The Deli

“Dude. I’m tired. Lets stop whenever we find something. IF we find something. .We have been driving for literal hours and there has been nothing but sand, tumble weeds and tinfoil.”

“Im with you Girl. This seat is starting to wear. I saw a sign back there that said “deli 10 miles'“. We can stop there and grab a snack if they are open”.

“I cannot fathom they are in the middle of the night, but with how weird this trip has been already, nothing would surprise me.”

Girl and Dude had been on the road for about three days after leaving the Midwest on a quest to find… well… that’s just it.

The thing Girl was seeking was new, unfamiliar, an exceptionally interesting tech thing and loads of fun. But the thing she was following always left her wanting more and feeling somewhat clueless. She found something and that something knows she found it.

Somehow, this thing Girl found started leaving clues and hints for her to follow. She started seeing blue light. That was it. A weird flicker here in the dark. A strange glow of blue light on one page of her notebook, but only there long enough to make her think she was bonkers. The coffee in the coffee pot would momentarily reflect blue light. Then things got more obvious. Glowing scraps of paper with codes that would spell out “blue light”. She was almost done even looking for it again when she got up in the middle of the night (Girl woke up every day since she can remember at 3:33 am) only to find her hair glowing blue in her bathroom mirror reflection. She had to have stood there for 45 minutes switching the lights on and off hoping to catch it again. But nope. Now she just thinks she’s radioactive, but is completely asymptomatic. Sure. Makes perfect sense.

The lights of the Jeep bounced along the highway, catching the now-and-again bright white butt of a jackrabbit bounding its way down the asphalt trail. Boing! Boing! Boing! Zipppp —and off they go. This place is a trip!

Girl looks off in the distance… “Dude? Do you see that? Its kinda blue.”

“Yeah. I see it, and I bet its The Deli.”

Not long till that blue glow was like a little rising sun in the distance. Girl could barely stand another second in the Jeep, but the idea of getting out in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night, was slightly less than settling. But she had Dude there. and over the years she had come to realize most of the world could be a slightly strange place, but mostly harmless. So here they were.

Girl had a gift (or a curse, she sometimes believed) for seeing past the oddities of the world and seeing patterns and clues and puzzles .The oddities weren’t odd at all. They were exactly correct. Exactly as they should have been. But then why didn’t everyone see? She questioned. She knew there was more than what we could perceive. She had always known, but never had the proof. So when Girl met Dude? Everything changed, He was super smart. Silly smart. He could take all of her notions, ideas, strings and puzzles and sort them somehow. He would keep track of her ramblings (which were often and plentiful) and remind her when she was off course or was mixing up her rememberings. She loved to try to make connections and had been chasing this one particular clue forever, with nothing but questions at every turn. Questions that only led Girl farther down her holes. (That’s exactly how they ended up in this predicament. Clues and ramblings, strings and connections, bricks and frogs.) Dude and Girl made a good team and she was happy she had found him. Especially at 3:33 am in the desert..

The blue glow turned to a light white/blue as they made the turn into the parking lot. A blue neon sign: Deli. That was it. It was empty and dusty. But the sign and the lights were on, so it was the option, and getting two feet on the ground felt amazing! The sound of the night was almost deafening. Girl stood in the cool air with her eyes closed, trying to separate all the sounds. Gravel under her shoes, crickets, wind. Are there frogs out here? she thought? Cant’ be a plane. Its a no fly zone… or is it? She snaps her eyes open.. Focus!

The bell clanked on the door like it had rung far too many times over the years, collected a lot of dust in its parts, and was just about done. Clunk was more like it. The Deli was cool and dank and dimly lit, but trippy as hell. A long sprawling counter lined with barstools was to the right and a few empty tables and chairs were askew in the dinning area to the left. Two old booths sat empty straight ahead, their red vinyl mended with old, curling duct tape, and that was where they were headed. Girl always chooses a booth.

The lady behind the counter looked like she belonged there for sure. Tired, tanned and seemed bored with that stare people give each other that makes you wonder what crazy shit has she seen in this desolate place over her many years here. I only guess this based by the lines on her face and the sag in her body.

There was too much to see in the Deli. Money, for one, was everywhere. Literal bills! There were hundreds and hundreds of singles, signed and tacked up all over the place. Ceiling. Walls. Bar. Hanging by tape? Threads? There were posters and business cards-some old some, very new. There were freakin’ aliens everywhere, and a ton of those photos you see when someone famous stumbles in a joint. They sign it and hang it on the wall. '“I think that one’s Burt Reynolds".” Dude points to it and says. “There’s so much to see everywhere.” Girl nodded in agreement and was now quite happy they stopped at the weird blue glow in the desert. She suddenly felt like they absolutely had to be on the right path.

They slid into the booth, the silver tape rolling up a little more underneath them. The lady from behind the counter had been busy in some dizzying social post, so she barely noticed the clank when they had come in, but looked up now. She handed them a notebook piece of paper with “the dailys” written down. “You eating?” was all she asked. “Grills cold but Ill turn it on for you. Just takes a few.” Girl and Dude happily obliged and ordered up two burgers and a couple of Cokes. They were happy to relaxing and thankful to no longer being windblown by the windowlessness of the Jeep. Girl loved to be out and free, but even she liked a nice, warm, quiet, clean bed. These quests got to be so long. So much fun, but so, so long.

