The morning hue and the scent of dew had Puppy dreaming while awake. It looked real good, it looked real normal – it looked like earth for goodness sake.
He took a deep breath but somehow the air didn’t stay in his lungs as long as it normally did. It was as if it was losing weight and substance.
Slap!
“Put some pants on man. You’ll freeze to death, har-har” said a gruff male voice from behind. Puppy was shocked by the sight of a smiling half-naked man standing behind him – a man with the wrong equation to that half exposed.
“Yeah I’ll freeze,” Puppy repeated, not sure exactly what it was he was supposed to say to this half-naked man. And what could you say to the half-naked man? There was no real way of dicing up the previous night in to remarkable, decipherable points. That seemed ridiculous. Yet, there was no way to push his ideas or bring up anything but last night. Stalling for words, Puppy smiled and began to walk away.
“Where you going Puppy?” the half-naked man asked.
“I’m outta here. I don’t think I can take anymore,” Puppy answered, his pants hanging around his ankles and his head pounding a million songs in his head. He was not quite over the previous night’s toxicity and stumbling on the driveway he made way for the ground.
“Take care man,” the half-naked man said waving his hand.
Lying on his belly, Puppy looked on the open road from the end of the driveway. Everything looked too far away and his spirit wavered. He then heard the half-naked man’s voice pipe up: “Oh and Puppy, Rabbit wanted to let you know that she was coming back to pick you up, seeing as how it was more than likely you had no idea where you are.”
That was right. Puppy had no idea where he was. He saw the tangerine sun rising above the smoky sky and felt the reality of things way heavy upon his heart. Of course, he thought, the orange-glowing twisting house. Was it all a dream – a nightmare? What did he say the night before?
He felt his stomach churn. It could have been a hangover but that was not it. He thought maybe this was how Kratos felt at the beginning of God of War. The god’s had turned their back on him. Rabbit had turned her back on him. The name Rabbit also helped bring back the reality of Earth’s imminent demise. Six days left. That was all humans had. Well, there were also the animals but…
“Did she tell you when she expected to be coming back?” Puppy asked.
“No, man, but she told me to call her when your jellybean started colouring, so I called her when your jellybean turned red.”
Puppy sat down on the grass in front of the house and asked the half-naked man whether or not there was a coffee to be had. The half-naked man smiled and said that was something he could do and returned the grey derelict house to get a coffee for Puppy. What had happened to the orange glow?
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Bargain part 4
“WHOOOOAAAAA! Get on in here and dance suckers. Last week of party, last week of joys, last week we party, last week girls and BOYYYYYYYYYYS!” The floor rumbled again. It was coming from the speakers. The sound engineer was doing something to mimic the death of earth.
Rabbit was laughing pure. She had seen the joke coming but the payoff was that Puppy didn’t and the childish chagrin on his face only fuelled her enjoyment of the played joke. Before Puppy could come to understand the whole theatrics taking place, Rabbit took control and dragged him gently on to the dance floor. Rabbit’s movement was quick on to the floor and she found a hole amongst the throngs for the two to move together. Puppy’s quick eyes and jittery movements gave him the appearance of a man who felt uncomfortable and lost in his surroundings. His face had become an ugly pale and dour and if he wanted to speak his lower-lip tucked under his front teeth had made it more difficult to do so. Rabbit was moving as a snake after its prey, her sensuous moves had Puppy digging his heels in to match her moves but his awkward steps were no match and soon he made his move, his face now the colour of tomato, to the bar.
“Where are you going Puppy?” she asked still laughing and enjoying the rhythm of the song. Puppy didn’t hear her or didn’t want to since he made no gesture of having heard her words and didn’t stop to look back at her. He moved very directly off the dance floor and even more directly to the bar where he found by luck Thor waiting to serve.
“I guess we didn’t need to wait till next week, huh bub?” said Thor laughing.
“No one wants to drink anymore, Thor?” Max asked meekly. He gave the bartender a weak smile and leaned over the bar waiting for Thor to finish pouring the Oban Puppy never asked for. “You know me so well.
“When do we finish?” Max asked.
“When Earth lies down for its final rest,” Thor answered. “Until then it’s a party.”
“Puppy! Why did you run off like that?” Rabbit asked pushing her way to the bar.
“The name is Max Jefferies,” Max said sternly asserting his real identity by shaking his full rocks glass at Rabbit. “You thought it was real funny the way I reacted to everybody running back inside. But MY NAME IS MAX JEFFERIES. Let me tell you I, MAX JEFFERIES, didn’t find it all that funny. The world is coming to an end and people like you are making jokes and in the next breath complaining about the chaos on the streets. It’s time you got real with all this.” Max turned his back on Rabbit and took a sip of scotch.
“Real with all this? What about you, Max,” Rabbit said emphasising Max’s name like a 10-year-old girl does when making fun of another kid for having ugly shoes. “You act like nothing else matters but getting your ding-a-ling hard and having some poor girl do something about it. Am I off base?”
Max said nothing feeling lost yet again in the presence of Rabbit’s voice.
“I didn’t think so. You know what? I can take you somewhere where all this angst of yours will disappear but you have to trust me and you have to be understanding. It isn’t for the weak. That is if you want to get real with all this?”
Max threw back his scotch and hoggishly wiped his mouth. His eyes were glazier than morning dew and his chest trembled. Max offered his hand to Rabbit, which was quickly accepted. He was back to being Puppy and he knew it.
