French Cup: A Neighborhood Story

Chapter 11: -Gyeong-Wan- The Japanese Word for Rabbit on a Stick

The bright lights of the hotel were being speckled on the ground by pin shaped droplets of rain. The street lights made the rain be known, too, revealing the downpour in their light streams. I popped my umbrella open, ignoring the valet staring at me from his stand. He was probably wondering where I was going at this late hour. We knew each other, of course, but I didn't like to talk to anyone much. Even having only been here this long, we both knew this. 

Cars were whooshing by, the water being brought up and flushing over the sidewalk. Strangely, it was prettier than I remembered. The spirit of the water, coming up over the sides. The movement of it. My head was down as I went over the cracks in the sidewalk, these now familiar flaws. The rain made bup-bupping sounds on my umbrella as a steady chatter. Big, fat rain. 

It made me wonder about the event I was going to. I wanted to go to as many events as I could on the calendar in the magazine I'd picked up. Some I couldn't make, due to work, but they all sounded interesting. Live music at the record store. A book reading at the local library. Movie showings at the movie theater nearby. Most of all, I wanted to go to Drag Bingo, which was tonight. There was an included picture of the a previous one in the magazine, and evidently it had been going on for a long time. 

And this picture. I'd stared at it for so long. Finally, I had a picture of that boy. The one, who's nametag said Kazuya. His friends called him "Kazu". But, this picture didn't show him as a boy. It showed him as a girl. I wasn't too familiar with drag, but I'd done some research since he'd invited me. I watched some episodes of Rupaul's Drag Race and became intrigued. Seeing what they do, now I really wanted to participate in Drag Bingo. What was it all about? I still didn't understand that world, or what a drag queen is. I'd heard of them before, of course, but never saw one up close. I didn't know anybody who knew what a drag queen was.

And now...I'd been talking with one. I wanted to know all about him. Find out more about his world. Here now was a way to peek inside, about all these things I didn't know about. This other way to live, this freedom kind of living. So free, that you can be a drag queen. 

Too in my thoughts, I didn't realize I'd gotten to the shop's doorstep. I folded my umbrella under the awning, the heavy rain pouring down, making a waterfall. It was nice enough to stand out here under it, with the warm light of the coffeeshop over me, the sound of the rain. But, there were other sounds inside. 

Laughter. So much laughter. I wanted to know what that laughter was about. As I peered inside, for those brief seconds, what I saw...

The boy was with his friend on a low stage, some long wooden boxes put together with what looked like electrical tape. There was a collapsible table on it with a lot of different objects. And what the boy looked like... The smile was the same, but he was prettier. There was no other way to describe it. He wore a white dress with cherries on it, a fluffiness to it. There was a yellowish apron with more fluffiness on top of it, something a housewife would wear. His waist was so different, shaped like a cone. It looked like it hurt. His hair was curly and a light orange, almost an orange golden color. A lime green, thick headband was behind his curled bangs. He wore red lipstick. 

His friend stood next to him, impossibly tall. And in his hands was...

Sound overwhelmed me as I opened the door. 

"Next up, we have this... Colette, what is this?" He held a skull in his hands, from some kind of animal. So many people shouting up at them, calling out what they thought the skull could be. 

"It's a cat skull! Julia found it in the alley!" A goth dressed girl shouted up at him. 

His friend was startled, almost dropping the skull. Ah, but the boy stepped up. He took it in his lace gloved hands, doing a half spin with it, that smile so bright. He reminded me of Hamlet in a way. "This is so cool, I want it!" He squealed, making to kiss it.