xs VANCE STREET by Mike Austin
nasstop@yahoo.com
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VI.
Ivan's sleep was restless, recalling the first meeting with Cy, sexual encounter, dating, progressive relationship-building efforts and then bang he says he needs to find himself...When the cell phone alarm sounded, he had to drag himself up and force his energy level and enthusiasm to surge just to dress, feed "birdie" and be out the door in time for his bus ride with David. This Wednesday morning he was the one arriving late to the bus shelter, as David paced a bit eager for his new neighbor's arrival. They shook hands, greeted and David mockingly chastised him for his tardiness. Ivan pressed David with questions about the laundry and lockers; getting a first come first served answer to the laundry matter, but deferred to Adam Scott about the lockers. Ivan then added his encounter and meeting with Chuck Young in Apt E, the biker. David added that he was a part-time fitness consultant but his real job was an insurance agent and added he tries to bike every weekend and 2-3 times per week after work. Engaging Ivan now, David tipped the story with intrigue. He went on to relay that no one "lives" in Apt B opposite me on the 1st floor. For longer than I've lived here, it's been leased to a "company" and the fact is they shoot porn there. He added, "I didn't want to scare you away at first with that news, but as you're meeting other tenants now and they may relay that bit of gossip/fact, I felt comfortable sharing it now." Ivan admitted, "so that takes care of 3 floors, but what about 4 and 5?" As the bus approached, David shifted his shoulders and offered another day, BTW today's is Tom's birthday and he withdrew a large birthday card and asked Ivan for a quick signature which he did as the bus came to a stop, then David stowed it in the envelope and both riders greeted Tom with Happy Birthdays then found their seats. As Tom eased the bus back into traffic, the bus broke into the Happy Birthday song and applause. Tom was clearly touched when they reached their stop and David passed along the card and greetings again, exited and headed to the college as Ivan turned for the New Town building. Ivan thought of a gift he'd love to give Tom.......
His badge swiped on entry, Ivan turned to the long hallway and ultimately his new office. As promised, Gracie had arranged for an IT guy to be available for Ivan's laptop interface and security bundling, also helped with telephony tips and gave Ivan his extension for any further help or problem-solving. Gary was his name and he was 20ish with a scruffy beard, strawberry blonde and hot butt. He wondered if Gracie had blown him as well? Thanking him, Ivan reached out shook hands again and Gary disappeared. Gracie buzzed Ivan and asked if he did coffee or whatever and she'd show him the beverage bar that saved going all the way to the cafeteria, when he was next out by her desk; then added his desk chair was due about noon but he and Alex were due for a meeting in 10 minutes with John and Alex was already there. Ivan scrambled down the hall to her desk, turned to John's waiting room greeted Alex and they chatted briefly about yesterday's pace. Alex hoped Ivan could think on the run as he'd soon learn from John's meetings. John swung open his office door and bid the guys take their seats, then energetically apologized to Ivan that he couldn't have gotten they text or email about this meeting yesterday. He then began pacing and launched into a patron's request for her oldest daughter's birthday party being held at The Warick House in two weeks and needed a smashing hour performance for "the girls" and continued, "All the guests will be 13, all have taken ballet and/or jazz dance and the last gift by this patron was 6 figures, so guys it's up to you to assemble something edgy, contemporary and with a minimum of staging so we don't get too far off the bottom line with this event." John clapped his hands signaling the meeting's end, walked his pair to the door and closed with "I'd like 3 ideas by end of day guys" as the pair stared at each other, then smiled and once out of earshot from Gracie, laughed. "Are the meetings always like that" Ivan posed? Alex nodded yes and stopped abruptly at a 6' wide wall panel with a horizontal blue line. Touching the right end of the blue line, the wall panel slid aside, barn-door like and revealed a fully stocked beverage bar, coffee brewing in 3 roasts, an urn of hot water for tea, instant coffee or soup, iced and non-chilled individually sized bottled water, sodas and snacks- Alex reminded Ivan, "just be sure to tap the side panel when done so the door panel closes again; John hates having that exposed for all to see." The two continued to Alex's office to begin developing their 3 prelim concepts. Ivan relished working with Alex and his SmartBoard toy. It was a real speed saver and creative as well.
Within 45 minutes, the pair had blocked out two of the three concepts; one a traditional jazz ballet performance a la Joffrey Ballet, a so-called Triple Header all concluded with Q&A with the dancers and the attendant birthday guests and their mothers: with the first dance being to "Fool's Paradise", followed by "The Bitter Earth" and closing with "Take Me With You". Alex did some sketch ideas and saved them for future review. Alex pulled down a classic Russian Ballet performance of "Romeo and Juliet" with lots of male leaps and cavorting about, very sculptural and energized and again made note and saved the idea for future review. Both of these programs could be danced from the existing company's skill set with minimal practice sessions and staging and the company might even get a jolt from doing this sort of series. Alex noted Alexi had danced Romeo before so he might be an ideal candidate and knew he was a favorite of John, so it would be an easy sell. Though he didn't share with Ivan, he also knew that Alexi had a thing for young girls. These were both "usual suspects" so to speak and could be pulled off with relative ease.
