
was required;
lots of courage to stand in front of a microphone in a filled stadium
and not have your mind dissolve
in
to
gray matter
jel
ly. It took guts and magic to make ‘em clap
rather
than
pelt you with their drinks or whatever else they had in their hands.

From the beginning,
Jack and Jessie had taken the lead with everyone’s insistence.

Now that the record company was promoting the
m as the lead singers
the band was
seething with resentment
. Kyra was the worst,
being the most vocal and catty of late,
but Darrell and Steve were starting to make comments, too.

Jack was using, big time. He’d even turned Darrell on to the white dust.

Steve was the onl
y stable band member to back Jessie
up as they stood on the narrow precipice of succe
ss. She felt like Humpty Dumpty
in the nursery rhyme, except that she had so many others depending on her to keep them all aloft. If she slipped, misplaced a step, they all would go down, shatter into a million pieces, become another statistic among the rock star
s who had one or two hit albums
only to fade into obscurity because they couldn’t keep cranking out chart topping hits.

The makeup artist noted Jessie’s eyes bore dark circles when she was being
primped for the photo shoot. She asked Jessie if she were using. That was a low blow. She qui
ckly assured the kind woman
she was clean, asi
de from an occasional margarita. S
he ju
st wasn’t sleeping well due to all the stresses that went along with success
.

The makeup artist gave Jessie a card, telling her the
local new age
shop had just the thing to help her. They had mediation classes, relaxation tapes,
past life regression,
and even some herbs that might give Jessie that boost of energy she needed. Jessie stuck it in her purse and thanked
the woman. The incident made her think of Lex.

Lex, the my
stic
. Lex,
a man
who believed they were soul mates, destined to be together, until she wanted to slow down the pace of their relationship. Then he became Lex
, the man who made sweet
love to her
and then
dumped her
.

Two days later, Jessie entered the Silver Unicorn Shop fo
r her appointment. She felt stupid
for even calling the number on the card the make-up artist had given her.

And yet, she couldn’t stop thinking about that weird dream, and that even stranger conversation with Lex
afterward. Past life regression?
It sounded wanky--but--she needed to do something, anything, to get past the big bump in her soul, the big speed bump that made her fear going forward.

The pungent aroma of burning incense nearly choked her. Jessie looked about the shop as soothing chime music played in the backgr
ound. She perused the bookshelf
and
then moved on to the elegant statues on the glass shelf behind the counter.
There were sculptures
of g
ods and goddess of every persuasion, from
Ireland, Egypt and
India.

She admired
Native Am
erican figurines and
love
ly sculpted animals. A
golden Buddha statue
was
gri
nning at her. It was larger than life
in bright
, polished
brass. Jessie f
ound that one overkill
unless it was placed in a palace garden. Still, his
round, smiling face had a very pleasant effect upon
her, making Jessie
want to smile back.

She moved
on to the interior of the store,
away from the door and the large shop window out
of habit lest someone on Rodeo D
rive recognize her
. Jessie
ha
d her Ray-Ban
s in place and her hair tucked under
a
Brewer
s
’
baseball cap, but so many st
ars
used that same disguise it was starting to scream ‘celebrity’.  Maybe s
he should have put on a hoodie
like Steve and Darrell tended to do when they went out on the streets
to mingle
.

T
here was no hope for it now. She was here, it was best to just try to fin
d a corner to wait in until
her session
with the spiritualist
.
There were crystals
everywhere, pretty purple ones along with
every color of the rainbow.

She picked up the
big
purple one, feeling drawn to it for some reason.
It was just the right size, filling her hand. Cool, so cool and soothing in her palm. The jagged crystal shapes rising up from the base were alluring as the light hit the uneven points and made it glitter and sparkle, bringing a sense of awe and peace to Jessie. She was going to buy it and put it in her room, right beside her bed. That way, she c
ould hold it when she wanted to
and not have the guys making fun of her for liking
a
purple rock so much.

Really? Jessie, what’s the
big
deal? What is it about this piece of stone that’s so attractive?

“
Hi, welcome
.” A
young
woman
with short
dark hair and a snake tat winding up her bare arm
slipped out from behind the silk curtain.
She wore a white silk
sari, or something similar a la
Hollywood style. She was anything but conventional, however, with a pierced eyebrow, a gemstone in the corner of her nose and a ring in her lip. Her eyes were outlined with kohl. With her bob hair cut and her dark eyes, she made Jessie think of an Egyptian princess.
“That’s amethyst. It’s a very powerful stone. Is it calling out to you?”

