AVENUE DRIVER

Rain splintered the sidewalk of Morgan’s dream journey, unending, unforgiving real. 

As Jack stepped into the crowded downtown bar, it felt as though he had been transported into a future yet unknown. The air was thick with the distinct scent of the sea, creating an atmosphere that seemed like a relic shrine to the vices of humanity. The scent alone brought his senses alive, each breath carrying the promise of hidden secrets lingering within the currents.

The elongated room pulsated with anticipation, guided by the rhythmic dance of music that seemed to syncopate with the beating heart of the city. People's eyes, like sentinels in the night, scanned the dimly lit room in expectation, seeking something elusive in the atmospheric embrace.

The bar, an oasis in the urban landscape, hummed with the energy of those seeking refuge from the currents of reality. Laughter and conversation blended into a symphony of urban life, weaving a tapestry of existence in this shrine to indulgence.

Jack, positioned at the heart of this vibrant tableau, leaned against the bar, absorbing the eclectic aura that surrounded him. The music, the sea-scented air, and the animated chatter painted a vivid picture of a world where past, present, and future coalesced in a timeless dance.

Mid-bar, Jack leaned on a short scotch, his warm stone eyes reflecting the dreamy souls around him. The crowd's laughter and the pulsating mystique created an enchanting dimension. Jack, a lost soul in search of ethereal avenues, moved against the current, his elongated frame gleaming amidst the dreamscape.

A shady enchantress, draped in mystical incognito, beckoned from the top of the bar. Jack, attuned to the otherworldly mysteries, approached her, a sense of magic hanging in the air.

Shady Enchantress: whispers a spell "Ah, a seeker of the other realm, are you?"

Jack: smirks, casting his own charm "Indeed. You seem well-versed in the arcane. Would you share a mystical insight?"

Shady Enchantress: laughs, a magical melody "Insights come with a price. What magic are you willing to trade?"

Jack: leans in, a conjured mist surrounding them "Let's begin with a name. Call me Jack. Now, how about a potion? I've heard shared elixirs can unveil hidden truths."

Shady Enchantress: smirks, her eyes shimmering with secrets "Jack, hmm? A potion, you say? A aether elixir it is. Make it enchanting."

As Jack signaled the barkeep, the air shimmered with dreamy anticipation. The shady enchantress's eyes held secrets from realms beyond, and Jack sensed he was embarking on a journey into the fantastical.

Shady Enchantress: sips the enchanted elixir "Ah, Jack. You're a different kind of dreamer. What quest brings you to the ethereal avenue?"

Jack: leans back, swirling his scotch as he replies without knowledge of this new reality "A hunger for the sublime, for realms beyond the ordinary. I've heard the avenue can manifest such dreams."

Shady Enchantress: raises an eyebrow "Dreams, you say? The avenue weaves its own spells. It may grant desires but twists them in unforeseen ways."

Jack: nods, lost in the dreamy atmosphere "I'm willing to embrace the enchantment. Now, about those mystical insights..."

The shady enchantress paused, her aura weaving a tapestry of dreams. She leaned in, whispering spells of the avenue. Jack, wrapped in the dreamy tendrils, absorbed the trancendental wisdom.

Shady Enchantress: smirks "Much more to uncover, Jack. But the magical knowledge has a cost. What other charmed offerings are you willing to trade for the secrets of the avenue?"

As the dreamy bar throbbed with mystical truths, Jack pondered the ethereal riddles before him. His journey into the unknown beckoned, the air floated with dreams waiting to be unraveled.

MORE TO COME

SYNOPSIS: 

In the relentless rain, Morgan's dream journey splinters the sidewalk of his brain, merging the unforgiving real with the surreal. He finds himself in a crowded downtown bar of the future, an atmospheric relic pulsating with the sea's aroma and humanity's vices. Music syncopates the elongated room, casting an anticipatory mystique over the patrons. Within this floating asylum, avenue drivers stalk their prey, an enigmatic presence that eludes most.

Jack Morgan, positioned at the mid bar, becomes a magnetic force, gauging reflections and seeking the elusive avenue drivers. In the midst of the crowd, he encounters a shady lady and, undeterred, inquires about a mysterious figure named Harpoon. As he leans into the unknown, Jack unwittingly becomes part of a cosmic dance, a convergence of seekers, drivers, and the unspoken allure of the avenue.