“See you soon, Thor.”:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;
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The car ride had been uncanny. Music poured out of the radio but it sounded like white noise to Puppy’s throbbing ears. Rabbit drove her sedan demonically through the city streets burning past brawls and debauchery. The mixture of quick turns and old alcohol turned Puppy’s stomach in to a cement mixer, heavy and dirty. In order to pace himself he would periodically look out his window and what he saw made his stomach even heavier. What the kids were doing, Puppy thought, was unspeakable and silenced him throughout the whole ride. Rabbit did all the talking pointing out all the horridness humanity had become and it was an ugly sight to behold. As Max, Puppy always thought that if the apocalypse came it would be bad. He never prepped his mind for this. It seemed too awful for human thought. It was sick. He was sick.
“Pull over,” he demanded.
But Rabbit didn’t pull over instead she sped up and the torturous ride continued for what seemed like hours. It had in fact only been 20 minutes.
Puppy began to believe that he was forced to follow a trail but he did not know to what end. When the car finally pulled up to a derelict house, Puppy assumed it was another of Rabbit’s examples of human degradation. He was about to tell Rabbit that he got the point and to take him back to The Pavilion where he could finish his evening – and maybe his life – in the throws of a full depression. Rabbit never gave him the opportunity. She opened his door.
Puppy was fully pissed and not able to walk properly. He stumbled on to Rabbit, bulling her over and knocking both to the ground.
“What’s love?” he asked again “Is what love you to?” His punch drunk words were poor in grammar but obvious in their intention.
“I don’t believe in love at first sight,” Rabbit said shoving Puppy off her rising to her feet.
Puppy looked up to see her walk off in to an orange-glowing twisting home……………………………………………………………………………………………… He vomited and then the next thing he saw was total blackness… someone had turned off the lights.
Rabbit was laughing pure. She had seen the joke coming but the payoff was that Puppy didn’t and the childish chagrin on his face only fuelled her enjoyment of the played joke. Before Puppy could come to understand the whole theatrics taking place, Rabbit took control and dragged him gently on to the dance floor. Rabbit’s movement was quick on to the floor and she found a hole amongst the throngs for the two to move together. Puppy’s quick eyes and jittery movements gave him the appearance of a man who felt uncomfortable and lost in his surroundings. His face had become an ugly pale and dour and if he wanted to speak his lower-lip tucked under his front teeth had made it more difficult to do so. Rabbit was moving as a snake after its prey, her sensuous moves had Puppy digging his heels in to match her moves but his awkward steps were no match and soon he made his move, his face now the colour of tomato, to the bar.
“Where are you going Puppy?” she asked still laughing and enjoying the rhythm of the song. Puppy didn’t hear her or didn’t want to since he made no gesture of having heard her words and didn’t stop to look back at her. He moved very directly off the dance floor and even more directly to the bar where he found by luck Thor waiting to serve.
“I guess we didn’t need to wait till next week, huh bub?” said Thor laughing.
“No one wants to drink anymore, Thor?” Max asked meekly. He gave the bartender a weak smile and leaned over the bar waiting for Thor to finish pouring the Oban Puppy never asked for. “You know me so well.
“When do we finish?” Max asked.
“When Earth lies down for its final rest,” Thor answered. “Until then it’s a party.”
“Puppy! Why did you run off like that?” Rabbit asked pushing her way to the bar.
“The name is Max Jefferies,” Max said sternly asserting his real identity by shaking his full rocks glass at Rabbit. “You thought it was real funny the way I reacted to everybody running back inside. But MY NAME IS MAX JEFFERIES. Let me tell you I, MAX JEFFERIES, didn’t find it all that funny. The world is coming to an end and people like you are making jokes and in the next breath complaining about the chaos on the streets. It’s time you got real with all this.” Max turned his back on Rabbit and took a sip of scotch.
“Real with all this? What about you, Max,” Rabbit said emphasising Max’s name like a 10-year-old girl does when making fun of another kid for having ugly shoes. “You act like nothing else matters but getting your ding-a-ling hard and having some poor girl do something about it. Am I off base?”
Max said nothing feeling lost yet again in the presence of Rabbit’s voice.
“I didn’t think so. You know what? I can take you somewhere where all this angst of yours will disappear but you have to trust me and you have to be understanding. It isn’t for the weak. That is if you want to get real with all this?”
Max threw back his scotch and hoggishly wiped his mouth. His eyes were glazier than morning dew and his chest trembled. Max offered his hand to Rabbit, which was quickly accepted. He was back to being Puppy and he knew it.
“See you soon, Thor.”:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::;
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The car ride had been uncanny. Music poured out of the radio but it sounded like white noise to Puppy’s throbbing ears. Rabbit drove her sedan demonically through the city streets burning past brawls and debauchery. The mixture of quick turns and old alcohol turned Puppy’s stomach in to a cement mixer, heavy and dirty. In order to pace himself he would periodically look out his window and what he saw made his stomach even heavier. What the kids were doing, Puppy thought, was unspeakable and silenced him throughout the whole ride. Rabbit did all the talking pointing out all the horridness humanity had become and it was an ugly sight to behold. As Max, Puppy always thought that if the apocalypse came it would be bad. He never prepped his mind for this. It seemed too awful for human thought. It was sick. He was sick.
“Pull over,” he demanded.
But Rabbit didn’t pull over instead she sped up and the torturous ride continued for what seemed like hours. It had in fact only been 20 minutes.