Jessie s
wallowed
and cupped the cool, rough rock in her hand as she considered the clerk’s odd words. “Um . . . maybe. I like it. How much is it?”

She advanced toward the cash register and placed the stone on the glass counter top.

“
L
et’s see . . .” The clerk picked it up and turned it over to look at the sticker. “
$85,
it’s not polished.
The polished ones are more.
It’s rough cut, strai
ght from the earth.
It should still have some good Earth energy in it.
Shall I set it aside
for you?”

Jessie nodde
d. She felt a little sad, already
missing the feel of that
cool, comforting stone she’d held in her hand
. “Do you ha
ve any jewelry made with that
stone?”

“
Y
es
.
Amethyst is
po
pular. What are you looking for, a pendant
or a bracelet?”

Jessie shrugged. She didn’
t know. I
t was jus
t a feeling, a really weird,
compelling feeling.
A feeling, damn it.
  She liked the big rock, she liked holding it. The jewelry didn’t ha
ve the same appeal. Still,
if this stone was s
o powerful
having a piece of it on her might
bring some of the same feel
ings of calm and serenity, wouldn’t it
.

“What do you intend to use it for?”

Again, Jessie
shrugged, feeling like an idiot. She did
n’t know one stone from another. S
he only knew sh
e liked the purple color and when she picked up the large stone it felt good in her hand--really good. She remembered Lex talking about using crystals
f
or healing and meditation. “Ah, I’m new to all this. My boyfriend is the devoted one. What does amethyst do?”

The girl, who couldn’t be more than twenty, lit up at Jessie’
s question. “Amethyst brings about a sense of calm,
balance,
tranquility
and peace. It’
s sometimes used for dreams
and for psychic healing.
It helps
open up psychic abilities. Lots of business women like to have them in their office, on their desk, as it is good for deflecting stress and discord; it radiates peace.”

Jessie tipped her head and stared at the girl over the rims of her Ray-Bans. She was pretty sure her mouth was hanging ajar. “Cool.” She murmured, eyeing the big rock she’d become so
attached to in such a short time. Being here, Jessie was starting to see Lex’s religious views fr
om a very different perspective
as the calm of the store, sort of like a safe port in a wild storm, enveloped her. Of course, there was no Jack
and the guys
to
crack comments and ruin the effect, so that might be part of it.

The clerk led her down the glass case to the jewelry section, pointing out the purple crystal
jewelry
pieces for Jessie.
She found a polished pendant that had a heart shape, and chose that one. The clerk then suggested a silver chain to match and Jessie paid for the
items. Just as she finished the transaction, an older woman emerged from the curtains with a man. The woman had long, silvery white hair and wore a floaty gauze dress of purple with silver stars embroidered on it. She was giving instructions to a man dressed in a business suit about following up
between now and their next appointment.

The man in the suit nodd
ed, smiled serenely at the lady and moved to the front door
.
Jessie watched him walk down the sidewalk,
amazed by the incongruity of the image, high powered business dude, yet calm and serene after his meeting with Madame Aria. 

“
Ms. Coltrane
?”  The silver haired woman looked to Jessie. Jessie nodded. “Welcome.
I am Madame Aria.
If you’ll just follow me?” She lifted the curtain and waited for Jessie.
After Jessie left the main room of the store, the proprietress let the curtain drop and led her down the long lilac blue corridor to a back sitting room.

Once inside the darkened room, Jessie glanced about furtively.
The sound of flowing water came from a wall sized fountain in the corner that was lit from inset lights on the floor. The floor lights illuminating the fountain were the only lights in the room. The fountain was made from a large sheet of of heavy tempered glass. It was very simple yet sophisticated
piece of art
with water flowing steadily over it into a large urn. Soft chime music played in the background.
The
fragrance wafting about the room was
lovely, sort of sweet, but no
t overtly flowery. Jessi
e inhaled, and recognized the scent immediately.
Lily of the Valley
. Her mother had those growing along the
house when Jessie was little
. She remembered the b
ell shaped little white flowers, she
remembered picking them
and making bouquets
when they bloomed.

“Ms. Coltrane, may I call you Julianna?” The woman inquired. “Such a lovely name, old fashioned, romantic.”

Jessie nodded. She’d given them a fake name so news didn’t leak out into the press about her visit to the
spiritualist. For some
inexplicable reason when she called she gave
Lex’
s last name
and the name she’d been called in he
r medieval servant dream
.