by Inmon, Shawn
Her breath smells like cherry-flavored bubble gum.
Dominick was caught completely off guard, and stuttered for a moment before saying, “Ummm ...nothing.”
“We’re going to go to a midnight screening of a movie called Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s kind of a blast. Do you want to come with us?”
Wow, she said that like Rocky is new, which I guess it probably is, in 1977 Sheboygan.
Dominick looked at Melody, her big brown eyes questioning him. He could see that asking him to go with her had cost her something.
“Sure. Where?”
“It’s playing at the Lakeside.”
“Okay, sure.”
“We get there a little early – around eleven. Burke does this weird thing where local people get up and mime along with the movie.”
Of course he does. Dominick looked at Burke with new eyes. Tall, strongly built, blond hair shorter on top, but curling over the collar of his shirt in back. Were they shadow casting in the upper Midwest in 1977? I guess so, here’s the evidence.
“We meet at a little café called BJ’s, just down the street, for coffee. You want to meet us there?”
Dominick smiled, a slightly sick little smile, and nodded. “I’ll be there.”
He returned his ball to the rack, picked up his bowling shoes, grabbed his jacket and headed for the counter. On the way by Emily and Burke, he nodded. They both gave him a little wave, but he didn’t notice it made his lip curl back away from his teeth.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Dominick drove home and tucked himself away in his little basement hideaway. He pulled all his clothes out of his duffel bag, wondering if he should change, but decided to go with the Levis and baby blue Keep on Truckin ’t-shirt he had worn bowling.
He sat on the edge of his bed and tried to figure out where he had gone wrong. By the time he left, he had a two part plan: first, separate himself from Melody and next, separate Emily from Burke. The first was probably easy, but he had no idea how to accomplish the second.
He had driven by the Lakeside Theater a number of times, so he knew how to get there. It was a cold, rainy, late September night, with puddles littering the streets. The inside of the windows of the Chevelle kept fogging up. Soon enough, though, he saw the lighted marquee of the Lakeside. According to the marquee, Star Wars had played at 8:00. In smaller letters at the bottom, it said, Rocky Horror Midnight. A block beyond the theater, he spotted the warm light of BJ’s Diner and pulled into their little parking lot. Through the front window, Dominick could see the four of them, sitting around a table, drinking coffee.
If I just turn around and drive away they couldn’t find me. He turned off his headlights and windshield wipers, but left the car running. And then what would I do? How could I ever talk to Emily? At least this way, I’ll be close to Emily, being eaten alive by jealousy.
Dominick turned the ignition off, flipped up the collar of his bomber jacket and headed inside. The diner was so brightly lit, it made him squint when he opened the door. Both Melody and Sandy spotted him and waved him over. They pulled out a chair right between them.
Dominick sat down and immediately became the focus of everyone at the table, including Emily. She led off the questioning.
“So, Mr. Dominick, just exactly what are your intentions regarding our Miss Melody, here?”
Dominick tried to find his smart ass attitude that was so often on display, but failed. “Umm, just here to catch the movie, I think.”
Emily laughed, and put her hand over his for a moment. Her touch was electric and warmed him all the way through. He glanced at her eyes to see if she felt it, too, but if she did, she showed no sign. “Just kidding around. She’s a grown up lady. She can do whoever, I mean, whatever, she wants.” She finished with a wink at Melody, who didn’t seem embarrassed in the slightest.
Across the table, Burke shrugged, a silent acknowledgment that he is definitely not in charge. “Do you go to UW?” he asked.
Dominick shook his head. “No, I’m from out of state.”
Emily’s eyes lit up. “Oh, a visitor to our fair land. Where are you from?”
“California,” Dominick said, and all the girls sighed together.
“Hollywood?” Melody asked.
“No, but that would be a much cooler answer. I grew up in Emeryville, in northern California, not too far from San Francisco.”
Burke leaned forward a bit. “What in the world would pull you away from the West Coast and drop you in Wisconsin? Gotta be a girl, right?”
