Chapter 3: Chapter 3
On the subway, a young man was handing out flyers to a herd of 'leave-me-alones.' Thrusting the small pamphlet in every direction, something cliché like 'Let's save the bees', you'd imagine he was an octopus in his past life. Aries' eyes watered as we exited the subway and ended up on the now dry street, the first storm was over. She tried to lie, said smoke got in her eyes, but that was before she sparked her Newport.
I gave her space, allowed silence to echo between us. Stay a ghost long enough, and you start to notice things. Like how important silence is. Or, how the DMV and the mega-grocery store are spirit sisters, given the right time of day. Or the curious case of what was walking ahead of me. Directly in front was a fly, cushioned in the shoulder of an older woman's navy blue blazer. With each step, the fly never moved, but it didn't look squashed either. It perplexed me, stumped at Schrdinger's cat, which, in my case, was Schrdinger's fly.Is it dead, or isn't it I've got the answer: My mind wanders.
The swift aroma of baked bread, shortcakes, eclairs, and brownies infiltrated my beak. The sweet ring of the mini bell atop the front door brings me back. I haven't been here in years. A display case lit up with literally every color in the rainbow. A political "Bring Old America Back' poster hung in the distance. Melvin Burn's face, graffiti splashed over it, mock devil horns, and a penis was edging toward his mouth. If I was an artist…I'd a burned that poster.
Clara's bakery served as the first stop towards the night's debauchery. Clara herself, behind the register, pushing out a well of kindness from being alive over eighty years, nods at us. On a good day, she possessed a Carol Brady-vibe, wielding a baker's dozen. We recognized the signal and walked down the black steel stairs towards the emergency exit door. Aries pushed the door open and transported us into a modern-day speakeasy.
Purple lights and bad decisions awaited us at 'The Red Wagon,' the king of all dive bars, and the best secret in town. Despite the obvious color choice in the name, the owner decided a soft lavender would illuminate the drunkards better. Combined with some cursive writing, what could be better A tavern for the lonely. Truth be told, with us being the only customers I've seen voluntarily dish out cash to this underground saloon, I'm curious as to why it isn't bankrupt.
"Two shots of Jack, two ciders," I blurted out quickly.
The bartender, who was new to my eyes, stared back at me longer than he should have. Evidently, I didn't finish my order, or I just engaged in a serious staring contest. I broke my stare a few times to prove I wasn't game. Looking past him to the towers of marked up liquor bottles, glowing green under cheap Christmas lights, some I can pronounce, some I can't afford. On the floor was an upside down 'For Sale' sign laying in the distance, shrouded by miscellaneous garbage.When did he buy this hellhole
There's always a moment when you feel out of place when only you notice the oddity shrouding the environment — the strange hit home when the long-staring bartender took out his left eye.
"Hey, Bruce. Still getting used to it" more comment than question, but Aries opened up calm and relaxed.
"Yea, didn't mean to freak you out, guy. Goddamn glass eye is a bitch," replied Bruce, the bartender.
"Bruce lost his eye right here. Protecting this bar, aint that right, Bruce"
"Damn right. I'd go blind before I let anything happen to 'The Red Wagon.'"
Bold statement, I could think of a million things that would trump my loyalty between blindness and 'The Red Wagon.'Doesn't Clara have a double-barrel shotgun hiding in a cupboard, like all old ladies doBut, seeing me, all rattled from my interaction with One-eyed Bruce cheered up Aries. I joined her after my first shot slammed the bar, impressed that depth perception didn't impede Bruce at all, he was a master mixologist.
"Thanks for this," Aries blushed, in quite possibly the smoothest tone I'd ever heard from her. Familiar to the key of F major 7.
Heartbreak for Aries resonated into a beautiful sadness that spoke through her like an angel. I found it weird when the world's her plaything she sounded like Bruce. Let the rain pour, and suddenly I'm having a drink with a siren, including the guest appearance of a cyclops, and a disenfranchised jukebox.
"So, what did Helen-conda tell you Same thing she told me To fuck off" she sang, slamming her shot down a little too hard.
