Christmas
Eve in L.A. Christmas
Eve in Hollywood. Time to go home. As they say in MovieSpeak: Wrapped.
Free
at last, free
at last, thank God Almighty I'm free at last I
murmur loudly to my fellow employees. I head home.
Had
a few stops to make. Took a couple of side streets. A right turn. A
left turn. Siri, speaking with an Aussie voice steers me wrong.
Right. Left. Two U-turns. No big deal.
The
dance studio. Closing down for Christmas eve. I drop off a check for
my Argentine Tango lessons. The clerk at the desk, I've danced with
before in a Waltz class. She couldn't hold a dance frame if her life
depended on it. No worries. She tucks my check into her push-up bra
and gives me a half-smile.
Another
turn. Another street. Had to pick up some drugs. Drugs to help me
make it through the night. Kaopectate. Enuff said. It was dark and
rainy. A dark and rainy December 24th.
Christmas
eve in L.A. Traffic. Clogged freeways. Spotify Algorithms sing a song
of Christmas. Christmas Songs. Songs to soothe. To soothe the savage
beast. Me. Home now. Parking now.
A
homeless dude in handcuffs, dressed in red, with a white beard,
wearing some bad-ass black boots gives me a wink and a thumbs-up as
he and two LAPD cops walk by. Nothing I haven't seen before. This is
L.A.
As
I grapple with a small Amazon box that contains my book
“Confessions...of a Hollywood Movie Extra” that apparently eluded
local Porch Pirates, I hear voices. Again. What are you doing with
your life? a little raspy voice keeps whispering in my
ear.
I
start to stream Love Actually, the Christmas flick that has
replaced It's a Wonderful Life as my December 25th
go-to movie. Hard to concentrate. I couldn't shake that VM from
earlier this morning. Casting. Wants me for the lead in “Laundromat
Gigolo 2.” Is nothing sacred? OMG. I said no today. I said no last
week. I'll say no tomorrow.
30
Minutes into Love Actually I hit the pause button. I need to sleep. REM sleep. Out of the
question. I toss and turn all night, like ping pong balls in an
overheated tumble dryer.
In
spite of all the twisting and turning events of the day and in spite
of the Christmas music ringing in my ears, I eventually succumb and I
dream a dream of Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men.
Then
the demons came again.
But,
enough about me...
