Good afternoon. It is I Gigi the parti poodle here to bring you another installment of my story. It has been hot here, and I mean record breaking hot. Last weekend thru Monday we were hitting temperatures of 104 degrees and higher which is most unusual for us. As you may know, I detest baths. But the Maltese and I did not complain when our novelist put us in the bathtub one at a time, adjusted the handheld showerhead to mist and sprayed us with cool water so we could sleep through the night without endless panting.
It was hot this week. I was hot this week. I was miserably hot this week. I am Tucker and I am a Maltese.
As you can see the Maltese, despite his recently acquired grooming was sweltering.
It was hot. I was hot. I did not like being hot.
Yes, yes. They get it. You may go now.
I am Tucker and I am a Maltese. Happy 4th of July!
I was going to say that! Anyway, Happy 4th of July and God bless America. Enjoy!
What I Found in the Trunk
by
Gigi the parti poodle
Chapter Fourteen
“What are we supposed to do now?” Gary asked as they headed back into Leavenworth. “We’re trapped here!”
“We’ll just get a hotel room and hang out there,” Rusty said.
“With a hostage?”
“Sure.”
“Because that’s normal.”
“Look on the bright side, man,” Bennet said. “At least Durwin or David or whatever the dude’s name is can’t get into Leavenworth.”
“I hope not. What if he’s here already?”
“He’d have to know where Rune would run. Hey, Rune?”
“Shut up!” Rune yelled before kicking the back of Bennet’s seat from the trunk.
“You’re smart, right? Would Durwin think you went to Leavenworth?”
“Yeah, I’d go straight where he’d think I’d go.”
“So, you and Durwin don’t have any joint affiliation with this place?”
“He’s never even been here.”
“Did you ever tell him you wanted to come here, or traveled here or…”
“He doesn’t know I’m here. End of story.”
“We’re going to get a suite at one of the hotels…”
“Suite?” Gary said. “Whose paying for a suite?”
“Calm down, man. We need a suite. There’s three of us guys and one gal.”
“Okay, well where can we get one cheap?”
“I’ve already started looking for one,” Rusty said searching on his phone. “Looks like that one on the road above Front Street is good. You know, the one that looks like a chalet?”
“How much a night?”
“Not bad.”
“What’s not bad?”
“Four hundred a night.”
“Are you serious?!”
“Uh…yeah.”
“I can’t afford four hundred dollars a night for an indeterminate amount of time!”
“Well, you’re going to have to. Otherwise, we’re going to be sleeping in the car or the woods.”
“Rusty and I will chip in,” Bennet said.
“Speak for yourself,” Rusty snapped. “His dad pays my wages.”
“Look,” Bennet said, “let’s just do this. Gary knows I’m good for it. He can pay for the first two nights I’ll pay for the second and then we’ll figure it out from there. This fire thing can’t last long.
“Okay, fine,” Gary grumbled. “Let’s just book the suite and get to the hotel. What do we do about Rune? We can’t just take her out of the trunk in the parking lot and pull her into the place kicking and screaming.”
“We’ll lay down the back seat,” Bennet said. “Then we can guard the car as she crawls through from the trunk and gets out the back door. The windows are tinted so no one will wonder what we’re doing.”
“Alright, let’s figure out what we’re going to do next,” Gary said once they all got into the suite. “And Rusty, thanks for the hand cuffs.”
“My pleasure,” Rusty said beaming.
“Alright, Rune,” Gary said walking over to the end of the bed where she was attached. “You tell us where this thing Durwin…”
“David,” Rune said correcting him.
“David’s looking for and we’ll take you wherever it is you were planning to go.”
Rune looked from Gary to Rusty to the weird looking guy with the rock star hair and back to Gary. “You couldn’t handle it.”
“What?”
“You couldn’t handle what I took from the box.”
“Don’t play mind games with me.”
“I’m never going to tell you what I took nor am I going to tell you where I put it.”
“Listen up, Rune,” Rusty said. “If you don’t tell us what and where this thing is we’re going to hand you over to Durwin or David or whatever silver platter and all. We are done with you involving us. What did you steal from him?”
“If I handed it over to you, you wouldn’t even know what it was.”
“Try me.”
Rune laughed, “I’ll never try you.”
“You smartass little…”
“Hey, Rune,” Bennet said. “I’m not really involved here. I wasn’t kidnapped by your boyfriend and his thugs. I wasn’t beaten up by them in a used car lot. I didn’t throw you in the trunk of a car…”
“You’re involved, scumbag.”
“Okay, let’s say you’re right. Let’s say I wouldn’t understand what this thing is you have. But let’s say you could explain it to me simply. Could you maybe…I don’t know…use a story problem or a parable or something like that to simplify it for me.”
Rune rolled her eyes. “I want a coffee.”
“Not a chance, sister,” Rusty growled.
