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A Time of Mystery
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One night, a few friends stop by.
They enter into a discussion with Michael that they heard the band was
to be playing again and that they were going to see them. They had
booked a gig at a local Depot, an old converted train station. One of
the men knew the way as he had been there before. The young men travel
through the old town, they turn at the street and head down toward the
Depot. Leaving the glow of street lamps, the street becomes sparsely
lit. At the end of the long street sits the Depot. Only a few lit
windows on the front allow the passer by to even know the place existed
less was open. Nonetheless, the parking area was crowded with vehicles.
It appears to be a popular local gathering place. |
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The young men walk up the old wooden
steps of the converted train station, through the front doors, turning
left down the entryway then right through the final set of doors that
separated the bone chilling sub freezing temperatures from the warmth
inside. Michael pauses. The Depot was unlike any of the other bars in
town. While most were sparsely decorated, showing the wear of many
years, the Depot was fully decorated in wicker, Tiffany lamps, framed
posters, a very large, well stocked bar with a loft above and plenty of
seating, including another loft in the rear. Michael was taken by the
openness of the Depot. You enter to an elevated platform with stairs on
the right leading up to the loft above the bar. Advancing forward, you
step down to the bar. Turning to the left, you enter the main seating
area, all lit up with Tiffany lamps. Ahead, at the end of this area are
stairs to the right which take Michael up to a loft area, square in
shape, with a railing that surrounded a square hole in the floor from
where one could look down to the room below. |
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Back down the stairs, Michael walks through a
small tunnel to the back room, which opens up to a dance floor, a small
Kitchen (which smelled of sweet pizza sauce) and what was a small stage
area. There was a band playing. It was not the band the young men came
to see. Puzzled, Michael inquired about the band of college students.
One of the workers at the Depot stated that he had never heard of them
and was unaware they were scheduled to play. Michael and his friends,
disappointed at the news, work their way back to the front of the bar,
out the entry and into the dark, cold night. They walk back up the dark
side street to the intersection with Main Street where they stand under
the glow of the street light and ponder the events of the night. A
decision had to be made what to do with the remainder of the night. |
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As they were standing chatting, another friend
stops by. After discussing the disappointment, the group agrees to go
back down to the Depot for a beer, just to hang out away from the dorm
and away from the bone chilling cold. Standing at the bar, Michael
orders a beer, a Molson Golden I believe. Michael takes notice of the
"beautiful people" who work at the bar. Particularly, the
twenty-something gentleman with a pony tail tending bar and the
slightly
out of place but very, very attractive blonde woman. The group gather
up
their drinks and head for the loft in the rear of the bar. |
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At this time, the bar is rather crowded. The
young men find seating in the entrance of the tunnel area of the loft.
The smells of perfume, beer, pizza and cigarettes fill the air. The
band
plays pop tunes of the day, mostly dance music. The place is full of
background chatter. The Depot was at times quite familiar yet strangely
unknown to Michael. That was about to change. |
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Two of the three friends Michael came
in with wandered off to retrieve beers and look around. Michael sat,
chatting with this friend. Suddenly, Michael looked up and caught the
eye of an attractive woman wearing a baseball cap with her eyes barely
visible under her visor. No sooner had Michael glanced her way did the
woman look down, the visor concealing her eyes. Michael, taking notice
that the woman was a few years older and far more attractive than the
normal crowd he traveled in, went back to his conversation with his
friend, not giving any further thought. After all, it's fairly common
to
catch an eye gazing across a crowded bar. But this night Michael found
out that some things are not as they appear. |
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Chatting with his friend, Michael
could not help but notice from the corner of his eye that someone was
staring directly at him. Michael, not being attractive as most would
measure, thought maybe it was someone he knew. He turns his head to
find
the young lady with the visor staring directly at him. For what
appeared
like minutes probably only lasted seconds. Looking into her eyes,
Michael was filled with images of lust and passion. Dazed and confused,
Michael looked away to ponder the meaning. "What just happened?" he
thought to himself. Uncertain, Michael rose to his feet. He started
forward and as he did, the young woman also rose from her seating.
Michael, feeling very out of place and filled with uncertainty, headed
for the only place he felt safe. I must say, he did so very
quickly. |
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At the door leading to the outside, Michael
stopped to grab his sweater and coat. There his friends ask him if he's
leaving. As he turns to address them, he notices that the young lady
had followed him down the stairs, across the main area to the base of
the steps leading from the entry platform area to the bar. She glanced
at him with longing eyes that seemed to say "where do you think you're
going?" Michael quickly throws on his coat, says goodnight to his
friends, and exists the bar. The cold air felt strangely comforting.
Michael was filled with anxiety and a sense of danger but he didn't
know why. He just knew he needed time to reflect on the events of that
night. |
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Back in the comfort of his room,
Michael sat on his bed. He considered the events of the night. He
wondered why any woman so beautiful would in any way be attracted to a
young man who, by all measures, was ordinary. Thin, unattractive, out
of step with mainstream culture, Michael sported shoulder length hair
that was thin with a slight curl. That night, he had it pulled back
into a pony tail with a bandana around his head. His face was pitted
with moderate acne. Michael was certainly no fashion statement nor was
he ever a girl magnet. On the contrary. His friends were the girl
magnets as he normally sat by. "So why the attraction?" he wondered. He
decided it would be safe to avoid the Depot and thus avoid the anxiety
of the unknown. |
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For the next few months, Michael pondered the
events. As time passed, Michael seemed to convince himself that he was
suffering from a bad case of a wild imagination. Problem was, Michael
wasn't all that imaginative. He wasn't into the ladies. And he didn't
spend any large amount of time fantasizing about women. On the
contrary,
he spent many evenings hanging out in the girls dorm on their sofa
watching Mork & Mindy and other popular shows with them. The
pursuit
of women just wasn't a priority for Michael. This made the bar
situation
all that more puzzling. This was one mystery, though, that was not
worth
investigating. At least not yet...
