by Nick Rossi
“Hey Darcy – do you have a minute? Or were you going somewhere?” Charlie asked.
“I was just going to get some air. It got really stuffy all of a sudden in the kitchen,” she replied.
“Oh good. Why don’t we take a breather on the porch? It’s so nice out,” Charlie countered, stepping aside and moving his arm beckoning her to walk outside.
Following his direction, she stepped outside and let the cool afternoon breeze cover her body and let the wind blow her hair in every which way, not really too concerned about how she looked. She felt that same feeling of excitement and bliss at being around Charlie, though she had to admit, she didn’t see him nearly as much as she would have liked. She chalked it up to them frequenting different social circles both in and out of school, but she also knew she wasn’t exactly making an effort otherwise.
She sat atop one of the high backed wicker chairs that sat on the far right of the large porch which capsulated the whole front side of the home. She watched Charlie walk closely beside her and sit close beside her on the matching chair.
“It’s such a beautiful afternoon”, she said, not really meaning to. Ugh, she thought internally. Who says something like that? An old woman, she silently answered.
“It sure is. Hey, Darcy – I know that you said you would go to the prom with me,” Charlie replied, his voice dropping a few octaves. She could hear the apprehension and nerves in his voice. Poor guy, she thought. It probably took him all day to just garner enough bravado to speak to me.
“I did. And I am,” she replied.
“That’s awesome!” he said, his voice rising. “I mean, oh, yeah, it’s cool.”
She giggled, sure not to make him feel uncomfortable or to make Charlie think she was laughing at him instead of laughing with him.
“But I think there’s something we should do before going to the prom together,” he went on. “Even though the prom itself is like, next week."
“It’s totally going to be here before we know it. I don’t even have a dress yet. Did you get your costume already? I think the prom committee wants to do an old fashioned masquerade ball theme,” she rattled on. “We can coordinate our outfits if you like? Or is that, like, too cheesy?”
Charlie smiled. And she felt her heart flutter again. “Cheesy but good. And yes, we could totally coordinate. Though I have to say I’m not exactly a style maven or anything. I’ll perhaps need your guidance on finding the right thing”.
“Of course! I would love to help you,” she enthusiastically replied.
“As I was saying, and before I lose my guts, but maybe we can go on an actual date before the prom. I mean, I’d like to actually get to know you before having the entire senior class watch us at the prom itself. Maybe we can go to dinner or something? Or maybe drive to the Falls?”
She saw his cheeks blaze up, and she reached forward and touched his hand. She wanted to do something small to make him feel comfortable, at ease even.
“I would love to go on a date with you, Charlie. Anywhere you’d like to go would be cool with me. It would be an honor to get to know you a bit better, too”, she replied. She immediately saw the tension in his shoulders evaporate and another huge smile grow across his face.
“Maybe tomorrow? Are you free?” he asked.
“I sure am. Wanna meet me after school?”
“I'll meet you at your car,” he replied, his voice high with excitement. At that moment Bennett pulled open the front door.
“Oh, sorry guys," she said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
“No worries, Bennett. I have to go help my mom anyway,” Charlie quickly replied, getting up quickly. She followed suit and watched as Charlie slowly walked down the front steps.
“See you tomorrow, Darcy,” he said and smiled, a small wave and then was gone around the side of house. Bennett and Darcy both looked at each other at the exact same time and giggled like a bunch, of well, like a bunch of high school girls.
***
The long-time residents of Martin’s Falls have officially declared that that particular May was the coldest ever on record. Not that this information was confirmed or validated against a town almanac of any kind, but it was more of a communal confirmation among the older population, which itself seemed to be quite large in the city.
