The Perks of Dolce Gray

Sunday 11th

March 2012

Dear Friend,

                I hope you don’t mind, I recently got your address from one of my other friends. You might remember him, his name was Charlie. And if you’re reading this then you know I’m not really Charlie’s friend, his friends have passed on, just like he has. Not saying he’s dead, I honestly have no clue where he is now but I’m trying to say that I’ve heard of Charlie and what you’ve done for him and I thought you wouldn’t mind if I gave it a try. I apologize if you do mind, if so then don’t bother reading but I know you probably won’t reply so I’ll just keep writing these until I feel as if it’s time to stop.  I’ll be using fake names too, I feel as if it is safer that way. Not that I’m afraid you’ll tell anyone these things, I’m just scared that someone else might read them, also I’ll go under a fake name too; Dorian.  I know, I know, Oscar Wild, really? But yes. Not only is Dorian Gray the closest DVD sitting next to me as I write this it is also a book and film that has interested me since I watched the very original—I have actually yet to read the book—I’m ashamed to have to admit that, but alas Dorian Gray is an astonishing bit of work that I like to think of as a fable for teenagers, even though I’m sure many teenagers don’t even know what it is anymore. Sad really.

Anyway, enough about me loving something I yet read, I thought I’d write to you today about how I am hoping to one day go to Amsterdam, when I say one day I actually mean this summer! Oh god, I really hate exclamation marks, they’re so cringe.  My mum mentioned it in passing, I’ll be starting work soon, which is great, and she said that if I could pay my plane flight then we could go. I don’t think I’ve ever benefited from most of my family working in the hotel business since now, that’s kind of exciting.  Saying this I know my mum doesn’t really want to go to Amsterdam, I could tell because she kept mentioning how she wanted to go to Prague.

“All I’m saying is that it’s a lot less expensive in Prague, it’s all very cheap out there” she had said, and then mentioned about maybe going to Jersey. My brother Chris had then backed her up, he’s recently got back from Prague with his friend Adam, who is the cutest thing ever.  (I am girl by the way, I don’t even know if Dorian can be considered a girl’s name, I doubt it can. Whatever. I’ll change it to Dolce; I know that’s a girls name).

Chris had then garbled for awhile about how the beer was really cheap there and how everything was nice, but cold. My mum had nodded along, giving me that look as if to say ‘see, I told you’ not that I really care, I still want to go Amsterdam. The main reason is The Fault In Our Stars, ‘a cancer book that isn’t really a cancer book and if you don’t like it, you can punch me in the stomach’.

The two main characters visit there and even though I know they’re fictional I’d love to stand where they stood even if they’d never really stood there before. Does that make me weird?  I hope not.  It also seems beautiful, what with all the water. So I really hope we can go to Amsterdam.

Saying that have you ever heard of cannabis in Vodka? I haven’t. Not until today. It’s in a tiny little bottle sitting downstairs in our living room. I spent awhile turning it up and down like a lava lamp before I actually tried a bit. It just tasted like stronger Vodka, it wasn’t very nice. My brother didn’t like it either.

“Oh, did you try a bit?” my mum had asked, we had just finished talking about going on Holiday so I was only half listening, planning ways to get my mum to want to go to Amsterdam.

“Of course” Chris replied, “I didn’t think it tasted much different but I thought Dad would like it” they both laughed then, as if they were in on some joke, a joke I knew.