JValdez
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Blue Light
by Aaron Travis
(Originally published by Drummer Magazine)
I was new in town, didn't know anyone, needed a place. My old apartment in New York made me sick of cramped quarters; I needed space. I had no intention of moving into some tacky apartment complex with a swimming pool and uptight neighbors. I wanted something different. A room in a house with laid-back people. Cooperative living. I had done that back in my student days. It might be just what I needed to make me feel at home in this fucked-up town. They say New York is impersonal. Give me those hordes on the subways any day over the human automatons in steel modules that cruise the superfreeways in Houston. Forget the sweltering heat; this town is all cold concrete and glass. Maybe that explains the incredible murder rate. Lots of mental illness down here.
Saturday morning I biked over to Montrose and found a health food restaurant. I leafed through a few of the free underground rags that were stacked in front of the cash register. Plenty of classifieds. One of them seemed to be just what I wanted.
"Liberated person needed to share 3-story house w/2 w,1 m. You help in house, garden, get privacy, fresh vegs. $90/month."
The address was on Beauchamp Street. I asked the cashier if she knew where it was. North of downtown she said. A restoration area. Her boyfriend lived there. Lots of trees and big old houses. Mixed neighborhood: Chicanos, Blacks, old couples, student types.
I had an alfalfa sprout salad to get myself in the mood and biked up to Beauchamp. I thought about removing the studded band of leather around my left bicep, decided against it. If I moved in, they'd figure out my proclivities soon enough. Better to start out being open.
The house was set on a corner, and dominated everything around it.
Texas Victorian style, with yellow clapboard walls and a green roof. Lots of decorative carved wood. The successive stories were set back in tiers; a jumble of gables directed my eyes up to the octagonal room at the top, where the domed roof came to a point. It seemed perched on the house like an eagle's nest, high above the tops of the oaks and pecan trees.
The yard was like a jumble, dense and green. Shady trees, century plants, stands of wild bamboo, even a few spindly yuccas. So far it looked like a bargain.
Two women were sitting on the front porch. As I walked up, they stopped talking and looked me over. I did the same to them.
They both looked a little overweight, and wore their hair long and frizzy. Late twenties, early thirties. Loose, lacy cotton dresses and
sandals, circa 1968.
I learned their names were Karen and Sharon. Karen wore thick glasses. Sharon wore contacts. Karen smoked lots of dope and read science fiction magazines. Sharon smoked lots of dope and rode a Harley, which gave us something to talk about. They both made good money working for Ma Bell and were old, old friends.
Sharon had to work on her bike, so Karen give me a walk-through. The first floor ceilings were twelve feet high. All the wallpaper had been stripped off. The walls were dark lumber. The women had separate rooms on the first floor. There was also a big bathroom, a living room, library (shelf after shelf of Analog and Fantasy and Science Fiction), and a cavernous kitchen with yellow plaster walls. There was a poster of Janis Joplin over the refrigerator.
A back door off the kitchen opened onto a small wooden porch. They had turned the back yard into an impressive garden.
"Now, I'll show you your room," Karen said.
The stairway was narrow and steep. The second floor was much smaller. A short dark hallway - bathroom at one end, an empty room at the other.
The room had a low ceiling and narrow, floor length windows. The dark stripped walls made it seem smaller than it was. It was U-shaped, with windows facing every direction. The drapes were gray with age and dirt. The furniture was sparse: the bed was a mattress on the floor. I saw possibilities. I told Karen I liked it.
As we stepped back into the hallway, I looked up the last flight of steps. They ended in a trapdoor.
"You might as well see the rest of the house," Karen offered. "I think Michael's out, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind." I followed her up the short flight. She pushed the door open a few inches and peered inside, eyes at floor level.
"Just want to make sure there aren't any burnt offerings or spilled entrails on the floor," she said.
"Huh?"
Karen laughed. "I'm just kidding. Sort of. Michael's into some pretty weird stuff." She pushed the trapdoor open. "Looks okay. Come on up."
We were in the octagonal room at the top of the house. Four walls and four windows. The windows were covered by heavy black drapes that admitted no light, making the room seem like a sealed chamber. I wondered where the faint light came from, realized it was concentrated in a bar in the center of the room. I looked up. A tiny stained glass skylight shaped like an eight-point star was set in the center of the high ceiling.
"Michael owns the place. You may not meet him for a while. He keeps odd hours eats up here in his room..."