Harpoon's recent split into two personalities unfolds, revealing a trance-like state and encounters with thought truckers in the cosmic mind state. The narrative weaves through the surreal elements of zingers, cosmic mind states, and the Avenue – a realm that exists in real-time surrealism. The search for drivers and the intertwined destinies of the characters create an atmosphere of intrigue and uncertainty.

Sunny Silversteen, an observer and potential key to Jack's journey, enters the scene with a proposition. As Sunny hints at the complexities of being an avenue driver, Jack grapples with unfamiliar terms like short game, sustain ability, and the enigmatic qualities of these electronic guitar synth-like individuals. The bar becomes a symbolic nexus, a melting pot of desires, fears, and the mysterious forces that govern the avenue.

Amidst the dialogue and exchanges, an avenue driver's display of power casts a veil of uncertainty over the patrons, showcasing the potential dangers and manipulations inherent in this surreal realm. As Sunny and Jack engage in a cryptic conversation, the passage unfolds with symbols of power, hidden meanings, and the imminent convergence of Jack's fate with the avenue.

The bar, soaked in rain and charged with the essence of the sea, becomes a microcosm of the avenue's mysteries, where seekers tread cautiously and drivers hold the keys to realms beyond the matter parlor. Jack's journey, laden with symbolism, unfolds against the backdrop of a world where reality and surrealism merge, leaving the reader entangled in the intrigue of the unknown.

2 / 2

Chapter One: To Whom the Bar Tolls

Rain splintered the sidewalk of Morgan’s dream journey, unending, unforgiving reality gone askew. Now, launched into a crowded downtown bar deep in the future or so he felt. The bar’s succinct aroma wafted throughout this relic shrine to humanity’s vices. The Shady Lady a relic of the sea, walls covered in seaweed , existing existentially from time dimensions mixed with gigantic krill and other wordly sea creatures chased by dragons of mind warp emergent gravity seeking refuge from the storm. It s creation a photosynthetic paradox of time. Does anyone ever really leave here or do they just think they do, or are they here at all are you?

 Music syncopates this elongated room into expectation.  People’s eye’s scan about like a bat’s sonar seeking insects at dusk, looking over all who enter, sipping their flow.  Jamming themselves around the oval oak bar exactly mid room, schmoozing their drinks,people laugh at the various comments spun out by the pulsing crowd the pumped mystique zooms into it’s own dimension. Some who come are extremely aware that avenue drivers stalk their prey here, most don’t know.  For all in need, hooking a driver is the only thing that can keep them in the zone, feeding their urge, satisfying their desire. Others are here seeking thrills and adventure by finding a driver who can take them long into realms beyond the matter parlor.

Jack Morgan mid bar, leans hard on a short scotch, gazing, gauging people’s reflections of his likeness in their eyes. His warm stone black on black eyes peer into their souls, extrapolating a signal as to whom this person may be. Searching again for an avenue driver, he has no clue as to how to find one, whom to ask, what to say. Moving up bar against the current of potential avenue drivers he trolls his elongated frame amidst the crowd, gleaming into their eyes, searching for signs, searching for the right words. Is he the predator, the hunted, not knowing yet seeking. Impaled by a shady looking lady dressed in incognito sitting lee side top bar, Jack schools in next to her. 

Jack “Ever hear of a guy named Harpoon”

Shady Lady “Get lost!”

 Jack “Well little lady I wasn’t trying too, I was just asking a question” He thinks to himself, no way. 

Shady Lady “Don’t, even” as she raised her hand into the universal language of you aren’t getting anything from me.

From the distance of the close, the words he needed to hear, dropped from the cacophony of this floating asylum.

 “Harpoon one or two?”

Jack glimpses over his right shoulder, black eyeballs the guy, shouts above the din of the milieu. “You heard me?” 

“Saw you coming a mile away, I did.”

Jack “Come over here I’ll buy you one.”

Morgans dimension shifted along his other self with himself for the ride.

