Odes To My Triceratops, Pt. 1 (GPT fueled short)

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Link for this short on my personal page, where it looks better

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As the boy's loved ones feared, on April 8, 2009 the Santa Cruz County Coroner ruled the 17-year-old's death a suicide. His name, William Griffin, didn't mean anything yet to the public at large.

On April 16, 2009, at the funeral in Watsonville, William Griffin's parents Lisa and Ken welcomed two strange new visitors to their family's life: the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog along with his wife Angela. Many have seen this as a sign of fate, but the Griffins did not. And a few days later, on April 21, 2009, William's mother Lisa was brutally murdered.

William Griffin lived in a rough inner-city suburb in Grand Rapids, MI. When he was ten he got accidentally sucked into a TV during the sitcom called ‘Garfield’. The episode in question featured a new character, the Triceratops named Lorenzo (Triceratops being a large, sharp-toothed, three-horned dinosaur). William therefore met not only the major characters of the ‘Garfield’ series, but also the aforementioned Triceratops named Lorenzo, who would end up exiting the TV along with the boy and becoming another member of his family. Out of respect for William Griffin’s passing, the episode where Lorenzo the Triceratops was introduced didn’t air until about a year after William died.

The surviving family wished to leave behind painful memories, but as they hurried to move they discovered William’s treasure trove of poems and cassette tapes. William’s step-father Ken made them available to the public. It didn’t take long for the lives of not only Will, but also his neighbor Claire Javernick and William’s best friend, the Triceratops named Lorenzo, to come into focus as they were featured in documentaries.

The following texts were composed by a fourteen years old William, some as lyrics for his songs, others as simple poems, or both.

LORENZO by William Griffin

He has a small black mouth
Like a bottom
His skin is brown
Like a beet
His horns are round
Like a pepperoni pizza
He's just twelve
He's just eleven
He's just my best friend
My favorite friend
He's just twelve
He's just eleven
But he's also twelve

His horns are round
Like a pepperoni pizza
And they grow in the middle
And they're as big as cans
They're aching for a fight
He's just eleven
He's just ten
He's just my best friend
My favorite friend
He's just eleven

LEMONADE AND WILLIES by William Griffin

Lorenzo is so proud and tall
He walked by me at the school gate
He pointed at me and said,
"I am a triceratops. I am so cool!"

A ponopodon is what he found inside his throat
He swallowed it and out came light
He gave me another ponopodon and said, "Have a bite!"
But the ponopodon was horrible
And it bit me
And gave me the willies

MY FRIENDO LORENZO by William Griffin

Lorenzo is a triceratops
He eats clams and lobsters
Laughing crocodiles and lions of hell
He's eating me to bits
Mister fish, he's eating me
Lorenzo is a triceratops
In the basement of his throat
Inside of hell
You will find a baby doll

BETTER DEAD THAN BLIND by William Griffin

My friend's name is Lorenzo
He’s a three-headed Triceratops
With a portal to hell inside his throat

When I'd sit around and play
I'd play my guitar
And he'd come over and sit down by me
I'd play a song

My neighbor she is a blind girl
And she can't read nor write
We are just like friends
We'd sit on her front porch and talk

While I sat on her front porch and talked
She said her name was Claire
And she said her daddy and mommy died
And she said she'd rather be dead than blind
Then she went into her house

I said, what was that?
Then she came out and asked me
If I'd like to go home with her
I said, what the hell?
I said, what was that?
She said her daddy and mommy died
She went in and closed her door

I said, what the hell?
I said, what was that?
She said her daddy and mommy died
She went in and closed her door
Closed her door

CLAIRE WITH A C by William Griffin

Me and my friend Lorenzo left on a motorbike
Toward the woods of the North
We lived in a house
Filled with all the old books

Claire (Claire with a C) lives next door
Lorenzo (who's a Triceratops) with his green eyes,
Purple skin and parrot-red hair
I'm William, fourteen years old
I can read and write, I'm terrified of my sister
(We have the same mother, our father is deceased)

