Avenue Driver

Rain splinters the sidewalk of Morgans’ creation journey, unrelenting, unforgiving reality soaked his endless need. Launched into a crowded downtown bar deep in the future he smelled the succinct aroma of the sea wafting throughout his inner dimensions soul. Music syncopates this elongated room into expectation. This relic shrine to humanity’s vice’s brought his senses alive. People’s eyes dart about looking over all who enter, sipping their flow. They jam themselves around the oval oak bar chugging their drinks, laughing at the various comments spun out by the pulsing crowd, their pumped mystique zooms into it’s own orbit. Some of these denizens are keen on the vibe that avenue drivers stalk their prey here, most don’t know. For all in need, hooking a driver is the only thing that can keep them in the zone, feeding their urge, satisfying their desire. Others are here seeking thrills and adventure by finding a driver who can take them long into realms beyond the matter parlor, this is their purpose.
Morgan leans hard on a short scotch, gazing at people’s profiles through the octagonal edges of his up tilted glass, gauging people’s reflections of his likeness in their eyes. He wondered where the drink came from. His warm stone black on black eyes peered into all in range attempting to extrapolate a signal as to whom that person may be. Searching again for an avenue driver, he has no clue as to how to find one, whom to ask, what to say. Moving up bar against the current of potential avenue drivers he trolls his elongated frame amidst the crowd, gazing into their gleaming eyes, searching for signs. What will I say. What are the words. Am I the predator or maybe the prey? I don’t know yet, I seek. I have desire.
Impaled by the mirage of a shady looking lady dressed in incognito sitting lee side top bar Morgan schools in next to her.
Morgan “Ever hear of a guy named Harpoon”
Shady Lady “Get lost!”
Morgan “Well little lady I wasn’t trying too, I was just asking a question.” He thinks to himself, no way.
Shady Lady “Don’t, even” as she raised her hand into the universal language of you aren’t getting anything from me.
From the distance of the close, the words he needed to hear, dropped from the cacophony of this floating asylum.
“Harpoon one or two?”
Morgan glimpses over his right shoulder, black eyeballs the guy, shouts above the din of the milieu. “You heard me?”
“Saw you coming a mile away, I did.”
Morgan “Move over here I’ll buy you one.”
“Yeah, sure!” Morgan watched as this mysterious person stroked his way towards him. His walk included considerable arm motion. His arms seemed to reach beyond their range as he walked and stroked his arms like a person in the ocean about to catch a wave. He wavered in the smoke filled environment, he shimmered through the levels of smoky haze. Morgan was enraptured by this athletic movement he spoke upon arrival of his new found info maniac.
Morgan “What do you want? What’s your name?”
“Well you know I’m partial to that green bottle floating right there in the middle of all those glorious elixirs.”
Morgan turned towards the bar. He hadn’t noticed it before but it appeared that some of the bottles were floating above shelf level. He thought for a moment that the bottles seemed to be each in their own dimension. Never mind that, this guy may have answers and I need answers. “Which green bottle is that? There are lots of green bottles?”
“The man behind the counter will know” he chimed as he chewed on his clenched fist.
Morgan “What’s his name, the barkeep, what’s his name.”
Morgan couldn’t help but feel out of place here “It doesn’t matter now does it, already got my drink.” Blurted the wavering pick off man.
Morgan “What, how, when did that happen?”
“Doesn’t matter just keep them coming. Now, Jack I’m sure you have some questions about this Harpoon fellow, spill them out.”
Morgan grabbed at his drink. He knows my name. How? Who is this guy? Why does he look like he’s a human piece of wave reception. “Who are you, you know, what’s your name?” His warm black on black eyes narrowed as he said name. To the average person Morgan’s eyes were just that but if you new anything about osteichthyes something was different. His new found acquaintance replied in a wizard like response “My name, no, not my name, what am I?” the fellow giggled. “ That’s the question you should be asking me hombre, what am I. ”
Jack Morgan didn’t think talking to this shimmering fool was such a good idea. I mean he is shimmering, I am unable to even focus on him, this is some place Jack thought. I’ll respond to him one more time. I’ll make like I don’t know what is going on. Jack “Ok, what are you then? Are you some sort of driver or are you a whale?” Jack had no idea how the whale word came out of his mouth or why. “A whale, hey man, I’m the prince of whales. If that’s what you want.” Jack decided to at least pump him for some information “Ok, I didn't know, two Harpoons! What is that all about ?" “If you call me the Prince I will tell you all.” Jack thought for a moment. Call him the Prince. What the hell is that. This is weird, a guy can answer questions about this person Harpoon who for some unknown reason I happen to be seeking. Jack hesitated took a sip of his drink and then pursued the questioning. “Ok, Prince of whales tell me what happened.”