Dominick’s eyes shifted involuntarily toward Emily, but he quickly looked away. He smiled, and said, “No, I just graduated from high school, and I want to see the country before I buckle down and start college.”
“So,” Burke said, “our whole wide nation spreads out before you, and you end up in the Bratwurst Capital of the World? I think your compass is broken.”
Dominick laughed it off. “I just want to take a couple of years and travel everywhere, see a little bit of everything.” This isn’t going all that well. “So, I’ve never heard of this movie we’re going to see. What’s it about?”
“Oh, it’s a blast,” Melody said, pressing against Dominick. “It’s freaky and fun, and the audience is part of the show, too. Burke is part of it. He plays Rocky.”
Of course he does. I just can’t wait to see him in the gold bikini. Blech.
Melody produced a grocery bag from underneath the table. “We’ve got everything we need for the show—squirt guns, toast, and newspapers. Don’t worry, I’ll be right beside you. I’ll show you everything you need to do.”
Burke, in a conspiratorial faux-whisper, said, “Not the first time she’s said that to a guy.”
“Hush, Burke,” Emily said, but she was smiling, too.
Burke stood up. “Well, there’s a cast meeting that’s starting right now, so I’ve gotta run. See you guys over there.” He bent down and kissed Emily as Dominick felt his stomach tie in knots.
“So,” Dominick said, just to have something to say, “Are all you guys students at UW? What are you studying?”
“Yeah, but we’re mostly just getting our prerequisites out of the way. Our parents aren’t rich, and it costs a lot more to go to Madison, because of the cost of housing,” Emily said, “My parents are cool. They told me they’d cover my tuition either way, but if I went to Madison, I’d have to get a job to pay for a dorm or off-campus apartment. I decided to do both. So, I’ve got a job that starts in a few weeks, and I’m going to stay home and save for the first two years, then finish up in Madison.”
Typical Emily. Give her two choices, she’ll always find the third, and it’s always better. Typical of Harvey and Louise, too. Kind, but firm. And smart. They were the best in-laws I could have asked for.
Dominick turned to Sandy and Melody. “How about you guys?”
Melody pointed at Sandy. “She’s just trolling for a well-off husband, I think. And me? I have no idea what I am going to do.”
The four of them chatted comfortably for a few more minutes, then left a couple of dollars on the table for the coffees and made their way to the theater.
Dominick had seen Rocky Horror a number of times, but not for close to twenty years, when he had seen the Portland Shadow cast at the Clinton Street Theater. The cast here in Sheboygan weren’t as good, but it was all new to them, and they gave it their all, no matter how many missed cues or flubbed lines they had. As usual, the crowd, and the insults it flung at the screen, were the best part of the show.
By the time the Lakeside Theater manager had made his preshow announcement, complete with catcalls of “Boring!,” the music video of Love Stinks by The J. Geils Band, and the movie itself, it was after 2:00 am before the house lights came up. Throughout the movie, Melody had been a constant presence next to Dominick, sitting next to him, leaning over to show him what to do, trying to teach him the callbacks. Dominick did everything he could to extricate himself without being too obvious about i
t. By the end of the movie, she wasn’t trying as hard.
When the movie was over, and the crowd was spilling out into the cold Wisconsin night, Melody grabbed Dominick and said, “I drove myself tonight, so my car is back at the diner. Walk me there?”
Dominick nodded and said, “Of course.”
As they walked, Melody reached out and put her arm through Dominick’s. When they got to her car, she turned to him, “We’re not gonna happen, are we?”
She’s a great girl, and so sweet. She deserves to know.
Dominick smiled back sadly and shook his head.
“Thanks for letting me know. That’s better. Any particular reason? Did I forget to brush my teeth this morning?”
Dominick laughed a little. “You’re so cool, Melody. You’re a beautiful girl, and I know you could get just about any guy you want.”
