Strangers in the Night

- You are such a fascinating man.
-  And you are… you are…oh… I am having trouble finding a fitting word for you.  Maybe it does not exist at all. I need to give that some thought.  Well….you... are…a… SUPERCALIFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOTIOIS girl!
- Wow, I got only “super”. What’s the rest?

Jambala-jambala-jamblalaya! A juke box started playing a new song and he began singing beating rhythm with his fingers on a saucer. They were sitting in the bar called “The Sixties”,  designed  in the atmosphere of those romantic times.

- Did you read Mary Poppins? 
- No
- It is from that book.

Jambalaaa   -son of a gun - Jambalaya!!!!!

- Do you believe in miracles?
- Sometimes, but they never happen
- Never happen? 
- …..
 - Well… m-m. I tell you a story…  a story about Such an a Fascinating Man – let us call him Sim - and a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious girl  – the “sudotious girl”, or “Sudie” – it is just a shortened variant from an adapted version.  So…

…one day or to be more exact one cold late night  in the latest Fall Sim and Sudie were sitting in the “The Sixties” bar enjoying nostalgia of the early 60’s: a’ la  Andy Warhol  pictures on walls with Elvis Presley soundtrack, Cola & Beer flavor and smell of hot coffee beans.

It was almost 3 a.m. The bar was almost empty except for a sleepy waitress (Kathy) and phlegmatic   barman watching football on TV. His head and hands seemed to be attached to different bodies: the head belonged to the TV set and the hands operated his “household”: glasses, bottles, and drinks. They both led separate lives.

S & S were just doing nothing: drinking coffee, tea, then tea and coffee again and talking about English literature, jazz music, the "Cabaret" and Lisa Minnelli, Abba beautiful vocals, and all over again about jazz music and English literature. They seemed to be finishing their “never-to-be-finished themes” and were nearly to leave when at about 3.30 a.m. the door opened and the night  wind blew in a new customer. The juke box coughed from the draught and its tasting-much-sweeter-than wine ooh-hoo ooh-hoo went like ahum-ahum.

The newcomer looked strange: he had wide-brimmed hat on and sunglasses, his raincoat was wet however there was no rain outside. He hung the hat and the raincoat on a rack and sat at a table opposite facing Sim and Sudie.   Without looking in their direction, as if he were blind, he called for Kathy." When she had came up he murmured, “Glass’o’beer an a pack o’ Camel”

The barman’s reaction was immediate as of a safe goalkeeper and his second body poured a glass full of beer and put it on a counter. His first body did not even move when Kathy came up to deliver the order to the man.

“The stranger in the night” swallowed the beer at one gulp like a very thirsty traveler somewhere in a desert and waved the waitress showing that he wanted another one. Then he lit up a cigarette, took a long drag, and put it in the ashtray.” He took out a newspaper  and started nervously looking through it. Kathy brought the second glass, the man paid and presumably having found something important  in the newspaper, stood up, grabbed his raincoat and the hat and  like a cat softly disappeared as unexpectedly as he appeared.

Everything happened as if nobody had been at the table at all. The smoking cigarette and the untouched beer were likely to belong to “the invisible man”.  S&S exchanged wondered glances turning their sights from the door to the   empty place in front of them. They looked at the counter and smiled seeing that Kathy joined the barman’s fun club since both did not even notice a sudden take-off of “the night flight”.

- I want to have a breath of fresh air. Can’t stand the smell of smoke 
- Right, time to go

They took their jackets  from the same rack and headed to an exit. She opened the door and they stepped out to the cold…. NO!!!! OUT TO THE….

HOTTEST BRIGHTEST MIDDAY
WITH THE BLINDFOLDING SUN, THE
LOUDEST MUSIC AND SINGING AND DANCING CROWD OF HAWAIIAN SHIRTS, PAREOS,
AND BIKINIS.“ROLL OUT THESE LAZY-HAZY-CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER!!! THE DAYS OF SODA, AND PRETZELS AND BEER!!!” ; LONG CARS, SLIM PALMS, THE HUGEST BILLBOARDS WITH
“WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA!” AND  “DRINK COCA-COLA!” WERE FINISHING THE SCENERY


- H-H-H-WHAAAAAAAT’S THAAAAAAT????!!!!!!!
- ))))))))
- ??!!
- It’s just a little present for you, the REAL sixties
- IT’S NAAAAAAAAAHT  PAAAAH-SIBLE!!!!!!!!!
- But it is
- WHO…HOW .. How you did it?
- It’s not me. It’s that man.
- What man?!
- The strange man in the bar. He is a magician.
- How did you know that?
- He asked if I believe in miracles and I said yes. Then he wondered if I had any wishes and I just answered that I would like something supercalifragilisticexpialidocious for such supercalifragilisticexpialidociously fascinating girl for her coming birthday. He said OK and disappeared.
- But you, you didn’t talk to each other.  How did you communicate?
- Oh, please, no more questions, Sudie, let’s go and have a swim. It’s TOO hot. We have not so much time here…

He went silent.

… there were birds in the sky but I never heard them singing…

- What’s the end of  the story?
- Well, no end, it’s endless. And this is only a beginning… Kathy, the bill please.

When they left Kathy cleaned up their table and… then took away the full glass of beer and the ashtray with the burnt-out cigarette.

…yes I never heard them at all till there was you