Puppy began to believe that he was forced to follow a trail but he did not know to what end. When the car finally pulled up to a derelict house, Puppy assumed it was another of Rabbit’s examples of human degradation. He was about to tell Rabbit that he got the point and to take him back to The Pavilion where he could finish his evening – and maybe his life – in the throws of a full depression. Rabbit never gave him the opportunity. She opened his door.
Puppy was fully pissed and not able to walk properly. He stumbled on to Rabbit, bulling her over and knocking both to the ground.
“What’s love?” he asked again “Is what love you to?” His punch drunk words were poor in grammar but obvious in their intention.
“I don’t believe in love at first sight,” Rabbit said shoving Puppy off her rising to her feet.
Puppy looked up to see her walk off in to an orange-glowing twisting home……………………………………………………………………………………………… He vomited and then the next thing he saw was total blackness… someone had turned off the lights.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The Bargain part 3
Puppy whose face was now flush red with diamonds in his eyes, told Rabbit that he needed a seat and moved over to the far end of the deck, away from the doors. Each seat was taken by either a person or a body, rigor mortis really had a hold on these chairs, and so Puppy balanced himself. He looked over to Rabbit, smiled and said.
“Guess no one loves a puppy nowadays.”
“Puppy, people just forgot that love still matters. Yeah it’s all out the window, sure, but it matters. We have a week left. A WEEK! That’s an eternity… well until eternity. Whatever.” Max knew exactly what she meant. Still he said nothing and kept on balancing. “We could be doing good things for one another in the final days, meeting our end like a bunch of wilting roses rather than the bunch of drying ugly weeds like we are.”
Rabbit kept talking about something or another and Puppy had lost track of where she was going with the conversation so he just nodded his head to encourage her to stay where she was. He had become fixated on the topic of love, though not whether or not he was in love with her for he had already decided that he barely knew her. Yet, something in him made him desire to reach over and hold her for the entire last week; it was as if all the scotch he had sent into himself had not made his disposition to life more bearable but instead it was the conversation and the presence of this woman, Rabbit, that made it seem worthwhile.
Oh but was the point. Puppy was a goner sunken in to some miserable bizarre booze moment that he mistook for love. The evening would soon end as would this conversation and Puppy – Max – would wake up from this dream and then march home where he would waste another morning sleeping alone.
“What is love?” Puppy asked. “Is it not overrated – just some concoction of pheromones and hormones?” yes that must have been it Puppy, “giving us a euphoric feeling, but keeps us from concentrating on what truly matters?”
“You are so depressing,” said Rabbit who again tried to move away but was stymied by Puppy’s slender body.
“Well what is love to you?” asked Puppy.
Rabbit smiled and thought about it a minute. This was no silent moment as the bedlam continued on the deck.
“I’ve always wanted to see Paris. Not possible now. Bah, we are finally living in a free world and we can’t do anything but the same shit we did before. Am I being selfish?” Rabbit waited for Puppy to say something but Puppy just nodded his head in tacit agreement again and waited for her to continue. “I would love to say that I am surprised by all the chaos but that’s not true.”
“Is it any different now then before? What is there to whine about, Rabbit?”
“Who said I was whining? It’s an observation. We could be doing a lot more…”
“There is no point,” Puppy cut Rabbit off. “We have no right to build a damn thing. It’s all gonna be gone soon Rabbit; might as well hump our way in to hell.”
Rabbit’s eyes shrunk in disbelief.
“You don’t have a clue Puppy. The everything is ending, sure enough. But the ideals of humanity – of community and love – we built are crumbling to the ground and we have decided to be the ones to give those ideals a final push. For what did we build those ideals? I hope not only for convenience.”
“So?” Puppy said, his tone becoming confrontational again. “Was that what you were saying to the men on the dance floor when they were laughing their asses off? Or do you reserve that mumbo-jumbo for those who speak honestly to you?”
Rabbit began to walk off but Puppy grabbed her arm and pulled her in close. For one moment he had a feverous thought of doing something – anything – but the world rumbled a little under his feet and Rabbit bounced out of his arms and moved back, smiling, staring at the his chest and then pushing him back with a firm shove.
“I’m sorry,” Puppy said shocked that he moved so boldly.
There seemed to be something to the rumble under Puppy’s feet because screams began filling the deck and the revellers began running inside. Puppy took Rabbit’s hand and dragged her gently with the crowd who were moving in to the Pavilion like bees to a bee-hive.
“Guess no one loves a puppy nowadays.”
“Puppy, people just forgot that love still matters. Yeah it’s all out the window, sure, but it matters. We have a week left. A WEEK! That’s an eternity… well until eternity. Whatever.” Max knew exactly what she meant. Still he said nothing and kept on balancing. “We could be doing good things for one another in the final days, meeting our end like a bunch of wilting roses rather than the bunch of drying ugly weeds like we are.”
Rabbit kept talking about something or another and Puppy had lost track of where she was going with the conversation so he just nodded his head to encourage her to stay where she was. He had become fixated on the topic of love, though not whether or not he was in love with her for he had already decided that he barely knew her. Yet, something in him made him desire to reach over and hold her for the entire last week; it was as if all the scotch he had sent into himself had not made his disposition to life more bearable but instead it was the conversation and the presence of this woman, Rabbit, that made it seem worthwhile.
Oh but was the point. Puppy was a goner sunken in to some miserable bizarre booze moment that he mistook for love. The evening would soon end as would this conversation and Puppy – Max – would wake up from this dream and then march home where he would waste another morning sleeping alone.
