In elementary school, I was a huge MJ maniac. Posters covered every inch of my wall. (Of course, this was before NKOTB came onto the scene and dethroned Jackson for me.) The summer I turned 10, my right arm was in a cast up to my shoulder, an odd and ill-timed biking accident. (I was trying to do a skid in the left-over winter street sand on a three-speed.) A couple of days after my accident, a flower-delivery truck pulled up in front of our old house on Pinnery Avenue. The doorbell rang. A man was standing there with a basket or bouquet of flowers - I can't remember what variety - and a brown paper bag. My mother said they were for me.
I opened the little card attached to the flowers and nearly dropped dead:
"I was very sorry to hear about your accident." - Michel Jackson.
That is not a typo, that is exactly how the card was signed, and, being almost 10 years old, it didn't tip me off as to its validity.
And as if flowers from The King of Pop weren't enough, when I peered into the brown paper bag (again, the fact that these items were delivered to me in true wino fashion did not raise a red flag), I nearly lost my mind. A pair of starch-white socks with glittery speckles and a single white glove. I went to my room and slipped them on, Michael in his yellow sweater vest and bow tie looking on.
I think I might still have that glove, somewhere. I definitely have the card.
The cast came off shortly before my tenth birthday, but my love for Michael lived on. At my MJ-themed party, my girl friends and I huddled in the living room and watched Thriller for the first time, two years after it's debut. Then we made an ill attempt at the Thriller dance in the yard and admired my Michael Jackson cake - the image of him, again, in his yellow sweater vest, almost too beautiful to eat. But we were 10, and hungry. It was one of the best birthdays ever.
Don't know if you did what they say you did, but rest in peace, MJ.
My Top 10 Favorite Michael Jackson songs, in no particular order. :
1) Thriller
2) The Girl is Mine (with Paul McCartney)
3) PYT - Pretty Young Thing
4) Beat It (because my little brother used to break dance on top of the washing machine to this song).
5) The theme song to the movie, Free Willy.
6) Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
7) Billie Jean
8) The Way You Make Me Feel
9) Wanna Be Startin' Something
10) Smooth Criminal