Claire (with a C) she can’t read and she can't write
I don't think she knows how to shave
Lorenzo (who's a Triceratops) takes care of our parents
Claire (Claire with a C) never comes to our house
She eats everything in her mama's pantry

Lorenzo (who's a Triceratops) drinks blood to eat
We watch Stephen King movies every Saturday
On our projector screen

Claire reads scary stories to me
Or she’s making them up because she can’t read
I found out Claire is a vampire
I couldn’t care less

FAIRY TALE TOO REAL TO BE by William Griffin

Claire is Claire is Claire
She walks and talks and wears a dress
Claire’s a fourteen years old
Fairy tale too real to be

Lorenzo is Lorenzo is Lorenzo
With a portal to hell inside his throat
Lorenzo is the Devil’s spawn,
Is the beast that does not eat

It’s hard to describe Lorenzo
What a stunning day that was,
The day Lorenzo came to us,
Came to us from God above

Lorenzo is sweet and sappy,
Has a voice that chimes like the bells
Lorenzo’s tongue is sweet like honey
Lorenzo lives on old tobacco leaves

I AM YOUR STEGOSAUR by William Griffin

I am a Stegosaur and so is you
A piece of me in every creature,
Like you and him and all the people
We all have a heartbeat
And a soul inside

We like you, Claire
And since we're here we might as well be glad
And say a prayer, for just because you're blind
You don't have to be stuck in a place
Where there's nothing to see

There's lots of beautiful things in the world
Lots of beautiful people
You're one of them

When the sun comes out,
The grass shakes off its dander
When it rains, the clouds roll in and out
The mountains and the rivers
The sky and the earth
The stars and the planets
One big beautiful living organism
Beauty never dies
We will never see each other die

The color's gone from your eyes
But not your heart

FOR CLAIRE, WHO CAN’T READ by William Griffin

You know, you're the special one
The one who took a gander
You're the love of my life
And you're a girl that's cute
She's just fourteen years old
And the words we write together
That I write I mean
Because she can’t read
Are nothing but lies

She's seen the future
And the past is past
I said to her, "Don't forget your roots"
Because I learned you gotta grow
So you ain't no bigger than a matchstick
But you still got your roots

A girl, she's got a good heart
She's just fourteen years old
And the words we write together
That I write I mean
Because she can’t read
Are nothing but lies

You know you're the special one
The one who took a gander
You're the love of my life
And you're a girl that's cute
She's just fourteen years old
And the words we write together
That I write I mean
Because she can’t read
Are nothing but lies

And we only make each other up
Never gonna be the truth
So you know that you're the special one
The one who took a gander
You're the love of my life

MY NEIGHBOR, THE DRAGON by William Griffin

Hello, my name is William
My best friend, I've known him all my life,
He is called Lorenzo
I'm not sure how to pronounce it,
Since he talks with horns

I'm writing this letter to Claire, she is my beloved,
I love her with all my heart
My love is deep and everlasting
She's beautiful
She is the smartest girl I have ever known
She's fourteen,
With hair of pink,
Skin of chocolate,
And eyes of grey
She's a dragon,
Instead of a Triceratops
With a portal to hell inside his throat

Every morning she wakes up on the couch
In her underwear
She grabs her backpack
And walks in the direction of school
I’ve never seen her there
I call her a dragon
Because she’s not a Triceratops
And her lunchbox is inside her throat

Her name is Claire
She has black hair
Her skin is golden
And her wings are purple

LET ME EAT YOUR STUFF by William Griffin

Claire, so beautiful
With such a sweet smile
Even at 14
She's in love with me
We spend every minute
Like lovers do
She takes me to a place
Where no one can see us

I saw her first!
It was last Thursday
In my backyard
When I was doing chores
And I saw my friend Claire
For she was standing there
She was so beautiful
Such a beautiful smile
And I just couldn't resist

She made me this toast
With strawberry jam and butter
And made me some cookies too
Sweet cookies I've never had
I ate all of her food
Even her share
I watched as her eyes
Lit up like a candle

PART GOLDFISH by William Griffin

She must've been part goldfish and part salt lick
Because she could swallow letters and numbers

My friends told me they had seen her pet goldfish grow
Just six inches long, it could read and write

