XXV
My favorite retro club the Roxy I take Tetsuwon there in the night.
There's Queenie in the corner waving me over as we take drinks from the
bar and scan the floor. He's with Pogo and Gabriel, pushing them over to
make a space for us, we go over and sit, it's right next to the main floor.
Look, he points at the dancers. And we do, patting P and G on the face hello,
we look. Early it's not yet crowded, and we form a game of doubles, Gabriel
the umpire not a player of games, watches us and the floor, makes eyes at any
woman or man while we talk our dance, but when you know the name of the game
you can never play enough.
There, Kelvin Wayne is there with his latest, the magnate the inheritor
the recluse the pain. He passes us by without looking down, glides off
encumbered in arms and legs with toes barely scraping the floor in front
of his feet, a balloon in human form, his escort tonight.
I begin.
"In every dream home a heartache,"
"And every step I take takes me further from heaven,"
"Is there a heaven? I'd like to think so,"
"Standards of living they're rising daily,"
"But home oh sweet home it's only a something,"
We laugh, Pogo loses the point with no good substitute.
Tetsuwon takes up.
"From bell push to forceps in smart town apartments,"
"The cottage is pretty the main house a palace,"
"Penthouse perfection but what goes on, what to do there?"
"There to pray there,"
"Open plan living bungalow ranch style,"
"All of its comforts seem so essential,"
"I bought you mail order my plain wrapper baby,"
"Your skin is like vinyl the perfect companion,"
"You float in my new pool deluxe and delightful,"
"Inflatable doll my role is to serve you,"
"Disposable dollie can't throw you away now,"
"Immortal and lifesize my breath is inside you,"
"I'll dress you up daily and keep you to death's eyes,"
And we giggle at that one, Queenie the inventor, but let it pass.
"Inflatable doll lover ungrateful,"
"I blew up your body,"
"But you blew my mind."
And we all start guffawing like donkeys, looking guiltily over at
Kelvin who dances his dance sweeping trails through corporeal
countryside with his beauty before him.
"Too much cheesecake too soon, that's the problem," says Pogo, and
we're off on another game with laxer rules, the connections contestable
but rarely are we wrong. I wonder whether Tetsu will enjoy our s-word
plays, but he smiles and returns.
"And don't let this happen to you."
"You're rubbing shoulders with the stars at night shining so bright,"
"Lookout, the bogus man is on his way,"
"Getting older, but you'll wake up soon and fight."
"Hey, in the morning, things you worried about last night
will seem lighter."
"Well, I hope things will turn out right."
We groan, that's not an acceptable line, though Gabriel turns his head
and says that it is, he says he can hear it as we speak, tells us to stop
and talk for his pleasure.
"The words you use tumble all over my shoulder," he says.
We giggle at him.
"You want a drink?" I ask him, getting out of my seat.
"Oh, your body, your body," he says, fluttering those huge beautiful
wings at me, the breath of them so sweet, orangeblossom and cut grass.
"Old man," I smile at him, "Through every step, I change.
You watch me walk away. Ta raa, ta raa, ta raa, ta raa....
Ta raa...."
Don't ask why.