Girl Outside (short story)

Edgar walked around back to where the base of the building jutted out and met the concrete of the dumpster area. Here, the red bricks of the Whiskey Mart contrasted with the gray concrete and he couldn't help thinking this must be what war is like. Two opposing forces of different colors squaring off on a front, ready to do their worst to each other and then some. If life were any less curious it would be packaged neatly and shipped off in a box.


He fished a cigarette from his pack, lit it and walked around to the opening that lead into the garbage depot. Inside were two large metal containers, one blue and the other red, each overflowing with material. Yet again, another internal war, this time between society's struggle whether to discard or to recycle. Apparently the wasteful side was winning, seeing all the garbage strewn about the ground. It was piling up half the height of the dumpster, and the putrid smell was beginning to overwhelm. A mouse, alarmed by Edgar's sudden appearance, scurried away from the stockpile of waste and slipped away through a crack in the concrete enclosure.


Night was closing in and the moon was showing up to replace the sun. The air was still, crisp and easy to breath, and the sounds of town were beginning to die down. He inhaled a drag from his cigarette and as he exhaled the sudden appearance of a girl from behind the blue dumpster startled him and made him drop his cigarette to the ground.


"Jesus! What the hell, honey?" Edgar asked as he bent over to retrieve his smoke. She was a young thing, still looking fit and very pretty, but the hardness of life was chipping away at her clothing and her hair was anything but pleasant. She stood there in the corner, trembling, the outdoor light from the Whiskey Mart illuminating her like a dastardly angel. He looked at her with calm eyes and simple devotion, and he could see the effects of a yet another kind of war. Tonight was a night for never ending battles it seemed. "What's your name?" Edgar asked her.


Frightened, she tossed her arms out in front of her and held something up towards his face. "You stay back! Please, I don't want any trouble, I just want you to go away" she exclaimed. Edgar looked at the object in her hands with great curiosity.


"Did you find that in the garbage?" he asked. Her gaze fell away from his and turned down to the two tin cans that she held in her hands.


"Y-y-yes, I thought they might have food in them. They don't though, they're just empty cans tied to a stupid string. It doesn't make any sense, nothing makes sense anymore really." She tossed the cans to the ground and looked back up at him. Her eyes were tiny and beautiful, but you could tell she had painful secrets locked somewhere behind them.


"You should keep those," Edgar replied, "they allow whoever holds them to communicate with the dead, and the dead have all of life's answers, you know." He extended his arm and offered his cigarette to her, but she shook her head and politely declined. She looked back down at the cans and the attached string and nudged them with her shoe.


"Are you making that up just to send me for a loop?" she asked.

"No, I'm really not," Edgar replied. "I have a friend who swears by this method, and he has never been the type to make shit up." He moved closer to her and sat down on a red plastic crate. "Say, you look familiar to me. Have we ever met before?"


She paused for a long moment before answering. "Yeah, sorta. You probably know me from the TV. Everyone knows me from the TV." She kicked at a nearby trash bag and her foot sunk halfway into it. Her hands were buried in the pockets of her tattered red sweatshirt and it looked as though worms were moving beneath the fabric. A car drove through the parking lot and she nervously looked in its direction as it revved it's engine and sped off.


"I don't watch TV," Edgar replied, "so it can't be that. Maybe you just have one of those faces. Let me ask you this, how long have you been living in the streets?"

"About a year now," she murmured.

"And when you can't find food in dumpsters, what do you eat?"

"I fast," she murmured again.


Her hands were now out of her pockets and busy unwrapping something she had found on the ground. The soggy remnants of a partially eaten burrito were discovered inside and she tossed it into the dumpster. Edgar watched as she rummaged some more, carefully picking her way through the surface layer of trash. She was methodical in her motions and her fingers seemed to have a sense of adventure. When she would locate something of interest, she'd roll it around a few times for inspection before popping it into her mouth, but mostly she would just toss things back in.


"Hey listen, I live just up the road from here, in an old Victorian style house with many rooms, and in some of those rooms are my housemates, wonderfully creative human beings who like to write and study, sing and play music, paint, philosophize, and dream. It is our House Of Muse, and we live according to our own wants and needs, we come and go as we please and we respect each others' journey. I'd like for you to come over for dinner tonight, you can bring your own food if you like," Edgar smiles and winks, "or I can prepare you the best lemon pepper chicken and rice you'll ever eat. I invite you as my guest, and if you feel comfortable you may stay as long as you like. Would that be something that interests you?" Edgar asked her. "If so, my car is parked around the corner, I was planning on leaving after I smoked and talked to Eddie The Clerk inside the Whiskey."


