Classic Rock Oneshots

Black Dog: Part One

John Paul Jones was the only person in the small English town where he lived to own a television. He didn't own a car or fancy clothes and he could only access very limited channels but his one claim to fame was the television sitting in his lounge room.

This was how he met John Bonham. John Bonham worked hard, possibly harder than any 17 year old should have to work. His mother died when he was too young to remember and his father was never really around - entertaining himself with the various women around town. So with a life such as this, John Bonham (Bonzo as the older lads at work called him) busied himself with two things. Labouring away at the local timber mill for two shillings an hour and the stray dog he had adopted as his own. He didn't have any friends around town and he wanted it that way.

Or so he made it seem. In reality, he had unconsciously just put up a guard that made him intimidating and dangerous to the other people in town. Nobody messed with him. Ever. Kids didn't keep money in their pockets when they walked by his house in fear he'd steal it. If he was in a shop, people would leave before buying anything. It was just how it went.

Now you know a little bit about John Paul Jones and John Bonham, but there's still another crucial character you need to know about.

Constable Franklin was just about the only cop in the whole town and in such a small town, I'm sure you can imagine his workload. Despite there being no crime for him to stop, he was a busy man. He involved himself in petty things like locking people up for swearing, spitting or loitering. He was not liked by the youth who he used his power to torment and humiliate simply out of boredom but he was a respected man at large by the adults in town.

The kids called him the Black Dog because he had the chops of a Bloodhound and his eyes were as black as coal.

One summer night, Bonzo strolled home with his shirt slung over his shoulder. His bare torso glistened in the late afternoon sunset and his shaggy yet silky brown hair bobbed around his earlobes as he trekked on home from a hard day's work. It was a sweltering day and even as the day faded, the heat lingered on and would no doubt cause an uncomfortable night.

Bonzo stopped for a moment beneath a tree that leant over the footpath to cause a patch of shade. He caught his breath and wiped the sweat off of his face with his shirt. Out of the corner of his eye, something was moving in the house he had stopped near. Turning his gaze, he realised that in the house's living room was a television. Bonzo had always dreamed of owning one for himself, but it never became a reality because all the money he earned went towards saving to get the hell away from this dull, little town.

He smiled when he saw that a show called Top of the Pops was on, having seen it once before at his grandmother's house in London.

Bonzo didn't have anything better to do so he sat down on the pavement and watched the television through the window. The window was left open a crack to keep the house cool so he could hear some of the music just faintly. For the first time in a devastatingly long time, Bonzo smiled a true, genuine and happily toothy smile as he watched the bands on telly bop about. He paid the drummers, in particular, a lot of attention for he'd always wanted to learn himself.

John Paul Jones, or Jonesy as he had been nicknamed at school, sat in his living room, crawled up on the couch without a shirt on either, watching television. He had noticed Bonzo almost immediately but didn't wave to him or anything. Everyone around town wanted nothing to do with him. There were rumours. Rumours that he had killed his own Mum with a butterknife, that he kept dead bats in his room and that if you messed with him you'd have your head bashed in.

Jonesy kept his head down and felt his cheeks go a deep red as he noticed that Bonzo had settled down outside. For a while, he just sat there pretending like he was watching telly but his thoughts were everywhere but what was on screen. He bit his lip in thought before finally, he got off of his sofa and exited the room.