The Prince looked up towards Jack Morgan gazing at him, reading his appearance. He began in a slow drawl "There aren't two Harpoons, physically man there is still just one Harpoon. Just one Harpoon.” He drawled, ”There can only be one Harpoon Hernandez, master of the eleven dimensions including time and of particular interest the power of thought. Only one, man, only one like him.” With a sudden tempo pick up “Yet it appears that he got split up last month taking a load of Japanese thrill seekers on the avenue" Jack “How can that be, split up into two people." The Prince with an air of knowledge replied in haste. "No, No, No, not two people two personalities.” Slowing the words down to elongate the personalities. “ Yeah, now Harpoon only responds one or two nothing else he's in some kind of a trance.” The Prince withdrew his stare from Morgan and placed it upon the man behind the counter in a, hey man it’s time for the stuff look. “Barkeep another elixir, this time from the blue bottle and one for my friend lets say, as he scanned the vast array of rainbowed shapes dangling in their view, from the chartreuse bottle. The one that says deceivers!" Again he drawled out the word deceivers until it seemed that time was about to stand still. Jack was being pulled in by the bizarre behavior the prince was exhibiting “What happened to the thrill seekers?" he almost demanded. The prince was warping into another dimension "Oh, them, they went to the zone.” The prince was now fidgeting about tapping his feet to some mystical beat. “ I’m not sure what happened.” As he tapped his feet, “They went to the zone after being rescued by the zingers.” He responded in a wily tone as his fingers snapped a jazzy beat “ Some sort of occurrence.” His eyes wandered into his skull. “ Forced Harpoon off the avenue into a cosmic mind state and split him in two. He probably had a run in with a thought trucker. Can you believe that!” Jack noticed the prince’s eyes seemed to turn colors. “ Those things are known to be very sinister. They can be mean if you get on the wrong side of them, the thought truckers that is. They have these thought missiles that don't stand down, there's no time out, they run your mind every which way but the one way you want to go. The tourists must have been almighty scared. Do you know what its like to see yourself in four dimensions at once not knowing which avenue you must regain to resume your real dimension. Not knowing which you is you. It’s like a real bad trip man. Like lets say you see your reflection in a mirror and are horrified at the ugliness that a human can be. As you withdraw from the image your hand hits the wall and explodes off into space trailing the colors of the rainbow. Your legs fly off your body elongating in various dimensions as your mind attempts to retrieve its body pieces. Soon it melts down and comes to the conclusion that you’re falling apart your dimensions stretched into the next galaxy. The adrenalin hits, fear, takes over. You try to gather those pieces up but they are still there right where they should be but they are also way over there, towards your horizon. You take off running down the street searching for the missing pieces of you. If you take the wrong road eternity awaits. Your mind is being run by a thought trucker. A very nasty thought trucker. The thought trucker has defeated the avenue drivers quantum mind. Each incorrect walk or run down the wrong avenue can have scintillating results, some of which are quite foreboding. I heard some of the tourists thought they were turtles retuning to the sea. At least that's the story I heard.”
Jack “Cosmic mind states, zingers what are you talking about?" The Prince scanned into Jacks eyes as he shook his head in amusement “I’m talking about the avenue, man. Haven't you heard about the avenue man, it's surreal in real time man. You’ll need a driver. It'll cost you. I know where to find them. I am definitely a go to guy. I’m pumped. You’re the one! After all you must be Jack Morgan.” The Prince’s wavering began to shed various hues of green around his terra form his eyes burst into fireglo. Jack seeing the Princes eyes turn a mosaic of red and yellow began to recoil from this show of color but something in his being pushed him on. Jack “Ok, ok ,who are you?” Again the Prince replied this time in a deep guttural stare. The stare hit Jack between his eyes imparting a pinch between his eyebrows. His brows flinched for a pico second “Remember, it’s not who I am ,it’s what I am. I’m just a regular guy, observing people in a bar watching for signs.” Jack felt the thought deep in his brain. Oh shit, this guy just pushed his thoughts right into my brain. Knowing his inner dimension had been violated Jack Morgan pushed on now with some trepidation in his voice “ What are you then, tell me what are you?” He screamed. “ Are you a driver? “No, no, no, I’m not a driver. Leave the blue bottle here barkeep, ok, just leave it here.” Jack insisted now with all the power he had “Can you get me in touch with one?” The prince turned his fireglo eyes towards Jacks diminishing persona. “Have one from the pink. Sure, I can hook you up with one.” The Prince replied. Jack urged the barkeep to get him one from the pink as soon as possible. He knew his quest was at long last entering the starting gate. He guzzled the pink as it arrived on the bar. “You’re not an avenue driver are you.” Jack debated with himself that this question may have been a mistake, this guy already got into my mind once. He is certain to try again. The question seemed to cool the Princes demeanor. Jack watched as the Prince started chewing on his fist as he garbled out his tale. “I think, I mean, I tried to be an avenue driver but I couldn’t gain the long side and had no sustain at all, my boost was abysmal on the long side, I couldn’t get any gain on phase either, so, I had absolutely no short game at all.” Jack “Maybe if you get your fist out of your mouth I could understand you. Short game, sustain ability, long side, boost, gain, what are you talking about. Are these people like some kind of ancient electronic athletes? Poweramps?”