“Unless that guy is you...” her words, and her thought, trailed off into nothingness.
“There’s another girl that I really care about, but I can’t be with her right now. It just wouldn’t feel right.”
There. That’s about as close to the truth as I can get.
She looked at him appraisingly, letting possibilities tumble over and over in her mind. Finally, she said, “That’s what I need, what I’d love to find—someone who feels like that about me. Thanks for being honest.”
“I hope you guys will still let me hang out with you, I think you’re all great, and I don’t know anyone else in the entire state.”
“Of course we will. But, one word of advice. If you’re gonna keep stalking someone, you shouldn’t drive a cherry-red Super Sport. It kind of stands out and we’ve been watching you for a week now. I just figured it was me you were after. No such luck.”
Dominick’s mouth fell open. Melody stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek, hurried into her car and left.
I am never even half as smart as I think I am.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Carrie expertly finessed her pyxis, jumping from one life she oversaw to another. She felt an obligation to all the people she watched over, but she found herself spending more time on those she felt the strongest connection with.
She tuned in to Michael Hollister, sitting on a couch in his quiet quarters, reading a book, with a short, round-faced man sitting beside him watching television.
This life was so hectic for him, but now it’s settled down into a steady routine, marked off with military precision. She moved the focus onto his face. The only movement was Michael’s eyes across the page of the book and the flames of the fire in the fireplace. Good for you, Michael. You deserve it.
She moved the pyxis again, catching glimpses of different lives, at different places on their own time continuum, but nothing caught her interest. She let the image come to rest on a picture of five young people sitting around a table in a café, drinking coffee. They were laughing and talking, but there was nothing unusual or interesting about the scene. Two of them—the dark-haired boy and the pretty blonde girl with the heart-shaped face—were both hers.
They’ve been together before, they’ll be together again. I just can’t tell if it’s for good or not.
Carrie reached out to move on again, when she heard Bertellia’s voice say, “Oh, Emillion. How nice to see her.”
Carrie was startled. Her supervisor so rarely initiated a conversation with her, and when she did, it was usually to grill her over something. “I’m sorry?”
“Oh, the blonde girl there. That’s Emillion. I’ve known her for millennia.”
Carrie pointed to the girl. “Her? That’s Emily.”
“Yes,” Bertellia said, then moved on between the rows of desks.
Chapter Thirty-Six
For the next three months, Dominick continued to hang out regularly with Emily, Burke, Melody, and Sandy. They called themselves The Fearsome Fivesome, and life went on. Dominick got a job as a pump jockey for a Texaco station. It paid just a bit over minimum wage—$2.95 an hour—but he had done the math, and even living frugally, he knew he would soon run out of money if he didn’t have an income of some sort.
Emily and Burke continued to live a momentary happily-ever-after, at least to Dominick’s eyes. As much as he hated it, he had to admit that Burke was a good guy. He and Dominick even hung out on their own a few times, playing a game of pickup hoops at UW, or catching a movie that none of the girls wanted to see.
Dominick continued to live in his own private blanket fort in Gene Crow’s basement. Crow had promised to put real walls up, but months after Dominick had moved in, there had been no movement on that front. Dominick knew that if Crow ever did put the walls up, his rent would almost double, so kept his mouth shut about that.
Dominick called home every week, just as he had promised. Connie was always glad to talk to him, full of stories of high school dances and cute new boys, but both Joe and Laura were confused and more than a little frustrated by his continued stay in Wisconsin.
A pre-Christmas phone call home was typical.
“We just don’t understand, Nicky. It’s Christmas time. You should be home with us,” Louise said.
“I know, Mom. I’ll be back eventually.”
Joe took the phone. “I could understand it if you were going to school, or in a career, or even if you were just being a beach bum in Florida. But you’re pumping gas and washing windshields in Wisconsin, for God’s sake. Help us understand.”