“What is love?” Puppy asked. “Is it not overrated – just some concoction of pheromones and hormones?” yes that must have been it Puppy, “giving us a euphoric feeling, but keeps us from concentrating on what truly matters?”
“You are so depressing,” said Rabbit who again tried to move away but was stymied by Puppy’s slender body.
“Well what is love to you?” asked Puppy.
Rabbit smiled and thought about it a minute. This was no silent moment as the bedlam continued on the deck.
“I’ve always wanted to see Paris. Not possible now. Bah, we are finally living in a free world and we can’t do anything but the same shit we did before. Am I being selfish?” Rabbit waited for Puppy to say something but Puppy just nodded his head in tacit agreement again and waited for her to continue. “I would love to say that I am surprised by all the chaos but that’s not true.”
“Is it any different now then before? What is there to whine about, Rabbit?”
“Who said I was whining? It’s an observation. We could be doing a lot more…”
“There is no point,” Puppy cut Rabbit off. “We have no right to build a damn thing. It’s all gonna be gone soon Rabbit; might as well hump our way in to hell.”
Rabbit’s eyes shrunk in disbelief.
“You don’t have a clue Puppy. The everything is ending, sure enough. But the ideals of humanity – of community and love – we built are crumbling to the ground and we have decided to be the ones to give those ideals a final push. For what did we build those ideals? I hope not only for convenience.”
“So?” Puppy said, his tone becoming confrontational again. “Was that what you were saying to the men on the dance floor when they were laughing their asses off? Or do you reserve that mumbo-jumbo for those who speak honestly to you?”
Rabbit began to walk off but Puppy grabbed her arm and pulled her in close. For one moment he had a feverous thought of doing something – anything – but the world rumbled a little under his feet and Rabbit bounced out of his arms and moved back, smiling, staring at the his chest and then pushing him back with a firm shove.
“I’m sorry,” Puppy said shocked that he moved so boldly.
There seemed to be something to the rumble under Puppy’s feet because screams began filling the deck and the revellers began running inside. Puppy took Rabbit’s hand and dragged her gently with the crowd who were moving in to the Pavilion like bees to a bee-hive.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The Bargain part 2
Max bobbled out of the men’s washroom in a zigzag and circle too, until he realized his body was drunk.
“Fucking we…wa…weak me,” he stumbled over his words as he stumbled over bodies on thre floor caught in the throws of sexual curiosity or was it that they were afraid like he was, fearful of what might happen if they didn’t just say “fuck it” and start ripping each others’ clothes off.
“Watch it!” a woman screamed in his ear. Max had rubber legs, he recognized that.
“Whaz wif the hostility?” Max asked, questioning in his mind why anyone would have an ounce of hate in them now. He didn’t make eye contact with the woman admonisher nor did he even glance at her for it was impossible given his drunken state. Man, the scotch was getting to him and he tried to blink it off but the whole Pavilion looked like it was breaking up into a twisted………………twisty little angel…………………………………………breaking light……………oh no look out……………………………… he took the brunt of an elbow right in the jaw. His poor behaviour had got him there, he supposed, and a negative feeling re-emerged in him that he thought he had submerged with alcohol. Some things drinking can’t fix.
“You gotta watch where you are going lush puppy. Some people around here aren’t drinking their lives away,” the woman said, her mood and words filled with disgust and anger but a hint of compassion also expressed itself at the very end of her admonishment, as how could Max be judged harsher then anyone else.
Max did not get this point. As the woman walked away, Max was stricken by scowl and an ill temper. He followed this big mouthed woman to the dance floor where she was walking in to a sea of naked flesh bouncing off each other, rubbing against each other moving in rhythm with each other as if they were wavy ripples of nipples in a naked sea. Max felt out of place but continued on chasing after her. Sweaty armpits, elbows and knees smashed against his nose and chest… incense and peppermints… but he barrelled through. He kept the scowl, enraged not only by the woman’s tough words but now also by her difficult escape. Chasing after this rabbit was very hard; much had been made of the “female-chase” but at this point, Max thought that chase was certainly overrated. It should be much easier than this. Pushing through the final section of the nude knees-up, he came upon the woman who had caused him much insult and grief.
“You are an aggressive hound,” the woman said apparently aware the whole time that Max had been chasing her. She smiled. Flutters of recent memory broke through his alcohol-induced mental wall.
“You?” Max said. The woman smiled knowingly although it wasn’t clear to Max why she would know that he recognised her. “No, but you were so warm with all the men here around the bar.”
For some reason Max sobered up a touch once he recognized her.
“Oh puppy, you don’t know what kind of bone you got.”
It was indeed the society master, the beautiful brunette who had commanded attention towards her all evening and yet all that love had appeared to mean so little to her, which made Max think long and hard as to why she was still standing there looking at him with a smile, it might have been a sarcastic or cynical smile, but it was a smile and that was good enough for Max.
Max looked upon her and growled. “So why did you run?”
The woman had look of mischief and walked away. She was unmistakable: she had skin like porcelain, a smile as bright as the sun used to be, and scents like spring in bloom. Max could not help himself. He tried in vain to walk the other way. Maybe it was the eighth glass of scotch, maybe it had completely fucked with his mind… THIS IS HOW WE DO IT… When that failed, he tried in earnest to steady himself. It was no use and off he went after her again with so many questions stuck in his mind. He second guessed himself the whole march to the deck, you aren’t good enough, she is above your league, and there is no time to waste on one, what are you going to do when you catch this rabbit? His legs paid no heed to the questions in his mind, his heart could not accept what his intellect advised, and he was an intoxicated slave to her march.
