Dreamland

Skateboard and Swimming Pool

I’m an actor; I have a bit part in a Sean Connery spy movie that’s being filmed. I play the part of a waiter in a classy hotel. It’s a speaking part; I actually have a couple lines of dialogue with the stars.

One of the perks of being in the show is we get free rooms and meals in the hotel while we’re filming. It’s a much nicer place than I could normally afford to stay. I get there early. I’m hanging around outside, watching some kids messing around on skateboards in the parking lot. One of the kids sees me, and says “Hey old man, I bet you wish you could do this!” as he catches some air off the curb.

I see an old wooden skateboard, the kind I had as a kid, sitting on the sidewalk. I run up, jump on, do a couple turns, and nose-grind it to a stop. I flip the board up with my foot, catch it under my arm, walk over to the sidewalk, and put the board back where I got it. “Hey, not bad!” the kid says.

I don’t know what possessed me to do that, I haven’t been on a skateboard in 30 years, and even back then I wasn’t any good at it.

I go to the desk to see if I can check in. The clerk tells me my room won’t be ready for a couple hours. “Why don’t you go out to the pool for a while?”

“Is there somewhere I can change?” I ask.

“Sure, you can change in the library, and leave your suitcase in there for now. No one uses the library at this time of day.”

I get undressed, and I’m starting to put on my bathing suit, when the door opens and a crowd of people walk in. They’re talking and laughing, sipping on drinks, and they start looking at the books in the library. They don’t seem to notice me at all as I hurry to finish dressing. I stow my suitcase in the corner and walk out to the pool.

The only person at the pool is a woman I think of as a “leather dragon”. She is in her late 50’s, with deeply tanned and wrinkled skin. She’s relaxing in a lounge chair, cigarette and drink in hand. I put my towel down, getting ready to go in for a swim. I look at the pool; the water is choked and overgrown with masses of ugly bamboolike plants. There is no way I can swim in it. I ask the woman what’s up with the plants.

“Do you like them? You can take some cuttings home if you want, plant them in your yard. They’re easy to grow.”

“No thanks,” I reply. “I had some plants like that once and they got out of control. I had to cut them all down.”