As she spoke, I looked around. A large four poster bed against one wall, ancient looking wooden caskets set with bronze hinges, a huge wooden chair that looked like a medieval throne. Pentangles and other symbols, indistinct in the darkness, painted in white on the purple walls and high domed ceiling.
by Aaron Travis
(Originally published by Drummer Magazine)
I was new in town, didn't know anyone, needed a place. My old apartment in New York made me sick of cramped quarters; I needed space. I had no intention of moving into some tacky apartment complex with a swimming pool and uptight neighbors. I wanted something different. A room in a house with laid-back people. Cooperative living. I had done that back in my student days. It might be just what I needed to make me feel at home in this fucked-up town. They say New York is impersonal. Give me those hordes on the subways any day over the human automatons in steel modules that cruise the superfreeways in Houston. Forget the sweltering heat; this town is all cold concrete and glass. Maybe that explains the incredible murder rate. Lots of mental illness down here.
Saturday morning I biked over to Montrose and found a health food restaurant. I leafed through a few of the free underground rags that were stacked in front of the cash register. Plenty of classifieds. One of them seemed to be just what I wanted.
"Liberated person needed to share 3-story house w/2 w,1 m. You help in house, garden, get privacy, fresh vegs. $90/month."
The address was on Beauchamp Street. I asked the cashier if she knew where it was. North of downtown she said. A restoration area. Her boyfriend lived there. Lots of trees and big old houses. Mixed neighborhood: Chicanos, Blacks, old couples, student types.
I had an alfalfa sprout salad to get myself in the mood and biked up to Beauchamp. I thought about removing the studded band of leather around my left bicep, decided against it. If I moved in, they'd figure out my proclivities soon enough. Better to start out being open.
The house was set on a corner, and dominated everything around it.
Texas Victorian style, with yellow clapboard walls and a green roof. Lots of decorative carved wood. The successive stories were set back in tiers; a jumble of gables directed my eyes up to the octagonal room at the top, where the domed roof came to a point. It seemed perched on the house like an eagle's nest, high above the tops of the oaks and pecan trees.
The yard was like a jumble, dense and green. Shady trees, century plants, stands of wild bamboo, even a few spindly yuccas. So far it looked like a bargain.
Two women were sitting on the front porch. As I walked up, they stopped talking and looked me over. I did the same to them.
They both looked a little overweight, and wore their hair long and frizzy. Late twenties, early thirties. Loose, lacy cotton dresses and
sandals, circa 1968.
I learned their names were Karen and Sharon. Karen wore thick glasses. Sharon wore contacts. Karen smoked lots of dope and read science fiction magazines. Sharon smoked lots of dope and rode a Harley, which gave us something to talk about. They both made good money working for Ma Bell and were old, old friends.
Sharon had to work on her bike, so Karen give me a walk-through. The first floor ceilings were twelve feet high. All the wallpaper had been stripped off. The walls were dark lumber. The women had separate rooms on the first floor. There was also a big bathroom, a living room, library (shelf after shelf of Analog and Fantasy and Science Fiction), and a cavernous kitchen with yellow plaster walls. There was a poster of Janis Joplin over the refrigerator.
A back door off the kitchen opened onto a small wooden porch. They had turned the back yard into an impressive garden.
"Now, I'll show you your room," Karen said.
The stairway was narrow and steep. The second floor was much smaller. A short dark hallway - bathroom at one end, an empty room at the other.
The room had a low ceiling and narrow, floor length windows. The dark stripped walls made it seem smaller than it was. It was U-shaped, with windows facing every direction. The drapes were gray with age and dirt. The furniture was sparse: the bed was a mattress on the floor. I saw possibilities. I told Karen I liked it.
As we stepped back into the hallway, I looked up the last flight of steps. They ended in a trapdoor.
"You might as well see the rest of the house," Karen offered. "I think Michael's out, but I'm sure he wouldn't mind." I followed her up the short flight. She pushed the door open a few inches and peered inside, eyes at floor level.
"Just want to make sure there aren't any burnt offerings or spilled entrails on the floor," she said.
"Huh?"
Karen laughed. "I'm just kidding. Sort of. Michael's into some pretty weird stuff." She pushed the trapdoor open. "Looks okay. Come on up."
We were in the octagonal room at the top of the house. Four walls and four windows. The windows were covered by heavy black drapes that admitted no light, making the room seem like a sealed chamber. I wondered where the faint light came from, realized it was concentrated in a bar in the center of the room. I looked up. A tiny stained glass skylight shaped like an eight-point star was set in the center of the high ceiling.
"Michael owns the place. You may not meet him for a while. He keeps odd hours eats up here in his room..."
As she spoke, I looked around. A large four poster bed against one wall, ancient looking wooden caskets set with bronze hinges, a huge wooden chair that looked like a medieval throne. Pentangles and other symbols, indistinct in the darkness, painted in white on the purple walls and high domed ceiling.