“Yeah, sure!” I watched as the mysterious figure, with a peculiar, fluid walk that mimicked someone navigating waves, made his way toward me. He shimmered through the smoky haze, his movements a captivating dance that spoke of athleticism.

Jack “What do you want? What’s your name?” I asked, feeling out of place.

“It doesn’t matter now, does it? Already got my drink,” the enigmatic man replied. 

I was perplexed. “What, how, when did that happen?”

“Doesn’t matter, just keep them coming. Now, Jack, I’m sure you have some questions about this Harpoon fellow, spill them out.” 

I took a sip of my drink, contemplating how he knew my name. "Who are you? Who am I talking to here?"

“My name, no, not my name, what am I?” he chuckled. “That’s the question you should be asking me, hombre, what am I.”

This conversation with the shimmering man didn’t seem like a good idea, but I pressed on. “Okay, what are you then? Are you some sort of driver or are you a whale?”

I called him a whale ? Was I joking. Why a whale where am I?

“Well you know I’m partial to that green bottle sittin right there in the middle of all those glorious elixirs.”

Jack “Let me turn around here and see. Which green bottle is that? There are lots of green bottles?”

“ Barkeep will know”

Jack “What’s his name, the barkeep, what’s his name.”

“It doesn’t matter now, does it, already got my drink.”

Jack “What, how, when did that happen?”

“Doesn’t matter just keep them coming. Now, Jack I’m sure you have some questions about this Harpoon fellow, spill them out.”

Jack taking a long pull from his ale “Ok, I didn't know their were two" 

"Their aren't, he got split up last month taking a load of Japanese thrill seekers on the avenue" 

Jack “How can that be, split up into two people." 

Outside in the cold distance the minds began to bend.

"No, No, No,  not two people, two personalities, maybe more, probably more.” he clarified, elongating the word personalities. “Yeah, now Harpoon only responds when the probability of his dimension interacts with a non Hamiltonian entanglement, nothing else; he's in some kind of a trance. Barkeep!"

Jack “What happened to the thrill seekers?"

"Oh, them, they went to the zone, I’m not sure what happened but they went to the zone after being rescued by the zingers. Some sort of occurrence forced Harpoon off the avenue into a cosmic mind state and split him in or should I say scattered his cognition process.. He probably had a run in with a thought trucker. They can be mean if you get on the wrong side of  them, they  got these thought missiles that don't stand down, there's no time out, they run your mind every which way but the one way you want to go. The tourists were so almighty scared, they were thinking they had turned into turtles and were trying to get back to the sea. At least that's the story I heard.” 

Jack “Cosmic mind states, zingers what are you talking about?" 

 “I’m talking about the avenue, man, haven't you heard about the avenue man, it's surreal in real time man. You need a driver it'll cost you. I know where to find them. I am definitely a go to guy. I’m pumped. You’re the one!” 

Jack “Ok, ok and who are you?  Are you a driver?  Who can you get me in touch with?”

“Name’s Sunny Silversteen” Jack felt a slight pulse in his brain, colors,image of a whale, silvery cloud like formation appeared, he grabbed at the rail. Sunny “ I’m just a regular guy, observing people in a bar watching for signs.” Jack swigs his brew, sweating autonomous nerve signals his electronic pulse gaining momentum. 

Jack “Are you a...” Sunny, “ No, no, no, I’m not a driver.” Sunny’s diamond cut green eye’s peered into the barkeeps movement. “Leave the bottle here Winston, Ok, just leave it here” Sunny controlled, Jack hadn’t caught on. Sunny pressed his fist into his jaw pushing his knuckles into that whitish color you get when you are hanging on the rail of boat in high sea’s, you are holding on for dear life the blood now gone from the surface of your skin you look down and see white knuckles you hold on tighter.

 Sunny breathed in deep, peered into Jack’s black on blacks, exhaling a sort of clammy  confusion of odor’s “ But, I can hook you up with one. I mean I tried to be an  driver but I couldn’t gain the long side and had no sustain at all, my boost was abysmal on the long side, I couldn’t get any gain on phase either, so, I had  absolutely no short game at all.”

Jack “Maybe if you get your fist out of your mouth I could understand you. Short game, sustain ability, long side, boost, gain, what are you talking about. These people are like some kind of ancient electronic guitar synth’s?” 

