A Hole In The Wall

It was a strange place in a strange location, surrounded by various industrial establishments and tattered, abandoned buildings. From the outside it didn’t look like much. The bricks were painted white and stained with dirt. Despite the relentless Florida sun, the color of the roof lingered a bright lustful red. There was a mysterious air about this particular place and unless you were looking for it, chances are you would pass right by it. There were few visible signs and at night the lights were dimly lit.

 Those who were familiar with this local watering hole knew that there was something special about it therefore they would frequent it often. In fact, the unexplained positive energy was so strong that as years passed, the place became almost legendary amongst local bar goers and insomniacs.  It was rare that one would simply stumble upon an establishment such as this, yet one day a middle aged business man by the name of Arthur happened to do just so when he drunkenly wandered through the doors.

         Arthur was pleasantly surprised by the liveliness of the bar in comparison to its quiet outward appearance. Cigar smoke circulated through the air and the psychedelic lighting paired perfectly with the pure rock and roll that streamed through the speakers. Before he had a chance to look for a seat in the crowded bar, a lovely waitress approached him and asked him his name.

“Arthur, but most people just call me Art for short”  He shouted over the music. She smiled and signaled for him to follow her to a table towards the back of the bar. Once Art was seated, the waitress introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Penny, what can I get for you?” she said with a dazzling smile. Rather than ordering his typical scotch on the rocks, Art decided to switch things up and get a sazerac. He anxiously awaited Penny's return after she sauntered off to fetch his drink.

 As she approached the table, drink in hand, he took a moment to admire her. She was beautiful, yet far from conventional. Her dark auburn hair was long and straight as a pin. It matched her long, thin limbs. Her eyes were as blue as the island seas but she hid them behind a pair of thick, black frames. She was young, pale, and petite. Yet somehow she appeared to be much taller than she actually was. Perhaps it was the black, lace up boots that did it, or maybe the short plaid skirt that showed off her legs.

She took Art a bit off guard when she handed him his drink and proceeded to sit down in the seat next to him. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.” She tilted her head to politely inquire, “Where are you from?”

“Philadelphia.” He said. And almost before he could get the word out she jumped up and hit the poor man in as she excitedly exclaimed “No way!”  

“Jesus Christ, Girl! Only a person from Philly would hit someone they just fucking met! I take it from the good ol’ city of brotherly love as well?” He shook his head and chuckled as he rubbed the shoulder where she so abruptly shoved him. She slapped her hand down on her knee as she laughed. “Why yes, of course!” And it was then that their peculiar friendship began to form.

Art and Penny bonded quickly. Despite their age difference, they had a great deal of things in common. Perhaps the oddest of those things was the fact that both of them had a bit of a conflict with the concept of time. And as strange as this may sound, each felt strongly that they were born in the wrong era. Art was sure that he should have been around during the time of the Civil War. He immersed himself in books and artifacts and longed to escape the mundane world of business by traveling back to a period where he felt he would have fit in perfectly.

Penny, like Art, was convinced that she should have been born several decades earlier, during a time where she felt she could have made a real difference in the world of politics and the equal rights moment… a time when music and protest went hand and hand. She was tired of her life in the bar and wished that had been born early enough to live life in the 60’s and 70’s. She was convinced that had she been around at this time, she would have been front and center at the original Woodstock Stock concert. The one where Hendrix performed his extremely controversial rendition of the star spangled banner.

One particularly slow evening, Penny decided to sit down next to Art while he drank. The laminations about their ages, and the time periods in which they were born, inevitably came up. ”Ya know, Penny, maybe you're wrong. I think you are living in the PERFECT time period to make a difference. Maybe with the internet, and social media and everything, you have a greater opportunity to use your voice as an artist to help facilitate positive change.” 

Penny agreed. But she also had a bit of a love hate relationship with the internet... Her response didn't skip a beat, “Well same to you babe! It's not like you needed to be born during the Civil War to stand up for equal rights. The world is crazy these days and, to be honest, it seems to be getting crazier. Its like we've been going backwards or something, but like, not in a good way.” She frowned a little. “Im sure we can both find ways of stand up for what's right and making difference when it comes to important humanitarian efforts.” 

“You're right, we can. everyone just feels. so complacent sometimes. I mean, things really don't seem all that great. Why do you think I'm here drinking all these libations! “ they both laughed but underbeath the laughter there was A hint of sadness. 

Penny sighed. “I guess sometimes I just want to see what it'd be like to venture off and not think about any of this. I just want to get away from it all for a little while. 