But of course, Dominick couldn’t help them understand. He couldn’t say, “I’m here watching what I hope is my future wife canoodle with her boyfriend, and hanging out with two other cute girls I have absolutely no interest in.”
Snowfall was common in Sheboygan in December, but in 1977, a major storm hit that nearly closed the city down for four days. A rear wheel drive Chevelle, nimble under normal conditions, became a severe liability on frozen and snow covered streets, so Dominick relied on Sheboygan Transit, such as it was, when he was forced to leave the house to work.
In the midst of the storm, Melody called him at the boarding house. Dominick had been afraid she might act cool or distant to him after their date at Rocky Horror, but she hadn’t been. If anything, she teased him more brutally after that—about being a snobby Californian, a bookworm, a loser with no love life, whatever came to her mind.
Dominick was laying on his bed, reading a Ray Bradbury novel, when Gene Crow’s booming voice came down the stairwell. “Davidner! Phone!”
Dominick tensed, knowing what was next. Sure enough, as he made his way to the top of the stairs, Crow was there, holding the door open. “The house phone is really for emergencies. We can’t tie it up for personal chit chat.” He said exactly the same thing, every time anyone got a call, even if it was the first call they had received after living there for months.
Dominick nodded and waved at him on the way to the phone, which sat on a towering pile of fashion magazines and junk mail. “Hello?”
“Hey, Nicky,” Melody said. She had asked Dominick what his family called him, and his name had changed, at least to her, immediately.
“Hey, Mel. How’s the outside world?”
“Snowy.”
“What a coinkeedink. Same here.”
“Wanna come over to Emily’s place?”
“I don’t think my car will make it. It’s buried in a drift three feet high.”
“I’ve got my dad’s four wheel drive. I’ll come pick you up. Everybody’s scattering for Christmas soon, so this is our last chance to all get together for awhile.”
Dominick had small presents for everyone already wrapped, so he said, “Okay, that works. You know where I live?”
“Of course I do. You’re not the only stalker, stalker. See you at 4:00, okay?”
“Sure. Come around to the side door, though, okay? It’s a long story.” Dominick said goodbye, then hung up and went back downstairs to wait.
Melody wasn’t an on-time kind of girl. She was more the type to keep boys waiting, even if they weren’t d
ating. She arrived for her 4:00 pickup at 4:38 sharp. When she knocked on the side door, two of the other tenants were in the kitchen, warming up a frozen pizza, and making some Ramen noodles, respectively.
Melody bustled in, wearing a miniskirt and a smile that lit up even that depressing room, and asked for Dominick. Based on their reactions to Melody, his stock obviously had gone up several notches in the eyes of his roommates. One of them, a UW student named Mark, shouted down the stairs, “Dude, there’s a girl here asking for you, and she’s cuter than hell.”
Dominick grabbed his coat, small armful of gifts, and bounced up the stairs to rescue her from the stares of his roomies. They climbed into her Dad’s Bronco and pulled out into the non-existent traffic.
Melody drove as she did so many other things in life—without a care in the world. That was fine, in perfect weather. In near-blizzard conditions, being in the passenger seat became an exercise in courage. She bounced along from one rut to another, sliding a bit here, fishtailing a bit there, singing along with Brenda Lee and Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree the entire time.
“Ummm, Mel?”
“Yeah?”
“You know that four wheel drive doesn’t actually make you invincible, right? Sometimes, it just means that you’ve got four tires spinning instead of two.”
Melody laughed, switched the radio station, and tapped the steering wheel in time with the new song. “You worry too much.”
“I think maybe you don’t worry enough! Like, where the nearest hospital is, if you severely injure your innocent passenger.”
After a white knuckle ride, they arrived at Emily’s with everything intact except Dominick’s nerves. Walking up the front steps of Emily’s house, Dominick’s stomach flipped. He was almost used to seeing Emily by now, but he hadn’t met her parents in this life. The last time he had seen them, they had been two retirees traveling the country in their RV and making a side trip to Middle Falls, Oregon.
