prequel to Vampire Waltz reprise (Going Loko) (of the JM muse chronicles)edited

~even tragedy needs some comic relief~

As Jörn drives I take out my phone and text Gerald;

Text to Gerald: I need to stop by to see you

Jörn pulls into a parking garage and looks at me,

“are you all right?”

“How did you know I went to Central Park?” I ask him

He turns his profile to me. I see he grinds his teeth; watch his jaw flex and knot as he looks out the windshield and steers the van around a corner to move up a ramp

“Were you following me?” I ask him

But then I hear part of the conversation behind me of the two men questioning the guy

He says,
“I swear I don’t know who he was!”

“I think he’s telling the truth,” Jörn calls back to them and says, “I was watching on the surveillance camera at the Starbucks and they know him in there, according to Jasper they back up his story.”

“Who’s Jasper?” I ask

Jörn gives me an unreadable look and parks the van. He gets out and walks around to the passenger side then opens it. He glances to the back of the van then at me and gestures with his head to get of the van.

I slide down the side and he shuts the door

He says,
“Come, let’s go around the corner to get water, you thirsty?”

But he does not wait for my reply. He takes my wrist and starts to walk me/pull me up the ramp out of the parking garage,
“Are you all right, min lilla duva?—how’s your ankle? Can you walk on it now?”

“It’s better, I think,” I say as we step out ....how am I.... ?? oh just slightly freaked out, no big deal.... as he drags me up the street as another anxiety attack is inevitably hitting me. I begin to hyperventilate

He waits until we have nearly cleared the corner and says,
“No, I was not following you, I got a call—shit, what time is it?” he looks at his watch. Again, I watch him grind his teeth, “shit, we cannot be late for the performance! Mama would string me up by my toes—shit-shit!” and does not finish this explanation, no, he just leaves me hanging and he starts to tug me along urgently to the store. I mean in the scheme of things it is good to see how well he has his concerns prioritized; he dreads his mother’s anger over some death threatening mugger

He takes out his phone to make a call and then suddenly looks at me as if he forgot I was there

He digs into his pocket for his wallet and takes out some money which he presses into my hand,
“can you get me a water?— and buy something for yourself,” he says before he says into the phone, “Pappa!”

Get him a water....

I go to the cold beverages and find the water. I only get one for him. No, for me, on impulse, I grab a Four Loko Black —why?because I am attracted to the color of the can? Yes but mostly it’s the 14% alcohol proof printed on the label

I bring both up to pay and as I wait in line, I watch Jörn standing by the door entrance having a Swedish conversation  on his phone with his father as if expostulating with heated, emphatic words. Then I hear Gerald’s text reply come and I reach to look onto my phone screen

His text: Did Jörn tell you about his dream the other night? Is that what this is about?

There is just one person in front of me now and I text back: what dream? When?

I watch the dots of him begin to reply. I keep watching. I start to get more anxious

The person at the register shouts at me because I don’t notice it’s my turn. I go up

“ID....” the guy asks me

“Are you serious?” I shake my head but start searching for my license

“We ask everybody,” he says

“Do not— they never ax me....ax everybody my ass, I come in here every day and they done never ax me....” some lady behind me says

I find my ID

The guy takes it and looks at it skeptically and turns it over looking at it

“Here’s twenty,” I say and hand him the money Jörn just gave me

“Where’s this from?” the guy looks at it like it’s a counterfeit

“It’s— it’s from Michigan— it’s still valid, do you see the year?”

“I see the year....” he says and then my birthday out loud. Actually Real Loud. Not something anyone likes advertised. And he repeats the year twice and shakes his head.... he looks at me, “.... and—why do you have a Michigan license?”

“Because I lived there! but I don’t think you need to know that,” I say

Jörn comes over,
“we have to go, what’s the problem?”

The guy says the year again like some idiotic broken robot

Jörn looks at me and shakes his head,
“Four loko black?” But then says to the guy, “she’s not a minor, I know she looks like she’s in high school but she is not—I can vouch for her,” then to me, “come on, let’s go.”

I watch him take the bag from the guy with the drinks in it but I grab a straw

We go outside and Jörn starts to look for a taxi

“Why aren’t we going back to the parking garage?” I ask Jörn

“Because the performance is in less than two hours and by the time we get across town it’ll be another fifteen minutes, we both have to shower, get dressed....”

I open the bag he’s still holding and remove the Four Loko Black. Pop the the opening and stick the straw in.

I drink half down before Jörn realizes what I’m doing

“What the fuck are you doing?” he asks me

only I don’t have to answer because Jörn says,
“Oh here’s a taxi, you need to get rid of that.”

I take the bag, hand him his water and return the Loko back inside the bag. He pulls me to the taxi and pushes me inside.

I hear him say the address as I lean against the window sipping the Loko through the straw

“Why are you drinking that? It has alcohol, mon lilla duva, why are you using a straw? Maybe you should give it to me,” he reaches to take it from me

It makes the sound when I’ve reached the bottom of the ‘tall-boy’ can.

So I let him take the (empty) can .... hmm alcohol.... 14 proof is not bad— I can barely hear the meaning of what he seems to be saying to me, in fact

I lean against the cool window because the motion of the car seems to be bothering me suddenly

At some point we must have gotten out of the taxi and then through the apartment lobby

I hear him mumbling something to himself over and over as we go up

It takes awhile before I realize he’s mumbling in English

He’s saying over and over,
“let’s hope they’ve already left, let’s hope they’ve already left, let’s hope they’ve already left....”

“Who?” I ask

“Mama! All of them but mostly mama!”

“Why?” I ask and start laughing now

“Duva..... because you’re in no shape for her scrutiny, do you understand me?”

“No.” I say

The elevator opens and he pulls me out by my wrist and half drags me to his door. I realize he’s pressing his ear to the door as if trying to hear through it

I decide to make it easier and knock on it for him

“Why did you do that?” he puts the key in the lock and opens it.... then swings it shut again and pulls me back out into the hallway, “shit, they’re all here still....”

I lean against the wall,
“I’m going back to the penthouse....” and I start to turn

“No you can’t because we have already said you are doing the waltz with me,” he says

It seems like he says this. Or it could be the Loko. In which case it is actually funny. I start laughing because it is such a mad thought

“Why the fuck did you just drink all that?” he seems quite angry I slowly realize

“Because the mugger....” But I don’t think what I said sounded as clear as ‘mugger’

It might have come out more like ‘smugger’ or ‘sugger’

I think he, at this point was holding me up —but by my face and— looking at me like a headmistress at a convent school ready to use a ruler to punish me.... why that thought should come to me then I cannot really claim to know but it evoked some twisted ideas never the less

I look back at him and notice something in his eyes. That same something that makes me think of the pirate and then —the text message from Gerald that now repeats its alert

“Oh....” I sigh because I realize the scale of what this Loko has done to the evening

I repeat,
“the mugger....” this time more clearly