#t. johnson

[arthistoryanimalia]

#TurtleTuesday 🐢:

Turtle Matchsafe, c.1881 Manufactured by T. Johnson, England Plated brass, celluloid, enamel 5.9 x 4.9 x 1.4 cm (2 5/16 x 1 15/16 x 9/16 in.) Cooper Hewitt 1978-146-128

[watergave]

@heygutlcss's johnathan de luca sent: i think it's… something that knits us all together.

the jets suck on their bloody knuckles, the girls throw band-aids that they promise to pay valentina back for, and tessie sits in the corner booth. belonging to the group, but not quite at the urgency of the others. mostly, she blends in until graziella or rhonda rope her into whatever activity. tonight, the urgency of everything doesn't make any room for bubbly invitations. she can hear karen screaming at action between applying a wet cloth to ice's face. tessie's shoulders slump. fighting is just part of what makes the jets, the jets. she can't really begrudge them for that. ( she just wishes that they weren't so loud. what if her dad passes the pharmacy on the way home from work and pops in and sees her here? tessie would end the night licking her own wounds. )

❝ i guess, ❞ she mumbles. ❝ just wish it was something nicer. ❞ everyone already gets hurt enough at home. maybe there's something thrilling about it. maybe tessie will try it sometime, like karen does. she leans her chin on her fist, trying to blend in with the booth as much as possible. if she had a nickel, she would try to play something on the jukebox---b.ill haley, maybe---to try to drown out the sound. ❝ you going to school tomorrow, john? you have mr. wallace for english, right? we've got a paper that's due. " that paper is only half-finished in her backpack. tessie's no fortune teller, but she has the feeling with the way tonight is going that it won't be getting completed. ❝ i'd like seeing you there, if you wanna come. ❞