Decades Ch. 01

Doug pushed through a narrow gap between the last bookcase and a stack of boxes with more books in them, nearly knocking it over. "Careful!" Kelly called out under her breath. She squeezed past just behind him and they found themselves facing a blue wooden door, barely visible in the pale light.

"Here it is," Doug said. "Of course it's locked, but if Aunt Doro wants us to explore, I'm sure there's a way to get it open." He leaned on the door handle to ponder what to do next. To Doug's shock, the knob slipped under his palm and the door swung open.

"Some secret, Doug," Kelly teased.

"I can't believe it!" Doug said. "All those years it was always locked tight!"

"How many times did you even try to open it?"

"Well, none," Doug admitted. "Not after the way my sister looked when she got back from here." His surprise now ebbing, Doug turned his attention to the crack in the doorway and the still-mysterious space beyond. A faint red glow emanated onto their faces. "Looks like there's a light on."

"A red one?" Kelly asked skeptically. Growing impatient, she reached around Doug and pulled the door wide open for a wider look.

"Holy...!" Doug started, and was aware of a gasp from Kelly. The dim red light pervaded the room, seeming to seep out of the walls, which were clean and decorated elegantly with photographs of teenagers Doug didn't recognize – former students of the old school, he guessed. The edges of the room were further lined with couches and easy chairs, and just across the threshold from the dusty cellar floor he felt his feet sink into a clean thick carpet. He couldn't tell the carpet's color thanks to the colored light – but neither Doug nor Kelly paid the carpet any mind once they were aware of it. Their eyes were on the far end of the room, across the way from the door. The garish monstrosity sat majestically with its bubbling amber lights glowing against the red, a faint hum emanating from somewhere inside it.

"What is that thing?" Kelly asked.

"It's a jukebox," Doug couldn't help sounding incredulous. "You know, an old one, with records. Haven't you ever seen one in the movies or anything?"

"So sue me," grumbled Kelly. "And you never knew this was in your home?"

"It wasn't," Doug insisted, even as he set his hands on the chrome and began reading the song selections. "I would have heard it for sure."

"Mm-hmm," Kelly said. "All the way up on the third floor?"

"Good point." Doug was lost in name-that-tune land by then, reading the selections on the sign overhanging the turntable. "Everything from Glenn Miller to Madonna," he whispered. "What a bizarre selection."

"You just discovered this thing in your home for the first time and you're surprised at the songs on it?" Kelly asked.

"I think..." Doug mused. "Nah, ridiculous."

"You think what?"

"It looks like the songs cover the time Aunt Doro and Grandma were teaching here," Doug said. "The forties to the eighties."

"Oh, that's sweet," Kelly said. "So it's like a time capsule for them." Feeling more relaxed now, she helped herself to a seat on the couch nearest the jukebox. "Play it, Sam," she teased.

Doug turned back to her to offer up a choice from the late end of the era, and spotted a pair of bottles on the table before Kelly. "Hey, where'd you find those?" he asked her.

"Find what?" Kelly asked. Following his gaze, she saw the two bottles for the first time. "Huh..." she said. Reaching out to touch one, she found it was still cold. She took a sniff. "Root beer," she said, and gingerly she took a sip. "Still fizzy and everything."

"No kidding." Doug, forgetting for the moment about the jukebox, stepped over and tried the other bottle. "It's like she wanted us to come here tonight."

"Of course she did," Kelly said, standing up. "Didn't you hear her at dinner? And what about some music anyway, Doug?" She sauntered over to the jukebox and, after reading through the song titles, let out a squeal. "Oh my god, Doug, Billy Vera and the Beaters!"

"Not 'At This Moment,'" Doug groaned, having seen that selection and opted to ignore it.

"Soooo romantic," Kelly gushed.

"Have you ever really listened to the words, Kelly? 'If you'd stay I'd subtract twenty years from my life'?! The guy is obsessed! No wonder she's leaving him."

"Geez, Mister Sensitive, it's only a song!" With that Kelly pushed three buttons and the thing began to whirl, and soon the room was flooded with the inevitable piano chords Doug loved to hate. Giving in to the inevitable, he stood up and hoped his friend would at least be in a mood to slow-dance to the schmaltzy mess.

To his delight, she opened her arms. "Might as well enjoy the moment, Doug."

"Couldn't agree more." He slipped his arms around his friend and overcame his shyness to look in her eyes as they swayed gently around. Still dressed in her work clothes, she at least felt pleasant in his embrace. Closing his eyes, Doug imagined her in a prom-dress instead, and his face broke into a wistful smile.

"There's the Doug we wanted," Kelly said. "But what are you imagining?"

"Who says I'm imagining anything?" Doug asked, opening his eyes.

"That dreamy look has me thinking your mind is running wild."

"Over you, of course," Doug needled.

"Naturally," Kelly said. "Hey, just because I'll never sleep with you doesn't mean you can't fantasize about me."

"Ouch!" But Doug laughed and squeezed Kelly just a bit more tightly. With their mutual teasing having reached a lull, he leaned his head back a bit to look in her eyes, only to find they were closed. He followed suit. As the lovely sax solo – the only part of the song Doug cared for – finally arrived, Doug allowed himself to imagine the two of them on a crowded dance floor somewhere far away in a more grown-up situation than he was ever going to feel in the old school. The details were fuzzy beyond Kelly's lovely silhouette in the darkened wherever, but he sensed an opulent ballroom and a bed waiting not far away. The sensation was magnificent.

Inevitably the dying strains of the record shook Doug out of his reverie, and he opened his eyes to find the mysterious room gone and himself in the middle of a seedy barroom dancefloor. Other couples, his age or a bit older, were packed tightly on the floor and enjoying the moment just as he and Kelly had been, and no one looked surprised to see them appear there. Kelly still had her head on his shoulder, but she was looking dramatically different as well: the prim-and-plain waitress uniform was gone in favor of a tight leather skirt and a baggy off-the-shoulder top in a shade of greenish-yellow that was bright enough to light up their corner of the floor, and her hair was longer and teased high and wide and frizzy.

"What the..." Doug said, loudly enough to be overheard over the music.

"What the what?" Kelly asked. She finally opened her eyes, and Doug was treated to a repeat of his own disbelief. "Huh, where are we?! What is this?" Then, focusing on Doug, she burst into nervous laughter. "Great outfit! How'd you change your clothes?"

"Same way you did, I guess," Doug replied. While Kelly was looking down at herself and screeching about how hideous her legs looked and feeling at her hair to sense how big it was, Doug looked down to see himself in a ridiculous black and gray patterned designer shirt and tight black jeans. To his mild relief, everyone else in the room had clothes that were just as outdated as his and Kelly's. With that out of the way, Doug was free to focus on just where they had found themselves...or was it when they had found themselves?

Kelly said it first, while Doug was still coming to the realization. "It's the eighties," she said.

"Of course it is!" said another woman who slid past them and spun around as a faster song that Doug knew but couldn't name kicked in on the jukebox. "Has been for a few years now! Were you expecting disco?"

Then it was Doug's turn to have a revelation. "We're in Bob's By the Bay," he told Kelly.

"Bob's By the Bay," Kelly repeated. "The place they tore down to build the club? I hear the locals talk about it all the time! But it's been torn down!"

"Not yet, it hasn't," Doug said. "Like you said, it's the eighties."

"Right, your great aunt has a time machine in the cellar," Kelly said incredulously.

"Have you got a better explanation?" Doug asked.

Kelly looked around the room full of big hair and loud clothes, and had to admit that she didn't. "We might not even be born yet," she realized out loud.

"I know it!" Doug said. Then he thought of the Pascatawa Beach of his youth. "C'mon, let's go outside!" he said, taking Kelly's hand. "You can see what the beach looked like when I was a kid! Or before that, even."

Kelly resisted, though she didn't let go of his hand. When they'd gotten as far as the bar, she pulled back. "You sure it's a good idea to go out there, Doug? How do we know we can get back?"

Doug stopped cold. "We don't, do we?"

"We sure don't," groused a woman sitting just past them at the bar. "With Reagan playing Rambo all over the world, could be over any day now, couldn't it?"

Doug turned to face the woman, a lithe Asian in black floral pants, as she swiveled on her bar stool to look at them both. "I'm sorry to bring you guys down," she added quickly. "Couldn't help overhearing you, is all. I haven't been out drinking in a while because I have a baby girl at home, and I guess this" – she shook her mixed drink and the melting ice tinkled in the glass – "hit me pretty hard."

"It's okay," Doug said.

"Yeah, we feel like we've been hit pretty hard lately too," Kelly said. She and Doug looked at one another, still in disbelief.

"Yeah, I don't know about you," the woman went on, "But when I was a kid I figured this cold war mess would be over when I grew up, and we could stop worrying about nukes. Now instead they're opening nuclear plants on the beach and we have a president who thinks it's all a joke."

