“Your trailer friend is a guy?”
“Yes, I swear. He is a good-looking, probably Italian, maybe late thirties, with nice clothes, nice hair and a nice car kind of guy. We have known each other a long time and occasionally work together.”
“Ray you have a job as a systems analyst for Amtrak,” April pointed out. “What could you possibly do with this man?”
“Oh, you know detective work, investigations of a sort, whatever a client requires. To a point that is,” Ray replied in a hesitant, low voice as if he was just trying out the answer.
“I see …,” she said with an expression that made it clear she didn't see at all.
“Hey April, quit trying to make sense of these dreams. Remember, it’s Otter Lake. Here, I am a detective or apparently a lot of things. And stay away from my handsome imaginary friend,” he added feinting jealousy in a desperate attempt to make the absurd seem funny.
It did not work. April just stood and stared. The room had the quiet of a vacuum except for the ticking sounds produced by a cheap red plastic wall clock in the shape of a tomato.
Dead silence. Travis thought it went on forever, but three minutes was a closer estimate.
“I know there is more. Just tell me,” she said in a flat demanding tone. More silence, more ticking.
Ray saw it was almost four o'clock.
Finally he replied “There isn't any more, really…” Ray said looking down and speaking as honestly as he could lie.
“Ray…”
“OK. I find God in an empty stone church and am in Otter Lake because I can get peace from the pressure of being able to read the emotions of other people.”
She looked at him with more incredulity than usual.
Ray did not think that whatever was happening here, he was winning.
“Well, that’s new… strange, but new, nothing else?” she asked with impassive distance.
“Not that I remember.” He remembered that answer working on CSPAN.
“Ray, why do you keep dreaming of this place? Five years now… I think it is over, a couple of months go by and then you are back in Otter Lake.
I want you see someone about this. Are you so unhappy here that you have to keep escaping to this silly imaginary world?”
Ray decided that any reply here would be a poor decision.
“I dream too, you know, but I don’t keep going back to some broken down little flyspeck town. I go to places I want to go but can’t afford like normal people. Thank God I don’t have to go to Otter Lake with you.”
Travis/Ray felt happy about that too.
“This is all so much crap you know. You, for sure, cannot read people’s emotions. I am living proof,” April said walking away.
“Yes, I swear. He is a good-looking, probably Italian, maybe late thirties, with nice clothes, nice hair and a nice car kind of guy. We have known each other a long time and occasionally work together.”
“Ray you have a job as a systems analyst for Amtrak,” April pointed out. “What could you possibly do with this man?”
“Oh, you know detective work, investigations of a sort, whatever a client requires. To a point that is,” Ray replied in a hesitant, low voice as if he was just trying out the answer.
“I see …,” she said with an expression that made it clear she didn't see at all.
“Hey April, quit trying to make sense of these dreams. Remember, it’s Otter Lake. Here, I am a detective or apparently a lot of things. And stay away from my handsome imaginary friend,” he added feinting jealousy in a desperate attempt to make the absurd seem funny.
It did not work. April just stood and stared. The room had the quiet of a vacuum except for the ticking sounds produced by a cheap red plastic wall clock in the shape of a tomato.
Dead silence. Travis thought it went on forever, but three minutes was a closer estimate.
“I know there is more. Just tell me,” she said in a flat demanding tone. More silence, more ticking.
Ray saw it was almost four o'clock.
Finally he replied “There isn't any more, really…” Ray said looking down and speaking as honestly as he could lie.
“Ray…”
“OK. I find God in an empty stone church and am in Otter Lake because I can get peace from the pressure of being able to read the emotions of other people.”
She looked at him with more incredulity than usual.
Ray did not think that whatever was happening here, he was winning.
“Well, that’s new… strange, but new, nothing else?” she asked with impassive distance.
“Not that I remember.” He remembered that answer working on CSPAN.
“Ray, why do you keep dreaming of this place? Five years now… I think it is over, a couple of months go by and then you are back in Otter Lake.
I want you see someone about this. Are you so unhappy here that you have to keep escaping to this silly imaginary world?”
Ray decided that any reply here would be a poor decision.
“I dream too, you know, but I don’t keep going back to some broken down little flyspeck town. I go to places I want to go but can’t afford like normal people. Thank God I don’t have to go to Otter Lake with you.”
Travis/Ray felt happy about that too.
“This is all so much crap you know. You, for sure, cannot read people’s emotions. I am living proof,” April said walking away.
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