Early Music/First Band; Part 2

My Grandmother woke me up the day of Iron Cross's next gig at 6:00 in the morning. There were reports of a house fire in Ipswich and we recognized the address as belonging to the Norris family. My Grandfather agreed to drive me there to see what was going on. The whole area was blocked off with police and fire engines, I saw Mrs. Norris and with her sons George, Bill and Josh surrounded by dozens of people. They were all crying. The firemen were still spraying the remains of their smoldering home. Josh saw me and came over and put his arms around me and told me that Mr. Norris, John, and Mark had died in the fire. I started shaking in disbelief, going over to the rest of the family to tell them how sorry I was. I had never been shocked with so much pain and anger so suddenly. How could something so senseless be really happening? Mr. Norris discovered the fire and tried to get everyone out of bed. He went back in to get Mark and John and they never made it out. It was a loss beyond words.

As the sun rose, more and more people came to the scene to share the grief. Classmates of the Norris brothers started showing up, Everyone was numb with sadness. After a couple of hours, a group of us went to Lori Corbin's house to hold on to each other and try and make some sense of what had happened. We gathered to combat the misery with pot and alcohol, and deal with the shock. I don't think any of us had experienced such a horrific loss in our young lives. How was the family going to accept this tragedy? It was cruel beyond anything we could imagine.

The funeral was a few days later. It seemed like the whole town of Ipswich was there to pay their respects. I helped carry Marks coffin out of the church. I don't remember any of it. I still have a clipping from the Ipswich Cronicle with a picture of us carrying the casket, the only proof that I was really there.

The town rallied around the Norris family. Every laborer, electrician, carpenter, and painter in Ipswich offered their services to help build a new home for the family. It was raised on the same plot of land where their old home had once stood. I couldn't believe how strong they were. They had lost so much. Mrs. Norris insisted on buying a new guitar and amp with a portion of the insurance money, although I felt like it was going to be a long time before I had the desire to play.