I checked my watch first, 10:40 p.m.
"…that I'm on thin ice. They're watching me now. One slip and I'll be like you. Unemployed."
"Another warning, I wish I got another warning. By the time I noticed I was on thin ice, it cracked, and I was drowning. No two weeks, nothing. Better keep them coming, Bruce. I'm not goin nowhere. You" she darted to me.
I suspected I'd be drowning soon, too, in something else.
"Nowhere I'd rather be than here with you."
"Cheers!"
The clash of cider mugs felt like our version of a customized handshake. Aries was my only work friend. We even hung out outside the office. We bonded over the weirdness of each other. She used to be into taxidermy, and I kept a stamp collection. Not typical black habits. She never judged me, and I always had her back, it was a simple relationship. However, this pitfall did shake the foundation we built. How could it not Stay near anybody in a crisis, and watch how the calls begin to alter. What the world doesn't tell you is that sometimes pain is the only cure to obliviousness.
Not to mention, there's this strange Déjà vu I get when I see her. It's a hazy vision of her taking off a diamond ring and placing it on a silver tray in a bright room. I can't explain where it came from, but that's all I can see when it hits, anything before and after disintegrates like film on fire.
"Miss me, you will, young padawan."
"How do you that thing with your voice"
"Yoda Wait…what thing"
"You don't hear the difference"
"I mean, I had like one sip, but I sound the same. Why, what do I sound like"
Like Bruce, that was my first thought. But when conversing with a woman, usually the fifth or sixth is the better response.
"We'll still hang out, Aries. We're friends first."
"Yea…but you know how it is. When you meet people at work, then change jobs, it's like moving outta state. There's a very real chance we may never see each other again."
She was right, three years down the drain in a flash. Even with the best intentions, we may not go any further than texts and occasional emails. It's human nature.
"So…tonight. We should do something different."
"Different how No more drinking" I puzzled, clutching my wallet to release my debit card to the cyclops again.
"Two more shots and I'm gonna buy a bottle to take with us."
"Where are we going" I returned boyishly, halfway expecting her to say Disneyland.
"Somewhere…different."
I didn't press the issue, even though I normally would. I have trust problems. But I felt safe. Any layer of indecency and embarrassment my onion possessed, Aries would hide in her mental fridge. Put it on ice, no one will know.Just you…
"What kind of bottle you want"
"Uhh, vodka or whiskey."
"Eww, we just had shots of Jack."
I got the feeling she was defying me just on principle. Some power balance that only exists between us.
"That's the point, stick with the same."
"I'm going to get some rum."
"Or rum, that's cool."
"Maybe tequila" she whispered that one in a flirty tone, made my ear twitch. I only know that because I saw her use the same line at a Christmas party. Come to think of it, she didn't sound herself then either.
"Or tequila, whatever. I'll drink anything."
"Don't drink gasoline man! That shit will mess you up."
"Thanks, Bruce."
I'm not sure if he was speaking as a cautionary tale or just experience, but I didn't care to find out. One-eyed Bruce still freaked me out.
"A bottle of Don Fuego, Bruce!"
"And two more shots of Jack," I added.
The last shot went directly into my kidneys — one-way ticket. Standing up became a fight against gravity.I'll kick your ass gravity!It felt like my skeleton got fat, but no one could see it from the outside. My waddle from earlier transitioned into a stumble.When did I get so drunk
"That's what happens when you sit down for an hour drinking man. Standing up, that shit will mess you up!"
"Thanks, Bruce," Aries said it this time, as she struggled to stand on two feet.
"Be my crutch," the command escaped my mouth. It sounded authoritative, and to my surprise, Aries teleported under my arm.
I had never been that close to her face before. The landscape melted, and the light brown in her eyes exploded. It was the first time I ever saw the real 'Aries'. It dawned on me that everyone wears a mask. This was her face uncovered, and the expression spoke a novel's worth.
"Bruce saw more with one eye than the entire city wide awake on a caffeine high"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone