Dancing the Night Away

The courtyard of Lou's hotel choice in Maiquetia







I bolt awake, like from a horrible nightmare or something that has my heart racing. I look around and I don't know where the hell I am. In a room that is kind of spartan with just a dresser, the bed I am in, and a bathroom. It is dark outside... where ever outside is. I takes at least a ten count before something starts coming back to me. But now what is coming back to me seems more like a dream than reality. I am not myself... drugged, I feel drugged. The window is open and I can hear street noise below me.

I lay there for a few minutes, hoping my head will clear. I have never felt this way before. I swing my feet down off the bed and let them rest on the cool tiled floor. My head doesn't hurt, not a hangover. My neck is sore, though. I must have slept on it funny.
There are jeans and a shirt laying over the edge of the dresser, so I put them on and slip on the shoes near the door. They are damp, like they had been in the rain or something.

Out in the hallway nothing lends any credibility to the moment. I still am an amnesia victim for all intents and purposes. Just a bunch of doors and faded wallpaper. It smells like stale cigar smoke. I walk to the end of the hallway and there is a winding staircase. I can hear music and laughter. I run my hands thru my hair and then rub my face. Might as well see what's down there.

The lobby of the hotel looks nicer than the first floor hallway. There is an old fountain in the middle, a nice front desk that was probably in it's heyday when Sputnik was in orbit. Out of the lobby area on the left is a courtyard with another fountain and surrounding rooms with Spanish architecture. The music is coming from the lounge to my right that spills out onto the sidewalk with umbrella covered tables and nicely clad patrons. I feel like I am violating the dress code until I see a familiar face at one of the tables.

"JAKE" Lou waves at me and the woman he is with turns and smiles.
I make my way over to the table and stand there, still unsure of where, what, or how.
"Man, I thought you would never wake up." Lou stands, "This is Gabriella... Gabriella this is my friend Jake."
She smiles and nods and then I take a seat.
"You all right?" Lou asks me as he gets the bartender's attention and orders two beers.
"I don't know." I look around. We are obviously in the middle of town... but what town or city are we in.
"I told you not to take that pill. Didn't I tell you? You just don't listen." Lou shakes his head. The beer comes and he takes the two Polar Negras and sets one down in front of me.
"What pill? What are you talking about?"
"Jesus, that shit erased your goddamn mind, Jake." He takes a long pull off the bottle of beer.
"Hungry?"
"I don't know. What happened?"
"What is the last thing you remember?"
"Taking off... the seaplane. Is that real? Did we get a seaplane or is that just part of the dream I had?"
"Oh it's real. Naomi is real. That is the last thing you remember? Taking off in Naomi?"
"Yeah, I guess it is."
"Well, we flew from Bear's boat all the way back to the airstrip where we left Abby." He drinks the rest of his beer and then calls the waitress over.
"Arepas... cachapas, two." He holds up two fingers and then points to the menu. She takes the order.
"So when did I lose track of things... why did I lose track of things."
"Well, I kind of insisted on landing. You were right, though, I should have let you do it first, you know just to get the hang of it. So... you know, I'm sorry about that."
I look at him like he is speaking French, because aside from the actual words coming out of his mouth none of it makes any sense.
"So I let you land the plane? Is it all right?"
"She seemed okay, it was hard to tell with all that mud."

I stop and drink my beer. I tip the bottle and don't set it down until it is completely empty.
"Another?"
I nod.
The young lady that has been sitting here the entire time stands, leans over and plants a nice kiss on Lou's lips, and then says something into his ear and departs. Lou smiles wickedly.
"Boy she is something, man. And she has a friend."
"So you landed the plane?"
"Twice, actually. The first time we hit a little hard, glide slope, not enough flap. I know... I get a little stubborn when I get nervous. I don't know why. It's a bad habit. Probably would be better with a shot or two, or maybe a couple of tokes on a Walker."
"Twice?"
"Yeah, well the first time when we bounced, and the second time when we ran out of runway and she stopped in that mud bog."

And then it all came back to me.

"Oh shit... the mud bog. That's why my shoes are wet. We had to wash the mud out of them."
"Oh yeah."
"That still doesn't explain why I am feeling so groggy."
"Well, I'm getting to that. You see, all the way down to the ground you kept telling me everything to do, you know... flaps, throttles, gear, trim this, pull back on that. It was all kind of overwhelming. Plus I was completely sober... not good. So I told you to fuck off and I would land her my way or kill us both doing it. I was getting a little stressed with the whole thing. So when you were reaching for the wheel to take her from me, I kind of snapped."
"You hit me, didn't you?"
"Well... I just kind of rapped you on the neck. It's kind of like a choke hold without the hold. I'll teach it to you... "
"You fucking hit me? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I know, I'm real sorry about that. Won't happen again, ever."