Meatball, the headbar bartender, stared at them quizzically as they bantered back and forth. The two of them looked like they could have been characters in a film that paralleled the plot line of Harold and Maude. Together they pined over their desires to escape their everyday lives and run off to a faraway place…. 

“Hey guys, hate to break up this riviting conversation here but um, as you can see the bar is abnormally slow right now” he gestured broadly “so i was thinking maybe i could practice some mixology skills? Ive this new drink ive neen worming on! Wana try it?! What do you say?” Since the bar truly was abnormally empty, and there wasn’t much to do in the way of work, Penny gladly accepted the offer.“Who doesnt love clocking out early for cocktails?!” She chirped. Plus, she knew from experience that Art was a terrific drinking partner. 

So the two of them plopped down at the corner of the bar and watched mesmerizingly as Meatball poured and mixed and shaked. He surprised them by whipping out a lighter and a blaze of fire momentarily shined over their two glasses. “What is it?!” Penny chimed. “You’ll just have to wait and see” as he placed the two drinks in front of the odd couple. Arthur looked at Penny with a mischievous grin “bottoms up girl!” their mouths contorted into weird shapes as they drank the strange, mystery cocktail. It was hard to describe the taste, perhaps a bit like absinth but with somehow even more of a bite. It was warm and suddenly a tingling feeling swept through both of them. The room swirled. 

Penny and Art gazed at one another as they were transported into what felt like an entirely new world of cobblestone streets, tulips and floating houses. An old bridge appeared in front of them and the odd couple looked at eachother, quite confused. Before they could speak, their bewildered thoughts were interrupted by a man on a bicycle with a flower in his hat. “Good day!” he yelled and honked as he whizzed by. 

The absurdity made the two of them laugh! Again,out of nowhere, a sign with an arrow appeared, the words glowed “come this way!” Penny and Art obliged, and their world became more and more saturated with colors that they didn't even know existed. The trees moved and swayed. It felt like tiny bolts of electricity moved between their branches, just barely perceivable with the naked eye. As they wandered, they came upon a building, a museum perhaps! The entryway stairs appeared to be moving, but they climbed them anyway. Penny grabbed Art by the arm and yelled “C’mon we gotta walk through here!” There were paintings on the walls, each of them dated…. 1886, 1887, 1889…. It was like they were going through time but doing so in a rather peculiar manner. The building felt hot, and it grew hotter the further they walked... The frames around the paintings began to move around them, slittering like strangely patterned snakes. 

Penny heard the sound of a loud but hollow hiccup that echoed behind her. When she gazed back, her eyes met that of a small child. He stood incredibly still with his  eyes wide and fuzzy, wool mittens covering a mischievous grin. The child got smaller and smaller but his laughter got louder and louder. Just then, Art tilted his head towards a sign that was lit up in bright red lettering and pointed at it… It took them both a moment to read what it said. “E.X.I.T…. It’s a SIGN! We’ve gotta get out of here!” Art howled. Together they ran towards the door, and it was so incredibly heavy that it took two of them to open it. 

Once the door creaked open, they were met with yet another door. And then another… There were doors all over the place, each of different sizes and colors! But there was one door that stood out in particular. It was bright, crimson red, and it looked as if someone had begun to paint it black. The two glanced at each other again as Art reached for the brassy handle. Miraculously, it opened with little effort! As they broke on through to the other side, the light behind them disappeared and they found themselves in total darkness. 

Penny yelled out in trepidation “ARTHUR!?” Art echoed back “Hey I’m right here.” And then third, an ominous voice pierced through the darkness…  “The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out. He will be wiser but less sure, happier but less self-satisfied, humbler in acknowledging his ignorance yet better equipped to understand the relationship of words to things, of systematic reasoning to the unfathomable mystery which it tries, forever vainly, to comprehend….” The voice trailed off and the whitest, brightest light abruptly filled the space. Penny shielded her eyes until the brightness subsided. Once she opened them, she saw Art, sitting across from her with the strangest grin on his face. Somehow, his button down shirt looked like it had just been starched and neatly pressed. “What the hell just happened!?” she half yelled, and half giggled. 

Art raised his eyebrows along with his shoulders. He pointed at the ceiling, where a speaker hung just above them. The way he posed reminded her of a cartoon, pointing at a lightbulb…. She looked at the speaker and then at Art as she contemplated the meaning of what she had just experienced. At that very moment a song, by The Temptations, came on the radio. Art smirked as he sang the words in perfect harmony, “It was just my imagination, running away with me...”