Mixed Up Girl

Mixed Up Girl
By Paul McCann

Keira worked as a clerical assistant for a firm that imported modern day antiques from Indonesia . The owners of the business were hard to get along with and Keira was a bit of a rebel , so when it came to people telling her what to do or trying to stand over her , she lost control of her temper and would fly into a fit of rage .

One day she was late coming to work and her boss told her to be more prompt wither timekeeping . Keira went into a rage because he had not even asked her why she was late for work . There had been a strike in a factory nearby and there were crowds of workers that had blocked the road and she was unable to get past them .

Keira let him have it , she spoke her mind and said some things about him that were crude and uncalled for . That day she quit her job before he could sack her and then in a fury, she walked off to see a lady friend of hers who often supplied her some designer drugs that helped her cope with work stress and afterwards she gets herself lifted into a slightly better place where she could think clearer . Her escape with  drugs lasted a while and everything she once owned started to disappear including her family and friends . It got to the stage where she was arrested by the police for her anti-social behaviour in one of the bars, she frequented but managed to argue her point with the police that she never started the fight and they let her go .

Keira realised that the drugs were making life easy for her to cope with but too expensive for her to continue using them . When she stopped using the drugs things got difficult . In her mixed-up mind she was living in a mixed-up world but she had the will to survive . When times get tough, she had to be tougher . She noticed all over the city there was cans , bottles , cardboard boxes , scrap metal and other items that were just lying around on the street and in alley ways . So, she had an idea to make some money by starting up a recycle business .

She borrowed some money from one of the local gang bosses for buying a van that she could use with her new business and after making some money for nothing she hired some street kids she knew who could help her do the collection . Then a friend of hers had told her about this spare ground on a corner block near the docks that was vacant   He said he knew the owner and suggested to her he might let her use that for a little while to keep all her items .

Keira approached the owner of the land and asked him if she could use the land  to store some of her recyclable stuff . He was happy for her to use it for a while because he was going to build some flats on it but was waiting  for the council to approve his development .

From that day on she moved to collecting recyclable items in a big way  , she had made many contacts and her business was thriving . The only problem was she had slipped behind with her payment to the gang boss and he came and took her van .

Keira went ballistic . She went to the gang boss and lost control. She went wild . Some of the young street kids that were helping her in her business got involved . and a riot started on the street, heads were rolling . Keira was made of real hard stuff and in her mixed-up mind she was fighting for her life . When the police arrived, there was blood on the streets and the crowd dispersed . Afterwards there was a time of tension until  Keria and the gang reconciled and she handed over the money in full to pay off the van .

Calm was restored and a crazy kind of respect was given between the gang and Keira ,  Members of the community still felt uneasy with what had happened and as a result it affected Keira’s recycling business . At the same time Keira was informed by landowner that his development had been approved by the council and that she would have to leave his site . After that she sat on her hunkers, she started waving her arms in the air screaming and venting her feelings to the wind .

On the other side of the street , a busker stood on the corner with a guitar singing to people passing . His voice seemed to echo her thoughts , He was someone she had never seen before but somehow, he was airing her feelings about the injustice of life and what was going on in her mixed-up world . Most of his audience were women and children who cheered every  time he finished a song .  She was feeling hurt and unsure about her future . She got up and walked across the road to where the busker was playing and stood there with a small crowd of people who were listening and he played a song that really hit home with her . The lyrics was all about her life and she listened to every word . 

She’s a mixed-up girl , in a mixed-up world

and she cannot say  ,  everything’s ok

in her mixed-up mind it’s so unkind ,

it’s a mixed-up world .

 

She’s made of real hard stuff

and I love her so much

she’s such a mixed-up girl

in a mixed-up world ,

once  things get fixed ,

we’ll be shaking a fist  at this mixed-up world

 

I love her above all else

cause I’m little mixed up myself

with this mixed-up world , that has no time  

for my mixed-up girl .

 

She’s one of a kind with her mixed-up mind

and she knows I care  and I’m proud of her

everything we do I’ll be bleeding through to a mixed-up world  

 

Some books get left upon the shelf ,

some stories they just tell themselves ,

she’s like an open book and I took a look

and I got mixed up with her .

 

 The song touched her deeply and she cried a few tears . The busker noticed that and approached her .

“Are you ok ?” He asked and she replied .

“No, I’m not ok “

“So do you want to talk about it ?’

He said and she looked at him . No one had ever asked her that question before . All her defences came down . She began to cry and he comforted her . Suddenly she felt as if there was someone who cared about her .

“Do you really want to listen ?”

She asked .

He looked at how much money was in his guitar case and said ,

“I know this great little Chinese restaurant nearby . Would you like to have lunch ?”

Without thinking she replied ,

“Ok”

He packed up his stuff and he took her to his car nearby and then he drove to the restaurant”:

Some how she felt ok with him . At lunch she told him the story of her life and all her dreams ; He sat and just listened . It was just like love at first sight ,

He was captured by her and watched her every move as if it were a movie they were in .

After an hour she stopped talking and he said to her .

“ I have a little place near here . If ever you need some where to stay .”

For the first time in her life, she trusted someone . A complete stranger but there was something about him that she relayed to and she accepted his offer .

It never took that long for the relationship to grow into something serious .They moved to a new city and working together in the same office building , she was back to her clerical work in an office and he was the janitor and, in the evening, he played his songs in a local wine bar and she worked  behind the bar . They were both happy   He had was chasing his dreams about being a rock star and she supported him with all that while she had her dreams about being a mother raising a family and he supported her with that . They ended up having three children and now she was no longer a mixed-up girl , she was a fixed-up girl and a mother with children . They stayed together in a fixed-up world and life was good .

 The End