Sonder

Chapter 33

Nick is an hour late for swimming practice, Coach Moorehouse is iron-cast, watching Nick stride towards him. Coach's mettle melts when he sees Nick's bleary eyes and hears his cracking voice. "Get your gear on, there's still an hour left". Not cold, not warm, Coach returns to scanning the other swimmers for proper form.

***

Luckily, night school was canceled. With the sun low at his back, Nick drives home on back roads surrounded by the colors of a raptor's iris: Yellow, gold, and brown emanating from the blackhole sunset.

Audioslave plays on the radio:

"A mother lays a dozen in a chapel yard and love runs away..."

Maybe dad'll be home tonight. But, he knows better. It's a sale night. 

"...Since you've been gone..." Kelly Clarkson starts singing.

I wonder what Clair is doing tonight... Nick thumbs his phone.

***

She doesn't like going out on a school night. Her parents aren't fond of the outing either. But, she sweetens her outing with an offer to buy some creamer. "A spoonful of sugar". Out at the trailer, Nick showers the chlorine from his body and loads a box or two into the truck. Moving out in installments. 

He has an idea.

***

They meet at Hastings. A place so pivotal and omnipresent in his development that he should probably call it "Uncle Hastings" and buy it hunting gear and socks twice a year.

"I dumped out the creamer and told them I'd run into get some for the morning. They're not stupid, but pretense makes it easier for everyone". She's like Laura Croft without the polygon implants. Jeans and a functional blouse. A stone necklace and 5 simple earrings. Her hair is loose and tame. She seems ready for an Amazonian expedition or maybe some spelunking.

Hastings, a brightly lit music, book, and video store is like a Pavlovian pacifier for Nick's tired inner child. Every Friday, for years, this movie mecca marked the survival of another long middle school week. Enduring his mom's reign and his escape into his father's element. Heading to Hastings, the truck would be packed with Nick, Josh, Tessa, and Bear.

"What are we going to do tonight Brain?!" the children would ask.

"The same thing we do every night Pinky..." And everyone would finish the line:

"...TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!".

Nick tells Clair about these memories and hopes to introduce her to the old alchemy. The magic act of slowly walking the store's perimeter, scanning new releases, weighing genres, sharing updates from when they saw each other last. All while getting lost together, in a sea of movies (aka disassociation as a coping mechanism).

They summarize movies they've seen and speculate about the unseen. True to tradition, the movie selection is secondary to the exploratory experience. Exploring videos, ideas, and another spirit. The adventure isn't complete after the exterior circuit (new releases). There are 47 additional rows of older films clustered by genre to weave through. Documentary and freign films lead way to action. She loves Jet Li. She loves Jackie Chan. Damn their height, damn their age. She'd lay herself sacrificially before either master faster than stack of boards to be split with a 'kiai'.

Comedy blurs into romance, then fades to drama.

They had found the only 'necessary disc an hour earlier (The Incredibles. An extra credit assignment for film studies class). Almost as long, she's been juggling An Officer and a Gentleman in her hands, insisting that he must watch it.