by Bruised and Achae

Steve leant back against a wall near the armchair. "And then the one with the black hair and moustache got in, and Peter was making his way onto the seat . . . while he was in, the other guy . . . and then Peter kicked him, and wrested his hand right from the door. The man fell onto the road. And we could drive off."

"Smooth driving, I tell ya", said Jocasta.

Steve related the rest of the night as Jocasta and Jeff King stood by listening with Avery. "You ever had a hard time making an escape?," Steve asked.

"Hard?" Avery flicked his hand across his forehead in a waving motion, ruffling some of his messy brown hair. "It's never hard for me."

"Well, I know you must have had times when you had to make a getaway, huh, Avery?"

"Sure. My friends Colin Vang and Euridice Brucker were hanging out in Arciniega with me at night once, right?" Avery began waving his hands about. "And we were walking up behind the pet store, and it was latched closed at night. So we got to the dumpsters out behind, where people had thrown away some rotten apples and pomegranates. And so there were these other kids with their skateboards who had come there that night, right? And then they walk up to us and a few of them start picking up the fruit in the dumpsters . . ."

As Avery continued his story, Adrian Kerekes, who was listening with Steve, Jocasta and Jeff, said "Just a minute". Adrian had brown hair, blue eyes and freckles, and was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans with plain-looking black tennis shoes. He looked a lot like Steve, except he was a little chunkier than Steve was. Adrian worked at the Open-mart, the last convenience store in the area not to have automated employees. As Adrian staggered off, he walked up to Sharon. Sharon was standing right next to Richie.

"So I think Bleach can really write a song that captures the emotions their listeners want to feel, you know?", she was saying to Richie. Then she noticed Adrian stumbling by and turned her head. "What's up?"

"Dude!", Adrian said. "I've got to make it to the bathroom in time to puke. Which way is it?"'

Sharon pointed to the hall straight down the middle from everyone who was watching the Bleach concert. "It's in that hall, to your left," she said.

Steve turned his head and watched as Adrian ran right in to retch up all that beer in the toilet.

"We should play a practical joke on Adrian," Avery said as Adrian staggered towards the bathroom.

Jocasta's eyes lit up and opened wide. "What do you have planned?"

"I think since Bleach is playing it will make a great distraction. Let's make a request for a special song, for our buddy Adrian."

"Do you think Bleach would do it?" asked Steve.

"Well, if not, it was worth a shot! Let's make this party one to really remember!" replied Avery.

"Just as long as Sharon is cool with it . . ." Jeff reminded them.

Avery sauntered over to the stage to speak with Bleach. He approached the lead singer, Mark Giannakis, a 22-year old student from Northwest University. True to his band's name, Mark had bleach-blonde hair and goatee with blue eyes. He was wearing a white tank top, jeans, sandals, a tech vest and an ankh necklace. "I have a special request - Adrian can't seem to hold his liquor," said Avery. "Can you do a song about spiraling and psychedelics? I think it'd improve his mood!"

"Of course mate, we'll play our latest "Around the Rainbow" just for ya. Listen up!"

Bleach twanged their instruments and vamped up the synthesizer. "Get ready folks", said Mark, "This is our latest song, 'Around the Rainbow,' for our guests tonight."

Richie started hopping up and down and squeaking in high pitched tones "Did you hear that? Did you hear that???"

Sharon laughed and ran out onto the dance floor. Her guests followed suit, eager to hear the latest song.

Bleach began with a long high E note. The rhythm changed to a beat of techno-trance, lyrics meshed with the synthesizer to make it sound like a robot.

Jocasta squirmed over to Steve and began to dance with him. "This really is a great party! I'm glad Avery asked!"

Steve nodded and laughed as he saw Adrian spinning around, unsure whether to make a run for the dance floor or the bathroom.

The crowd surged and Sharon was pleased to see everybody's smiling faces, especially Richie. She took the courage to make the most of this opportunity and approached him. "How do you like this beat?" she asked.

"Fantastic! I never knew Bleach had a new song yet! I am simply in heaven!"

"Care if I join?" she timidly asked.

"Not at all -- I'd like to dance with you to this song!"

So Sharon held onto Richie's hands and danced with him to the newest song. "I didn't know they did songs this funky," said Sharon.

"Neither did I," said Richie.

"Well", said Sharon, "It could be they're branching out."

Richie closed his eyes and moved along with Sharon, sort of like a hip-hop dancer. "Or maybe they don't release their psychedelic songs", he speculated.

Sharon laughed while she watched her partner dance. "Where'd you learn to dance like that, Richie?"

Richie put his thumb up to his lips and thought awhile, truly not knowing where he had gotten it from. "Uh, from old movies", he said.

"Well, old movies are great!", said Sharon, smiling so intensely her teeth were all showing. She laughed.

