The Round Table

by Echo Johnson

Oh, how I held court. The crowd gravitated to me. I had been holding court for what seemed like a lifetime and then was silenced for what felt like an eternity. One day I came alive again. “She” discovered me and gave me a second shot at what I did best. And that was creating endless bonds with people. All sorts of bonds. New friendships. Extremely difficult conversations. Laughter. Tears. Screams of sorrow and belly laughs so loud, they woke up the entire neighborhood. I was “The Entertainment.” To her, my new owner I was, a brand-new purchase. However, the reality was I was an undervalued steal from the local thrift shop that held so many secrets. Yes, I was small, but I was ordained in mosaic tile with imperfections. I stood proud and I made a statement. My journey with her began about 5 years ago. And this journey was no doubt my favorite one yet.

I was placed in a green lush lawn with overgrown trees outside a triplex of beach cottages in Newport Beach. My owner was in the middle unit. “She” had the perfect view of me and my two iron chairs with thin turquoise cushions. I sat there beckoning for the other tenants to come sit, get to know each other, enjoy the scenery, get some fresh air, talk, laugh, and create moments that would not be forgotten. I was confident that I would cultivate memories that would last a lifetime for those who were privy to take a seat at my table and see what unfolded.

Slowly yet, steadily the tenants and the two precious little girls would walk by and take a seat. Stella was 5 and Katie was 3. The two started having tea parties that only their beautiful, creative little brains could see. “She” watched fondly and noticed the parents of Katie were also watching the two little babes discover and create a new friendship. I, the round table took my place and started a community that was foreign to the existing triplex and its tenants.

Three marvelous years were spent on that lush green space. Summer, winter, and fall came and went. I hosted numerous barbeques and the girl’s birthday parties. For three years I celebrated multiple seasons, endured long challenging conversations that always seemed to end up very painful as “She” would scream and cry her heart out to whomever it was she was speaking to on the cell phone she always had on hand. I indulged in long nights of laughter and booze laden conversations that would always end with copious amounts of spills, cigarette ash smoked joints and empty beer cans.

And then one day it came to an end. I took notice that I was no longer the focal point of the triplex I had unequivocally taken over. Where was “She?” Where were the two little girls. Why was I being left alone?

My question soon turned to an answer as I saw the all to familiar “UHUAL” truck pull up to the driveway. Just like that I was yanked away from my perfect lush green space and placed on a concrete patio. I hardly ever held court at this unfamiliar new home I was placed in. Stella now 7 years old did not even notice me anymore, or so it seemed. What I soon realized is that Stella was enduring a huge change in her little world. One that would leave her scarred with the memories of her parents endless fighting. Her daddy’s outburst fueled by drugs, booze, and a severe case of PTSD. “She” my owner and Stella’s momma had moved in with Stella’s father in some half ass attempt at possibly salvaging what she was once believed was true love, but soon realized it never truly existed, and then she was stuck. You see I knew the man with the loud voice, who took his daily aggressions out on “her,” my owner. He would often visit the lush green space outside the triplex of cottages in Newport Beach. He would play and laugh with the girls. He would sit with his new friends, “she” had introduced him to. The tenants at the triplex. A nucleus family of sorts was created and essentially brought together by “me,” the round table and the beautiful, naïve little girls who just wanted to be sisters for the rest of their lives.

I realized once I was placed on the stark concrete patio in the front of the new house that he, the father of Stella was the one, that “she” would be screaming and crying to on the phone as I held court for her for those three previous years. She always seemed so sad when he was around. She always seemed so happy when he was gone. Yet she decided to take me, and Stella, away from the place we all loved and ultimately yearned for. It was a long twelve months. There was no joy, there was no laughter. There were no celebrations. There was emptiness, loneliness and cold. A brutal reality that “she” was also living in. The day I saw the red and blue lights come up the driveway, protecting “her” and Stella I sighed with relief. I knew we were all going to be safe and happy again, just like it was before in the lush green space. And wouldn’t you know it? My, dream came true. Her dream came true. Stella’s dream came true. And I was plunked down in the most extraordinary place I had ever experienced in all my years of holding court. A patio that opened to a HUGE LUSH GREEN SPACE. There were large redwood trees, waterfalls, and wildlife. There were plants, flowers and endless echos of the children playing hide and seek and zooming by on their skateboards. There were dogs and so many new people to meet. Laughter permeated the air. And it was on that porch at 2775 Mesa Verde Drive, that a true awakening occurred. You see it was me the little round table that did what I did best and that was holding court. Cultivating friendships and memories that would last a lifetime. I created a cohesive sense of unity and strength among all the new people that “she” and Stella met. And oh, the stories I heard. The love I saw. The daily sit downs with her daughter and her new best friends she met in that HUGE LUSH OPEN GREEN SPACE would come to be some of the most profound moments any of them had ever shared in their lives up to that point. And there was peace. There were no more aggressive outbursts, and hearts pounding with adrenaline. There was endless laughter, advice often sought. There were long days of anywhere from three to six kids at a time sitting and playing as I held court. They would make arts and crafts, play video games and were always eating, and leaving their plates out for “her” to clean up. But I did not mind. And “she” loved it. She had found her place. She had found her tribe. She had created a safe, balanced, and beautiful space for herself and her daughter, and I was the focal point of it all.

So now I take a breath, a much-needed reprieve as I digest the endless stories, conversations, laughter and tears that were shared with me at 2775 for 15 months. You see “she” has found true love. And “she” moved to a beautiful new home on the beach, with a HUGE patio and LUSH green space and has placed me in the corner, to display the flowers she’s so proudly potted for her new home with her new and forever love of her life. And “I” will sit here until that day I am requested to return and hold court. Happy, just as “she” is.