"Well," Doug said, suppressing a smirk, "They say the USSR is going to collapse any day now."

"Do they?" the woman asked.

"Sure," Kelly added. "Maybe a few more years." She and Doug looked at one another again, and panic had given way to amusement.

"I sure hope you're right," their new friend continued. "Like I said, I have a little baby girl at home. Laura is her name. I want Laura to grow up safe, you know?" She extended her hand. "My name is Jennifer, by the way."

Doug and Kelly returned the introduction, and Jennifer insisted on buying them a round of drinks "for listening to me whine." Doug started to protest, until he realized he wasn't sure if he had his wallet in his new clothes or if that wallet had money from the right period anyway.

"So are you just up for the summer?" asked Doug as they clinked glasses.

"No, I'm a townie," Jennifer told him. "You should see this place out of season – no one here! That's what I love about the summer, so many new faces."

"Yeah," Doug said, "but the beach is so much more peaceful out of season. I love those few weeks just before the tourists come and after they leave and the water's warm enough to play in."

"You're a townie too?" Jennifer asked. "That's funny, why don't I know you?"

Doug was still groping for a way to undo his mistake when a crashing thud on the back sent him sprawling into the bar. "Who the fuck are you?" came a male voice with a thick local accent. Doug spun around to see Kelly looking terrified off to the side while a bearded man in a t-shirt made a second lunge at him.

"Rick!" Jennifer snapped. "Back off!" She pulled at the man's sleeve but was no match for him. He had his fist cocked and ready to smash into Doug's face, when Doug saw another hand grasp the crook of his arm.

"C'mon, Rick, I'm callin' you a cab and then I don't want to see your ugly face in here again this week," said the bouncer, whom Doug recognized after a moment as the security guard at the bank – just a younger version of him. Doug exhaled in relief as Rick was dragged kicking and cursing off into the dark noise.

"I am so sorry!" Jennifer said, grabbing at a napkin from the bar do blot at the splash Doug's drink had made on his shirt. "My ex fiancé, and you see why he's my ex. I kicked him out of the house a few weeks ago but he hasn't gotten the message yet. I don't know what I was thinking with him in the first place."

"Thanks," Doug said. "You okay?" he asked Kelly, secretly pleased to see her a bit shaken for once.

"Oh, yeah, of course," Kelly said. "Just didn't want you to get hurt, Doug."

Jennifer laughed. "You two are perfect for one another, I can tell."

Kelly was just about to tell Jennifer that it wasn't what she thought at all when the bouncer reappeared. "Folks, you're all welcome to stay here to closing if you want, but if I know Rick he might try to sneak back in. You might want to go outside for a bit just to stay out of sight."

"Good idea," said Jennifer. "I know the drill. Sorry about that."

"Not your fault," the man assured her. "You know what he's like. Everyone knows what he's like."

"Join me out on the beach?" Jennifer asked Doug and Kelly. Doug eagerly agreed, longing to see the beach as he could barely remember it, and Kelly had forgotten her reservations.

The sun was gone and there were few beachgoers left, but what Doug could see in the pale outdoor lights of the bar was much like his earliest memories. "I always did wonder what that bar looked like inside," he mused, recalling how desperately he'd wanted to go inside every time he'd walked past it back in the day.

"Never been in before?" Jennifer asked. "I can't say I blame you, really. Always a troublemaker like Rick in there. There's some rumor Donald Trump wants to come to town and build a high-rise hotel here. Gross, but I almost wish he would."

"Nah, I can't see that happening," Kelly quipped.

Jennifer said something in response and the two women were soon talking up a storm about everything and nothing, while Doug drank in the sights of the long-gone coastline he recalled. The funnelcake stand, the old movie theater across the beach road, and off just past the bar there was the turnoff for Lighthouse Avenue. Grandma was still alive, and probably just up the street correcting homework right then...or maybe not, since it was summer. What would she and Aunt Doro be up to just now? What was he up to, if he was born yet? What year was it exactly anyhow? Not wanting to get wrapped up in the melancholy of all that, Doug turned his attention to the waves and the few tourists still on the beach. Most of the women were in one-piece swimsuits, delightfully retro, he thought.

"Earth to Doug!" he heard Jennifer call out.

"Sorry?" he said. Jennifer and Kelly were both laughing, and he realized he'd been ignoring them a bit too long. "Sorry," he repeated. "I haven't seen this scene in a while, and I'm just enjoying the view.

