Playing the Game, Part OneMay 16 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Copyright 2005 David MacDonald
Part One: http://www.epinions.com/content_4354777220 Part Two: http://www.epinions.com/content_4354842756 Part Three: http://www.epinions.com/content_4354908292 This is kind of an odd story, and I guess it was also written rather quickly. Considering that a few bits came from dreams, it would only be logical that this story is a little odd..... ------------------------------------------------- ~Playing the Game~ “This city is so dirty,” Darren told Eric as they stood on the sidewalk along Richmond Street. “There’s sh-t all over the sidewalk and on the road. Actual sh-t! Do you realize how many dogs crap on the sidewalk in the run of a day?” Darren didn’t know anything, Eric thought. There were many other cities with a far more pronounced hygienic problem than Charlottetown. Eric remembered when a coworker of his at the restaurant where he worked at, as a dishwasher, told him about having driven by Saint John, New Brunswick. The guy painted a portrait of a town with smokestacks pumping out billowing smudgy smoke, a causeway which looked like quicksand rather than water, and lots of exhaust fumes from numerous yellow 18-wheelers moving back and forth across the city. Charlottetown was nothing like Saint John. Yet Darren had more opinions. “But of course the city can’t afford to clean it up. That’s what happens when it spends all its money on snow removal....” The sidewalks were no longer furbished with slippery ice and snow on the first week of May. Instead, dusty stones and powered grit lined the fissures and spoiled the rugged polish of the sidewalks. Far less slippery than ice would be, wouldn’t it? Eric often had a habit of grinding the heels of his shoes across bits of rock, if he ever happened to be standing anywhere near such material. An ominous crunching stewed from the sides of his shoes. He couldn’t help it. He was never satisfied with a pure sense of immobility. His body simply needed to exhale, however pointlessly or randomly, any twitch or excess nerves. “Well, if the city doesn’t want to clean the sidewalks, how about we get some summer jobs here this year?”, Eric joked. “I’m sure they can use a couple of extra hands.” “Why not? Maybe get some of this grass growing......” he said. “It’s looking pretty sickly.....” Even though that’s what rain is for, isn’t it? They both were waiting, but for different things. Darren was waiting for three of his friends to retrieve him and take him to one of the clubs. He called Robert up and asked him to meet him on this street, as it would have been on Robert’s way, in any case. Eric was just waiting for the minutes and seconds to pass him by. He really had nothing to do on this Saturday night. He just happened to take a walk to relieve himself for a few moments of the boredom of watching TV on his torn and frayed couch with a bottle of beer and some pot. During his sluggish walk, he bumped into Darren, who happened to be another acquaintance from work. After this, he would most likely continue on with his walk, until he found himself back home again, where he can drink himself to sleep. A faded blue car soon stopped at the edge of the street, squeezing itself in between two cars in an expert bit of parallel parking. Three people exited. It was Robert, along with two women, Valerie and Lisa. “Waiting long?” Robert asked as the three crossed the street to meet up with the two loiterers. “Nah, just a few minutes,” Darren said. “So are we going to the Velvet Underground.....” “That’s the plan.....” Valerie, a tall, skinny woman, with flat dark hair draped across her back, moved over to the brick wall of the rustic building. She grimaced. “You know, Valerie.... ?” Lisa said to her. “It used to be Breakers.” Valerie knew this. At least back in the days when it was a pool hall she had something to do there besides stand around and be pummeled with loud music. Darren, with the curious and roving eyes, took a snapshot of the woman, with eyes brown like the bricks she leaned against, and a body which was thin and spare. “I think I’ll stay this one out,” Valerie said. “My head’s a little tired. I don’t think it could stand the loud music.” She never knew club music could be played at such high decibels until she stepped foot in the place for the one and only time. “It would definitely wake you up for sure if you went, though.” Lisa said. “What are you going to do?” Robert asked. Darren, at that point, decided to avert his glare to Lisa, a shorter, fuller woman with curly hair and glasses. “You don’t mind if things are a little uneven?” he asked her. “Huh?” Lisa hummed. “Gender-wise, I mean,” Darren said, laughing in hopes Lisa would be on his little private joke. “Not really. There’s going to be a lot of other guys and girls there anyway......” Valerie politely crossed her arms. “Benny’s coming by in an hour or so anyway.” “More important than us?” Lisa teased with a soft laugh. “I remember before when you used to stick around with us for the whole evening!” Valerie smiled passively. “Well, there’s no point in hanging around here,” Darren stated. “Let’s get outta