The deck was bedlam. It was difficult swerving through the stalled revellers and keeping his eye on the rabbit woman was not in any way easy as she headed to the deck railing. She stood off in the corner and Max felt it necessary to walk as directly as possible towards her. It was if he were walking in one of those inflatable castles and the kids, with no parents to watch them, were shoving a little too hard and screaming a little too loud… “Get these kids off of me!”… If it weren’t for his drunk stumbling, he might have pulled that off. His arrival was similar to her departure, mischief glowed in his eyes and he had many questions to be answered. He placed his arm on the deck railing and slipped a little. He had a quick glance to 14 storeys down……………………………………………………………………………….. Over the deck railing the world below seemed as archaic as the Pavilion was. There was no police. There was no military.
“Puppy, you made it.” the rabbit woman exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together.
Max, huffing a little from the chase drew back his breath. “Listen woman, I ain’t got time for games. Why did you say what you said on the dance floor? Bone?”
“Curiosity killed the cat, puppy.”
They both laughed at the constant reference to domestic animals and then sighed.
“It’s a shame we didn’t get on the moon shuttle, no?” Max said without thinking. How much had he drunk?
He though a little more, his mind stuck on history: The moon program was created to save human beings from their destruction and it was billed as the great sacrifice – those who stayed behind did so for the grace of humanity. “What it came off as was another creation of the haves and have-nots,” he said. The woman didn’t hear him for the music was too loud, so he drew in closer but his mind returned to history:
The last moon shuttle took approximately 300 humans to the moon to rebuild humanity from a safe distance. It was eugenics to the maximum but the world’s governments decided that was the right way to go. Most people went along with it. They felt they had little choice in the matter. However, there was a faction of politicians, philosophers and military leaders who argued right until the shuttle blasted off that survival of the fittest demanded that those capable enough to do anything to get on should get on. Most of these thinkers were shot on cattle farms as a warning of what would happen if anyone else got the fat idea of acting on their heartfelt words. This was the last act of government. World leaders then receded in to the background. Their conspicuous absence in the final two weeks spread other rumours that they had built another space shuttle, smaller than the originals, to carry them to the moon. It was said that the launch pad was in a dying rainforest in Guatemala. Tension all over the world had risen to a fever pitch by the final weeks and stories of political screw jobs spread like pestilence. “In one short week the whole forested area of Guatemala was levelled like Lego blocks by a rambunctious five year old,” Max said and this time the woman heard.
“It was real kind of the scientists to figure out what day the end was coming,” the woman offered as a talking point.
“Rumours are circulating… hiccup!… that the remaining rich are depressed by the lack of security. For the first time power has been returned to the whole people,” Max responded in a sarcastic tone, pumping his fist in the air. Max might have been right but these rumours were unsubstantiated in his stupor.
“If this is what power of the whole people means, then Puppy I am ready to return to a world of financial oppression,” the woman responded quickly.
“Return to what?” scoffed Max, “hiccup! ... that world of having an obligation to those who had none to you? Please… hiccup! ... bring on love and bring on free will. Bring on a piece of joy that might match our misery. For the rich, bring on war and bring on dereliction. Otherwise for us poor, it’s all over in the bathrooms.”
The woman made a movement towards leaving when Max blocked her off, smiled and gently closed his eyes as if to say his confrontational style would be tempered.
“Fitting that the everything would end this way,” the woman said.Max had never heard that slogan before and it showed him her intelligence and grace, which attracted him even more. “We have seven days left to live on this planet and yet we are still at war.”
Max nodded and moved in closer to her.
“My name is… hiccup!”
“I don’t want to know you,” the rabbit woman said interrupting Max. Her words sent a extreme change of emotion through Max. He had begun to allow himself thoughts of love with this woman who was so clearly able to match wits with him, making her all that more attractive. “I’ll just call you Puppy, alright.”
Max nodded his head in Oban agreement. He was happy that the possibility of companionship still existed and looked again upon the chaos below. Men were doing awful things to one another down there.
“Glad we are up here, Rabbit,” Max said. “Can I call you that?” His tone was still one of mockery but it was friendly and not at all intimidating. The hiccups were gone.
This time it was Rabbit who nodded her head.
“Fucking we…wa…weak me,” he stumbled over his words as he stumbled over bodies on thre floor caught in the throws of sexual curiosity or was it that they were afraid like he was, fearful of what might happen if they didn’t just say “fuck it” and start ripping each others’ clothes off.
“Watch it!” a woman screamed in his ear. Max had rubber legs, he recognized that.
“Whaz wif the hostility?” Max asked, questioning in his mind why anyone would have an ounce of hate in them now. He didn’t make eye contact with the woman admonisher nor did he even glance at her for it was impossible given his drunken state. Man, the scotch was getting to him and he tried to blink it off but the whole Pavilion looked like it was breaking up into a twisted………………twisty little angel…………………………………………breaking light……………oh no look out……………………………… he took the brunt of an elbow right in the jaw. His poor behaviour had got him there, he supposed, and a negative feeling re-emerged in him that he thought he had submerged with alcohol. Some things drinking can’t fix.
“You gotta watch where you are going lush puppy. Some people around here aren’t drinking their lives away,” the woman said, her mood and words filled with disgust and anger but a hint of compassion also expressed itself at the very end of her admonishment, as how could Max be judged harsher then anyone else.
