Part four
Every time two people of one gender and one person of the other gets ready to enter a booth, a period of awkwardness takes over. Who do I sit next to? What message will this send? Why do I care so much? This is also magnified if every one is single, because nobody wants to give the impression that they are interested in the other person, even if they are. Especially if they are.
Mike was the first to sit down and Dave sat down next to him. Kat sat across from the guys and one of life’s little crisis’s was solved.
“So what is this about?” Asked Dave. Mike had been uncharacteristically silent about the whole issue that he wanted to talk to Dave and Kat about.
Mike looked at Dave, then slowly to Kat, experiencing that rare feeling of knowing nothing will be the same after the next moment in time. He looked around and lowered his voice.
“Last night, I tried to break into the University President’s house.”
“That giant mansion? Why?”
“I heard there was massive amounts of money underneath the basement. Like, if you go under it, there’s some old parts of a building that people stashed thousands of dollars in.”
Kat was less than impressed. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Dave shared her feelings. “Yeah man that doesn’t make any sense. You should just stick to TPing.”
“That’s dumb too.”
“Whoa whoa whoa Kat, TPing isn’t dumb. It’s not even a crime.”
“It’s vandalism. You can get in trouble. I should have called the cops when you guys did it to me.”
“No it’s not. It’s a victimless crime.”
“What about the people who own the property?”
“What about them?”
Mike was getting impatient. “Guys can you shut up for a second. I didn’t go there just for the money. I’ve heard nothing but crazy things about that house and that entire property. I walked all the way over there last night and checked it all out myself.”
“Yeah?” Dave got more interested. Crazy things usually mean interesting, at least to guys.
“Yeah like I’ve heard of weird rumbling sounds coming from that house starting at like three in the morning. Tom told me all about it over AIM a few weeks back. So I’ve been checking the place out. Two days ago, the President and his whole family left on some vacation. They won’t be back until next month. I figured I’d at least stop in the basement and see what I can find.”
“How do you know the basement isn’t totally new? How do you know there was even a house there before? Why am I even having this conversation?” Kat’s anger was growing. This is such typical guy bullshit.
Why did I invite her here? What the hell was I thinking? Mike thought to himself. Life at this point was full of friends that became that way due to geography and circumstance rather than common interest. Mike invited her because she was somehow attractive, smart and could stand to hang out with guys for an extended period of time.
“Look, I know there used to be another house there because that property used to be owned by the city and they sold it to the university back in the 70s. I asked about that last part in church, all the old people remember there being a large building that used to be owned by the city. I mean, its not as big as that bigass mansion they have now, but whatever. The point is, there used to be a big building.”
Dave was half-surprised that any of this was based on a kernel of truth whatsoever. “What about the money?”
“And since when did you go to church?”
“I go when I feel like it Kat. Listen, the money is there because I looked it up at the city hall building.”
“We have a city hall building?”
“Yeah Dave its near the middle of town, across the street from the police station.”
“Oh that’s ironic.”
“Shut up Kat. Now listen, I looked this stuff up. Back in the late 1950s the city council did a number of proceedings looking into thousands of dollars that went missing. They never figured out who did it.”
“How much was it?” Asked Dave.
“I can’t find all the records but…” Mike was interrupted. Kat had had enough.
“This is all bullshit. So people misplace some money and twenty years later a building is knocked down. A lot of buildings in the city have been replaced or built over. I’m glad you’re spending your time well, Mike. You know, Liz is wondering if you still like her or not. Maybe you should be trying to fix that instead of breaking into other people’s houses.”
“Yeah Mike she’s hot you should probably be getting on that instead of getting in other peoples’ houses.”
“Oh nice Dave, so Liz’s only good feature is that she’s ‘hot’?”
“Well she’s not the brightest star in the sky!”
“You’re an asshole. Let’s order and talk about how Mike will grow up and start going out with Liz. Really Mike all you have to do is ask her.”
Mike was glad to know Liz was still into him, but he was peeved that his attempt to tell them about his experience last night was pretty much over. As insane as his last night was and as important as it was to go back, Liz was attractive and he didn’t want Kat going back to her and saying he was more interested into committing crimes than dating her. The rest of the conversation would have to wait.
—-
He didn’t know how to deal with the future anymore, because he didn’t know how to deal with the present. He didn’t know how to deal with the present because he was caught up with what he was in the past.
Back then, he was the star. He ruled school. His name was on the announcements every day at 11:15. He was going places. And of all the places he was going, he never wanted to come back. This town was too small, too quaint, too self-contained. The glory it gave him didn’t make him like it-he never liked it. Rather, that glory made him addicted to climbing the next mountain, slaying the next dragon.
And now here he was, on top of the car and looking to the freeway whose noise pierced the silent moonscape of the soybean fields and watertowers. He had wanted out so badly, now he just wanted someone to pull him aside and tell him he, and life, was okay.