here. See you later, Eric.” The trio said their see-you-laters and returned to Robert’s car. Robert thought he’d be cute by squealing his tires against the brick layout of Richmond Street before taking the wild ride for about one and a half blocks to the club. “Robert’s going to wear out his tires doing that sh-t,” Valerie judged. “But I suppose men need to show off.....” Now Valerie had taken Darren’s place in the standing-room only section of the sidewalk. She continued leaning against the brick wall, and noticed Eric’s shuffling of his foot. After another thirty seconds or so, he then crouched down and sat on the sidewalk, his knees pointing upward. He wished he had a smoke in his hand. Then he realized Valerie might question his seemingly insanely random act. “Tired?” Valerie asked, smiling. “Not... not really,” he said, his first words to the woman. “Don’t ask me why, but I just don’t know how to keep still.” “I make you nervous, huh?” “No... I’m always this way.” “So.... you just randomly sit down in public spaces?” His face soured, understanding how odd a first impression this must be. “Well... not... not quite.” Eric knew he had no reason to be here. He never spoke to this woman before, and he doubted she had much she wanted to say to him. And yet he was still here, for some unspeakable reason. He determined the synapses of his brain were moving with the speed of slugs, removing his motivation to do anything. Valerie didn’t appear in much of a rush, either. Her arms were crossed, her emotions were understated. But her eyes suggested something unspoken was contemplating sneaking out. “My name’s Eric.....” he said, deciding he might as well have some type of conversation with her. “I know....” she smiled dryly. “Mine’s Valerie.” “I know that too.....” “So I guess that was a waste of an introduction then.....wasn’t it?” she smiled, her face filled with a gentle mockery. “Better than silence.” “You’re right.....” Eric pushed himself back up to a standing position. The rigid sidewalk was too hard on his bones. “So.... got anywhere to go?” Valerie asked after a while. “Not really? And you?” “.... no.... not......” But she didn’t finish her thought. Her face adjusted from its seemingly detached expression into something much more unsure. She relieved herself of the support of the brick wall, stepping closer to him. “Well.....” Her voice shook. “I ... I need to fill in some time before Benny gets back....” Eric looked to her, in suspense over the context of her comment. Valerie’s eyes lurched downward to see Eric’s shoe restarting its grinding of the sidewalk. Watching his nervous tic gave her a chance to recollect her thoughts. “Why don’t you come over for a while?” she inquired. “I’m sure you’re harmless. I mean, we sort of have mutual friends, don’t we? It’s okay, isn’t it?” She was bold, Eric thought. She seemed to attempt to justify her want. And what would Benny think? He would hope the guy would understand what this strange fellow was doing, alone with his girlfriend in their apartment. But: “Yea, sure, why not.... what else am I doing right now?” He would take the risk. * Valerie’s apartment was a ten-minute walk from Richmond Street. She lived in one of the older apartments, which was little more than a three-story house redesigned to have four or five apartments. A narrow and steep staircase led down to her basement apartment. It would be dangerous if you walked out of the apartment only to realize you’ve forgotten something, and were in a major rush to retrieve it. You’d be taking your life into your hands if you did so. One mistaken movement and you’d break your neck while tumbling all the way down to the bottom of the steps. The apartment itself was much more expansive than the preview of the staircase suggested. Valerie and Eric removed their footwear at the entrance to a roomy, if unremarkable, kitchen, with a white tiled floor and equally white walls. The paint was old and dull, but at least it wasn’t peeling off. It was a suitable apartment. “..... I actually haven’t seen them too often anymore,” she said. “I remember years ago hanging out with Lisa a lot. But for some reason she seems to be more of a part-time friend to me. This was the first night I saw her in about six weeks....” She takes off her sneakers. “Odd, don’t you think, how those things go?” But Eric was more concerned about Benny. “So....,” to satisfy his curiosity, “Ben? He’s your man, I assume.” Valerie gave him a rusty smile. “Benny’s a girl, actually......,” she sighed. Eric’s eyebrows raised. “Really?” She’s obviously had to correct many other people’s mistakes. “I’ve always called her that. Her real name’s Bonnie, but she won’t let you call her that.” she said. She walked into the living room, which was like a black pit against the white of the kitchen. Eric noticed she went deeper within the room without turning on a light. “Can you find the light switch?” he teased, although his need for constant motion was soured with a fear of fatally bumping into something before she could find any light. Then the snap of the switch from the lamp sounded. A dim light illuminated the bottom half of the room. “I found it.” “I knew I could trust you,” he