Max did not get this point. As the woman walked away, Max was stricken by scowl and an ill temper. He followed this big mouthed woman to the dance floor where she was walking in to a sea of naked flesh bouncing off each other, rubbing against each other moving in rhythm with each other as if they were wavy ripples of nipples in a naked sea. Max felt out of place but continued on chasing after her. Sweaty armpits, elbows and knees smashed against his nose and chest… incense and peppermints… but he barrelled through. He kept the scowl, enraged not only by the woman’s tough words but now also by her difficult escape. Chasing after this rabbit was very hard; much had been made of the “female-chase” but at this point, Max thought that chase was certainly overrated. It should be much easier than this. Pushing through the final section of the nude knees-up, he came upon the woman who had caused him much insult and grief.
“You are an aggressive hound,” the woman said apparently aware the whole time that Max had been chasing her. She smiled. Flutters of recent memory broke through his alcohol-induced mental wall.
“You?” Max said. The woman smiled knowingly although it wasn’t clear to Max why she would know that he recognised her. “No, but you were so warm with all the men here around the bar.”
For some reason Max sobered up a touch once he recognized her.
“Oh puppy, you don’t know what kind of bone you got.”
It was indeed the society master, the beautiful brunette who had commanded attention towards her all evening and yet all that love had appeared to mean so little to her, which made Max think long and hard as to why she was still standing there looking at him with a smile, it might have been a sarcastic or cynical smile, but it was a smile and that was good enough for Max.
Max looked upon her and growled. “So why did you run?”
The woman had look of mischief and walked away. She was unmistakable: she had skin like porcelain, a smile as bright as the sun used to be, and scents like spring in bloom. Max could not help himself. He tried in vain to walk the other way. Maybe it was the eighth glass of scotch, maybe it had completely fucked with his mind… THIS IS HOW WE DO IT… When that failed, he tried in earnest to steady himself. It was no use and off he went after her again with so many questions stuck in his mind. He second guessed himself the whole march to the deck, you aren’t good enough, she is above your league, and there is no time to waste on one, what are you going to do when you catch this rabbit? His legs paid no heed to the questions in his mind, his heart could not accept what his intellect advised, and he was an intoxicated slave to her march.
The deck was bedlam. It was difficult swerving through the stalled revellers and keeping his eye on the rabbit woman was not in any way easy as she headed to the deck railing. She stood off in the corner and Max felt it necessary to walk as directly as possible towards her. It was if he were walking in one of those inflatable castles and the kids, with no parents to watch them, were shoving a little too hard and screaming a little too loud… “Get these kids off of me!”… If it weren’t for his drunk stumbling, he might have pulled that off. His arrival was similar to her departure, mischief glowed in his eyes and he had many questions to be answered. He placed his arm on the deck railing and slipped a little. He had a quick glance to 14 storeys down……………………………………………………………………………….. Over the deck railing the world below seemed as archaic as the Pavilion was. There was no police. There was no military.
“Puppy, you made it.” the rabbit woman exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands together.
Max, huffing a little from the chase drew back his breath. “Listen woman, I ain’t got time for games. Why did you say what you said on the dance floor? Bone?”
“Curiosity killed the cat, puppy.”
They both laughed at the constant reference to domestic animals and then sighed.
“It’s a shame we didn’t get on the moon shuttle, no?” Max said without thinking. How much had he drunk?
He though a little more, his mind stuck on history: The moon program was created to save human beings from their destruction and it was billed as the great sacrifice – those who stayed behind did so for the grace of humanity. “What it came off as was another creation of the haves and have-nots,” he said. The woman didn’t hear him for the music was too loud, so he drew in closer but his mind returned to history:
The last moon shuttle took approximately 300 humans to the moon to rebuild humanity from a safe distance. It was eugenics to the maximum but the world’s governments decided that was the right way to go. Most people went along with it. They felt they had little choice in the matter. However, there was a faction of politicians, philosophers and military leaders who argued right until the shuttle blasted off that survival of the fittest demanded that those capable enough to do anything to get on should get on. Most of these thinkers were shot on cattle farms as a warning of what would happen if anyone else got the fat idea of acting on their heartfelt words. This was the last act of government. World leaders then receded in to the background. Their conspicuous absence in the final two weeks spread other rumours that they had built another space shuttle, smaller than the originals, to carry them to the moon. It was said that the launch pad was in a dying rainforest in Guatemala. Tension all over the world had risen to a fever pitch by the final weeks and stories of political screw jobs spread like pestilence. “In one short week the whole forested area of Guatemala was levelled like Lego blocks by a rambunctious five year old,” Max said and this time the woman heard.
“It was real kind of the scientists to figure out what day the end was coming,” the woman offered as a talking point.
“Rumours are circulating… hiccup!… that the remaining rich are depressed by the lack of security. For the first time power has been returned to the whole people,” Max responded in a sarcastic tone, pumping his fist in the air. Max might have been right but these rumours were unsubstantiated in his stupor.
“If this is what power of the whole people means, then Puppy I am ready to return to a world of financial oppression,” the woman responded quickly.
“Return to what?” scoffed Max, “hiccup! ... that world of having an obligation to those who had none to you? Please… hiccup! ... bring on love and bring on free will. Bring on a piece of joy that might match our misery. For the rich, bring on war and bring on dereliction. Otherwise for us poor, it’s all over in the bathrooms.”