She carried a paperback to school in her backpack
The letters and numbers had traveled through her mouth

Other kids wondered why she couldn't read and write
Even though her eyes were clearly dead

She would just say that's alright to all of her friends
'Cause I can read and write, that's my only friend

Claire is gone and I miss my beloved friend
Because she has her eyes open just for me

BELOVED LOVER by William Griffin

Her skin is white as paper
Like a pearl
Her body is flawless
And she's just fourteen
But she's already so much
She's the love of my life
She can't read
She can't write
She's just fourteen
She's so much more
And she's my favorite day
My favorite friend
My favorite day

NO MAGIC POTION by William Griffin

Triceratops, I love you more than anything
(But I'm the only one who sees your white behind)
All the girls adore you
And they want to touch you

Claire, if you want to, you can have me
For I'm not ashamed
I hope you’re not ashamed

Triceratops, there's no magic potion
To chase off
Those lonely feelings

Claire, there's no such thing as eternal bliss
Or a hell of aces
Only eternal regrets

WAIT ABOUT A MONTH FOR LOVE by William Griffin

It's not like my heart has ever been full
In all my life
Until I met your two eyes
It's a matter of fact that I'd like to have you
And that I'd take any length of time
I'd take it all if it means
I can lay my head on your breasts

But what would I think, if you should tell me
That you'd prefer if I didn't come at all
Can I tell you how scared I was, how scared I've been
Every time I thought about you
My step-father told me don't play around,
Go for what's worth having
He said when a man has a real woman
He's got to wait a while
He said it was about a month

I asked my step-father, what do I owe to you
He said the man who says I ought to settle for I love you
Is the man who can't make me quit
I asked my step-father, what am I missing
He said, there is a place where the most evil men are
And they just laugh at us down here on earth

And what's going on in heaven, I don't know

HELPLESS AND PURE by William Griffin

Claire's a girl so helpless
Claire is blind
Claire's a girl so pure
Claire is blind
This love won't end in pain

PLEASE, PLAY WITH MY GUITAR by William Griffin

Claire's really a sweetheart
As pretty as a picture
She just doesn't wanna get wet
But wait and see

She's a human,
But what's behind
That painted
Fake face

If Claire had eyes
She would look into mine
I'd let her see

I'll teach her to read and write
I'll teach her how to play
With my guitar

This is from William's diary:

So I look at Lorenzo and I'm just mad 'cause he's gross. All I know is that he has the Mark of the Beast inside his throat. When he laughs it's rancid and crumbly and when he cries it's just creepy. Lorenzo's ugly and he makes me afraid. When he's with me, he uses his fist as a piano. I try to pretend that I don’t care when he stares at me like that. Deep down inside, I wish that he would leave me alone, but every day when I look up, he's there. Lorenzo is worse than a dog, because he can think as well as show his affection. Now he leaves pictures on my pillow every morning. I can smell him.

THE BURNING HEART INSIDE YOUR THROAT by William Griffin

We'd go underground in a coffin
Dressed all in black
We would hug and kiss the stars
With our heads in a casket
And in her worst dreams
We would dance in the dark

Lorenzo wears a Jesus apron
Claire's belly button is her heart
Now he's missing his eye
My fault

Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah ah ah ah ah

I'm shaking off the free rays of dying stars
I am trembling at the breath
Of the burning heart
That's inside your throat

Like time, like the cosmos
This eternity with a physical body
Will one day become a tear
In the eyes of the deepest heart

I know you're in my head
I know you are alive
I'm shaking off the free rays of dying stars
I am trembling at the breath
Of the burning heart
That's inside your throat

Oh aah, hey aah aah
Hey aah, aah, aah, hey aah
Oh aah, hey aah aah
Hey aah, aah, aah, hey aah

We'd go underground in a coffin
Dressed all in black
We would hug and kiss the stars
With our heads in a casket
And in her worst dreams
We would dance in the dark

Oh

I know you're in my head
I know you are alive
I'm shaking off the free rays of dying stars
I am trembling at the breath
Of the burning heart
That's inside your throat