Morgan outside his thoughts watched as the walls of the Shady Lady danced colorful transmissions of synthetic light mixing toothless monsters of his imagination against a tide of worry beyond the matter parlour

Sunny “No man, no, for me it was like this man. I had a load of seekers on a day trip we hooked into a synthetic thought groove, everything was beautiful the sun was bright and warm, the sky was enticing all of us to come aboard for a real blue excursion and then wham! I mean it was bad my whole continuum imploded into the seekers domain. I couldn’t help them I tried to regain the vibe but the counter isoflow was too great. I couldn’t sustain the image that I was potentiating into their brains, instead my twisted subliminal fears injected into their real time domain, with no phase shifting their minds were hijacked way out there man, way, way out there man, they are still out there man, they are still out there.” 

Jack “Their minds? What happened to their minds?” 

Sunny “I know, I know. Do you believe it. It was bad, real bad. So, now there is a huge aura surrounding me, I’m a bad guy because I lost a bunch of minds.” 

Jack “I think you already lost a mind and that mind is yours. Do you have someone taking care of you?  Any friends here? I would like to hear it from them.” 

Sunny “Listen man, so the driver’s know I am unable to drive the avenue, so, so, it’s like if some potential  person, you know, shows up  for a, a, a driver, well the Avenue Driver’s already  have control over that person long before, you know, long before, they just don’t know it. You know what I mean, what I mean, even man, even before I get a chance to bend at them. You know, like one mistake, just one mistake and now I am relegated to being a mere contact point for the drivers.”

Jack thinks to himself be careful but listen to this whacko. Jack  “ I have no idea what you are talking about, do you know what I mean? Now listen up here. You said you are a contact point for the avenue drivers, a contact point? If that is the case I’ll play your game.” 

Sunny “Hey man don’t look at me like that, I’m not crazy. It was just a bad trip man just a bad trip on the avenue.” 

Jack “Right, you’re not crazy and I don’t really know why I’m here. So, I told you, I’ll play your game. What do you need?  By the way, long with sustain ability what is that like some sort of running thing or something!" 

Sunny "Oh, I see, there’s a lot you don't know. By the way do you know the day it happened?" 

Jack "Happened, what happened?"

Sunny "Oh man, I knew it! Your not even a knowey, you have no clue about the avenue or even what kind of a driver to have."  

Jack "Alright fine, I’m playing the game. What kind of driver do I need?" 

Sunny " Seems to me you are better off with a long, longs get excited way before you know what's going to happen, they on the other hand always seem to know what's going to happen." 

Jack “Happen, what is going to happen? What are you talking about?" 

Just then a rather tall husky smooth striding man appears in the bar, perhaps on his way home from work. People look at him with a certain fear yet also a distinction relegated to heads of state, princes, kings, gorillas. He walks up to the bar “Give me a scotch.” He bends the bartender’s mind. “Keep them coming.” Turning from the bar, people come up to him, surrounding him, he bends “Get away from me perverts.” they quickly move off to give him his space. Grumbling nastiness, “Don’t mess with me.” A person in the bar shouts out, "Hey you running the avenue today." Concurrently the scotch swilling gorilla’s diamond blue brain mystique flows inward to the shouter staring into his existential being and delivers a mind barrage of the gin and tonic level, leaving the pretender at the bar tingling with a sensation of impending confusion, not quite sure. The offending patron slows his speech fading into a mist of uncertainty, his thinking process has been slowed to a crawl, he won't be saying much for awhile but he will feel fine. The rest of the bar drinks through this mind barrage,unaware the velocity of thought had crawled through their brains. Such is a weapon of the longs, unfathomable in their ability to reach into your mind and rewire the electronic pulse that keeps you thinking. This is why the longs are most sought after, most desired to have on your side, most important to have with you on the avenue.

Sunny looks around “Gone,did you see that, you see what just happened?”

Jack “What exactly just happened?”

Sunny “Wow. You don’t get it. I’m sure that was an avenue driver. Did you see how the whole bar shut down? Did you see that, that one dude, his brain was smoked. Not a peep out of anyone for a few seconds. He was having his way with us I’m sure of it.” 

