So here we go i have four stories. I will tell them one after the other. In the extended portion of this entry i will tell the details behind the stories. The details are unimportant. The stories i will tell are stories that are not original. They really occured in one form or another. The truth is there. (remember i’m transposing most of this from a source listed int he Extended Entry section. Mainly i am awestruck by the sheer measure of the situation and put this before you, placing you in the position of reactionary.)
Story One: The Subway.
You step on the subway right outside the staten island ferryt and head up town. Your on the 1 line heading to times square, which is on the 42nd street stop. As you pass the chambers street a curious occupant steps aboard. He is wearing what appears to be a three piece suit, yet he is missing a piece. Namely he is missing his pants. The subway continues down the path and and at the next stop, another pantless individual steps aboard. The people around you giggle. A few stare, and avert their eyes. Moments pass and stop after stop, more pantless individuals step aboard your car. Some comedic moments are shared between the pantless and panted occupants but the absurdity of the situation is never brought up. Finally at 33rd street a vendor walks on board. The vendor begins selling these pantless individuals, their much needed clothing- pants. Slowly the crowd dissipates as though nothing absurd went on.
Story Two: Starbucks, the true end of the universe.
After purchasing your coffee you sit down to look at this book that has been newly acquired from the local Straume’s discount bookstore. After reading the first page you get restless and scan your surroundings. Some cute people are sitting around you and a few that you assume to be college students. You overhear a conversation coming from the line formed near the counter. One voice you hear cut across the room is the voice of a young woman clearly stating, “I can’t believe you’re doing this.” You watch as she darts out of line and out of the door with the distressed husband calling after her, “Come back!… Come back here!… Katie!” Returning to your book you hear the melody of the entertainer floating through the air. Moments pass by and you hear the chorus of “shiny happy people” being blasted by this guy as he cuts across the starbuck’s room. A sneeze echoes across the room and you decide to say, “gazunheit” because your nice like that. (don’t knock it i could make you an asshole if i wanted)
You get halfway down the page and you hear distinctly the following dialogue:
Girl: Stop!
Boy: You promised you would never smoke around me.
Girl: I’m not!
Boy: You promised you wouldn’t let me see these. (tries to snatch them again.)
Girl: I can’t believe you’re doing this!
Boy: (yelling) Come back!… Come back here!… Katie!
As the door closes you hear the entertainer tune cutting across the room. You catch a guy standing up and crossing toward the bathroom and then sitting back down. The man holding the boombox crosses the store with the chorus to “Shiny Happy People” playing, and a sneeze occurs again followed moments later by the clearing of a throat.
Putting the book down you see the couple walk back in and take up position in the line in front of the counter. In the corner of your eye you see a guy spill his coffee and walk to the island for napkins and clean up his mess. Meanwhile you hear the conversation between the man and woman begin:
Boy: You can’t smoke in here, Katie.
Girl: I’m not smoking. I’m just getting my phone.
Boy: Give me those (tries to snatch the pack)
Girl: Stop!
Boy: You promised you would never smoke around me.
Girl: I’m not!
Boy: You promised you wouldn’t let me see these. (tries to snatch them again.)
Girl: I can’t believe you’re doing this!
Boy: (yelling) Come back!… Come back here!… Katie!
As the door shuts again the Entertainer begins his little rag and you notice it coming from this young male student’s cell phone. The man who needed to use the bathroom stands up again, knocks into another individual and stands in line. After a few moments he gives up sits down and states to the person next to him that the line is too long. The dancing boombox comes back through playing the same god damn chorus. As the boombox exits, a guy with an ESPN magazine sneezes then clears his throat.
Closing the book you watch as the young couple enters the door again. You hear mumbles around you from individuals recognizing the same thing your recognizing. Cue the fight, the coffee being spilled, the entertainer, the bathroom, the shiny happy people, then the cough and cleared throat. All this occurs in the course of five minutes. AFter a few moments you see it repeated again. AFter the sixth time of repetition people go from amusement to bewilderment. Individuals begin to acknowledge that they are all seeing this, and not just individual hallucinations. By the ninth time you see people predicting the course of events. By the twelth it is a game to the people inside the starbucks.