“I’ll get you a coffee if you explain to Bennet as a parable what you took,” Gary told Rune.
“What?!” Rusty exclaimed marching up to him. “Don’t give her what she wants!”
“I’m willing to negotiate if she’s willing to negotiate,” Gary said checking to make sure he had his wallet. “So, am I getting you a coffee or not, Rune?”
“Raspberry Mocha,” she said. “Triple.”
“Really?”
“Do you want the parable or not?”
“Alright. I’ll get you a triple raspberry mocha,” Gary growled. “You guys watch her,” he told Rusty and Bennet before he left slamming the door behind him.
MY BOOKS
You can check out my books Chicane and the five installments in my Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!,Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!!!
STREAM OF THE WEEK: FOOTLOOSE (1984)-HULU
I am not sure why Footloose is such a polarizing film. Some critics liked it and others hated it (for example Gene Siskel liked it and Roger Ebert didn’t). And yet the movie which in 1984 cost an estimated $8,200,000 to make grossed $80,035,402 in the US alone which is 9.76 times its original cost. The movie was remade in 2011 and was reincarnated into a Broadway musical which ran from October 22, 1998 until July 2, 2000 for 709 consecutive performances. Not to mention it is based on a true story and actual people in the town of Elmore City, Oklahoma. The town had banned dancing for almost eighty-two years from its founding in 1898 until 1980.
There are also some critics who complain the film didn’t have enough dancing…perhaps missing the point that the original film was not a musical. Nor was it intended to be in 1984. It was instead meant to be a film about liberty regardless of whether the subject was geared at adolescents or sophisticates.
It was indeed teenagers led by junior class president seventeen-year-old Rex Kennedy who fought against the Elmore City law. Kennedy and his classmates went toe to toe with Rev. F.R. Johnson of the United States Pentecostal Church in February of 1980. The kids wanted a prom, and the town was concerned about teenage pregnancies which they believed were linked to dancing. Ironically, every year the kids did have a banquet and every year the kids drove drunk to fields or the local bowling alley. Dancing apparently was more dangerous than drunk driving. The students’ battle was no small matter as court orders to keep the kids from dancing were an actual threat. The school board voted on the issue, and it was a tie: 2-2 which left the decision to the board president, a rancher named Raymond Lee. Lee had a daughter named Mary Ann Temple-Lee who was a junior class officer who wanted to go to the then non-existing prom with her boyfriend and date Leonard Coffee.
Leonard who moved to the town when he was in sixth grade didn’t even realize that dancing was illegal in Elmore City until the question of the Junior Banquet came up. Coffee who was also a class officer was in a meeting with the other class officers trying to decide on what activity they would do after the banquet and he said, “We dance. We dance at a prom.” And that’s when he found out about the law. After that Leonard, Rex and Mary Ann began to build a case against the decades long law and fight for a prom. The name of the lead character Ren is a combination of Rex and Leonard. Dad (Raymond Lee) gave his daughter the gift of a lifetime when he became the deciding vote to end the ban saying the words, “Let ‘em dance!” He even danced with Mary Ann at the prom. A good reason why there is such a thing as Father’s Day.
Since then, dancing has become an important part of Elmore City, Oklahoma. In 2010 the town re-created the famous prom on its 30th anniversary and again made national headlines. In 2011 it held its very first Footloose Festival. In 2012 Hennessey’s 40-student show choir recreated the famous finale of the movie on Main Street with choreography a smoke machine, a confetti cannon and 80’s vintage prom attire. What a difference changing a flawed law and mindset can do.
The Elmore City, Oklahoma high school students stood up to a stalwart adult force which needed to change because it was harming teenagers. It is like albeit on a microcosm scale the high school students from Parkland standing up to a stalwart adult force who refuse to change laws which are harming teenagers. It is young people forced into rectifying the idiocy of the adults.
The part of Ariel (I love the name because it is a difficult dance move) was turned down by the following actresses: Daryl Hannah (she took the role of Madison the mermaid in Splash instead) Elizabeth McGovern (she took the role of Deborah Gelly in Once Upon a Time in America instead), Melanie Griffith, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rosanna Arquette, Meg Tilly, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Heather Locklear, Meg Ryan, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jodie Foster, Phoebe Cates, Tatum O’Neal, Bridget Fonda, Lori Loughlin, Diane Lane and Brooke Shields. I must wonder why so many fantastic actresses made such a strange decision not to take on this strong feminist role.
Places like Elmore City, Oklahoma do/did exist. Here in the pacific northwest the town of Lynden, Washington which is near the Canadian border still holds a dancing ban where dancing and drinking are not allowed in the same establishment. In fact, Lynden had a Sunday liquor ban for forty-one years which started in 1967 and ended October 20, 2008. Something to think about while you are watching fireworks this Sunday.
Gigi Catches Air 