"Sure, I'm down," she replied without hesitation.

"Fantastic! Here take my keys and go sit tight for a minute, I'm going to run inside and talk to Eddie. I won't be long. I'm parked right next to the illuminated store sign, you can't miss it, it's the only dragon wagon in town." He handed her the keys, smiled, and disappeared through the side door that lead into the store. She walked around front and surveyed the parking lot, and sure enough, she spotted an old white station wagon with a gigantic dragon face displayed on the car hood. As she got closer she noticed the dragon's scales were created from bottle caps, coins and aluminum foil all glued into place. The eyes and nostrils and flames were painted on beautifully and some of the scales continued down the length of either side of the car. It was really something to behold, and she was a little curious how she had never seen this machine driving around town before.


She unlocked the passenger side door and climbed in. It was still warm inside and smelled like cream of mushroom soup. She leaned over and stuck the keys into the ignition and started it up. Lou Reed's voice instantly joined her inside the car, and while she sat there waiting for Edgar, she closed her eyes and let the lyrics of Coney Island Baby wash over her...


"When you're all alone and lonely

in your midnight hour

And you find that your soul

it's been up for sale

And you begin to think 'bout

all the things that you've done

And you begin to hate

just 'bout everything."


She cupped her hands to her face and started crying as the song continued playing...


"And all your two-bit friends

have gone and ripped you off

They're talking behind your back saying, man

you're never going to be no human being

And you start thinking again

'bout all those things that you've done

And who it was and what it was

and all the different things you made every different scene

Ahhh, but remember that the city is a funny place

Something like a circus or a sewer."


The windows of the car began fogging up as the extra moisture from her sobbing and heavy breathing sought out an escape. The song was nearing its end when Edgar showed up and hopped into the driver seat. He had a brown paper bag rolled up in one hand and a lit joint in the other. He reached across the gear shift and handed the joint her way, "Here hun, have a hit of this. It's the preferred method of alleviating tear-filled eyes and a pained heart. Of course, your eyes will stay red a little while longer, but hey who cares?"


She accepted the offer and took a few hits, then wiped her face on her sleeve. "Sorry, I don't know what that was all about," she said, "I thought I got past all the crying."


"It's a never ending cycle of laughter and tears. A recycled nightmare at times, a brand new affection for misdirection the next. Don't carry more rocks than your little arms can handle, there's plenty of room on the ground. Now if you don't mind, I have to make one tiny pit stop before we get to the House Of Muse. That okay with you?" he asked. She nodded that it was and handed back the joint. The car lurched forward and headed out onto the main road, barely missing the yellow concrete pole guarding the store sign.


"You almost hit that pole," she said.

"Nah, it almost hit me!" he answered.

"You have a strange car," she mentioned.

"It's the dragon wagon, baby!" he declared as they sped on down the road.


The sound of the dragon wagon's engine blended with Lou Reed's voice as they headed up Wallace Road together. Edgar reached up and adjusted the rear view mirror as several cars whizzed by in the other lane.

"Hot damn, the whole world is passing me on the right," he said as a few more cars raced by. He snubbed what was left of the joint into a small aluminum can placed inside one of the cup holders, "So hey, you never did tell me your name."


She was looking out the window, her mind moving through the trees at 55 mph, her heart beating a bit faster and giggling inside her chest. "Mandy. My name is Mandy," she replied, "and that's some really good weed you got there." Edgar nodded and smiled as her attention returned to the passing view outside. "You know, up until a year ago I never even smoked weed before. Never drank either, or did any kind of drugs whatsoever. I was pretty straight-laced, a real square. I suppose that's why it came as quite a shock when my face appeared on national news that night."


Edgar leaned forward and lowered the volume of the music to a faint whisper as Mandy continued, "In high school I ran track, second fastest on the whole team, but my passion was soccer. I was the captain of the team and had a full scholarship to WOU because of it. It wasn't like I was unaccustomed to being on the news, I had appeared in the paper numerous times for various sport and academic related accolades. My parents were so proud of me and the entire community supported me all the way. And then... everything went to shit."


She rolled her window down halfway, and with a loud hacking sound cleared her throat and spit a loogie into the street. The air rushed in and blew hair into her face, and she casually brushed it aside and returned the window to its up position. "And when I say it went to shit, I mean IT WENT ALL TO SHIT."


Edgar flicked on his left blinker and moved into the turning lane. After waiting for several cars to pass by he whipped into a nearby church parking lot. The entire lot was lit up by dozens of light poles, each connected by a cable with colorful triangle-shaped streamers hanging along their lengths. A gigantic sign facing the main road read: FAMILY FUN NIGHT. There was a drove of people on the far end nearest the church building, all gathered around something of interest, but it was unclear as to what. There were more people grouped together on the opposite side where a section of the parking lot had been mapped out with spare tires and hay bales forming a race track in which go-karts were currently zipping their way through. The whining sound of small horsepower engines filled the air and further added to the excitement of family fun night.


