12
As they drove back to the house they could see lightening off in the distance. A storm was moving into the area. “How soon before it gets here?” he asked her.
“Couple of hours I think. It’s hard to tell.” She was staring off into the distance, “sometimes they just blow themselves out.”
“Well, I guess that does it for our exploring the town this afternoon. I really wanted to get into the movie theater and see what they had.” She looked at him questioningly. “Seriously, I love sci-fi movies.
“You like science fiction?” He nodded yes and she smiled at him, “Well now, the video store had quite a lot of them. We moved all of them to the air-conditioned warehouse. I guess we will have to come back later and take a look.”
“I take it there is a DVD player at the house. I don’t remember seeing one, but then I wasn’t looking for one.” He said as they turned a corner.
“There’s a built-in entertainment unit hidden by the bookcase in the living room. It has a big screen TV, DVD player, and a stereo system that will knock your socks off!” She turned facing him and continued, “I love smooth jazz and I really crank it up when I’m here by myself. Pat Metheny, the Rippingtons, Keiko Matsue, and a host of others I can’t remember right now.”
“Say, is it me or is it getting hot?” He asked her.
She reached over and felt his forehead. “Shit! We pushed the envelope.” Alarm flashed in her eyes, “When we get back I give you some Tylenol, and I think maybe a nap is in order.”
“But what about lunch, I feel okay, just warm. Can’t we have lunch first; I am so looking forward to that pickle,” he teased her.
“OK, lunch it is, and then nap time for you.” Then in a somber tone she said, “I don’t want you to have a relapse Daniel.”
They rounded the corner and drove up to the house. After they were in, she left him to his ‘booty’ and she headed to the kitchen. She started making them some sandwiches on rye bread. She got the chips down and the big dill pickles out of the refrigerator. She couldn’t get the jar opened…so she marched into the living room and handed him the jar. He took it, twisted the top off and handed it back to her without even a second look. She fixed their plates, got the beer out of the frig and then announced… “Lunch is ready!”
They ate at the bar. He took a long swig of his beer. “Ah! This is great! I haven’t had one of these in so long, years I think. So, what kind of Sci-fi do you like?”
She finished what was in her mouth and answered him. “I don’t like the slicer-dicer stuff. That really isn’t Sci-fi. Remember the old black and white movies; The Crawling Eye; Them; Creature from the Black Lagoon; Beginning of the End; The Blob; and War of the Worlds. Now that was good creature stuff! In later years the Alien series – (I & II were the best), Star Wars, and the Stargate SG-1 series on TV was the greatest.”
“No way,” he said with surprise, “I used to watch that every chance I got. I paid a pretty penny for the full DVD series, plus the movies.”
They finished lunch, and she cleaned up the kitchen. He sat there talking and they were deep in a debate about the Star Trek series when she reminded him he had to rest for a bit. “We shall continue this later woman. Voyager doesn’t even belong to the same genre.”
“You are a pig-headed, opinionated jerk!” she told him grinning.
“We will see about that! Right now,” he said as he grabbed the banister on the stairs, “whoa I’m a little dizzy here.”
She was by his side in a flash. “Did you take the Tylenol like I asked you?”
“Not yet, I’m a thick head, remember?”
She slid her arm around his waist and helped him up the stairs. He enjoyed doing the same to her. She got him to his room, and he went into the bathroom and got the Tylenol and took 3 of them with water. He closed the door and took a pee, washed up and then went out to the bed. She was still there waiting for him.
“Let me look at you, please,” she put her hands on his face, felt his forehead, and checked his pulse. “Maybe you just did too much for one day.”
“I think you may be right, a nap sounds real good right about now.” He stretched and yawned deeply, “Don’t let me sleep longer than a couple of hours, okay?”
He was out in the time it took her to go to her room and look out the window at the weather. She changed into a long-sleeved white tee shirt and a pair of jeans. It was getting colder, so she put on some socks and her black boots. She went downstairs and checked out the videos that were here at the house.
The storm stayed out in the desert, but the temperature kept dropping. He slept for 3 hours before she woke him. They were on no timetable, so she didn’t see the harm in letting him rest longer. When she entered the room to wake him, he was lying on his back, one arm behind his head. His hair had come lose and some was splayed across his face.
Mmm, I’d like to be cuddled up next to you, big guy. She gently moved the hair away from his face.