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One night, a young man stops by. An aquaintance.
A friend of a friend. He stated that the band Michael liked so very
much
was, in fact, playing in town. Not at the Depot but at a small bar on
Main Street. Unable to resist quality live music, Michael ventured down
to the bar. It was sparcely populated. Maybe 15 people total in the bar
that night. Regarless, Michael took good advantage and had a great
time.
For the first time since junior high school, Michael actually hit the
dance floor in jubilation. It was a very good night. But like all good
nights, it was winding down. He asked the band if they were scheduled
to
play again and they said yes, down at the Depot. Michael made note of
it, being certain not to miss their next show. |
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Michael looked forward to seeing the band play.
After all, the only excitement in a snow-bound college town is hitting
the bars, eating at the school's snack bar, hanging out in one's room
or
worse, the library. Wasn't much else to do in minus 20 degree weather
(with the wind chill). So the opportunity to see a decent band play was
pure joy to Michael. And the next week, Michael would have his show. |
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Venturing back down to the Depot another dark,
cold night, memories of the past events at the old train station had
passed, being discarded as pure imagination. After all, what else could
it be? Across the foggy bridge into town, left onto Main Street and
down
the dark road to the edge of town. Back in the bar, Michael found the
scene far different than before. This time the bar was not crowded. It
has only a few patrons. Perhaps it was because Michael arrived early.
Perhaps it was because it was a week night. Regardless, Michael was
happy to be out of the cold and went to the bar for a beer. The
bartender was a young man, in his 20's. He had the swagger of a sailor.
He even wore a sailor's cap and sweater. He made change and Michael
went
to the back of the bar where the band was setting up. |
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Michael stood along the edge as he watched the
band set up. It was a low-key pace. As Michael finished his first beer,
he headed back for a second. By now, the more students had filed into
the bar. It was more like a normal night. Waiting at the bar, Michael
couldn't help but notice the very attractive bartender with long blonde
hair. She stood just to the right of the bartender with the pony-tail
(we'll call him the Bossman as he seemed to be running the show that
night). She was, by all modern day definitions, a woman to be desired.
Michaelworked his way back up to the bar and ordered another beer.
Bossman reaches in the cooler, pops the top off the beer, and off
Michael goes to see the band. |
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It was an excellent night. The band played GREAT!
They played Kansas City, Sultans of Swing, Soul Man, and many other
tunes. During intermission, Brown Eyed Girl played over the wonderful
house stereo system. Michael seemed to drift away into the music,
swaying to the melody. His face was aglo with joy. As the band returned
for a second set, Michael had the opportunity to dance with one of the
members of the band, cute little female singer. Little did Michael know
but he was attracting the wrong type of attention to himself. He was
too
busy having too much fun. |
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The morning dawns to find Michael had returned to
his studies. By now, Michael was beginning to become bored of college
life in a small college town. Michael began to look forward to getting
out of his door room and going down into town for a beer. His new
favorite bar, the Depot. He loved the high quality Yamaha stereo system
with the enormous suspended speakers and the well decorated
surroundings. He also liked the seating arrangements where one could
find a little perch from which to oversee the happenings in the bar. |
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So Michael made it a point to go down
to the Depot at least twice a week for a beer. It was like watching a
play from the balcony above. He didn't quite feel part of the event yet
he felt like a witness to something. He could sense something strange
going on but just couldn't put his finger on it. Leaving that in the
back of his mind, he just sat back, drank his beer, and read his text
books. Ocassionally, he would look around the room to see if anything
was happening or if someone he knew had arrived. |
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One night, possibly a Friday, it was
exceptionally busy. Michael, after working his way through the throng
of
people, looked for a comfortable place to sit. The loft areas in the
front and back offered the best seating. It was there that one could
find soft, cushy sofas and well weathered chairs. Michael decided to
head to the front loft. From there he could watch to see everyone who
came into the bar. Some friends came in, Michael left the comfort of
the
loft and invited his friends to join him. They headed upstairs and sat
together on the soft sofa. During their conversation, Michael began to
feel an invisible presence. An almost voice like feeling of "don't you
feel like you belong here with us?" It was a feeling, nothing said but
it had a stong impact. It was strange sensation and not one the young
outcast was accustomed to feeling. It left him uncomfortable. |
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As Michael's friends left, he worked
his way down the stairs to the left down to the lower level of the bar
by the entrance. There Michael meets a young man shuffling a deck of
cards. Michael asks him what he's doing and he informs me that he's
been
retained by the owners of the bar to entertain their guests by playing
card tricks. During the conversation, he tells Michael he's from a
nearby college town in the next valley. He also mentioned that he, like
Michael, was from the Washington D.C. area. That he and a friend were
going to college together. As the night winds down, the card player and
his friend offer Michael a ride back to the campus in their light blue
volkswagon beetle. A rather generous and appreciated gesture
considering
how cold that night was. |
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Growing increasingly intriged by the
strange vibe of the Depot, Michael returns the next week, this time
with
a more inquisitive eye. Michael now senses that something very
different
is going on and his curiousity will not let him go without finding what
it might be. Was this a place where folks hung out for a good time or
was there something else going on? Seemed far fetched but Michael saw
no harm in watching to see if all was well. But all was not well. |