Meanwhile, Adrian was dancing around with his limbs all tied down to the floor, in some state of Too Much Good Stuff. He was moving like a crab that had five of its legs trying to walk in one direction and the other five of its legs trying to walk the other direction. He seemed entranced by the lyrics:

I've been around the rainbow
Around the rainbow I've been
I've watched my head inside of me with my own eyes, seen it spin
Felt the eating of my face, as I broke out of a box
I didn't realize was there, with mushrooms growing on their stalks

Some sound effects went off that sounded like mushrooms popping into empty space.

Jocasta's head turned from Steve's face to Adrian. She giggled. "Oh Steve, you better look. I think Avery and Bleach have got him."

Adrian spun left and right on all fours for a minute longer, then suddenly he stopped, with his face to the floor.

He opened his mouth, and out came a series of streams of beer, making crown shapes before covering the floor like spilt milk. Raisins popped out like deposits of guano among the beer. Finally, pink swirls from the strawberry-covered raisins Adrian had eaten made an oily slick over the beer like the surface of an aerial photo of Pluto.

Jocasta laughed. Avery's eyebrows arched up in amazement. Steve glanced at Avery with a frown, as if to say "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to do this." Richie opened his eyes and looked. His face turned to horror. He turned to Sharon and said, "Your floor."

"Hey!", said Mark. He observed the slippery output in the middle of the floor. "This is something grilling!"

Adrian gasped.

"Isn't this neat, Trey?", Mark said to his drummer. "We've got to take photographs of this for artwork for future CD's!"

Richie stared at the pile on the floor. After all, he thought, he would have to get used to seeing it on Bleach's next single.

"Dude!", said Adrian. "That felt good!"

Mark got out the camera and snapped five times, from five different angles. "It's gonna be a swell shot!"

"Mark", Sharon said, "I'm glad my house is going to be on your next album. I've always loved your song 'I'd Like to Like You', so using my picture here shows that you care about the people you played for tonight. Thank you."

"Welcome. Any time", Mark said.

By now, Richie stopped his labored breathing. He was relieved that Sharon was not upset about her floor being vomited on.

Avery turned to Steve and Jocasta. "Have I got to tell everyone about this one. This prank ended up in an album!"

"Ended up? Not yet", said Jocasta.

"Well, soon enough it's going to be there, and I'll be able to tell everyone that I was the one who requested the song."

Steve's face lit up in exhilaration. I was at a party that made music history, he thought. I'm so glad I came. He would have to thank Sharon sometime before this night was over.

He danced with Jocasta as Bleach resumed playing songs. On their fourteenth song, Jocasta asked Steve whether he liked her eyes.

"I do," said Steve honestly. "Definitely, they're beautiful, Jocasta." He waved some hair around, showing Jocasta his own eyes more clearly.

"Well, I like your eyes," said Jocasta. "I've always had a thing for boys with blue eyes. And someday," she said, pulling closer to him, "Our eyes are going to lock, and we'll go crazy! I'll take you on a roller-coaster with me, and then we can get home and I'll let you rub my leather boots!"

"Got anything in suede?"

"Hey, whatever you ask for!" Jocasta's mouth flew open.

"Jocasta, I really enjoy dancing with you to these songs."

After their fifteenth song, Mark stopped and addressed the audience. "Well, folks, that sums up how we feel, and it sums up our gig here. Stay tuned as we put out our next album, due sometime in 2029. Now, I want everyone at this party to scream for me!"

The crowd went wild. Richie was out there straining his lungs, trying to scream the loudest.

In the midst of all the screaming, Mark pulled something out and said unexpectedly, "Watch out for the flying monkey!"

Through the air he threw a stuffed monkey that played a clip from "All Fed Up". Many of the partygoers by now were holding their arms out, grasping for it as it made its trajectory through the air. Finally Avery caught it. His grey eyes were wide with astonishment and his mouth hung open, with a smile in which his upper teeth were visible. Now he would have one more thing to talk about.

Audience members laughed. Richie glanced at Avery, disappointed at not having caught the monkey.

Bleach started getting their instruments packed up and putting away their amp. They started with the synthesizer. Richie strutted up to their lead singer and instantly started talking. "Hi, I'm Richie Fernandez, and I've been a fan of your band since I was 13." He took his jacket off so Mark could autograph the label.

Richie continued talking to Mark. "How did you come up with the lyrics on your song 'Virgo Star'?"

"Well," said Mark, "It started when I was in a Cambodian restaurant in Nacogdoches, Texas. I was sitting looking at my food when . . ."

As Richie and Mark continued talking, Sharon smiled contently and left her new dance partner to see what some other partygoers were doing at a corner of the kitchen.

Steve was over there with Jocasta, listening in on a conversation. Talking right then was a tall boy with black dreadlocks. He was wearing a plaid flannel shirt and khakis. Steve noticed that his arms were covered with scars when he pulled his sleeves up.

"Let me introduce you," said Sharon, walking over. "Kevin, this is my friend Stephan Bruise. Steve's really cool, and I sometimes see him when he's selling me some stuff at the Gap." Sharon then turned her face to the other side. "Steve, this is my friend Kevin Flax. Kevin's really into intellectual and political stuff, and you've gotta listen to him speak."