The prince’s eyes turned a cold sea blue as he relayed his story to Jack Morgan.Jack was in control now at least for the moment. “No man, no, for me it was like this man.” The Prince expounded” I had a load of seekers on a day trip we hooked into a synthetic thought groove, everything was beautiful the sun was bright and warm, the sky was enticing all of us to come aboard for a real blue excursion and then wham! I mean it was bad, my whole continuum imploded into the seekers domain. I couldn’t help them I tried to regain the vibe but the counter inflow was too great. I couldn’t sustain the image that I was imparting into their brains, instead my twisted fears injected into their real time domain, with no phase shifting, their minds were hijacked way out there man, way, way out there man, their still out there man, they are still out there.” Jack “Their minds? What happened to their minds?” Then he thought . Wait a second what happened to their bodies. His mind began to bend.
The prince was ranting now “I know, I know. Do you believe it. It was bad, real bad. So, now there is a huge aura surrounding me, I’m a bad guy because I lost a bunch of minds.”
Jack peered into the cold sea blue eyes of the Prince “I think you already lost a mind and that mind is yours. Do you have someone taking care of you? Any friends here? I would like to hear it from them.” “Listen man” the Prince replied in angst. “So’ the driver’s know I am unable to drive the avenue, so, so, it’s like if some potential client, you know, shows up for a driver, well the Avenue Driver’s already have control over that person long before, you know, long before, the person just doesn’t know it. The person the client that is they just don’t know it, just don’t know. You know what I mean, what I mean, even man, even before I get a chance to bend at them. You know, like boom a driver is already on their case and they have no idea it already happened, already happened.” The prince peered into Jacks soul. Jack crashed to the floor. “You see I can do that much but that’s nothing compared to him. I mean the Harpoon is wicked good. Are you following me? Man, I just made one mistake, just one mistake and now I am like out of the loop, off the case, relegated to being a mere quantum contact point for the drivers. It’s like I’m my own valence state for their tiny little electrons flogging around dominating mind space in dimensions unknown to mankind. Yeah, know what I mean ? Hey, have another shot of this green stuff its good, its just plain old good. Anyway, those drivers, at least some of them, are just fast really fast. Harpoon’s not the only one but he was the best. Maybe still is I don’t know. Then, there is you, I mean really you don’t even know what happened, but they their funky fast. It’s like just sing it do dah do I’m funky fast, funky fast. Do, dah do just funky fast, funky fast. Like you know the particles that make up light speed which of course everyone knows are way faster then light cause it’s the freaking particles that travel back and fourth once the rays hit an object now that is raw speed. Much speedier then imagination lets us believe”
Jack transfixed by this self absorption shook his head as if to clear a fog that had moved in “Listen to this whacko, I have no idea what you are talking about, do you know what I mean? Now listen up here. You said you are a contact point for the avenue drivers, a contact point? If that is the case I’ll play your game.”
“Hey man don’t look at me like that, I’m not crazy. It was just a bad trip man just a bad trip on the avenue.”
Jack “Right, you’re not crazy and I don’t really know why I’m here. So, I told you, I’ll play your game. What do you need? By the way, long with sustain ability what is that like some sort of running thing or something!"
"Oh, I see, there’s a lot you don't know. By the way do you know the day it happened?"
Jack "Happened, what happened?"
"Oh man, I knew it! Your not even a knowey, you have no clue about the avenue or even what kind of a driver to have."
Jack "Alright fine, I’m playing the game. What kind of driver do I need?"
" Seems to me you are better off with a long, longs get excited way before you know what's going to happen, they on the other hand always seem to know what's going to happen."
