Slow Dance in Purgatory

“When did they make this flick?” Johnny sat transfixed by the film playing out in life size beyond the front windshield of the Cadillac. The flickering lights reflected off the hard metal surfaces around the room, creating a constantly changing multi-colored glow that lit up Maggie’s smooth face with blue light. His own face seemed to repel it as if he were watching behind darkened glass.

“I’m not sure exactly. It’s pretty old. Maybe sometime in the 1980’s,” Maggie mused, munching a handful of popcorn.

“Gee – that is old,” Johnny quipped, his voice heavy with irony.

“You made a joke, old man! Good job!” Maggie teased and offered the bag of popcorn to him. He shook his head.

“I’ll have to show you sometime what happens to food when I attempt to eat it.”

Maggie stopped mid-crunch and offered him the bag again. “Show me now!”

Johnny picked a piece of popcorn from the warm greasy bag, and popped it into his mouth. He chewed a few times, and then blowing softly, sent a stream of silvery ash dancing through the air in a swirling circle. The ash was so light it floated like dust particles and slowly dissipated beyond sight.

“You incinerated it!” Maggie squeaked. “Do it again!”

He acquiesced, and Maggie watched, awestruck. “It looks like pixie dust!”

Johnny laughed, and Maggie joined in. He blew another silvery stream into the air, and they watched it swirl and vanish as the light from the movie changed, obscuring its departure.

“Maybe it is pixie dust….” Johnny mused. He turned his blue gaze on Maggie, his words barely a murmur. Maggie eyes roved over his face, anxious that he would reveal something crucial and she would fail to hear.

“If it is pixie dust, I guess that makes me Peter Pan – the boy who never grows up.”

Maggie and Johnny stared at each other, struck silent by the utter hopelessness of his plight. A modern day Peter Pan stuck in Never Never land. Maggie gently set the popcorn down and slid across the leather bench seat until she sat in the crook of Johnny’s arm. Holding his gaze she said tenderly,

“Well I, for one, am just glad you aren’t Tinker Bell. Now hold my hand, Peter. I want the authentic drive-in experience.”

Johnny gasped, laughing in amazement at her ability to take a proverbial blow and keep on coming. He had the sudden urge to bury his head in her lap and cry like a lost child. Instead, he wrapped his arms around her and buried his face in the soft place where her neck met her shoulder. He held her, and let her hold him, until her hair tickled his nose and her scent engulfed him completely. He pressed his lips to her smooth skin, and she shivered, encouraging him to run his lips up the long line of her neck to the velvety lobe of her ear. He pulled back and looked at her upturned face. Her eyes were closed, and her thick black lashes lay against her pearly skin. She was so lovely it made him ache with a yearning so fierce he audibly moaned.

Maggie lifted her chin ever so slightly, seeking his mouth, and he sank into her, pushing the pain away, letting his lips move over hers in tender desperation. It was her turn to moan, and she climbed into his lap, her hands running down his arms and back up again, cradling his face as she returned his kisses with a frenzy he was quickly losing himself in. He pressed into her, leaning her back against the wheel, hungry for more.

The blare of the car horn sent them crashing down to earth, and Maggie yelped, falling to the floor and bumping her head on the well-preserved dashboard. She giggled, embarrassed, and slid up beside him again, putting a little distance between them. They sat, breathing hard and reining in the need to continue where they had left off. After a moment, he reached out and took her hand chastely in his, and they watched a battle, complete with flying machines and light sabers, play across the room. It wasn’t until a while later that Johnny understood her movie selection.

“Jedi mind tricks, huh? This is where that comes from?”

“Yep. But these guys have nothing on you.” She watched the screen a moment more and then, eyes still facing forward, asked him,

“Why don’t your kisses turn me to ash?”

Silence loomed large and long between them until Johnny finally offered an explanation.

“I honestly don’t know, but I think it’s because you aren’t an inanimate object. I’m not absorbing you. You have your own energy source, and though our energies may…merge…you still remain you – separate and whole.”

Johnny spoke matter-of-factly, and his answer was plausible, as plausible as anything concerning him could be, but Johnny felt horror wash over him at the realization that he had kissed Maggie without any thought to her safety. It had never even occurred to him that it might not be possible. What if he had harmed her...or worse? With crushing remorse, he realized later had arrived.

Maggie tried to stifle a yawn but failed miserably as the movie and their time together drew to a close. Johnny watched her gather her things quietly. He wished he could live the day over and over again. He thought he could be happy in this Never land of his if he could.