the world has turned and left me here

the great escape

Bad vibes, when strong enough, can make you do just about anything.

It goes like this: we're at a club and we see three chicks dancing by themselves. We're three, they're three, it's early. There's a one-to-one and onto function in other words. We move in to engage enemy forces.

Things don't go so well for either Jonas or Jake--one gets the cold shoulder, the other realizes he's got the grenade & will have to jump on it. The chick I'm dancing with seems cool. I play it cool. Things are cool, until I start to talk to her, and that's when the bad vibes started to kick in.

I need a break, so I beg off for a drink & grab my buddies to see how things are faring. Not so good they tell me. Then I realize the girl has followed me over--there is a counterattack underway, she asks me suddenly & really obviously what I do for a living, so I tell her: I'm a gravedigger.

She believes me for a while until I stop caring & I slide off into sarcasm. It becomes a joke. Then I see that I've made things worse for myself--my evasiveness and lying has made me infinitely more interesting. Jake & Jonas keep looking doorward and I use this as an excuse to escape her, but not before she tells me she really likes me ("I can see that" I say, surprising even myself with the coldness embedded in this remark) because blah blah blah. Jake is fending off an even stronger counterattack as we start for the door.

"Where are you guys going?" the blonde girl asks Jake. "Maybe we'll join you."

In reply, Jake lists off as many different Capitol Hill bars as he can remember, strung together by the word "maybe." We walk out the door.

And at this moment, Jake & I look at each other like fellow escaped convicts & start running. It's a full-out sprint up the street, around several corners, until we're sure we've lost them. We finally stop outside a convenience store, wheezing from the exertion. I've never ran from a girl before--have you? It's an exhilerating experience. Try it, you'll like it.