Jack “Happen, what is going to happen? What are you talking about?"
The Prince saw him first. “Just watch, Jack, watch this. Look over there.” Jack gazes over to the front of the bar. A rather tall, husky, smooth striding, man appears in the bar. People look at him with a certain fear yet also a distinction relegated to heads of state, princes, kings, gorillas. He strides to the bar “Give me a beer.” He bends the bartender’s mind. “Keep them coming.” The bartender flicks forward another brew to the gorilla standing in front of him. He winks at a lady too his right. She moves her hips to the left. Turning from the bar people come up to him surround him “Get away from me, I feel your minds.” they quickly move off to give him his space. Grumbling nastiness, he chugs the dark fluid. “Don’t mess with me.” A person in the bar shouts out, "Hey you running the avenue today". This person happens to be the one who moments ago had the hips pointing at him. The beer swilling gorilla’s diamond blue brain mystique flows inward to the shouter staring into his existential being and delivers a mind barrage of the gin and tonic level, leaving the pretender at the bar tingling with a sensation of impending confusion, not quite sure. The offending patron slows his speech. Fading into a mist of uncertainty his thinking process has been slowed to a crawl. The gorilla looks upbar , gets the signal , the mark is made. The rest of the bar smoothes over this mind barrage most unaware the velocity of thought had crawled through their brains. Such is a weapon of the longs, unfathomable in their ability to reach into your mind and rewire the electronic pulse that keeps you thinking. This is why the longs are most sought after, most desired to have on your side, most important to have with you on the avenue. The prince looks around “Gone, he left. So did the other guy? Did you see that, did you see what just happened?”
Jack “What exactly just happened?”
“Wow. You don’t get it. I’m sure that was an avenue driver. Did you see how the whole bar shut down? Did you see that, that one dude, his brain was smoked. Not a peep out of anyone for a few seconds. He was having his way with us I’m sure of it. Did you see how the mark followed him out the door.”
Jack “I didn’t see a thing. Maybe you don’t understand. I am looking for…” “Yeah, yeah, I know who you are looking for but you just don’t know anything about this stuff do you?”
Jack “I don’t get it at all. What’s your real name anyway?”
“Name is not important, look, you are confused. You are here for a reason I think, you just don’t know it yet. So, now, just give me the money and you will get hooked into a driver and be on your way. I’ll go mind way and you’ll go yours’. Get it, mind way, hah, hah, ha, humph.”
Jack “I’m not sure I’m giving you anything. I’m out of here. I’m gone.”
“Jack, your hand is in your pocket. Dig a little deeper. That’s it Jacky just grab onto that big wad. You can do it. Remember you are here for a reason. Listen to your inner self Jack.”
Jack “Why are you laughing at me.”
“Laughing with you man you are hooked.”
Jack. “Ok, get me a driver. Here’s ten k. I will give you another ten k when you find me what do you call it a long. Find me a long, a guy who knows the avenue. I have to get going by midnight tonight otherwise I will go it alone.” Jack thought to himself I really didn’t want to say that.
Outside in the cold distance the minds began to bend.
"No hombre you don't want to go it alone, not that... I will find you..."
Jack looks back at the Prince at the bar but he isn’t looking back at him. Jack has heard a voice that countered his last statement but it was not the voice of the person to whom he was just speaking just a moment ago.
Jack “Did you say something”
“Nope”
Jack “You said something!”
“Not me, man. I was looking at someone else. But, hey, about that money”
Jack “I just gave you some”
“All of it please! Our work together is finished.”
Jack “What are you talking about?”
A lady pops from nowhere into the room looking slim, glimmering with pretense, she's searching for a mark, she's a short but she has range and she can feel that the mark for tonight is in this bar, now, ready to pounce, she walks up to Jack.
"You’re leaving tonight at twelve, I'm your driver"
The Prince shoots Jack a quick thumbs down "I mean watch out man Ruby's a driver, but she's a short, good for quick jaunts on the avenue, but you might want to stay long."
Jack “What is going on with this short, long situation I don't get it, I can't understand what you’re talking about. I'm leaving"
Jack walks out the door, he's not sure why, he knows he's walking he's conscious of movement. A car approaches, a sound like a whining missile fills the air, the car stops, door opens. Jack gets in the front seat, sits down, turns his head and there sitting next to him is the finest looking female he has ever seen, stark naked, he is drawn towards her but she is gone, he is staring at an ocelot now, what was once a stunning beautiful lady is now an equally stunning ocelot, and then there's a guy just sitting there.
"Hey hombre, I think you're looking for a driver."