And then it stops. Nothing else happens. You are left with nothing but a memory. The couple has vanished. No Boombox dancer. You are left with just a starbucks. You recognize though that people are still repeating their actions, only in their minimal methods.. sip sip sip…. read read turn page.. read read turn page… minor deviations.. sneeze, cough… smile… looped….
Story Three: Your Big Night
You are the lead singer in brand new band who has released very local hits and decide to go on tour. You have several scheduled dates around manhattan but the last date scheduled in a long string of tour dates happens to fall on a sunday. You think that there will be few people there, specially since there are usually few people at your other gigs. Your not heartbroken, you are a new sound and people just haven’t heard your band play that much. As you stand outside as the opening band plays, you see the audience is only numbering three. You feel weak and tired and don’t really want to play, but you must.
So as your backstage getting ready you hear an unusual amount of sound arising from the audience. Clapping and cheering. It sounds unusually loud for only three people. You peak out and notice that there around 28 people in the crowd. Unreal you think to yourself. The band walks out on stage and the crowd goes insane. As your playing the first song, you notice they are singing along to the lyrics. You just are bewildered by the whole scene. After the first scene you turn to the drummer who is as bewildered as you. You really get into the next song and feed off of the audience’s energy. As you play the audience gets wilder and wilder. Several screams for requests ring from the audience, requests for songs that you understood to be seriously unknown by the general public. Toward the end of the set an audience member jumps on stage and begins hugging the guitarist whispering “thank you” in his ear. The set ends and you walk off stage to hear them request an encore. An encore from an audience for a band who used all of their good songs in the main set. Not deterred you return to the stage and give them the encore they want. It was a beautiful night and you feed off of the energy. As you begin packing up your instruments you notice the audience gradually thinning. And in a matter of seconds the audience is gone. No one is left. The band is alone. The first phrase uttered is, “what the fuck was that all about” as the guitarist lights his cigarette.
Story Four: Unknown birthday.
You walk into your local bar after attending class and buy a pint with an old friend of yours. You sit in a secluded part of the bar just to talk about a couple art projects your working on. Out of nowhere a young man walks up and tells you happy birthday. During this long conversation he continually references you as Ted. He also gives you a very expensive gift certificate to best buy. You calmly explain that you are not ted and there is an uneasy quiet. He smiles and says of course you are, then begins to explain how you and he went to college together and he never forgets a face. Bewildered you explain meekly that you are not ted and it isn’t your birthday. Three more people show up and wish you, ted, a happy birthday. They all reference memories of a past you remember nothing of. You whip out your wallet and show id thinking that this will finally get you out of this emberrasing mess since for all you know ted could be in the bar or walk into the bar and find you stealing all his presents. After awkward conversations pass you see them not giving up on calling you ted. your friend vanishes and your left alone with this group that keeps growing exponentially. Every attempt to correct them of their mistaken identity fails. hours tick by and stories continue to be shared and alcohol is consumed. They feed you drink after drink and suddenly you see them bring out a cake. You feel them eyeing you as you blow out a cake for someone you know isn’t you. Then it happens. You begin to doubt your own identity. How can thirty five people be wrong about your identity? How can you be the only one on earth thinking you are john when everyone else demands your ted. Time passes. Alcohol is consumed. By the third hour of the night you slip and don’t deny being ted. Nothing happens and the party gets more livelier. You play pool with these people, you accept their drinks, you listen to their stories, and you even start to agree with them because it takes too long to argue with them at this point. Ted isn’t showing up, and you figure what the hell. The night continues to go on further and you realize that your drinking more then you should. You single out a cute girl from you ‘past’ and you recognize that this girl might be interested in you. You ask her to your place later tonight for a smoke. She looks a bit worried, and but she says we will see. And the night gets wilder. You don’t remember much that happens after this.
What you do remember is that you wake up the next morning in your bed with the collection of gift certificates labeled for Ted. You think to yoruself, “i’m not ted.” You talk to a friend about it and come up with an analogy. You are like Tom Cruise waking up after Eyes Wide shut. You see the mask which tells you it wasn’t just a dream, but you really wish it were because you have no method of rationalization for what just happened.
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And so what do these four stories have in common?
Continue reading “multiple worlds in it’s best conception…”