Jack “I didn’t see a thing. Maybe you don’t understand. I am looking for…” Sunny “Yeah, yeah, I know who you are looking for but you just don’t know anything about this stuff do you?”

Jack “I don’t get it at all. What’s your name anyway?”

“Name? you know my name!” Sunny thought to himself , hhhmm maybe this guy Jack is the one, maybe that last guy was a driver and erased my name from Jacks memory log. Sunny kicked at the lower bar rail, play the game, play the game, he thought, make the close, time to back off, no,no, close him out, yes, yes close him out and walk away, walk away but close him ,now.  Sunny smiled effervescently at Jack.  “Call me Sunny, Jack.” Sunny opened his fin like hands in a manner expressing the cohesiveness of Jack’s new reality. Sunny, “You are here for a reason I think. You just don’t know it yet.” Sunny extended his minds hand into Jacks aura. Sunny “So, now, just give me the money and you will get hooked into a driver and be on your way. I’ll go mind way and you’ll go yours’. Get it, mind way, hah, hah, ha, humph.”

Jack “I’m not sure I’m giving you anything. I’m out of here. Mercy, mercy, me I’m gone.” 

“Is this the guy?” 

Words wafting throughout the Shady Lady tuned peoples brains to run to hide all those except for the non Hamiltonian state of one Jack Morgan People gasped as the one they called the Gorilla transitioned. 

Time floated Jack into his knew perception. He thought, Oh man, no, this can’t be.

The gorilla peered through the crowd, locking eyes on Jack. “You Jack?” he started forward. “I’m Jack, and you are?” I asked. The gorilla interrupted. “You got the money?” I responded, “Money for what?” The gorilla smiled, “You want to travel the avenue, don’t you?” I stuttered, “I, uh, don’t even know what the avenue is.” The gorilla pushed me. “Yeah, right. I know you have the money, you just don’t know it yet. You have been selected. You’re the one.” I asked, “Selected? By who?” The gorilla laughed, “By me, by the avenue. You’re the one we need.”

Jack’s mind began the inexorable fall into the Avenue, hearing within the words of Sunny Silversteen commonly referred to by avenue drivers as “The Hook”. “Jack, your hand is in your pocket. Dig a little deeper. That’s it Jacky just grab onto that big wad. You can do it. Remember you are here for a reason. Listen to your inner self Jack.” 

Jack “Why are you laughing at me.” 

“Laughing with you man you are hooked.” 

Jack. “Ok, get me a driver. Here is some money. I’ll give you more when you find me what do you call it a long. Find me a long, a guy who knows the avenue. I have to get going by midnight tonight otherwise I will go it alone.” Jack thought to himself I really didn’t want to say that.

"No hombre you don't want to go it alone, not that... I will find you..." 

Jack looks back at the guy at the bar but he isn’t looking back at him. Jack has heard a voice that countered his last statement but it was not the voice of the person to whom he was just speaking just a moment ago.

Jack “Did you say something”

 Sunny “Nope”

Jack “You said something!”

Sunny “Not me, man. I was looking at someone else. But, hey, about that money”

Jack “I just gave you some”

 Sunny “All of it please! Our work together is finished.”

Jack “What are you talking about?”

A lady walks in looking slim, glimmering with pretense, she's searching for a mark, she's a short but she has range and she can feel that the mark for tonight is in this bar, now, ready to pounce, she walks up to Jack.

"You’re leaving tonight at twelve, I'm your driver" 

Sunny interrupted "I mean watch out man Ruby's a driver, but she's a short, good for quick jaunts on the avenue, but you might want to stay long." 

Jack “What is going on with this short, long situation I don't get it, I can't understand what you’re talking about. I'm leaving" 

Jack walks out the door, he's not sure why, he knows he's walking he's conscious of movement. A car approaches, a sound like a whining whale fills the air, the car stops, door opens. Gorilla out of nowhere pushes Jack into the front seat, Jack sits down turns his head and there sitting next to him is the finest looking female he has ever seen, stark naked, he is drawn towards her but she is gone he is staring at an ocelot now, what was once a stunning beautiful lady is now an equally stunning ocelot, and then there's a guy just sitting there. 

"Hey hombre, I think you're looking for a driver."