Indian Hill (13 page)
I had thought about telling her I was willing to share but that was by no means the truth; I wanted her all to myself. Like a large cold Coke on a hot summer day, I wanted to drink her in, alone.
“I understand,” I said, barely audible. One more minute on the phone and I might have cried, that wouldn’t have been good for my image and it would have given Paul fodder to use against me for months. “Alright well, I’ll see you sometime on campus, gotta go.”
“Bye Mike, I’ll miss…”
I hung up; I had no desire to hear those words.
“Fuck!!” I yelled
“What’s up, man?” Paul said with more than a little concern.
“Beth dumped me.”
“Oh man, I’m sorry, but were you ever really going out?”
“No not really, but you sort of get attached to the girl you’re doing.”
“Not me.”
“Well you’re different, you’re a dog.”
“Let’s go get a beer and look at some chicks.”
“The beer sounds good, the chicks can kiss my ass”
“That’s the spirit.”
* * *
“
G
et up, its Saturday morning, the birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing...”
“
S
hut the shade,” I moaned. “I still can’t see straight.”
“Too bad, Kelly across the way just got out of the shower and forgot to shut her
curtains
.”
Fifteen seconds ago I would have told you I couldn’t have moved that fast if someone had set my bed on fire. “Damn she has big tits.”
“Yeah too bad her ass is as big a match,” Paul quipped.
“What are you boys looking at?” Beth said from our open doorway.
“Ah, nothing,” Paul said as he casually released his grip on our shade, plunging the room into near total darkness.
“No, please don’t hit that switch,” I begged. “Hit the one below it. If you turn the strobe light on I won’t make it halfway down the hall.”
“Hey Paul I know this is getting old, but could I please talk to Mike for a minute, I promise that it will only take a minute.”
“Yeah that’s about how long I’ve got to piss for anyway,” Paul said as he brushed on by Beth.
“Eloquent as always,” Beth said with half a smile.
Why did she have to come here, especially with the way I felt and how I looked. I learned you were always supposed to look your best when you ran into any ex so that way they could see that you bounced back fine. And here I was looking like last week’s laundry. Smell included.
“I was wrong,” she blurted out.
“About what?” Hope surged, adrenaline raced, I did my best to portray an even calmness.
“About everything, I think, I’m not sure exactly what is going on here, but I know I’d rather have you around than not.”
“But what about Joe or John or Jock or whatever the hell his name is?”
“I don’t know about him either. I know I love him.”
Oh,
that
felt like a direct hit to my stomach.
“But I know that I also have very strong feelings for you too. I’m greedy, I want it all,” she half-laughed.
“I’m sorry Beth, I also am greedy and I have no desire to share. I don’t think that I could stand the thought of you in his arms when you go home for
the
holidays or summer break or whatever, that would tear me apart much worse than this. If you want him, he’s yours and you and me will stay with the status quo. If you somehow decide that you would rather be with me, I’ll give you the time and space to make that decision. But I’ll tell you now that I broke up with my girlfriend back home because I didn’t feel that what I was doing was right, with her or with you or potentially with anyone else.” That seemed to sting her; I guess she didn’t think that I could already be thinking of another girl already, what can I say, I’m a guy. We’re always thinking of another girl. Although in all fairness and truth the only thing that was going to cure my thoughts about her was time, lots and lots of time and maybe some beer. Lots of beer.
“Mike, I understand all of your concerns, but I was hoping we could push all of these issues to the side just for tonight. Can we at least go the concert tonight and be together?”
I really almost said no, but to look into her sea-blue eyes and say no was just something I don’t think any man was strong enough to do. And with my hesitant answer of yes I had forever altered my life beyond any recognizable feature.
We arrived at Red Rocks around
six o’clock
that night. My watch told me that the year was 198
5
but the people around me made me feel as if I had stepped into a time warp. It appeared to me to be somewhere around the 1968 or ‘69 era. The girls and even some of the guys had flowers in their hair, they were tossing Frisbees around, drinking beers, smoking bones and even the occasional trip was being taken. I thought to myself that I could really learn to like this time period. The girls for the most part had on old faded bell bottom jeans or long flowing sun dresses, most wore sandals, some just went bare-foot. The vast majority (much to my approval) had no idea what a bra was. I had been to my share of heavy metal concerts and I knew from experience that this was NOT a heavy metal crowd, the girls that usually attended those were the type that would beat the guy up if he did something wrong. I don’t think that I had ever seen so many gorgeous women at one time, even on campus and I thought that that place was beyond belief. Whether I liked the band or not, the view was sure to be entertaining. Beth must have seen the grin that had unbeknownst to me spread across my face, because suddenly and viciously I was snapped back to reality with a sharp blow to the side of my head. A lesser man might have actually gone down on his knees. I rubbed my head while mumbling my apologies.
