power of h Weblog

9.

A Drink After Hours At The Brunswick House

Murray and Ted got together and brought me to the Brunswick House. It was an odd bar. There was a stage in the middle of the large room where people would perform each night. Amateurs. Unpaid. We sat near the back where we could talk. Ted kept looking around goggling all the young girls, mostly college students, who packed the place.

MURRAY:  So what’s this backyard like?

LOU:  Backyard?

TED: I think that one over there isn’t wearing a bra. God, its terrible. You think we could move closer?

Murray glared at Ted. Ted looked down embarrassed but continued to steal glances at the young women across the room.

MURRAY: Lou, you said you were having a stroke sitting in a lounge chair in a backyard.

LOU: A backyard. Nothing special. Lot of trees. Squirrels. Sprinkler. Waving back and forth like a hoola-dancer. The arc of water like the swaying hips of the dancer. You ever been to Hawaii, Murray?

TED: I once went to the beach in southern California. You  wouldn’t believe what I saw.

MURRAY: I was stationed there during the war.

LOU: You don’t want to listen to this crap.

MURRAY: Sure we do, Lou. Right, Ted?

Ted nodded.

TED: They were topless. I couldn’t believe it. Course sometimes you wished the older ones…

LOU: It’s crap. Let’s just get drunk, Murray.

MURRAY: We’ll get drunk, Lou. But Ted and I would like to get a few things straight. I think we should find out, why you… Tell us about this backyard. The yard you’re dieing in. In this dream.

LOU: It’s just a dream.

MURRAY: Ya, a dream. But still…

LOU: You won’t tell anyone.

Ted turned back towards me and Murray. Ted loved secrets.

MURRAY: It’s in the vault, Lou. Once you tell me, it’s like money in the vault.

LOU: In  the vault.

MURRAY: There ain’t no combination, Lou. There ain’t no key.

LOU: And you, Ted?

TED: You know me, Lou. Nothing passes through my lips.

LOU: Well… Someone is cutting their lawn.

TED: Well, that clears everything up.

MURRAY: In this dream someone is cutting their lawn.

LOU: What can I say, Murray. People in my dreams like to keep their places looking good.

TED: I can see that, Lou.

MURRAY: Okay, Lou. No need to get excited.

LOU: And I can hear a radio. There’s a baseball game on. It’s hot.

TED: Whose playing?

LOU: You’re missing the point… The Twins are playing. Against the Jays.

TED: Whose the home team, Lou?

LOU: Who do you think? So you were in Hawaii. Did you ever see From Here to Eternity? I really had a thing for Deborah Kerr.

TED: Oh, she was a wild one, eh Lou?

MURRAY: Back to your dream, Lou. You said you were drinking beer. Lou, you hate beer. You always drink scotch.

LOU: That’s right. I never drink beer. It must have been very hot. I was thirsty.

MURRAY: You’re drinking beer now, Lou.

TED:  Were you wearing shorts? You once told me that you looked like a walrus in shorts.

LAUGH TRACK

LOU: Would you get to the point, Murray.

MURRAY: Don’t you think that if you were really having a stroke in a backyard you’d have more details? It’s my guess, Lou, that having a stroke in a backyard is the real dream, a nightmare that has frightened you so much that you’ve mistaken it for reality.

LOU: (braying laughter) So that’s the dream and this is the reality?

MURRAY: I recognize that I have a vested interest in this conclusion but I think that it is the correct one.

LOU: You’re a hell of a guy, Murray!

MURRAY: You’re drunk, Lou.

LAUGH TRACK

LOU: Did you hear that?

TED: Is it like a constant buzzing in your ear?