Calm Before The Storm

Sunday morning I was greeted by the sing songy voice of an angel, or so I thought. As my eyes blurred open, I saw it was my smiling mother, who had lost weight as she was seduced by 'the South Beach Diet' and she kept whispering : time to go to Church. If she only knew. . .and I'd prefer she never did. I could say no but something was pulling me so I slid myself out of bed and, just so I had a private joke for myself, I kept what I wore out Friday night and slept in Saturday night on and walked downstairs after a cologne bath and tooth swabbing. My father was sitting in front of the television and he smiled at me, which he didn't start doing until I started doing well in Hollywood, and we talked about my life and I lied a lot, painting it more innocent. We went to church and almost as if God intended, the Gospel was the story of the prodigal son. The priest, however, was not overly exciting to watch and I managed to close my eyes, like my dad, during the homily and never got his interpretation. My living one, however, seemed to suffice. Back home we talked about my sisters and how I was doing and how they were doing and my Mom was so happy to see me she wouldn't stop telling me so and I felt good that I had made them happy by doing so little. We spent the day watching television and reading the newspaper and they fell asleep early and I borrowed by dad's mercedes and went out. I met my friend 'Anthony', who was one of my best friends. In High School he would stand on his hands, upside down, and puke downwards and one time, in the French Quarter, he did this and a midget came out of a bar and cleaned it up and we were so stunned and so high that we had to leave. This night we sat around and drank Bud Lights and watched football highlights and he kept saying 'you should really see 'Nathan'' over and over again so we left. 'Nathan' was in a band that covered Rage Against the Machine songs but since they broke up he had fallen apart. His house looked like a mess from the outside and inside everything was draped in velvet and black and red candles that were burnt to the end. 'Nathan' was on the couch, wide eyed, pale, and rocking back and forth with some girl name 'Jana' who wore too much eye liner and they smiled at me and said that something was not right. Dishes, they said, 'were floating around the house' and they could 'sense evil'. 'Anthony' pointed out a thick leather book in front of them and I saw what it was : The Necronomicon. Devil worship, black magic, scary shit, as far as I knew. As I was asking him why the hell he was doing this I swear I saw a stack of tarot coins on the table stand up on their tip. They stared at it like nothing was happening and I almost pissed my pants as it fell off the table on its own. 'Anthony' said he needed a cigarette and left, tugging my sleeves. I tried to talk to 'Nathan' but he said nothing, pointing at a flyer, telling me to take one. His new band was playing this week and I told him I'd go and 'Jana' said she thought she could see through me and I left. It wasn't too late but the experience left me and 'Anthony' shaken and we went home. I tried to sleep but kept tossing and turning and felt, at one point, that 'Nathan' was in my room watching me sleep and I had to put a DVD on my laptop and fell asleep to it eventually. The next morning news of Hurrican Ivan was all over the place and I decided to ride the storm out at home instead of fllying back to Los Angeles. I figured it might be fun, and I knew it would make my parents happy. I worked on the script all day and sent pages to my Agent who pleaded for me to come home because if communications got cut off I could be screwed and I felt like my Agent was trapped in the '40s. That night I went to some college bars and everything was crazy as students knew that school was going to be cancelled. I went to Fat Harry's and Pat O'Brien's and it was at F&Ms that I ran into something unexpected. 'Allison'. I had dated 'Allison' in High School and she was one of those ugly ducklings that turned from an average chick into a big breasted bombshell by her Junior year. She still looked amazing, if not better, and when I told her I worked in Hollywood she smiled and said, 'that's what I heard' while rubbing my forearm. I bought her drink after drink and she got closer and closer and when some guy came up she kissed him and said goodbye and he looked at me but I walked away, looking for other old friends. Later, however, around four am 'Allison' grabbed me and we left and went back to her mother's place and went to the old Den bedroom we used to hook up in and we kissed and had an incredible round of sex. Her body was tanner than I remember and her muscles more taught and she told me she worked out and we had sex again and I had no problem getting it up. We had a cigarette and she told me her mother was out of town, left early because of the impending storm, and not to worry. I asked her who the guy was at the bar and she said, 'my fiance'. We go upstairs this time and have sex in the living room, the dining room, her parents room, the kitchen, and soon the sun is up and I'm finally getting tired and she asks me to spend the night. I do and we fall asleep for an hour and wake up because I have to get my Dad's car home before he has to go to work and we have sex one more time and I leave and get home right when my Dad wakes up. He makes me a cup of coffee and acts like nothing is wrong and we talk about the storm and he goes to work. I sleep most of the day today and when I wake up it is almost evening and me and my father, who's home from work, put plywood on the windows and bring all the potted plants and garden furniture into the garage and my mom comes home and we make dinner and go to a pre hurricane party one of the neighbor's is having. I get drunk and I swear one of the divorced mom's named 'Anne' is hitting on me. She won't stop telling me I'm so cute and it gets to the point of slightly embarrasing and so I leave the party early. My Dad is performing magic tricks for the kids and my Mom is relaxing with the other Moms and it feels like nothing has changed...and I like it that way. I walk home and 'Allison' calls and we talk and she tells me she doesn't want to get married and is crying and then tells me that 'I had nothing to do with it' and even though she thinks I feel bad I really don't. The sex was great and the fact that she did it makes me think that she's right : she isn't ready to get married. If anything she should be thanking me but I don't want to sound like a complete asshole so I don't say anything and she asks if we can get dinner and I say 'after the hurricane'. We laugh a bit and she feels better and I feel great because I'm getting stoned in my back yard and I come inside and check my email. Nothing but junk and I don't mind. No rain yet...but even though people are fleeing the city, I'm happy to go down with the ship with Mom and Dad.