They said that the uncharacteristically cold spring was not due to an El Nino type of phenomenon, nor the controversial topic of global warming. Rather, it was universally believed amongst the over 60 crowd, that the cold weather was due to a catastrophic event that was going to envelop the entire City and leave no survivors in its wake. The first time Darcy overheard this talk from the misers that frequented Cupps, the morning coffee shop that she went to religiously, she thought it hilarious. Two old men, barely able to hold up their heads or see out of their eyes due to their heavily overgrown eyebrows, had been sitting at a table by the coffee bar where she patiently waited to pick up her coffee.
“It’s going to be worse than that Twister in ‘54,” one man said, his voice deep and gravelly. He had the smallest cup of coffee sitting on the table before him that Darcy ever did see. She thought that this was probably because his old, haggard body couldn’t take much caffeine. “And we both know what devastation that old bitch made of this town.”
This use of profanity got a silent laugh from Darcy as she grabbed her coffee from the friendly barista and poured some cream into the steaming cup. She deliberately took her time sweetening up her coffee just so that she could hear more of this conversation which she found riveting.
“How could we forget that, Bill,” the other man said, his voice just as gravelly as Bill’s but not nearly as deep. In fact, his voice reminded Darcy of Bea Arthur’s. “It took my family’s whole farm. It wasn’t until 1960 that we finally got back on our feet. Those cows, I swear, were afraid to let us milk them, poor souls.”
He took a sip of the coffee cup before him, which was slightly larger than Bill’s. He continued: “This cold means one of two things, if you ask me: either another twister is gonna touch down or a flood’s a comin’”.
“Hah – there won’t be a flood, Ernie!” Bill shot back. His voice had risen ever so slightly, but enough to make Ernie be enraptured by what his friend apparently had to believe. “It will be a fire that starts by the Falls and then will take over the whole town!”
Both men remained quiet at Bill’s statement as though contemplating the damage and hysteria that was to come. Darcy couldn’t believe that small town chatter like that still existed, especially chatter that seemed to be taken to be the truth. She finished adding her sugar and left the coffee shop quickly as both stayed quiet.
It wasn’t until she was sitting safely in her car that she thought that perhaps the old men were onto something, or at least what they were saying had some sort of credence to them. There was something strange and bizarre happening in Martin’s Falls, Darcy could certainly authenticate that. But it wasn’t a major weather-related catastrophe or ravage fire that was going to occur – it had more to do with the presence of the supernatural in a certain high school that sat comfortably in the middle of town.
Could the cold weather be attributed to what’s happening to me?, she thought to herself. She almost said the words aloud if the parking lot hadn’t become full of kids that went to her school and who were silently staring at her as they walked to and from their nice, fancy cars, massive coffee’s in tow.
She shook her head as though to shake the crazy thoughts right out of it but for the rest of the car ride to school, she felt like overhearing the old men’s conversation in Cupps was no small accident. IT was more of like a reminder of what was to come.
***
Charlie was already waiting for her at her car when she arrived soon after the last school bell rang. She had mentioned to Bennett that she was going on a kinda-date with Charlie, and that she was super excited, which she undoubtedly was. However, she was also nervous. It wasn’t a 'date-nervous' but more of a 'wha
t if I break his heart' nervous.
She could no longer pretend that there were things that she was expected to accomplish during her brief stay in her new life. While she incessantly reflected on Marina’s ominous and ambiguous requests, she realized that if she did indeed had to go back to being a semi-depressed thirty year old with cellulite and a penchant for micro waved ice cream, she was bound to leave some destruction in the life she was to leave behind.
It was no small secret that the pre-switch 17 year old Darcy was a pretty bad person. Bad was sometimes an inadequate term to accurately describe the tantrums and difficult situations that the old self her seemed to have gotten into, and she certainly did not heed any consideration to other people’s feelings. Was that what she was going to become if she had to move back to her real life? Was the old Darcy going to wreak havoc once more upon the friendships she had tried to mend? On the relationships she was starting?