“Daniel, Daniel wake up,” She bent down and gently touched his shoulder. He was instantly awake. She gave a backwards start. “Hey there sleeping beauty, time to get up.”
He stretched and rubbed his eyes. Then he smiled at her.
She rattled the car keys over his head. “Want some candy– go for a ride?”
“Do not tempt me woman,” He winked at her and smiled.
“If you feel up to it, we can go take a quick look at the movies in the warehouse.” She teased him.
He was up in a flash. “Just let me get ready. I’ll meet you downstairs,” he shouted as he went into the bathroom. Ten minutes later he came down the stairs looking neat and well rested. He had retied his hair, and had on a navy turtleneck.
“Don’t forget a windbreaker, the temperature has started to drop,” she called to him. “I think we may be in for a storm this evening.”
He watched as she headed out the back door. She was in jeans and a windbreaker that covered a white tee shirt. There was a strong wind blowing outside and it blew the windbreaker open, the shirt hugged her body. It was obvious she didn’t have on a bra. She was a fine figure of a woman, and he woke up feeling pretty randy. Control yourself man! He followed her out.
He got in the suburban and she handed him the keys. “You remember the way?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said saluting, “forward HO!”
“Thirsty?”
“Me thinks you have something in mind?”
“Beer or soda?”
“Beer! I don’t get to do this very often.”
She handed him one and he took a long swallow, “I am definitely going to keep you around!”
She took out one for herself, “If I get silly, please excuse me, I do not handle beer very well.”
“Madam, you have my word as a gentleman, I shall look after you.”
Said the spider to the fly… this should be interesting.
She turned on the CD in the car and had a Los Lobos CD in playing. The music had a definite Spanish/Flamingo flair to it. It was catchy, and they were both put into good moods,
“Now what’s this bullshit about ‘Voyager’?” she said turning towards him smiling.
“I can see I’m not going to get out of it. Ok, I think it was an ass-kiss to the feminist movement. All the other shows had strong male captains. Now this Captain Janeway was supposed to have gone thru the same training that all Starfleet captains go through. No way, I’m not buying it. On every show she let her emotions rule her decisions. It was a crock! Captain Picard would never have made the decisions she did.”
“Much as I don’t want to agree, I think you may be right. But see, I go the movies to be entertained. I don’t want to see socially relevant shows, or be preached at, or enlightened, or anything else; just entertained!” She was gesturing wildly with her hands, “That’s why I enjoy Sci-fi so much. It’s pure escapism!”
“I can see where you’re coming from, but you also don’t want to be thought of as an idiot. I mean the premise of the story has to be believable. If it isn’t, then you’ve got a piece of crap. You got to have a good story line. And then go from there to a believable outcome.”
“Favorites?” she asked him.
“Too many to remember right now; just wait a while, they will come to me.”
“How about Armageddon, or Independence Day?” She was grinning at him, “I really enjoyed those two a lot.”
“Yeah, those were good, so was the Lord of the Rings series. They were really done well. And, I know its silly so don’t laugh, but I loved ‘StarShipTroopers’. It was so campy it was fun.”
It was funny how he enjoyed the same movies she did. She never would have thought that a man like him would go for those types of movies. They both took long swigs of their beer and let out huge belches at the same time. They laughed all their way to the center.
“Say, do you want Popcorn and Pizza while we watch the movies?” she asked him.
“Pizza definitely, and more beer; and possibly more Pizza!” He was having a good time, “this may be an all nighter!”
“Ok then, you have to pull in here first. He screeched around a sharp curve, and pulled up to a different warehouse. She hopped out and went up the stairs with him right behind her. She put in a code and the door opened. This place was different. There was a waiting room area in front of two huge doors. There were thick jumpsuits hanging on some pegs beside a table with heavy gloves on it.
“We have to put on those overalls hanging up over there,” she said pointing to a wall where many garments were hanging. “It’s cold in there believe me, very cold! And gloves too Daniel, especially gloves. Frostbite, you know.” They proceeded to don the outfits, and she motioned to him to grab the gloves on the table. They went inside and he immediately saw why the extra clothes were necessary. It was the biggest freezer he had ever seen. The cold began to penetrate his boots almost immediately. There were sides of beef hanging in row upon row as far as he could see. Toward the back they went thru another set of doors into another freezer. This one wasn’t as cold as the first.