The woman made a movement towards leaving when Max blocked her off, smiled and gently closed his eyes as if to say his confrontational style would be tempered.
“Fitting that the everything would end this way,” the woman said.Max had never heard that slogan before and it showed him her intelligence and grace, which attracted him even more. “We have seven days left to live on this planet and yet we are still at war.”
Max nodded and moved in closer to her.
“My name is… hiccup!”
“I don’t want to know you,” the rabbit woman said interrupting Max. Her words sent a extreme change of emotion through Max. He had begun to allow himself thoughts of love with this woman who was so clearly able to match wits with him, making her all that more attractive. “I’ll just call you Puppy, alright.”
Max nodded his head in Oban agreement. He was happy that the possibility of companionship still existed and looked again upon the chaos below. Men were doing awful things to one another down there.
“Glad we are up here, Rabbit,” Max said. “Can I call you that?” His tone was still one of mockery but it was friendly and not at all intimidating. The hiccups were gone.
This time it was Rabbit who nodded her head.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
The Bargain part 1
The Pavilion was covered in blue and green patio lantern light. The menacing midnight sky was alive with tension and relief, which in any other circumstance would have been weird but at this time in the Earth’s history it was completely understandable.
Max Jefferies stood by the bar offering platitudes and pints for any and all who would make his acquaintance. That was a pretty large change for a man who was normally shy and would not talk strangers unless a cataclysmic event took place – like waiting hours for the new Playstation 3 and finding out they are all sold out, a loss by the Canucks in the Stanley Cup playoffs or earth’s core imploding on itself. Max was talking-up a storm, speaking to anyone with the guile to pass him as he stood by the bar. For Max it was time for a change. The old ways had faded with the final clear sunset.
As the band, who had been playing a jovial chord, picked up the pace of the music, and Max picked up the pace of his conversations slurring words together like they were useless obstacles in the way of what he really wanted – some ass for the evening.
“Really you need to slow down with the drink, asshole,” a pretty young woman with golden hair and bronzed skin said in a disgusted tone. She then left the bar, but as she walked away Max gave her a parting shot: “What for?”
Heck that was Max’s dilemma. It was all “what for?” He could go on like he used to and behave like the unsocial loser he had been for years, be polite and subservient to all those who claimed higher status in society, but “what for?” He could have remained at home playing video games and watching Stargate SG-1 episodes, but “what for?” In his former life, he would have chosen that evening as a person chooses to breath. Now things were different and not through any choice he had made.
Max didn’t have much time for reflection. Since that news report started with that sentence: “well, we have enjoyed our time here… maybe too much,” trouble snowballed and by the time Earth hit its final seven days the world predictably descended in to hellish war. It made no sense to hold back now. Being tact was of no gain now. That was death.
“You want another?” the burly bartender asked Max, who was looking at the naked crowd on the dance floor.
“Of course,” Max answered in a sing-song voice that floated his lack of restraint.
“Say, man… your name?”
“Thor,” the bartender answered.
“I won’t even… ok, Thor why are you working tonight? It’s all ending anyways. It’s not like getting fired would make a difference.”
The bartender nodded his head and finished pouring the rocks glass full of scotch. He then bounced his head to match the drummer’s rhythm. He did this all with the smile of contentment.
“It’s like this: I would have nothing else to do,” the bartender answered, passed the glass to Max – who still wasn’t looking at the bartender – and then walked to a new, more attentive customer. Max behaved like he didn’t hear the answer anyways and threw his hand back to search for the glass. Once found, he picked up the glass with shaking hands and brought it to his lusting lips.
The crowd was like a zookeeper had left the cell doors wide open and feely allowed the lions to mingle with the deer. Max felt very uncomfortable wading through the group and so he had remained stuck to the bar acting as a spectator.
Specifically, Max’s eyes were trained on a wonderfully, physically-gifted female bouncing around the bar making the rounds with the animalistic men. If he had ever seen an angel like her he was sure it was in a dream or a porn movie. If he had ever seen a devil like her he was sure it was in a dream or a porn movie. She was passing through conversations like a society master, making the men laugh and she, feigning laughter, then slyly moving on to another conversation with another man. Max was enjoying watching this woman on the hunt.
Try as he might, he couldn’t remove his eyes from this wonderful woman who looked like a swan gracefully dipping in a pool of molten lava and coming up with her plumes in tack. His heart raced several times faster then it should hold and it might have been the alcohol or it might have been the nervous atmosphere but what did it matter, it could have been anything but it was certainly about her – this wonderful woman.
Suddenly the music changed pace and slowed to a mellow beat and the MC’s voice became a hypnotic sound wave, transfixing The Pavilion in to a more human environment.
The band struck up a rap version of REM’s ‘It’s the end of the world’ but before the band could get through the first verse, the crowd began to groan and shouted down the song. This was an unwelcomed time for clichés.
“Sorry guys,” the MC apologised meekly.
An old favourite of Max’s was then played next, which made him bop his head until a sudden urge developed in his loins. Max bid farewell to bartender and said he would revisit next week. The bartender laughed a hideous cackle that reminded Max that that was likely impossible, and so he offered a hearty farewell and then exited for the bathroom.
The scent of the bathroom was putrid. Dead bodies covered the floor. Max could tell some were overdoses. Others were suicide. While yet more were murdered. Not everyone could make it to the finish line.