She wished to the very core of her being that she had an answer. She felt bi-polar at best on most days. She battled acting like a 30 year old in a teenage girls body, which required catching onto lingo and fashion styles instantly without being regarded as crazy or sub-intelligent. Or worse yet, a nerd. When that battle eased, then she would begin the one where her gut was telling her that if she was going to be a teenager, she had to want to act like one, which meant suspending her beliefs and just embracing the moment.
Her head was a constant monologue, and she often fell asleep at night with a pulsing headache. When sleep would finally come, her dreams would be full of what seemed like vignettes where she was being chased by some unidentified monster with red hair on its back. She got the reference for that one right away the following morning.
These are the thoughts that were running through her mind when she saw Charlie at her car, sitting on the hood of her car and looking heart-throbbingly adorable. She found herself really liking this boy, and she thought he felt the same way, but she didn’t want to break his heart if she were to disappear abruptly after the prom. She could only imagine the old pre-switch Darcy would inflict upon him if she were to return.
And where is she now? She thought as she got closer to Charlie. He was smiling at her, dimple in full effect. If she was having a hard time acclimating to her new life, she can only imagine what kind of time the other Darcy was having. The thought made her shudder.
“Hey,” Charlie said as she quickly sat up from the hood of the car and dusted off his pants. Her car was spotless, but there did seem to be a weird dust that would gather upon any exposed surface these days. Chalk it up to Armageddon, she thought. “I hope you don’t mind that I was sitting on your car…”
“Of course not! I hope you weren’t waiting long,” she answered, trying to sound all calm and secure. She pressed her fob to unlock the doors and the loud, shrill beep filled the air that meant the locks were being unlocked. Had it always been so loud? She thought.
“Just a little bit. I actually have last period as a spare and so I did some reading over here”, he pointed to the car’s front hood. “It’s surprisingly comfortable to read King Lear and having the sun shine on you. Relaxing, almost.”
She smiled. “Sounds like it. You look like you could take a nap.”
She slid beside him and opened her car door. He walked around to the passenger side and got in. She had to actually turn on the heat slightly in the car as it was so cold outside.
‘What is up with this weather? It kind of makes me want to watch ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ again”, she said, turning on the radio. The soft sounds of The Supremes begin to fill the car, making her feel at ease once more. Diana Ross could not not put you in a more serene mood.
“Huh?” Charlie asked after putting on his seatbelt and placing his shoulder bag on the floor of the car before him.
“An Inconvenient Truth?” she stared at him dumbfounded. “You know, the movie about raising awareness about the climate crisis?’
The blank face remained on Charlie’s face. “Never heard of it.” His cheeks reddened in embarrassment and she decided to change the topic immediately. Although she was sort of disappointed that he didn’t know about the film, one of her personal favorites, she remembered he was only 17. He was probably more worried about impressing her than watching movies about the melting of the polar ice caps.
“So where are we going?” she blurted out, sounding a bit manic, so much so that Charlie frowned as thought temporarily confused at the quick change in subject matter.
“I was thinking of maybe checking out Bendel’s downtown. They have a really good stock of costumes we can rent for the prom. I’m sure everyone has already got their outfits and I’m sort of scared that we’re going to have to settle for something ugly.”
A first day with a guy and he wants to go shopping? She swooned as she pulled out of the parking lot. She thought she caught a glimpse of Claire at the other end of the parking lot but she didn’t think about an awkward confrontation any longer.
“That’s a good idea. Where is this place?” she asked, turning right at the end of the school’s long driveway and joining the stream of cars that contained her co-students who were wiped after a long school day. And a cold one, at that.
“What? You’re kidding me, right?” Charlie laughed, moving his gaze from looking out the front windshield to her.
“Why is that so funny?” she countered, silently racking her brain if she did know where this place was or if there was some sort of reason why she should have remembered it. She couldn’t see why a girl whose new age would know the location of a costume rental place downtown, even if the actual downtown of Martin’s Falls was a quarter of the city that the older version of herself lived in.
