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Baby's in Reno, by srah
Required elements for Jamelah's story challenge:Title: Baby's in Reno
Elements:
- Nine ladies dancing
- A photograph that's been torn in half
- A snow globe
- A fake beard
- Bacon
Joey killed the headlights and put the car in neutral as he pulled into a spot in the motel parking lot. He poked Virginia in the shoulder and she slowly woke up, stretching and yawning.
"Where are we?" she rubbed her eyes.
"Just crossed the state line into Nevada. I think we'd better stop for the night."
"How much longer do we have to go?"
"I'd say about four hours or so, but I don't think I can drive it tonight."
"I'm sorry, babe," she said, hoisting herself out of her seat, "I'd take over but I'm not sure I could even fit behind the wheel." She wobbled off-balance for a moment, then waddled up to the door of the motel room. As he carried their bags into the room, Joey wondered again why he was doing this. It kept him awake as he tried to fall asleep that night.
It all started when he read that announcement the previous May from his favorite actress' fan club:
"Jennifer will be starring in "Chicago" throughout the month of December in Reno, Nevada. One club member attending the premiere will receive a limited edition one-of-a-kind Dirty Dancing snow globe, featuring Jennifer carrying a watermelon in a snowstorm, presented by Jennifer herself."
Joey knew that he had to win that one-of-a-kind snow globe, if only to keep the hated Samuel L. Chang from doing so. Years before, when they were both subscribed to the alt.dirtydancing newsgroup, Joey had poured all of his research and collected trivia into a Dirty Dancing fan website, only to have Samuel steal all of the content and create his own site a month later, with all kinds of awesome rotating gifs and rainbow backgrounds, drawing all of the traffic from Joey's own plain black-on-white site. Joey and Samuel had crossed in Dirty Dancing circles for years, keeping up a friendly face while trading veiled insults.
So here he was, on his way to Reno. When he'd told Virginia that he was driving to Reno in December, her eyes had lit up. He realized that she thought he was inviting her along. And when she told him that she was pregnant, he realized what she was expecting from their trip. Why would anyone go to Reno, if not to get married? She'd never really understood his love for Dirty Dancing and Jennifer Grey and always wrote it off as a hobby, a distraction from his career goals. What career goals? He was already the manager of the Stop-n-Shop. There wasn't much room for advancement. Once Virginia got the idea into her head that they were getting married, her dad got the same idea, so Joey decided it was in his best interest to propose. Now here they were, on their way to get married in Reno with Virginia eight months pregnant. It wasn't the ideal situation for a week-long drive, especially since they had to stop every half-hour or so for Virginia to use the bathroom. But there they were.
***
"So, what are we going to do when we get there?" asked Virginia at breakfast the next morning. She swallowed her Vitamin D pill with a swig of orange juice. "There are casinos, right, like Vegas? Are we going to get married right away or do you want to gamble or something first? Do they have free buffets? I could eat a horse!" The waitress arrived with their meal, so Virginia was saved from an equine breakfast. Joey rubbed his eyes. He'd spent a long time thinking last night before he'd eventually drifted off to sleep. He took a sip of his coffee, trying to wake himself up with the caffeine. He missed his mouth and dribbled a bit onto his shirt. He dabbed at it with his napkin, but it was going to leave a stain anyway. He pulled the photograph out of his shirt pocket to rescue it from the spreading liquid. He unfolded it under the table as Virginia chattered away. He imagined Jennifer Grey presenting him with the prized snow globe while Samuel L. Chang glowered and sneered and Virginia looked on proudly. He unfolded a crease in the corner and brushed the pocket lint away from Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey's faces. He looked up and saw that Virginia was holding two pieces of bacon up to her face like a fake beard.
"So then he's like 'Ho ho ho'," she said, "Hey, did you hear what I said? What have you got there?" She reached across the table and took the photograph from Joey's hand. "Oh no. More Dirty Dancing? Seriously. Do you take that everywhere you go or what?" she teased. She turned the photograph over and saw written, Jennifer Grey, Chicago, Reno, December 1, 8pm. Her brow furrowed. "What is this?" she demanded, "What are you doing? Are you meeting some girl in Reno? What's going on?"
"No, baby, I thought maybe we could go see a play while we're here. I thought you might like that," he backpedaled.
