Chapter Three: Hyperion Park Black And Blues.

The Hopeless Romantic. Part Three: Hyperion Park Black And BluesShare
Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 6:52pm | Edit Note | Delete
"I work at a law firm downtown. I'm a file clerk. Pulling files, organizing them, sending them to storage. Whatever, all very boring stuff. Just me up in my little Rapunzel's tower all day. But I'm good at it. I could probably help you organize all your inventory here."

Lola Wants just stared at him with her old lady eyes. Martin wasn't sure if she even spoke or understood any language besides the alien tongue she spoke with Getz. Lola Getz made a snorting noise and a spinning motion with her hand.

"I doubt that, Mister Hollys. Continue."

"Anyway, the firm is located near Hyperion Park and I usually go over there for lunch. You know, sit in the park and eat. Usually, by the big red pagoda. There's some shade. I eat and read."

"Read what?"

"Excuse me?"

Again, the spinning motion of her hand. And her accent sounded thicker. Vowels and consonants shifted and slipped out of her mouth, tired of conforming to plain English. Lola Getz spoke slowly.

"What. Do. You. Read."

"Umm. Fantasy novels. Detective stories. Science Fiction. Comic books. You know, escapism stuff."

At that, Lola Getz smiled a Chershire Cat smile. A Grinch Who Stole Christmas smile. Her cheeks receded back like a tide revealing tooth-colored teeth. She made the spinning gesture again and then steepled her hands into a little church.

"Yes-yes-yes. Barbarians and Blackguards. Gumshoes and Gunsels. Rockets and Robots. Superheroes and Supervillains. Yes-yes-yes. Continue."

Martin found himself half disturbed by her smile and half charmed by her choice of words regarding his reading habits.

"I first saw...your employee...about a month ago. She came and sat down in the pagoda where I usually sat. Red hair. Green trenchcoat. And those painted goggles. She would sit and wait. She would make little origami figures from these colorful pieces of paper. Little roses or knights or ducks or birds. She would set them on the bench beside her. The third time she came and sat down there I worked up the courage to say, 'Nice goggles' to her. She just looked at me for a moment and went on making a little origami frog. I felt stupid but I was...well, I was..."

"Smitten."

Both Martin and Lola Getz looked over. It was Lola Wants who spoke. The word was said so that each syllable had its own moment in the spotlight. She blinked her eyes once. Maybe that's her version of that spinning-hand-get-on-with-it gesture, Martin thought.

"Yes, I suppose so. Anyway, that was that, I would eat lunch, read, somedays she would show up, somedays she wouldn't. And somedays when she would show up the weirdest people would meet with her. Sometimes people who looked homeless, sometimes people who looked like 1950s G-men, sometimes yuppie housewives pushing expensive strollers. She would have these short conversations that didn't make much sense. Sometimes the people would give her envelopes, sometimes not. Sometimes she would hand them things, sometimes not. I thought she might be a spy."

Martin meant it as a joke but he noticed a quick look pass between the Lolas. Four gray eyes met and transferred a message and then returned their gaze to him. He shifted in his uncomfortable chair and continued.

"Okay, so two weeks ago, she shows up and I'm reading The Long Goodbye, by Raymond Chandler. That's his last book. Anyway, she sits across from me, kinda throws herself down onto the bench and says, 'I like smooth shiny girls, hardboiled and loaded with sin. The Long Goodbye is good but I like Farewell, My Lovely better, don't you?' I said that I did. I told her that was my favorite quote, the line about smooth, shiny girls, from that book. She smiled and made a little origami mouse. Then this woman who was dressed up sort of like Oscar Wilde walked up and she walked off with her."

Martin stopped. He was getting down to it. Today. Lunch. The busted lip. The black eye. The package. the dingy card. Four gray eyes watched him. A little church made of hands sat on the table.

"Today, she walked up and sat beside me. She slipped this package out of her trench and put it between us. She gave me...this look...I don't know...and I put the package in my coat pocket. Then she got up and sat across from me and made an origami fish. And then this...guy...walked up...this huge guy...he looked like something out of a Tool video...his skin was like burlap...his eyes...they were, all white...like Tintin all-white...but he wasn't blind...he walked right up and slapped her across the face...knocked her out, picked her up...like over his shoulder...he must have been seven feet tall...I jumped up...jumped up to try and help...he looked over at me...with this big head like a potato and those white eyes...he looked surprised, like he didn't notice that I was there....and he backhanded me...it was like being hit with a brick...and I watched him walk off with her."

Another look passed between the Lolas. Then Lola Getz said something again in that foreign tongue. It sounded like a curse word. Lola Wants nodded her head and went back to coloring.

"Do you know who that was? Who took her?"

Lola Wants put her crayons down and spoke again.

"Butch Pierce."


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Look for Chapter Four: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, where the name of Martin Hollys mystery girl will be revealed.*

And Chapter Five: Sorry, The Princess Is In Another Castle, where Martin Hollys makes a delivery and sings a song.*

And Chapter Six: Snicker-Snack!!!, where Martin Hollys has a pugilist rematch with the unsettling Butch Pierce.*


*Chapter names and their contents subject to change.