I wear Grandmother's ring
On my finger
On my finger
She had a tooth of gold
And just before she died
She said” Son
you can have my tooth
but do I
really have to go?”
It’s been so long it’s hard for me to dredge up those memories. Before that fateful night I was always considered a good kid and never got into any kind of trouble. I was thoughtful, kind and respectful towards my elders, relatives and teachers but there was something in the way Granma whispered those words to me as she lay there in bed that led me down a pretty dark path.
She closed her eyes.
I closed the door.
The rest is history.
Look around
And you will see
This world is full of creeps like me
You look surprised
You shouldn't be
This world is full of creeps like me
The coroner ruled her death was due to natural causes.
I was only thirteen at the time and things weren’t quite the same after that. My grades at school, when I even bothered to go, started to plummet. It wasn’t long before I dropped out and discovered alcohol, drugs and life on the streets. The next four or five years were nothing but a series of petty crimes to feed my habit and stretches in and out of juvie.
It wasn’t too long after my last stay when my parents finally decided they had had enough and told me to hit the bricks and never come back.
And then I remembered my Uncle Leon…
Uncle Leon was always a loner and a drifter. He never held down a steady job and always seemed to be on the brink of bankruptcy. He’d show up every few Christmases or two to get drunk and raise hell but his stays only lasted a few days and after that he’d vanish without a trace. I managed to track him down and I asked him if I could crash at his place until I got my shit together.
He said “Sure.”
That was his first mistake.
And I keep my Uncle Leon
In my closet
In my closet
There don't nobody know
Just me and Uncle Leon
And my closet
And they wonder
Where'd that old man go?
His second one was pissing me off one night after a bout of drinking. I forget what he did to send me into a rage but when I woke up the next morning Uncle Leon wasn’t with us anymore.
Look around and you will see
This world is full of creeps like me
You look surprised
You shouldn't be
This world is full of creeps like me
A few people would drop by every now and then ask about Uncle Leon. Usually it was only because Leon owed them some money and when they asked me if I knew where he went I’d put this dumb look on my face and tell them I didn’t have a clue. Since these were some pretty shady characters themselves, I knew they wouldn’t go to the police. What little was left of the family couldn’t give a shit either. I guess they figured it was good riddance to the both of us.
And I knew this pretty girl once
She was eighteen...
Maybe
What's a year or two
And one day when she asked me
If I loved her
I said “Baby,
what's it worth to you?”
And she said “Everything”.
Since we were both young and stupid we thought it would last forever but it wasn’t long before she had a change of heart and decided I wasn’t “the one she was looking for”. All the promises I made fell on deaf ears. I cried and begged her to stay and it wasn’t long before she called me a “pitiful excuse for a man”.
That did it.
But look around
And you will see
This world is full of creeps like me
You look surprised
You shouldn't be
This world is full of creeps like me
Her parents reported her missing and the police soon found her buried behind a small shed at Uncle Leon’s. After searching the house, they finally found Leon too. I was later charged and convicted with two counts of murder.
Now I’m writing this sort of confession inside the friendly confines of death row where I spend twenty three hours day inside my cell. I never speak to the other prisoners or guards and nobody comes to visit.
And I wear Grandmother's ring
On my finger
On my finger
She had a tooth of gold
I never did confess about what happened that fateful night so many years ago in my Grandmother’s room. I’ll go to my grave and keep that a secret between me and whatever God might want to listen.
At night though, I dream of monsters and during the day when I look in the mirror I see one staring back at me.
Only it’s wearing a smile.
Lyrics lifted from the Lyle Lovett tune called “Creeps Like Me”