"Mm, I can see the view you're enjoying," Jennifer said knowingly. "Want to go for a swim?"

"Haven't got a swimsuit," Doug said.

"I meant up the cove," Jennifer said with a grin. "If you're not shy."

Doug broke into a salacious laugh. Kelly was alarmed. "Up the cove? That doesn't mean what I think it does?"

"Not quite," Doug said. "Most people don't skinnydip there, we just swim in our underwear."

"It's a local thing," Jennifer confirmed, having concluded Kelly was from out of town. "We get off work and we're not dressed for the beach, but the water is irresistible and it's almost like being in a swimsuit once you're used to it. People have done it for generations."

"You never told me about that," Kelly told Doug.

"Would it be gentlemanly if I had invited you there for a swim?" Doug asked.

"Good point," Kelly admitted. "Doug may be clueless," she told Jennifer, "But I have to admit he is a gentleman. Speaking of which, is it okay if I just sit on the beach and wait for you guys?" They were now on their way up past the bar and away from the tourists.

"Of course!" Jennifer said. To Doug she added, "I'm sorry if it was inappropriate to invite the both of you up the cove. I just figured you both seemed like the type."

"No problem," Doug said, though privately he wasn't crazy about Kelly seeing him in his boxers. But as long as they were stuck at least twenty years from home with no clue how to get back, he was ready for some naughty fun. He allowed another smile, which he flashed at Kelly. From a few steps behind him and Jennifer, Kelly returned the grin. Doug knew she was looking forward to the show.

The cove was secluded behind three huge boulders, and with the tide being in they had to walk through the water to get to the private area. Kelly took her wet sandals off and scampered up the rock to sit and watch. Doug, refusing to be shy, pulled off his shirt and jeans and left them folded neatly on the rock near Kelly's perch. He turned around to see Jennifer already stripped down to her bra and panties, which were a matching peach color with a floral mesh pattern. Doug was sure he'd be able to see Jennifer's bush through her panties if he looked closely enough, but his boxers were already bulging enough as it was. He didn't need to look up at Kelly to know that was what she was laughing at, so instead he took Jennifer's hand and they frolicked into the waves.

"No offence," Jennifer said as they splashed around together up to their necks in the salty water, "But I think your girlfriend needs to chill out a bit."

Doug very nearly told her Kelly wasn't his girlfriend – maybe then she would play a bit with him – but for some reason he found he couldn't. Instead he told Jennifer, "She comes from a stuffy background. They'd never do this back home."

"I wonder can we get her out of her shell tonight?" Jennifer said. "Maybe show her all the fun she's missing?" With that she flung herself at Doug and they splashed together into the water. As their legs entwined while coming back up for air, Doug felt Jennifer reach into his boxers and take a hold of his hard cock. She cooed approvingly at its rigidity. "She doesn't need to know," she whispered to him.

"I'll bet she'll want to find out, though," Doug said, returning the favor by cupping Jennifer's breasts with both hands, underwater and out of sight.

He was right, for within a few minutes they were aware of Kelly swimming out towards them. He hadn't seen her undress on the rock and, with the water so deep, he could see only her face when she surfaced alongside them. It would have been so easy to stick his head underwater and take a gander...but he didn't. Kelly laughed as if she knew just what he was thinking.

"Glad you could join us," he said.

"Just looked like too much fun to skip," Kelly said.

"Doesn't it feel great now that you've done it?" Jennifer asked. "I've been doing this since high school, and –" Her voice broke off abruptly as a loud noise and a flash of light appeared from the road just beyond the rocks. All three of them jumped, and Doug was aware of one or the other of the women grabbing his hand under the water in shock.

"Good heavens, what was that?!" Kelly asked.

"It's from the road," Doug said. "Must be a car accident. A bad one, from the sound of it."

"Son of a bitch," Jennifer muttered. "It couldn't be...shit, it could be."

"Could be what?" Doug asked.

Jennifer shook her head. "Sorry, guys, I need to get my clothes back on and go back inside. I think that might have been Rick."

"Oh my..." Kelly started, her voice trailing away.

"I'll be fine," she assured them. "But I should check on it. I hope I see you at the bar next time."

"Yeah, you too," Doug said, as they both watched their new friend slog back to the shore in her drenched underwear. Then, as if struck by lightning, he swore under his breath, too softly for Jennifer to hear him.