“We’re here to see the band, not the women,” Beth said a little indignantly.
“Just exercising my rights as a single man,” I answered, hoping beyond hope that that was actually a falsehood. Her face fell ever so slightly.
“Come on girl, let’s go check out this band,” I said as I grabbed her by the waist. Her heavenly face looked up at me and something deep within my soul stirred. I had never been to Red Rocks but it was a sight to behold, it is or I should say was an outdoor amphitheater. The place was full of natural beauty. It was dominated by brilliantly colored giant sandstone formations. It was unbelievable to be nestled between two 400’ high formations. The theater held roughly nine thousand people and was probably one of the most intimate settings for a concert that I have ever or will ever
attend
. Even when not watching the band the panoramic view of the plains was almost breathtaking, that and the fact that I was about six thousand feet above sea level. The band was awesome. I’d never had so much fun at a concert in my entire life. We got stoned off communal bowls and drank all the beer we could handle. It’s the only concert I’ve ever been to where you never sat down, the music
wa
s just that good, you just stand and dance the whole show away. It was right after the first intermission that I began to get a buzzing in my head. I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I was buzzed, but I was getting a buzzing sensation, almost as if a mosquito was around my ear, only this was bigger than a mosquito and it was a lot further seated back in my head than my ear. Others must have felt it too because on occasion I would notice some of my fellow concert-goers turning their heads over their shoulder to look up to the back of the amphitheater. At first glance I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, but upon further review I noticed an object up in the sky roughly the size of a quarter, it glowed a translucent greenish color; I thought it was the moon. I figured that Beth should see this; I had never seen the moon with that color hue.
“Hey Beth, you should see the moon tonight it’s unreal!” I shouted over the chorus of One Arm Steve.
“What’s so special about it, it’s not even full!” she shouted as she pointed to a spot directly over the stage.
“If that’s the moon, what the hell is….?” I screamed. I’m sort of ashamed about that fact but I can guarantee you I wasn’t the only one. Whatever it was
,
it was huge and it was directly over Red Rocks. The whole amphitheater was covered up like a large Tupperware bowl, but this lid was far larger, it extended well over into the parking lots all around the theater. The last thing I cognitively remember was the green light that came out from the bottom of the ship. And I can tell you from the way people fled towards the exits they felt the same thing I did: terror, mind numbing terror.
Sir, we have a situation,” the lieutenant said with a start, he had almost begun to get used to the invisible ship orbiting around Venus. He wasn’t necessarily comfortable with that fact but he had like everybody else in the “rock” sort of imbedded it into his everyday life.
“What is it Lieutenant, has the ship rematerialized?” The captain dreaded that occurrence ab
ove all, there would be rioting
. Not only would they have to contend with the visitors but also a scared populace.
“No sir, three smaller ships have left the main ship and are heading this way.”
“Lieutenant, get me the President,” the captain said, visibly shaken. “Lieutenant, what’s the ETA.”
“Sir, at their present speed, less than two hours.”
“Yes Mr. President, we have just confirmed that three alien vessels have departed the main ship.”
(Pause)
“Sir, yes sir, we estimate their size to be roughly that of one of our aircraft carriers.”
(Pause)
“No sir, we still have heard nothing from them.”
(Pause)
“Yes sir, I will scramble all available fighters.”
(Pause)
“Sir, I will notify all the governments around the world but they are watching the same Hubble feed that we are so I would imagine they are taking their own steps to avert this tragedy.”
(Pause)
“Yes sir, I will notify you the moment anything changes.”
My cell, that sounds so weird. “My cell,” I said aloud. I’ve never broken a big enough law in my life
(and got caught)
to warrant a cell. What the hell was I doing in a cell? Did I get caught with a big fattie at the concert? Naw, I would’ve remembered that. Wait a second, this doesn’t look like a cell that a town like Morrison would possess. Then it hit with the full force
of a cascading waterfall, this wa
sn’t
Kansas
anymore. I was on some sort of ship, and not only that, but I was being held prisoner on said ship. My cell was about ten feet by ten feet by, how original, ten feet. Although I have no idea what unit of measurement aliens use. Aliens, that sounds even more ridiculous than my being in a cell. I’m now convinced they are aliens because all of the conspiracy theorists in the world couldn’t have thought that the government was capable of making that ship that hovered over Red Rocks. Oh my God, I thought to myself, Red Rocks, the concert, Beth!!! “Beth where are you?” I screamed vainly. The only articles that broke up the monotony in this cell were a chair and a hole in the floor, which I imagine was for refuse by the smell of it. The bus depot had nothing over this place. The front of the holding pen had no visible door but appeared to be made out of some clear sort of glass but I can attest to the fact that this “glass” was solid. I kicked it as hard as I could. I thought that I had shattered the lower part of my leg. The gate didn’t even shudder, so much for getting some satisfaction out of breaking something.