said. But he actually gained a new uncertainty. He had assumed Valerie was one of those girls who were chained to their boyfriends like a slave to its master. It would have been a reason for her to stay home instead of go with her friends to the clubs. But this was not the case; he was merely confused about names. So why did she invite him over, specifically? “Sit down...”, she offered. She stretched herself out along the cushions of the sofa before propping herself up with her elbow, as she watched Eric sit down on a chair on the other side of the living room table. She appeared as if she was about to make an attempt to relax; to feel content in the space she was in. That was until she suddenly sat up on the couch. “So what do you want to do?” “I... I don’t know......” Eric had only fractured ideas. “How about some TV?,” she decided. Television. Probably what he would have been watching had he went home instead. Valerie used the remote to flip through the channels. Eventually, she came across CNN, where, despite being an acronym for Cable News Network, had no hue of politics or other general matters of public importance dominating the screen at this time. Instead, the story was about an escaped fugitive; some guy who committed some heinous crime and who was at large in some American city. Eric would have been watching something equally criminal at home, but it would have been of the more obviously fictional variety. He had a lineup of CSI and Law and Order to watch on all the various cable stations which seemed to air nothing but those shows. “This station has the gall to call itself a news channel,” she said. “This is all they’ve been addicted to for the last week!” Eric laughed. “Well, CNN isn’t always like this. Whenever a random war breaks out in Iraq the reporters are on it like flies on a dead animal!” “Real life is happening underneath the reporters’ noses but they can’t even smell the odor.” she said. The fuzzy security tape showed the fugitive walking up a staircase and opening the door which exited him from the parking garage. It was questionable if the security tape was fuzzy because the security camera was imperfect, or because the newscast has played the tape too many times. “Benny and I watch this crap a lot. We always sit back and make fun of it. It’s such a waste of time, don’t you think?” Valerie looks to Eric with a needy expression. “Hmmm, well, um, it’s just what goes on down there, isn’t it? Don’t Americans do these things more than Canadians?” “I don’t know, do they?” Valerie was unable to fully counteract Eric’s naive generalization. “Benny told me she wanted to find out how many escaped violent fugitives there were in Canada at this very moment compared to America. She said she wanted to call every police department in the country to see who was on their most wanted lists. Then she wanted to call CBC, CTV, and Global and ask them why they weren’t doing 24-hour news coverage on some local Canadian menace.” She smiled. “ I told her I’d help her make the phone calls! But I think she dropped that idea......” After a few moments, she said: “.... besides, who would have the time or money to make pointless phone calls?” The two followed the news story without much passion. Eric sat lazily on the chair, while Valerie shifted herself about. “..... I really don’t feel like watching this, I just realized. I’m sure you don’t either.” Valerie said, holding the remote. She looked to Eric for a response but he simply shrugged his shoulders. She was satisfied enough with the response, and turned off the television. Valerie exhaled as she fell back to the side of the couch. She had her hands placed on her stomach. Her fingertips tapped her stomach like fingers on a keyboard. And then she abruptly bounced back into a seating position. Eric wondered if he had infected her with his own jittery condition. “Do you like a drink?” she asked. “Sure.....” “I hope you don’t mind Coke.” Coke was okay. Although beer would have been better. Coors Light....... “Go ahead,” he said. She walked along the deep red of the carpet into the kitchen. As she approached the fridge, the phone rang, and she picked up the receiver. “Hello?..... oh, hi, Benny, what’s going on?.......... oh, that sucks, and I cleared my whole night just for you...... well, you’ve got no choice, huh, you’re dealing with an 11-year-old...... anyway, hopefully she’ll be happy and that they won’t die in the tank this time!!...... see you later!” She dropped the receiver back onto the phone. She breathed a little loudly for a few seconds, almost as if she had just finished a brief but wholly unexpected run, before returning to the task at hand...... ... she returned to the living room carrying the soda in two tall beer glasses. Nice touch. “So....”, Eric said, “.... doesn’t look like Benny’s coming over?” “No... she has to take her cousin to the mall. Her fish died the other night and she is so eager to replace it. And there was nobody else to take her there, so...... and I think Benny’s just going to stay there the night and come back tomorrow.” --- Part Two: http://www.epinions.com/content_4354842756  |
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