Saturday, March 29, 2014

Take IV: Once from a Dream: Scene III

Scene 3

Needless to say, seeing that drinking billboard freaked the hell out of me! When the others finally realized what I had, everyone started their babbling stream of frantic questions to no one in particular.

"How are we still not home?" "Will we ever get home?" "What are we gonna do from here?" "Were the suits still after us?" "Did they still have pomade in the 30's?!?" That last one was Sid...

We regained composure a bit faster this time around than we did when we arrived in 2159. I took a look around the rooftop for that same device that brought us out of our time to begin with. I scoured the floor. There was nothing around but old cigarette butts, broken bottles with unfamiliar brands, and gravel. Adam stood at the ledge and looked down onto the streets, intrigued by the sea of old cars and confident rich folk moving swiftly below. Reilly seemed to be over his hangover. His head was up and his face wasn't in a constant state of holding back vomit. While searching the roof he was still clearly unwell...probably fiending. He was usually either drunk, high, rolling or hungover for most of his college life. Being sober a while was definitely throwing him off.

All the while, Sid and Renton were talking amongst themselves. Tired of our fruitless search, the other 3 of us looked at the 2 lazy bums quizzically. 

It looked as though it were getting late. I walked up to the two shitheads. "What the hell are you guys talking about? Help us find the stupid thing so we can get us home! #crisismode" 

Renton smiled a wry smile. "Craig, for real: We won't find anything on this roof. It's getting dark. But..." His smile suddenly got toothy. He looked over at Sid. "Why don't you tell him, bud? It was your idea."

Sid did a fake sigh, scratched the back of his neck, and nodded acknowledgement to Renton. "If you insist...so we're in 1933, right? We should...well...hit up one of those speak-easys!" Sid's countenance showed a subtle excitement, while Renton started pelvic thrusting the air like he just don't care.

Adam jumped for joy. He was terribly excited, by the looks of it. This was fairly unusual for him, seeing as he exclusively preferred social events where he knew some people. When the rest of us stared at him judgementally, he explained "I've always wanted to go to a real speak-easy, guys! The flappers and barrels of booze and swing music and..." He took a breath, exasperated. "I watch a lot of old movies and read old books, okay? And this sort of thing gets me out of mind right quick! History and stuff! But it's happening to me!" 

Reilly scowled. He spoke to the rest of us, with a voice as cold and calm as the surface of a small pond on a winter's evening. lol. "Adam...he's not usually this peppy, is he?" We shake our heads. "I need a drink or something...even my boys are twisted now."

I got over my frustration at Sid and Renton's laziness long enough to consider their proposition. "Well, since everyone else is for it, I guess I'm game." 

It was settled then. We moved down the steps of the fire-escape. This building was only about 3 stories tall, and from the looks of things we were right about in the heart of the East Village. Everything seemed so familiar, yet so different. The people, the feel, the walks, the fashionable top hats. We were all in such awe of the scene. We collectively put all of our worries into the back of our skulls, for safe-keeping. At that moment, it was time for debauchery. 

Adam led the way once we were on the sidewalk. He knew about a famous speak-easy in the East Village just a few blocks down and a little to the west. The rest of us followed anxiously, painfully aware that we did not belong to this decade. The stares from the initially unassuming pedestrians saw to our awkward walk of shame. Hell, we didn't even belong to that century! Our clothes were still from 2159. Adam was too hulled up in his own mind to give a rat's ass about the people around him, but we managed to convince him to stop off at a tailor. Here, we traded our random future clothes(which the tailor was extraordinarily interested in) for some second-hand suits. I managed to keep a silver-and-crimson wristband I thought looked cool, hiding it underneath my sleeves. Sid and Renton managed to look dapper after the excursion...but the rest of us looked fairly scrappy. Those two were just lucky, being all tall and fit. They had swag enough to carry themselves successfully in the tailor's better available suits.

Adam once again led the way. He stopped in front of a book store, where he motioned for the rest of the crew to follow him in. The 4 of us were extremely confused. He put on a monocle he bought at the tailor and he went inside. We followed the man with the monacle, of course. The entire party looked around, thoroughly unimpressed. These boys had no interest in reading. It was time to get weird! Adam, on the other hand, was glowing since we entered. He went straight to the store clerk: an older man who had definitely spent some time in uniform. "Good evening, sir. May I inquire about the Valkyrie Dulcinea Chronicles?"

Rielly looked rather ticked off by this question. That goddamn perpetual hangover. "You seriously trying to get a book right now?

The store clerk gave Adam a cheeky smile. Then the smile faded as he left his counter to examine Adam and the group. I felt violated when the clerk stared me up and down, paying particular attention to my firm buttocks. I was almost flattered, but was mostly freaked out. It felt better to know that he was checking the rest of the boys out the same way. Well, only slightly better.

Upon sitting behind his counter once more, the store clerk asked Adam sternly, "Are you a cop?"

Adam smiled widely. "Yeah, so what if I am?"

The store clerk reciprocated the smile. He gave a loud chuckle. "Follow me, gentlemen".

We continued to look at each other confused. Sid mouthed something to Renton, but reluctantly followed the old store manager. Reilly kept looking around and biting his nails, all nervous-like. I, however, couldn't handle the mystery anymore and finally let it out. "Adam...old store man...what is actually happening here?"

The old man walked us over to a brick wall out back behind the shop, still not responding to the question. He took out two bricks that were at eye level. He whispered something into the space where the bricks had been. Suddenly, the bricks opened up. As if by magic, a solid brick wall turned into a gigantic doorway, at least 15 feet tall and nearly as wide. What I witnessed beyond this door, though, was beyond anything I could have expected.