A voice cried from a stall: “It’s a new way for man and for thinking. It is the end my friends. I’ve seen vegetarians eat meat. I’ve seen soldiers drop their guns. I’ve seen victims become assailants. I’ve seen walkers on the run. I’ve seen lovers become estranged and I’ve seen enemies act strange. It is the end my friends. And for many, that’s just the beginning.” The whole atmosphere was getting intense. But Max expected it. He wondered how else it could be. Max gazed at the mess of humanity on the floor and shouted back at the voice in the stall: “No my friend. Surely this is the end.” Bodies continued to fall. Max could take no more. He moved out.
Max Jefferies stood by the bar offering platitudes and pints for any and all who would make his acquaintance. That was a pretty large change for a man who was normally shy and would not talk strangers unless a cataclysmic event took place – like waiting hours for the new Playstation 3 and finding out they are all sold out, a loss by the Canucks in the Stanley Cup playoffs or earth’s core imploding on itself. Max was talking-up a storm, speaking to anyone with the guile to pass him as he stood by the bar. For Max it was time for a change. The old ways had faded with the final clear sunset.
As the band, who had been playing a jovial chord, picked up the pace of the music, and Max picked up the pace of his conversations slurring words together like they were useless obstacles in the way of what he really wanted – some ass for the evening.
“Really you need to slow down with the drink, asshole,” a pretty young woman with golden hair and bronzed skin said in a disgusted tone. She then left the bar, but as she walked away Max gave her a parting shot: “What for?”
Heck that was Max’s dilemma. It was all “what for?” He could go on like he used to and behave like the unsocial loser he had been for years, be polite and subservient to all those who claimed higher status in society, but “what for?” He could have remained at home playing video games and watching Stargate SG-1 episodes, but “what for?” In his former life, he would have chosen that evening as a person chooses to breath. Now things were different and not through any choice he had made.
Max didn’t have much time for reflection. Since that news report started with that sentence: “well, we have enjoyed our time here… maybe too much,” trouble snowballed and by the time Earth hit its final seven days the world predictably descended in to hellish war. It made no sense to hold back now. Being tact was of no gain now. That was death.
“You want another?” the burly bartender asked Max, who was looking at the naked crowd on the dance floor.
“Of course,” Max answered in a sing-song voice that floated his lack of restraint.
“Say, man… your name?”
“Thor,” the bartender answered.
“I won’t even… ok, Thor why are you working tonight? It’s all ending anyways. It’s not like getting fired would make a difference.”
The bartender nodded his head and finished pouring the rocks glass full of scotch. He then bounced his head to match the drummer’s rhythm. He did this all with the smile of contentment.
“It’s like this: I would have nothing else to do,” the bartender answered, passed the glass to Max – who still wasn’t looking at the bartender – and then walked to a new, more attentive customer. Max behaved like he didn’t hear the answer anyways and threw his hand back to search for the glass. Once found, he picked up the glass with shaking hands and brought it to his lusting lips.
The crowd was like a zookeeper had left the cell doors wide open and feely allowed the lions to mingle with the deer. Max felt very uncomfortable wading through the group and so he had remained stuck to the bar acting as a spectator.
Specifically, Max’s eyes were trained on a wonderfully, physically-gifted female bouncing around the bar making the rounds with the animalistic men. If he had ever seen an angel like her he was sure it was in a dream or a porn movie. If he had ever seen a devil like her he was sure it was in a dream or a porn movie. She was passing through conversations like a society master, making the men laugh and she, feigning laughter, then slyly moving on to another conversation with another man. Max was enjoying watching this woman on the hunt.
Try as he might, he couldn’t remove his eyes from this wonderful woman who looked like a swan gracefully dipping in a pool of molten lava and coming up with her plumes in tack. His heart raced several times faster then it should hold and it might have been the alcohol or it might have been the nervous atmosphere but what did it matter, it could have been anything but it was certainly about her – this wonderful woman.
Suddenly the music changed pace and slowed to a mellow beat and the MC’s voice became a hypnotic sound wave, transfixing The Pavilion in to a more human environment.
The band struck up a rap version of REM’s ‘It’s the end of the world’ but before the band could get through the first verse, the crowd began to groan and shouted down the song. This was an unwelcomed time for clichés.
“Sorry guys,” the MC apologised meekly.
An old favourite of Max’s was then played next, which made him bop his head until a sudden urge developed in his loins. Max bid farewell to bartender and said he would revisit next week. The bartender laughed a hideous cackle that reminded Max that that was likely impossible, and so he offered a hearty farewell and then exited for the bathroom.
The scent of the bathroom was putrid. Dead bodies covered the floor. Max could tell some were overdoses. Others were suicide. While yet more were murdered. Not everyone could make it to the finish line.
A voice cried from a stall: “It’s a new way for man and for thinking. It is the end my friends. I’ve seen vegetarians eat meat. I’ve seen soldiers drop their guns. I’ve seen victims become assailants. I’ve seen walkers on the run. I’ve seen lovers become estranged and I’ve seen enemies act strange. It is the end my friends. And for many, that’s just the beginning.” The whole atmosphere was getting intense. But Max expected it. He wondered how else it could be. Max gazed at the mess of humanity on the floor and shouted back at the voice in the stall: “No my friend. Surely this is the end.” Bodies continued to fall. Max could take no more. He moved out.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Welcome!
The end is near,
Fear it not
Negotiation gets you no where
Anger is wasteful
Sadness is ok though not fulfilling
Acceptance is where you end up, always
Fear it not
Negotiation gets you no where
Anger is wasteful
Sadness is ok though not fulfilling
Acceptance is where you end up, always
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