“Um, because you used to work there for like, two summers,” he replied and she reddened immediately. She didn’t know what she found harder to believe: that she would actually have a job, or that she would work in a costume rental place. She felt like that went against all of the things the former her believed in.
“Oh yeah, it must have slipped my mind or something,” she finally piped up after the silence in the car grew semi uncomfortable between the two of them. “You know, all I’m thinking about these days is the prom!”
That, and solving the greatest riddle of my entire existence, she thought silently.
“Besides, why would I want to go there if I don’t have to? Working sucks!”
She tried to make the statement sound funny and lighthearted but instead it came out like a rich girl who hated working in general. What made this tone even worse was she knew that Charlie had a part time job at the Taco Town at the mall. Not off to a good start, she grimaced.
“You’re telling me. Hey - there it is!” he said, pointing to a large, metallic building that was not at all what Darcy was imagining the place to look like. Every place took about 5 minutes to get to in Martin’s Falls, and she was surprised that they had gotten there already. She was even more surprised that she knew how to get there despite having no recollection of her apparent two summer stint.
“Let’s do this!” she said as she parked the car in front of the store. Charlie bounded out and made his way to the entrance. There didn’t seem to be many people around the small parking lot that faced the store. She got out of the car and walked towards the large shop that had a giant Marquee sign that reminded her of the one that graced the front of Marina’s.
Feeling a strange lump form in her throat and the birth of butterflies in her stomach, she followed Charlie into the shop, equal parts excitement and apprehension.
***
Upon entering the deceptively large shop, the first thought that entered her mind was “This place looked like Las Vegas threw up in it”. She could not not have thought that as the Bendel's was literally the love child between Liberace and Freddy Krueger.
She was instantly impressed by the sheer size of the shop itself, and slightly bewildered why such a small town would need a costume rental shop that was so massive. As though readi
ng her thoughts, her eyes wandered over to a large poster that sat behind the row of pirate/sluts costumes (she wasn’t sure which) that read, in bright red letters, “Even Hollywood rents from Bendel's!” She questioned the validity of such a statement but she, of all people, knew that stranger things have happened.
Just to the right of the large poster, she noticed rows upon rows of costumes of various colors and themes. The place was very well organized not just by color, but by age appropriateness. She was naturally attracted to the 1980’s era where fluorescent leg warmers and headbands were displayed prominently on mannequin that could very have been in the movie Mannequin, but she decided to follow Charlie as he walked near the rear of the store.
The store was sinisterly quiet, and she heard the sound her sandals made upon the linoleum floor. Even though the parking lot in front of the store was semi-full and trafficky, there didn’t seem to be any other customers in the shop itself. All around her the costumes loomed, from sexy nurses to the aforementioned pirates to a whole section devoted to adult baby clothing. Before following Charlie into a tunnel that seemed to lead to another area of the shop, her eyes fell upon what must have been the Fairy Tale section where Easter Bunny, Princess and Prince pieces dominated a wall that rose from floor to ceiling.
“You always did like the Princess stuff,” she heard a gravelly, female voice from behind her. She turned around immediately and saw a middle aged woman, glasses resting on her nose, who was smiling at her.
She wasn’t sure how to respond so she opted for the trusty ‘I’m going to smile my way through this one’ technique, but after a moment or two of flashing her pearly whites, she noticed the older woman wasn’t buying it. Charlie had by this point disappeared into the back of the shop, clearly not looking back to see if Darcy was behind him, and so she was trapped.
“Cat got your tongue, Darcy?” the woman continued, leaving her perch behind the Superheroes counter where both Superman and Catwoman were posed in a semi-inappropriate poses.
“I’ve never heard you so quiet before,” the woman went on. Her short hair looked blue in the shady lighting of the shop, and the red lipstick that emanated from her lips gave her the look of a woman undergoing a mid life crisis. She had seen that look on Sylvia, and nothing good ever came of it.