He finally responded. "Welcome, to an island of dreams"

The space beyond the wall was controlled chaos reincarnated into a spectacle of colorful flapper dresses. The dresses were filled in by gorgeous women dancing to the swing of the big-band playing near the back. Gentlemen in suits much nicer than ours sat by the bar, eyeing the girls as they waved their bodies around. The place was small enough to feel packed with just under 100 people. The bartender was pouring drinks from a barrel into the cups of men who drank them proudly. The lighting was dark, adding mystique and maintaining the expected air. The distinct haze of cigarette smoke filled the atmosphere of the room. 

This was the coolest bar I had ever been to. 

...I needed to get out more.

After the door opened, everyone scrambled into "The Turning Point". 

Reilly took his place at the bar. He grabbed one of the whiskeys from a gentleman at the bar. The man looked pissed when Reilly gulped it down. This particular gentleman wanted to get tough with Reilly, and raised a fist at him. Without missing a beat, Reilly grabbed the gentleman's wrist mid-swing and scowled. The rest of the rich men at the bar took this as a sign not to mess with this boy's drinks. All of the men parted from the bar and soon the speak-easy, leaving their drinks...leaving Reilly to proudly wallow in his absurd drinking. He was finally at peace.

Renton went straight for the girls. There couldn't have been a second thought that went through his mind when he saw the dancing.  He approached the floor with no intention of dancing. All he would do is chat a girl up and bring her away. But the girls would not move away from the floor unless he danced, too. Renton was no expert at the charleston, and it was very extremely obvious. Sid came up to the crowd of girls surrounding Renton and proved fairly impressive with his feet. Although imperfect, Sid was a hell of a lot better than Renton. I caught a glimpse of the situation and was astounded. Sid wasn't ever a dancer...he never let loose...he was supposed to be the uptight one! 

"Could you not blow that smoke in my face? kthanks" said Sid to a cute flapper who was clearly interested in him. She turned away in disgust and went toward Renton. Now that was the Sid I knew.

Another girl approached Sid in the first girl's place. Sid and Renton looked at each other in acknowledgement. They knew their dynamic. They were good as each other's wingmen, about a 79.58% success rate. 

Oh yeh, I counted. Not proud of that, but it's done.

Adam and I sat at a booth. We were approached by a couple of really sweet girls. They sat with us and offered to buy us drinks! Lucky us, since none of us had the money. We let Reilly hold on to anything we bartered for at the tailor. Figured he'd probably bug us for it anyway when we were out drinking.

We spoke for quite some time with these 2 ladies. Unlike Renton and Sid, though, we couldn't get each other laid if we had fuckin' cupid arrows. Adam could feign confidence for about 20 seconds before he descended into his "adorably innocent boy" phase. It worked for him only sometimes, but even if it did, he would have the girls fawning over him and completely ignoring me. 

This was the case at the speak-easy. Adam was enjoying attentions of both of the girls, but did nothing about it. He was such a little pansy. It usually almost hurt to watch how bad he was at hitting on girls. Whatever sheepish stunts he was pulling this time seemed to be working, though! They actually thought his awkward advances were cute. They were used to more brusque approaches, so a bit of reservation was like night-and-day. 

I sat there next to him, thinking. I couldn't help but think of the future. Our future...where we come from. How were we getting back home? This was cool and all, but the life of a time-traveller was starting to get daunting. How long had we even been at this? Hours? A day? I'm such a grouchy old man...

Then there was the future where I met with Loretta again. Loretta...

I pictured us on a huge airship. We would look out and see the expanse speckled with futuristic cities. The surrounding lands would be a beautiful mixture of painted green and silver. She would stand at the bow, still in her labcoat. I recreate the iconic "Titanic" scene where Rose stands with outstretched hands with Jack standing behind her, both in awe of what they see. She would tell me super high-density scholarly crap I don't understand. I would fall asleep drooling for the 30th time...

Cheesy, yeah. Whatever. It is admitted.

I heard a voice. "Craig..."

The airship started to lose altitude. Everything was shaking. The perfect scenery became filled with an intense darkness. 

"Craig..."

As the ship falls, Loretta (my Rose) began to disappear into the darkness in front of us. I grabbed for her, but could not feel a thing. She looked terrified as she sank into the black. Soon enough, I would be next.

"CRAIG!! DUDE, WAKE THE FUCK UP!!"

I awoke with a start. All a dream. It was too strange...I still felt her. 

Reilly, Adam, Sid and Renton were all there surrounding me at the booth. The air of brevity was gone. They were very serious.

Meanwhile, the girls at the speak-easy were all running frantically. The bartender was scurrying them all toward a back room. The book store owner stood by the brick entrance, pacing back and forth.

"I'm ruined...I'm ruined" said the old store owner, "...and we have you 5 boys to thank. I knew you were trouble from the moment you came in!"

Adam looked at the old man quizzically. "What do you mean? How is this our fault?"

"There's some suits looking for you 5 in particular! You gentlemen are connected, are you? You brought the pigs on us! I'm ruined..." said the book store owner. 

The five of us exchanged confused looks. With me at the head, we walked to the brick wall. In the slits where the two bricks were first taken out to let us in, we peered out into the book store. What we saw sent us all sprawling backward, falling flat on our asses as we pushed each other away. What we saw was much worse than the police.

...it was the 3 suits that chased us back in Pittsburgh. Reilly fainted, and passed the fuck out. They were back and they were here for us.