THE BEAUTIFUL ONE~Volume One

DAY FIVE (cont)

"Following new policy by movie theatre is piece of cake, no?" I asked Michael at the end of the triple feature, as we exited the auditorium-carrying with us our remaining food containers-in this case stiff card board containers which had at one point contained freshly popped popcorn with butter flavoring mixed in-the tasty item Michael and I agreed would make a good dessert, barring the absence of ice cream and other more commonly eaten items. "No pun intended." I added, with a grin as I deposited my food containers in the trash receptacle, as Michael replied "Uh...No...I mean yeah, a piece of cake" while depositing his food containers in the same receptacle, before kiddingly adding: "Hey, I wonder if they have any-cake I mean", while looking around and quickly scanning the food cases in the concession area-knowing full well the only sweets the theatre sold were candy bars. "I sure could go for a piece", he continued, before adding "No, just kidding", with a grin and a chuckle as we made our way out of the movie theatre, and back through the parking lot of the strip mall to the tram stop at which we'd arrived, and waited for the tram to take us from the theatre back to my flat-a trip we would complete with a short three-block ride heading west, followed by a slightly longer (eight or nine blocks) tram ride to the north, and ending with a quick two or three block jog (I mean turn) to the left past the final tram stop.

"What time is it, Michael?", I asked my beautiful companion after having disembarked the first tram coach, and sensed the lateness of the hour, while at the same time checking the tram schedule for the time and location of the next-available coach.

"Um, hold on a minute." I heard Michael reply (not seeing him remove his credit-card sized cell phone from the wallet, and pressing a button to illuminate the time and date display on the 'face' of the phone. "Eleven thirty", I heard Michael reply, to which I replied: "Danke, Liebster" in my native German, while turning a page in the schedule book, and scanning with my eyes and fingers.

"Ah...Next tram does not come for an hour..." I replied, slightly annoyed by the infrequency of the arrivals of trams after certain evening hours. "Eleven blocks is not that far...We may as well walk home.' I continued, just as the lateness of the hour, and the presence of a yawn, which passed as quickly as it came, led me just as quickly to change my mind. "But we will wait for tram." I replied after the yawn had passed, and I'd regained the use of my vocal chords. "In mean time, we find other things to do, yes?", I asked my beautiful friend, who (having returned his cell phone to its place in his wallet) replied in agreement, and followed me (while simultaneously slipping his wallet back into his pants pocket) to a row of businesses, many of which were in the habit of staying open to the wee small hours of the morning.

'Ah, they have cake in diner...You can get a piece there." I said kiddingly to Michael, with a gentle punch to the arm.

"No, that's okay." Michael replied with a shy smile and a chuckle in his voice, shortly before finding his attention captured by the faint sound of a tune more familiar to him but that I seemed to recognize also, coming from a little night club of sorts situated two doors down from the diner. Finding our curiosity peaked, Michael and I made our way over to the nightclub, and upon reaching the entrance, discovered a group of young people (some I guessed to be teen age, while the rest were clearly Michael's age and mine, or slightly younger) performing a series of dance moves which Michael-by his quietly enthusiastic reaction-obviously recognized. Moves performed to music of an upbeat contemporary style, and seemingly peppered with random sounds, the eeriness of which gave the impression of watching a film out of the horror movie genre.

"Come on" I heard Michael whisper, as I felt him gently clasp my nearest hand, and lead me into the club, followed by the quiet instruction to 'wait here', as we entered to the side of the dancers-out of their line of sight, and Michael (seeming to take his cue from the music) moved quickly to the front of and joined the dancers, seamlessly and flawlessly executing the same dance moves-as though he'd been born knowing the moves-before executing a perfect series of figure skater-like spins, much to the pleasant surprise of the other dancers (some of whom began to chat amongst themselves, while others expressed their approval to the performance of their surprise guest with cheers and a round of applause.