"Jennifer Grey? Isn't that the Dirty Dancing girl? Wait, is this why you wanted to go to Reno? You and this Dirty Dancing! Was this whole wedding just secondary to your stupid Dirty Dancing plans? When are you going to grow up, Joey?" She dramatically ripped the photograph in half and waddled less dramatically out of the restaurant to the car.
"You're the one with bacon on your face," he muttered under his breath, carrying the bill up to the cash register.
***
They drove in silence for the next four hours and pulled into Reno.
"Why don't you go to the casino while I look for a hotel?" Joey suggested.
"In a hurry to get rid of me?" Virginia crossed her arms and settled them on top of her stomach.
"Come on, baby. You don't need to stay in the car here. Go inside where it's warm. I'll catch up with you after I've found a hotel and unpacked the car." Virginia seemed relieved that he might be showing signs of responsibility and concern. He let her off at a casino, helping her out of the car.
Joey drove around the block, looking for a "Vacancy" sign. They were few and far between, but he found one several blocks away from the casino where he'd left Virginia. He parked outside and ran in long enough to check in.
Joey approached the front desk and rang the bell. The clerk wandered over to the desk. "Hey man, what can I do for you?"
"I'd like a room for three nights," he explained, "Tonight, the second and the third."
"Okay, let's see," the desk clerk squinted at the screen. "Oh man, I'm gonna have to go get my glasses." He wandered into the back office. Joey looked around the lobby and tapped his foot. Several minutes later, the desk clerk hadn't returned. Joey rang the bell again, and the desk clerk popped his head out of the office door.
"Oh, right," he came back out and tapped some information into the computer. "Hey, I just took a phone reservation for our last room. Sorry man, it's crazy with all the Star Wars Convention and the Star Trek Convention and Democratic National Convention and the Society of American Archivists and John Phillips Sousa all in town on the same historic day. But I tell you what, I'll make some calls."
Joey walked across the lobby and thumbed through the November 1997 Reader's Digest while he waited for the clerk's answer.
"Okay, man, here goes. The penthouse suite at the Barrington Hotel is open tonight. It's only $1299 a night."
Joey choked. "There's nothing... cheaper? Anywhere?"
"Well, there's also a room at Ye Olde Cheapie Motel Inn for $30 a night."
Joey took down the directions to the latter and walked out to his car. He found a parking ticket on his windshield and looked up at the pole next to his car, realizing for the first time that he had parked in a fire zone. He checked out the amount on the ticket and decided it was even more important that he find somewhere cheap that evening. He drove off to Ye Olde Cheapie Motel Inn and hoped it wasn't as bad as it sounded.
It was as bad as it sounded. He parked next to a strip club with nine ladies dancing in the window, across the street from the strip club with ten ladies dancing in the window. He looked up at the Ye Olde Cheapie Motel Inn sign and as he walked through the entrance something fell on his sleeve. He was disturbed that there was rice falling from the ceiling, but even more disturbed when it seemed to be wriggling. What the hell was that? He walked up to the desk and the clerk turned around.
He gasped. "Uh, Samuel," he gritted his teeth, "You work here?"
Samuel L. Chang laughed. "Yeah, until my web design career takes off. Any day now. I'm sending out the resumes, you know. Getting some interviews. In the meantime, this is a pretty sweet gig. So what can I do for you? Oh man, you didn't drive all the way here from Ohio, did you? Yeah, I was probably going to go to that. I guess. Whatever."
"Yeah, I got tickets for tonight. But, you know, I just figured I might go as long as I was in town. No biggie. I'm here with my girlfriend. We're getting married sometime."
"Well, man, I hate to tell you, but we're full up tonight."
Joey's heart fell. Now what? Was there anything within miles? Damn those archivists.
"Well, you know many, since we've got a history," Samuel scratched the back of his neck, "I have got a couple of couches. So maybe you could like, sleep on the loveseat."
"The loveseat?" Joey looked skeptical. "Well, I'm here with my girlfriend, and she's 8 months pregnant. I don't think that's going to work."
"Well, I guess maybe I could spare the pull-out. Or maybe even the spare bedroom. For an old friend," Samuel smirked. They made arrangements to meet after the play, then Joey made his way back to the casino.
***
Virginia continued to pout about being tricked into attending "Chicago" but she stopped complaining once the curtain went up. Joey had discreetly entered his Official Jennifer Grey Fan Club ticket into the drawing as they entered the theater. When the play was over and the bows were taken, Virginia stood up to leave.