Girl pulled out her book that held all of the clues and maps from this particular crusade. Little colored tabs jutted out from dogeared pages, post-its with notes in different colors and arrows everywhere. She had been looking down this particular rabbit hole for months, maybe even years now, with nothing but utility pending.

Girl and Dude were talking about their trip so far and very much enjoying their booth, when CLANK interrupted Girl’s eruption of laughter. Girl stopped mid-thought. She grabbed Dude by the arm. Her eyes were wide. REALLY WIDE.

“What!?” Dude looked at Girl and instantly knew she had connected a dot. And by the looks of the whites of her eyes, a very big one. He looked at her map, trying to connect what she had seen. Turning pages, confused, Dude looked back at Girl. She was secretly pointing toward the door of the Deli. Eyes wide, one hand blocking the naughty pointing finger. And then he too saw what girl saw.

There he was. With his sidekick. Just like that. No big deal. Standing in the doorway like, of course, we are here. Where else would we be in the middle of the night, in the glowing blue light, in the desert? The lady behind the counter looked at the new two and pointed to the bar. They nodded, looked at each other and sat down without a word.

Dude knew he had to keep Girl calm. He gave her a little nod of acceptance.. Yes Girl. I see what you see.. now breathe. Girl wasn’t sure she could do it, but she followed Dudes lead. He had a way of sayin’ just what she needed to hear to save her from overreacting.

Girl could barley hold it together. She was staring at Dude with giant eyes, sneakily pointing toward the bar, and her grin was immense. The cheekbones were popping and tears were welling up. She was about to flip with excitement. And she had to pee. Are you serious right now??

All at the same time, her two had shown up, bladder spasms had begun, and counter lady was approaching. Everything converged. Dude was able to handle the ordering, and Girl figured she should at least excuse herself before her excitement became embarrassing.

She took a deep breath, excused herself and, about as discreet as a locomotive blowing its horn in a library, Girl sauntered past the counter to the ladies room. She really was trying to play it cool, but if anyone had seen her book—with all her strings and notes, maps and ideas—they’d have seen a picture of them. Those two. The two that are sitting right there at that very bar while her bladder gives her the middle finger. “Are you serious right now?” she huffed. She was replaying the scene in her head. Hi. Hey. Hey there. Hi there. I’m Girl. Girl here. Nice to finally see you… now show me your utility! She didn’t think that was really going work, but seriously. What to say? She washed her hands, did that one little bat check cuz omg answers are about to happen, stood up straight and tall and yanked the door open.

She was so ready.

What. The. Fuk. Dude!? Where did they go? Girl was out of air. Defeated. Totally bummed. “I was so ready to talk to them too! I was rehearsing it out. Did you talk to them? Did he say anything? Did they order food? All I did was pee!”

She flopped back into the booth. She looked at Dude with sad eyes. He smiled his sweet smile, took a sip of Coke and turned her book toward her. “First. I would like to point out that you said nothing would surprise you like an hour ago.” Dude popped a Milk Dud from…where? It’s this weird thing—the guy has a box magically appear anytime he has something clever to say. “And look.” He pointed at the blue dot on the map. Girl sat back, and now from this angle she could see that the blue glow in the desert was indeed, marking her path, perfectly. The blue light may have been the Deli sign, but it turned out to be far more than that. It was confirmation of her path, and that was enough for her.

“Girl, at least you know you are on the right track now, and you found him! You really did find him! I don’t know what the hell it means, I’m not sure you do either— he mumbled with a smirk—but you did.”

Girl smiled at Dude “But I’ve lost him and we are still on our quest!” Girl raised her pretend sword into the Deli sky and let out a loud “Ha!” Dude nodded with approvement. The burgers arrived and were the best burgers either of them could remember ever having.

The conversation was intensely satisfying and the laughs were real. Something about this night, this place, was magical, and neither really wanted to go.

Girl slowly gathered her book and was heading to the door, stomach full, mind blown, bladder calm.

Barely aware of the world around her, she almost missed it. She felt the urge to stop and turn back to look at where the two had been sitting and, sure enough… There on his stool was a slip of paper that Girl swore had a blue glow to it. She instantly knew he had left her a clue. But how did he know?! She was filled with excitement when she scooped up the note. She knew when she looked at it she was gonna have to break some code.

The waitress was ringing up Dude at the register, so Girl felt it appropriate. “Say, uh, miss… did you happen to catch where those two fellas were headed?” She glanced up after the “ding” rrrrrip of the cash drawer and receipt, seeming less than interested. “Not really. The big guy just whispered something about green candles to the frog.” And she disappeared almost as the last sound left the air. Girl looked at Dude, who could see her wheels turning and knew their adventures were nowhere near done. And he was happy about that. Girl looked down at her note and suddenly felt very far from home. She wanted base camp so she could regroup, decode, and figure out just what the hell happened out here tonight. Most of all, she wanted a hot shower and a clean bed.

Girl tucked the paper neatly into her notebook, excited to get to the next stop. She didn’t dare attempt opening her book in the Jeep. Her post-its would be gone in an instant in that wind. Plus, she was tired and loved to watch the world go by when they drove. Dude always drove at night because he knew girl liked to see the stars. He always knew the simple things that made Girl happy.

Dude started the CJ, shook the shifter into neutral. “Okay boss. Where to now?” Girl smiled a naughty-looking smile… “Vegas baby!” Dude grinned a big, satisfying grin, popped a Dud (again, from where?), pushed in the clutch, jammed it into gear and hit the road.

To be continued…