“What is all this?” He asked, “I assume you’ve set this up like this for a reason.”
“We keep the first one cryogenically cold, to keep the meat as long as possible. One of the guys in the camp was an engineer, and one was a butcher. Together they came up with the idea. When we want some meat, we take it out of the first freezer and bring it into the second for a few days. Then we take it to the regular refrigeration unit to thaw. That way the meat doesn’t get freezer burn, and doesn’t go bad. It works pretty well, and keeps the meat indefinitely.” She pointed down an aisle; “Ok now, you wanted Pizza, lets see... you’re going to have to look around in here, I don’t know exactly where they put them. I’m going to get some other supplies from the refrigeration unit. Be right back.”
He looked around and found the Pizzas, and also found the steak aisle. “Oh yes!” Daniel walked the aisle and came upon some thick rib eyes. “We are going to Bar-B-Q tomorrow. Now we need baked potatoes, and corn on the cob, and a salad would be great.”
She came back and heard him mumbling to himself. “What’s up doc?”
“We are going to have a Bar-B-Q tomorrow, woman. Big rib eyes with baked potatoes and corn on the cob, if possible.” He was looking at her with a devilish grin. “I don’t suppose lettuce is available?”
“Sorry, no. But we do have big potatoes at the house. And we can smother them in sour cream and cheese and bacon bits, and fresh chives. Let me go get the corn.”
“You’re on! You do the potatoes and corn and I’ll take care of the meat.” He headed for the doors with his load. They took off their clumsy outfits and left the center. They got back to the car and loaded everything in the rear. Then they headed over to the main center.
“Would you mind opening the door, Daniel?” She looked at him sweetly, “the code is 4036 star; I’ll be there in a second.”
He got out and went over and up the stairs to the door thinking to him self; She gave me the code, so she trusts me a little bit. He entered the code and the doors opened.
She got out of the car and followed him inside. “It’s on the second level all the way towards the back,” she yelled as she ran by, “race you!” She was off like a shot.
He was right behind her trying to pass her when she tripped on a wire. She would have gone over the edge if he hadn’t caught her in time. He grabbed her and pulled her to him hard. He could smell the soap she had used that morning in the shower, it was a fresh flower smell and the effect on him was immediate. He quickly covered, “Easy there, I don’t want to lose my cook.” He let her go and raced down the gangway. “I’m going to win my dear!”
She took a deep breath. Damn, that felt good! She took off running again but to no avail. He was there waiting for her with a smirk on his face.
“Ok, so you won, big deal! You still don’t know where the Sci-fi is and I do. It’s over here, these two bins.” They wheeled one of the bins out a bit and tipped it on its side. Then they were like greedy kids going thru them all.
“Hey, here’s Godzilla, and Mothra; this must be the cheesy Japanese section.”
“Here’s the Star Wars collection, the old ones.”
“Here’s Jurassic Park, and here’s the Jason series…ugh!”
“Hey look at this, there’s a whole box filled with anime… the good stuff. ‘Ghost in a Shell, and the Wolf’s Rain series; ah, here’s Akira…”
Look, here’s Wolf with Jack Nicholson and Michelle Pfeiffer. That was a good one. You want to watch that one?”
“Sure, it’s your call, you won the race so you get to pick,” she was smiling at him, enjoying the easy carefree moment with him.
OK, I got 4; Wolf, Armageddon, a surprise, and one you probably don’t know, Reign of Fire.”
“Are you kidding, that one has become a cult movie,” she smirked.
“No kidding!” he stood and tipped an invisible hat to her. “You are the boss! Let’s get going before it gets dark outside.” They righted the bin; put everything back in place, and left.
As they drove home the conversation drifted to the pros and cons of having big name stars in Sci-fi movies. “Look at Charlton Heston in ‘Planet of the Apes’; that was a hit because of him and his box office drawing ability.” He was adamant about making that point.
“Bull! ‘Wolf’ was a bomb; and it had Nicholson and Pfeiffer,” she quickly retorted.
As they rounded the corner and came up the hill, they could see in the distance a lot of dark ominous clouds and lightening across the sky.
“We’re not going to dodge the bullet tonight Daniel. It’s going to be a nasty one. We’ll have to close all the shutters on the house before it hits.”
“Perfect night for a Sci-fi Festival, the weather will fit right in!” He cheerfully exclaimed.