Dad awaits. So do Raquel's two friends, drag queens that go to her AA meetings. They are dressed conservatively, like ladies who go out to lunch but who also might have some mental health issues. Big, big hair, and they sit on my dad's couch, my dad offering them punch or something stronger.
"Punch. That sounds so innocent and sweet," one drag queen says. Right when we came in, Raquel introduced us. This one is Mimi. The other's name is Salsa.
"This whole thing is sweet," Salsa says.
I smile, and Dad goes to get the punch, and on his way he stops by and pats both Toms on the back. They are standing near a little table of gifts. As Dad pats them, though, his face goes white as a sheet. He almost falls down and has to go over to a dinette chair, panting real bad. The Toms and Raquel all look scared, but I focus on my dad, as Mimi and Salsa march over, Mimi saying she used to work in a hospital and knows CPR.
But Dad is not having a heart attack, I don't think. His face is pale but not pained.
"Wow," he whispers to me.
"What?"
"When I touched those two," he says.
"Tom and Tom?"
"Yeah." He laughs. People are leaning into us, and I kind of nicely push them back.
"What?" I say.
"I saw this airplane hanger. You know. Great big corrugated metal, big as hell, and it had this red, well, this pink and red light. And I was at one end of it," Dad says, and he sits up, and I back away and all the others stand, listening. It's suddenly quiet as hell.
"I was in this hanger, at one end, it was empty, and just that pink and red light. Like you know there was a fire somewhere. Then I heard this stampede coming from the other side. I swear to God. That was strong, people. Wow." He laughs some more, and Mimi goes, "You psychic, honey?"
"Yes, I am," Dad says. He looks up proudly, his bottom lip shaking like he might start crying. He's always been emotional.
"He's got a license," I say, to back him up.
"Wow," Mimi says, looking over at Raquel, like thank you for bringing us here. "Well, kiss my hand and tell me what I want for Christmas!" Mimi and Salsa laugh real loud, but Dad just stands up and walks over to the podium.
"Bring them over now. It's time," he tells Raquel, and Raquel brings Tom and Tom over in front of the podium. I run over to the lights and flick switches to make it more intimate, turn on low music.
"This big hanger building," Dad says, from the podium. Tom and Tom are right there in front of him. "Pink light, like exploding roses. The red-light district. Ha ha. No. A stampede. You gotta hear it. A thousand-plus feet. I am on the other side and I look up and all these shaved-headed people are running right at me in the red light. It's like they just got freed, you know? Like the concentration camp just opened its doors and they got out and they're running. They don't know where they're going or nothing. They're coming right at me. And I want that to happen. I want them to run me over."
My dad is smiling with glassy eyes.
"I want them to run me over," he says, looking right at Tom A. and Tom B. "And they do. They stomp all over me. They gotta get somewhere, don't they?"
He's asking the Toms, and Tom B. goes, "Yes."
"They gotta get somewhere," my dad says, and he closes his eyes. Then he opens them real quick.
"That's love," he says.
After taking a sip from her punch, which she had to go get herself, Mimi says, "Amen, brother."
scared, but I focus on my dad, as Mimi and Salsa march over, Mimi saying she used to work in a hospital and knows CPR.
district. Ha ha. No. A stampede. You gotta hear it. A thousand-plus feet. I am on the other side and I look up and all these shaved-headed people are running right at me in the red light. It's like they just got freed, you know? Like the concentration camp just opened its doors and they got out and they're running. They don't know where they're going or nothing. They're coming right at me. And I want that to happen. I want them to run me over."
