Cindy sat in the office at the V.I. filling Trudy in on her "rescue Michelle" experience.
"So, by the time I got Michelle to her house, she's decided that she wants to work tonight!"
"That's crazy! She shouldn't come anywhere near this place until all this dies down," Trudy responded. "Does she realize the cops have been nosing around here all day?"
"I told her but she says she needs the money and asked me to start her shift. She's gonna be about an hour late."
Cindy walked out into the bar and unlocked the front doors. The Village Inn was open for business.
She worked behind the bar without a single customer for the first twenty minutes when suddenly, in walked the last person she would've ever expected to see.
In a desperate attempt to mask her shock, Cindy calmly said, "Well . . . uh . . how's it going . . Hank?"
Looking terribly dejected, her old friend walked over to the bar and sat down. He looked up, gave her a feeble smile and said softly, "It's Sky."
Cindy's face lit up. She clapped like a little schoolgirl as she ran around the bar and hugged Sky Bingham.
"Oh, Sky! My little Sky's back! How are you my dear?"
Sky hung his head and mumbled, "I'm sad."
Cindy hugged him again and rubbed his back as she added, "My little blue Sky is back. How come you're so sad?"
"Last night I met the most incredible woman."
Cindy immediately thought, "You've got to be kidding!" But instead, she said, "Oh really, where'd you meet this young lady?"
"Oh, I met her here. You must have seen her - tall, redhead, big retro hair. You couldn't miss her - she's absolutely stunning! I mean to tell you - she's amazing. Her name is Trixie Louise."
Cindy could hardly believe what she was hearing.
"And, oh my god, Cindy. What a dancer! You could just tell she was the kind of woman that could teach a man a thing or two - you know what I mean?"
"Well, being a woman, I'll just have to take your word for it. So, what happened to this awesome creature - did you get her phone number?"
Sky looked surprised as he asked her, "You didn't hear about what happened?"
Continuing to play dumb, Cindy replied, "Well, alot happened last night. Which part are you referring to?"
Sky leaned in toward Cindy and whispered, "She had a gun."
Cindy whispered back, "Oh, that part. Yes, everbody heard about that. I just happened to be in the office on the phone and missed the whole thing."
"Well, I was as shocked by the gun as everyone else; I mean - I didn't know this woman from Adam or Eve - for that matter, but I sure wanted too. Cindy, she just took charge. It was like she made it up in her mind that I was hers and nothing was gonna stop her from taking me. It was the sexiest damn thing I've ever experienced. I was forcibly drug out of here at gunpoint by this ravishing love goddess!"
Right about now, in her mind, Cindy was rolling her eyes and thinking, "Oh, pleezzzz! Love goddess? That's a bit much, don't you think? We're talking about Michelle here; in a scary prom dress and grandma's old wig - Come on!" But instead, she simply replied, "How wonderful for you. So, where'd the two of you go when you left here?"
"Well, that's the tricky part. See, once I joined the 'New Way,' I had to move into the 'New Way' house at the end of Park Ave. I've been living in a room with three other guys and two sets of bunkbeds. Bringing women in the house is a universal, cosmic sin."
"Universal what?" Cindy asked.
"Cosmic sin. That's 'New Way' philosophy. 'New Way' men must commit their lives to complete denial of all pleasure: women, good food, alcohol, recreation, television - the list goes on and on."
"I guess that means sex is out of the question?" Cindy asked sarcastically.
"Only if it's pleasureable," Sky jokingly added.
They both laughed and Cindy slapped his arm, playfully. But, as the laughter subsided, Sky grew somber again. Putting his head down on the bar, he began to cry.
"Sky, honey, what's wrong?" Cindy asked.
"She's gone. She's gone and I don't know what I'm gonna do without her!" he sobbed.
Cindy found herself in the most surreal of situations. She was thrilled to have her dear friend, Sky back but he's now fallen in love with someone who doesn't exist, sort of. She decided that her only option, for now, was to continue playing along.
"Oh, Sky. I'm so sorry," she said as she rubbed his back. "Maybe you'll see her again."
Still crying, he continued, "I don't think so. Not after what happened with Zoltan."
"Zoltan? Who's Zoltan?" Cindy inquired.
Sky lifted his head off the bar and wiped his eyes as he told her, "Zoltan's the guru of the 'New Way,' remember? And he runs the 'New Way' house with an iron fist. My roommates were sleeping when Trix and I - I like to call her Trix, that's just my little name for her - when Trix and I snuck into the room. Unfortunately, because I'm the newest 'New Wayer' I have a top bunk. So, we kinda woke everybody up trying to climb up that stupid ladder, you know those ladders . . . "
"Yeah, yeah, I know - go on."
"Well, in all the commotion, I heard Zoltan coming down the hall so I pushed Trix into the closet just as he came bounding into the room demanding to know what was going on - and those douche-bag roommates of mine told him about Trixie being in the closet."
"NO!"
"Yes! What a bunch of jerks!"
"So . . then what happened?"
"Well, Zoltan opened the closet door and demanded that Trixie come out, 'this instant,' he said - very dramatic."
"Well, did she come out?'
"Yeah, she did but it was kinda strange. She seemed really confused and kept saying, 'Trixie? My name's not Trixie.' She didn't seem like the same person that went in the closet when she came out."
"That's weird."
"I know, huh? But then things really got ugly. Zoltan called her a drag queen; he was like, 'who drug this tacky drag queen into this sacred place,' and that really pissed her off - Big Time!"
"Well, I guess so."
"Then Trixie screamed at him and kicked him right in his sacred place and then she stormed out of the house and I haven't seen her since."
"Unbelieveable!"
"I know. Isn't it? Oh . . can I get a Jameson and a Combo Platter - I'm starving."
"What about the 'New Way?'" Cindy asked.
"Well, needless to say, the 'New Way' told me to be 'on my way!'"
"Oh, I'm sorry, honey."
As Cindy rounded the bar to get Sky's drink, she caught sight of someone standing in the doorway. It was Michelle wearing a baseball cap, dark sunglasses and a huge turtleneck.
TUNE IN NEXT TIME FOR ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE OF MY V.I.!
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