Their collective effort surfaced when the pair hit on John's word EDGY. Ivan jumped to the table edge and began whistling David Bowie's Theme from Cat People; then slowly engaged a slow mo arc and leap, stretching his long legs in the process. Alex jumped at the idea! The theme would appeal to the parents' musical history and the edgy presentation and hardcore rhythm would excite the guests. "To be fair, he wants 3 concepts", Alex reminded Ivan. They returned to the first two, getting their staging done in two hours before breaking for lunch and returning to work on The Cat. For a brief time they also considered the theme from "The Story of O" but thought it crossed the line and feared the patroness or her peers might see through the story and fear it tempted the young girls too far. They resumed their effort on The Cat. Both guys felt as long as the males didn't get overtly aggressive or sexual nor the females too submissive, they were safe. The key judgement would be dancer ages, twenty somethings or teens? John could make that call, using established talent or drawn from their Invite School of young, upcoming talent; both decided that John should see the idea live with the two dancing the male parts in the staging area vs viewing it on John's SmartBoard or having them talk him through it. They drafted a 5 minute dance and series of leaps then a 4 minute set of std. crosses and female dance material, followed by a 5 minute closing of male leads pulling off a Russian ballet series of squats and kicks, then into leaps. The final 4 minutes would be the entire cast dancing a modified formal 18th century processional with lots of bowing and curtsies. By 4 o'clock they were ready for John's review and he took his seat to hear the three concepts from his star pair, listening intently to their creations and seeing it on the SmartBoard that had been wheeled into the open area. They presented the first two with pros and cons. Indicating Cat People as their preferred event, they began the show as John followed the blocking on the SmartBoard. They closed with the age concern as the only real issue and deferred to John to make the call. He agreed on Cat People, said they'd have an answer tomorrow on ages and would need to get legal engaged about royalty and copyright usage for this NON PROFIT event. Alex and Ivan high-fived each other and John beamed at their collaboration and left, humming the David Bowie tune. Ivan was proud as fuck about this effort and his contribution. The day ended and Alex asked him to join he and Dan from HR for a drink. Ivan paused a moment, then agreed. He wanted to tell his folks about the day, but would wait until he got home, hopefully sober. He knew his tolerance to booze was VERY LOW, and of course he had "birdie" to feed.
The trio left, walking three blocks away from the office and from the campus then paused at a spot with the above --door signage "Nickles". Dan led them in and was greeted by one of the bartenders, a wave from a bar back as they took a spot near the front at a hi-rise table and bar stools; giving them a view of outside passers-by as well as the existing clientele. Glen, the bar back approached in jeans and a t-shirt that was just a bit too short, but showed off obvious abs; confirmed Alex and Dan's usual drinks and took the new guy, Ivan's; turned and headed for Harry, the bartender. Dan began, "so how have the first few days gone" to Ivan? Ivan started his reply as Glen returned with their drinks, all three toasted Ivan's new arrival and then he continued with a single word, "exciting". Alex added, "this is a usual haunt we hit a few times a week after exciting or draining days, and the clients help either confirm our feelings or `lift' our spirits. Glen retuned in a few with 3 replacement drinks as Ivan added, "whoa slow down on me, I'm only a recent tea totaler guys, not used to running in the Big Leagues ya know" and with that they all laughed and toasted Ivan's staff addition again and welcome. Ivan was eager to tap these two for info on Alexi and Gracie and the IT guy Gary, but held off expressing too much interest, too soon. He sipped his drink as Glen brought Alex and Dan a third round. Dan excused himself. Ivan noticed Glen follow Dan into the head, where both remained for an extra bit of time. Dan returned to the table, showing an obvious bulge and Glen went about serving his other clients their drink orders, only once or twice waving at the trio's table. While not really a prude, Ivan settled into this new-found sense of free sex with his cohorts. He was looking forward to more of these wind-down times. Glancing at his cell phone, the time told they'd been there for almost 2 hours and Ivan begged away his exit, tentatively gave each a hug, offered to pay and/or leave a tip for Glen and Harry, which the other two denied then waving his goodbyes to Glen and Harry, left, and hailed a cab for Vance St. En route home, Ivan recalled that his lunch meal had been lean and the 2 drinks were HEAVY and he felt a bit woozy. Paying the driver and handing over a decent tip, Ivan left the cab, climbed the stairs at home and quickly fed "birdie" before crossing to the fridge and finding a leftover container of his mom's potato salad, which he devoured. In his state, he opted to not call home and give them the day's report, but would call Thursday night. In no time Ivan was fast asleep.