Choose to Take the Journey

House of Dreams, part 1 – Lightning Strikes Thrice

“That’s the last of it,” he announces as he slams the trunk shut on his burgundy station wagon. I linger for a minute watching the car drive away into the yellow-gray haze of street lamps and porch lights.

“That’s the last of it,” I sigh, as I look up into the night sky. Dark clouds begin to approach tellingly from the distance. I better go inside.

I enter the house and ascend the stairs toward my room on the second floor. I stop at the doorway and look in, slowly scanning its emptiness, filling in the spaces with recollections of my furniture in order to create one last picture to hang onto the walls of my mind. Goethe peers in from around the corner, “Wow, this is really happening. I’m gonna miss you, cool nerd.”

I snap out of my trance, turning my head to look at him. “Yeah, I’m gonna miss you too. But you’re the one who’s the nerd.”

“Haha-haa, whatever Bui.” Goethe possessed the kind of distinctive laugh that only a true extrovert could invoke. He spins around and walks back toward his room. I hear his laughter echoing from down the hallway, “Haha-haa!”

I turn back, but I can’t resummon the mental image I had created. There’s nothing but a vast emptiness to my small room. I’ve seen this once before.

*****

“Bui! What are you doing? Get in the picture!” Jake says exasperatedly.

“Oh, Sorry.” I had stepped to the side because I thought that Jake was just taking a picture of the other 3 guys.

“Oh my god, what a nerd!”

I join the others standing in the middle of my new room. Brady, George, Manny, and I put our arms around each other’s shoulders as Jake snaps the picture.

*Flash*

This is really happening. Our vision had just come to life.

“Who wants to go out tonight?” Jake asks.

Brady and I look at each other in silent agreement, then at Jake. He smiles. “Let’s go.”

*****

House music rumbles through the speakers hanging from the ceiling. Jake and I peel off from the other guys to approach a couple of dark-haired girls. Everything is a blur. He high-fives them. We hug. He dances. We sit down together. He keeps telling them “Yashi-mas! Party party!” My left eye begins to twitch.

“Why are you wearing hats?” one of the girls asks. “Because it’s Hat Night!” Jake responds incredulously. I feel like I’m going to have an aneurysm. “Picture time!” The girls instantly comply and the camera snaps another photo. *Flash* “High-Five!” Jake yells. One of the girls’ hands flies through the air to meet his. *Clap* The only thing running through my head is, “Whaaaaaat?” But the party is on. The energy is palpable. Jake is either the world’s foremost partier or a drugged-up clown. Probably both. We have an incredible time at the club until the night sky begins to lighten.

*****

I desperately want to continue sleeping, but the sun keeps pouring its accursed rays onto my face. I really need to get some curtains. I walk out to the living room and sit down at the dining table for a bowl of cereal. I keep my eyes half-closed as the sunlight is also pouring through the windows there. We really need to get some curtains. I hear the sound of footsteps running up the stairs. “Yashi-mas!” I drag my eyes across the floor to Jake who is running at me full-speed without any pants on, just a T-shirt, his underwear, and a pair of yellow socks. He strikes me as weird, but I admire his ability to get comfortable with people quickly.

“High-Five!”

“Dude, I’m just trying to eat my Cheerios,” I grumble.

“High-Five!” His eyes are bright and alive. I don’t want to be a party-pooper.

*Clap*

We chat for a bit about the previous night before he disappears down the stairs as quickly as he had come. I spend the rest of the day assembling furniture and putting up curtains in my room. I go downstairs to see how the others are doing. As I open the door, I hear the voice of Eckhart Tolle blasting through a pair of speakers on the suede sectional couch, “Be present in the moment,” he counsels. I see George on the floor doing ab crunches wearing nothing but a T-shirt, his underwear, and a pair of brown socks. Am I the one who is weird?

I leave him be and enter Jake’s room. He is sitting at his desk staring into his computer monitor, his eyes bright and alive. Jake must see me coming in from his peripheral vision. He disengages from the screen and pulls his headphones down around his neck.

“High-Five!”

*Clap*

“What are you up to?” I ask.

“I’m rocking it out.”

“What?”

“I’m animating. Check it out.” I take a look at the animation on the computer monitor. “It’s great,” I tell him. “Yashi-mas,” he replies reflexively. What does that even mean?

“I have to ask you a question,” I start. He looks at me expectantly. “Why does it seem like you are constantly trying to party? We’re not actually at the club anymore.”

He looks at me, expressionless. “I’m not trying to party. I am the party.”

*Flash*

He snaps a picture of the confused look on my face. The source of Jake’s charisma suddenly occurred to me. Whether it was the club, his work, or even the breakfast table, he brought the party. He didn’t wait for his surroundings, the music, or the people around him to tell him when it was time to party. He knew it was time simply because he chose for it to be.

*Knock Knock*

Brady taps on the door as he walks in. “You guys wanna go out tonight?”

“Thanks, but I’m gonna rock it out on my computer tonight,” Jake replies.

Brady and I look at each other, unsure if he is still talking about animating.

“What about you, Bui?”

“Definitely.”

– – – – –

Posts in this series:
Part 1 – Lightning Strikes Thrice
Part 2 – Green Waters Flow Westward
Part 3 – The Immovable Earth
Part 4 – El Fuego Rojo
Part 5 – Darkness is But the Absence of Light
Part 6 – The Traveler