With the car still idling Edgar turned towards Mandy and said, "Listen, before you finish your story I'd like for you to join me in something special. I promise it'll be an invigorating release of stress and that you'll be glad you said yes. What do you say?"

Her eyes nervously scanned the parking lot as she answered, "I dunno, man, I really don't like church people very much. This is a very unfair thing to dump on someone you just met without knowing how they feel about it."

Edgar replied, "No, no, I promise that what we're about to do has nothing to do with these peoples' religion or their god or the church that they keep that god locked up in. If you look over there, beyond that mob of humanity, you can see a spray painted van with a clown juggling on its roof." Edgar motioned with his hand. "Do you see it?

"Yeah, I see it" she remarked.

"Okay, well right next to that van is what we're here for, and I promise you it's not a sermon. It's way more elevating and spirit-lifting than that, I assure you. You down?" he asked.

"Yeah, okay... I'm down."


Edgar slowly drove through the packed parking lot and made his way toward the juggling clown. Next to him was a small rectangular area cordoned off by thick bull rope attached to waist-high metal poles. A large tarp had been laid down over the asphalt within and people were standing all around excitedly. To the left a large stage had been erected and a Christian band was playing their music. Edgar stopped the car and told Mandy to sit tight for a minute, hopped out and walked over to talk to a man holding a baseball bat. Soon after, he was back in the car and the man with the bat repositioned a pole and motioned for them to drive into the roped area.


"This is going to be awesome," Edgar said to her. He then reached into the glove compartment and retrieved a video camera and the title to the car. He grabbed a CD case off the console, the roach from the cup holder, and the brown paper bag he got at the Whiskey Mart and exited the car. She did the same and followed him out into the crowd. Teenagers were now pushing their way to where the man with the bat stood as he began speaking into a cordless microphone.


"Test.. test... this working? Can everyone hear me out there?" The roar of the crowd answered in confirmation as he continued. "Alright boys and girls, this is what you've all been waiting for! Our gracious Lord has provided us with another vehicle this year. The automobile seen before you represents the sin in your life, the negative influence Satan has in your day to day. Well we're gonna stand up to Satan tonight! We're gonna smash out his windows and mirrors, we're gonna dent up his body the same way he does to ours! One-by-one we're gonna expel him from our lives tonight with this here baseball bat... now, who wants the first crack?"


The energy and excitement grew enormously as dozens of kids edged closer to the scene of vehicular destruction. Edgar flipped open his video camera and turned it around to record himself as he spoke, "It's Monday night, March 22. Tonight marks the death of the dragon wagon, baby, at the hand of god's misguided children. It was a wild ride for the both of us, but that chapter is over now. Here marks the beginning of something new." He turned the camera back around and started recording as the first kid climbed up onto the hood with bat in hand and swung with everything he had. The windshield cracked upon impact and a spiderweb of white squiggly lines splayed out in every direction as he held the bat high above his head in victory.


The bat was handed from one kid to the next as the dragon wagon slowly transformed into a mutated representation of its former self. Glass sprayed out onto the ground, smooth metal was dented in, paint chips and dragon scales fell away and decorated the tarp like 4th of July parade confetti. Edgar looked over at Mandy and said, "You should go beat the hell out of it too, you know it'll feel great. Just imagine that you're still telling your story, and whack it with everything you've got."


A smile crept across her face as she nodded in acknowledgment and made her way towards what was left of the dragon wagon. Moments later, with the baseball bat poised high above her head, she turned and looked directly at Edgar's video camera and yelled, "Desperta ferro!" before swinging with all of her might, delivering a crushing blow that completely blew out the rear passenger side window. Edgar smiled, flipped the camera closed, and walked away.


The End.

Comments

  1. I get so lost in your stories/poems. You are very talented and you seem to come to it with such ease. Keep writing, don't let that game-box get in your way

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  2. Love it love it love it love it lovvvveee iiittt.

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  3. what does the girl outside represent? I am DYING TO KNOW.... is she the essence of the prospect of new love? is she your desire to be the pull towards THE UNKNOWN? THE MYSTICAL; DEEP, DARK HAIRED MAN? (that was emphasis, not yelling)

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  4. LoL @ Anonymous---> the mystical, deep, dark haired man? That's funny.

    And thank you for your comment.

    And thank you too, Becki J!!!

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  5. Where is the link to part 2 ?

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