Joey grabbed her arm. "Hold on, honey, let's stick around."
Jennifer Grey returned to the stage carrying the box of tickets and a snow globe. "Hi everybody, thanks for coming and thanks for being such loyal fans. I know many of you have come a long way just for this."
Virginia frowned at Joey, but he looked at her, pleading. "Fine," she said, "But then we're going back to the hotel."
Joey bit his lip. He hadn't told her about his difficulties in finding a hotel room. He turned back toward the stage as Jennifer Grey continued speaking.
"I'm really glad that you, the fans, have been with me through thick and thin, through all the times when I swore off acting to become a feng shui advisor or a minister or a paramedic. But I always came back and it's you, the fans, who always brought me back. So let's get to the drawing." She reached her hand into the box and pulled out a ticket.
"The winner of the one-of-a-kind snow globe is... Samuel L. Chang! Oh great, I remember that name. Samuel designed my first fan website, way back in 1995! Thanks, Samuel!" she clapped and the rest of the disappointed fans joined in. Samuel whooped and ran up onto the stage, jumping up and down and hugging the presenter of his prize. "Party at my place, everybody!" he shouted into the microphone.
Joey rolled his eyes. So much for a good night's sleep. So much for beating Samuel. But that didn't seem as important now that it was all over.
"Hey man," said Samuel, running off the stage and shaking the snow globe in Joey's face. "Take a look at this!"
"Hey, congratulations, man."
"Yeah, I won it. Cool, huh?"
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," responded Joey, "But you know, I'm mostly just here to get married."
"Yeah, sure. So can I have a ride home? I've got my bike. This the girlfriend?" Samuel gestured in the direction of Virginia who was now beaming.
"Uh, yeah. Virginia, this is Samuel. Samuel, Virginia. Uh, Samuel offered to let us stay at his place tonight. Is that okay with you, honey?"
"Sure, fine," Virginia replied, yawning behind her hand, "I'm exhausted. I just want to get to bed."
Joey guided Virginia out to the car with a hand under her elbow. "Was that true, what you said?" she asked, "That you came to Reno to get married?"
"Hey, that's my main goal here," he lied. "I was just happy to get to see the play while I was here. What did you think?" Somehow the more he told people he was here to get married, the truer it seemed. Virginia just smiled.
Samuel threw his bicycle in the trunk and sat in the back seat, directing Joey to his apartment. They arrived just before the crowd of Jennifer Grey fans. Virginia poured drinks while Joey set up the karaoke machine, then there was a knock at the door. Virginia opened the door and saw Jennifer Grey standing outside.
"I hope no one minds if I show up," she said timidly.
"Come on in," Virginia gestured, then gasped. "The baby!"
Jennifer Grey wrapped her arms around Virginia and pushed her into a bedroom. "Don't worry, lady, I'm a certified EMT!"
***
The party continued around them. Only Joey had noticed the commotion when Jennifer Grey quickly arrived then disappeared into the back bedroom. He'd knocked on the door and the familiar voice of his favorite actress told him to go away and wait. He paced back and forth in the hallway until the door opened. Jennifer Grey peeked out.
"Come on in, Joey," she said. She left the room as he entered and saw Virginia lying in the bed with their baby in her arms.
"That Jennifer Grey isn't so bad after all," Virginia acknowledged, smiling, "I was thinking we could name the baby after her." Joey smiled and kissed them both. He picked up little Jennifer Grey Shabadoo and rocked her back and forth in his arms. He returned her to her mother's arms, then set about putting towels and sheets into an empty dresser drawer to create a bed for the baby. He pulled the drawer out of the dresser and put it in the corner of the room, next to the bed.
Jennifer Grey popped her head back through the door. "Hey you guys, I just wanted to remind you that I am an ordained minister and OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
Joey froze. What was he doing? Yes, he was young and stupid and didn't know anything about babies and could hardly be responsibility for himself, let alone a wife and baby. But he thought he was doing okay...
"Don't you people know anything about feng shui?"
"Feng shui?" Virginia and Joey looked at each other.
Jennifer Grey continued, "Nobody puts a baby in a corner!"
srah - Monday, 18 December 2006 - 9:44 AM
Tags: stories