Next round of beers come and I drink half of mine before I speak again. "So, that is why I feel so groggy?"
"Well, not exactly. When you came to we were on the ground and your neck was killing you. You wanted a couple of Tylenol out of Jerry's bag. Those were gone, but I gave you one of the pills Agaki gave me while we were on Bear's ship. It us supposed to be a natural form of Valium or some shit like that. I didn't think the stuff would knock you out like that."
"And you told me not to take it?"
"What?"
"You said before that you told me not to take the pill."
"Well, I told you not to take the second pill. You didn't feel anything after you took the first one, but you didn't give it enough time to take effect."

Dr. Lou strikes again. Well, it's water under the bridge.
"No hitting."
"Never."

Food comes, lots of it. I don't think about anything. I still have memory glaucoma and can only remember things around the edges. As I eat, things slowly return to normal. By the time two more beers come and go, and the stuff Lou ordered for our dinner is consumed, I am almost back to normal.

"So who is with Abby?"
"Bear's men were ordered to stay with the plane until we departed. I threw them a little bonus, so I think they were okay with us spending the night in town."
I give him a look.
"No, really, everything is okay. The bags are okay." He grabs the last flour tortilla and fills it with beef, "Besides, I thought we could use a good night sleep before we leave in the morning."
He shoves half of the rolled up tortilla in his mouth. He chews and nods as he runs the other half around in the juice on the beef plate.
"Yeah, I saw your good night's sleep walking away just minutes ago. We still need more flying lessons."
"Nah... I'll be fine. As long as the radio works between us, I'm good. If I have a question or a problem, I will tell you about it. That and a little something for the stress. I bought some tequila and a little something to smoke."
"Jesus."
"Yeah, well... I'll work on that after I have a little more time. I won't go crazy with the shit, just enough to keep the edge off."
"I'm not your mother. If you auger in becuase you're too fucked up just try not to kill anybody on the ground."
"Nice."

I finish my beer and sit back in the chair. I don't know what time it is, but the place is fairly busy. The rest of this town, as far as I can see, is kind of a shit hole.
Our waitress comes by with a couple of glasses, "Chicha?"
We each take a glass and she motions for us to shoot it. Kind of nasty. It is local hooch... not tequila, something else. We order another.

Hours pass and we are shit-faced. Lou's Gabriella returns with her friend and the both of them get comfortable in our laps as we drink more Chicha. The girls smell like the beach and just the right hint of sweet perfume. The girls talk back and forth. The one in my lap tells me her name is Avita more than once, but I am too fucked up to care. Before I know what is happening we are up in the room... Lou's room, smoking a Walker and getting laid.
Now might be the end of anyone else's evening, but these girls have different plans. One of them makes a phone call and we all get into a cab in front of the hotel and are off to Caracas. Apparently these two are from Caracas and know all the spots. Lou has a pocket full of cash and they are happy to help him spend it.

When I first laid eyes on Gabriella, I thought she might be a call girl. To pretty for the likes of us. Avita is equally beautiful and the both of them are at least twenty years younger than us. But that's okay. They aren't call girls, just nice girls who like to party and have a lot of sex. Lou buys them champagne at one club and they put us in the VIP section. It is nice, all of the attention from the girls. Lou goes out and dances with the two of them. He looks out of his league out there.

As I smoke a Cuban and drink our Dom, the club owner comes by and asks about Bear, and then asks me to relay his greeting.
"What makes you think I know Bear?"
"You are with his women."
Ahhh, so that's it. I knew there was a reason these girls were here... and with us.
I look out at Lou, who is sandwiched between the girls now as they writhe up and down his body.
"Yeah, I'll let him know you said hi."
"Thank you sir. And while you are in my club you are my guests. Your money is no good here."
I shake the man's hand and he departs.
Bear... he would have been fun to have along.
When the cocktail girl comes back by to check on me, I try out my Spanish and whisper in her ear about something to help us stay up while we are flying tomorrow. When she leaves I am not sure whether I asked her for a little speed, or offered to change her furnace filters. She returns a little while later with a small cloth pouch. I peel off a hundred dollars and she looks over her shoulder then back and me and smiles. She sticks the hundred in her bra and heads off to another table.
I try to see what's inside, but there is nothing but strobing dance lights. I trust her. She knows I am with Bear, or thinks I am... and I am pretty sure the word is out that you don't fuck his friends over.

Before long, I am out on the dance floor amidst the jet-set of Caracas. At first I am self conscious and stiff, but after looking at Lou who is as loose as the Scarecrow on the Wizard of Oz, I leave my worries behind and dance like nobody is looking. What a party. The music gets in your blood and you move with it, everyone on the floor, like a beating heart. I can't believe our company, our friends, our luck. I just hope it never ends.

As I dance what turns out to be our last dance before heading back to the hotel, I can't help but notice a group of men that have been watching us for a while now from the second floor balcony. I know that Americans aren't to well liked in Chavez's Venezuela, but I don't think that is it. But for now I am too fucked up to care. Tomorrow we head home.