An Interesting Period

You might want to know some things about Lotti and Rollo’s relationship. So here’s an interesting period in their tale.



*



Lotti was at Save-A-Buck getting a few groceries. As she was trying to decide whether to buy chocolate or fruity cereal, she noticed someone looking at her out of the corner of her eye. She quickly turned to face them, hoping to catch the culprit, but the peeper was gone.

A big woman nearby wearing a muumuu and slippers mistook Lotti’s abrupt turn to be some sort of affront on her and so she gave Lotti a dirty face and growled, “Can I help you?”

“Oops,” Lotti said sheepishly with a shrug. “I thought—“

“You thought nothing!” The woman cut her off in a tone no one should mess with. There are some very crabby people in the world, people who don’t even have a good reason to be so touchy and grouchy, and this was one such person. Lotti decided it was best to leave the cereal aisle very quickly.



All the way home, Lotti could have sworn someone was still following her. She just had that ‘someone’s watching me’ feeling. As she was unloading the groceries from her moped, someone popped out from behind a hedge and Lotti screamed. The shopping bag dropped from her hand and the eggs inside broke as they hit the sidewalk with a ‘CRACK.’ It was pretty frightening stuff.



Two days later, Rollo was in his living room rehearsing his confrontation with Lotti. He had made a model of Lotti by painting a face on a balloon which was taped to a sack of potatoes. He propped the balloon-sack-model up in a chair.

Then Rollo cleared his throat, made a stern look on his face, put one hand on his hip, and pointed a finger of the other hand at Lotti. Yes, this is how you show someone that you mean business.

“Lotti,” he began. No, that sounded too nice.

“Lotti,” he said again, now a bit deeper in tone. “Let’s get something straight. I ain’t gunna take your crap any more. I’m not the average person you mess with. I’m different. I’m like family! So, you respect me, I respect you. Got it?....No! I’m not gonna listen to your reasoning! Just agree, ok?”

Rollo stopped his dramatization and scratched his chin in reflection. He nodded. Yes, it would do.



Rollo drove over to Lotti’s apartment and rang the doorbell. There was no answer and everything seemed pretty quiet. He was annoyed that the one time he really wanted her around, she happened to be gone. Just like her!

As he headed back to his car, a man wearing a purple bowtie and bearing a huge cleft chin came up to him. “Are you looking for Lotti?” he asked Rollo.

“Yeah, I am, actually,” Rollo answered.

“Well, I’ve been looking for her for a week now!” said the man, looking quite concerned. “She’s nowhere to be found, I tell you! You better go make a missing persons report at the police station!”

Rollo found himself in a fog of confusion upon hearing this news. First of all, who on earth was this character, and how did he know Lotti was missing? Moreover, he was shocked to hear that Lotti had been missing for a week. Why, hadn’t he just seen Lotti four days ago, when they watched a James Bond movie together? How could this be? --but was she really missing? Was she in danger? To think, she might be dead, and all he had been concerned about was telling her off.

As he began to think the worse, his heart beat faster and his thoughts raced. Rollo was so confused and so scared for Lotti, that without another word, he left the strange man and sped to the police station in his car.



When he got there he went up to a marshmallow-y sheriff who had a grey moustache and receding, thinning hair that was died dark brown. He was eating a bag of greasy french fries and reading a newspaper. He did not look up when Rollo came up to his desk.

Rollo staired at him briefly, waiting for some sort of response from the sheriff. Finally Rollo stuttered, slightly short on breath, “Ah-m, I’m um, afraid a friend of mine might be, might be missing, or something.”

The sheriff had looked up at Rollo while he was talking and listened to him with little interest. Then his eyes searchingly went up and down Rollo for a second or two. The verdict was not a nice one.

“What did ya say now, lad?” Sheriff finally said in a booming voice that wasn’t all that friendly.

Rollo began to feel quite uncomfortable. Had he done something wrong? This was rather intimidating.

Now even more unnerved, Rollo found it hard to make meaningful sentences. “I well-- I thought maybe I’d--should report my friend. She’s maybe or--maybe not missing but maybe you can--look into that for me. Or maybe...” he gave up.

Sheriff rubbed his hands together. “What’s your relationship with drugs, lad?” he asked.

Rollo didn’t know what he meant by this question. What did this have to do with anything? “Huh?” he uttered. Then he tried to steer them back to the main concern: “Can you help me find my friend?” Then he reconsidered the whole situation. “... Am I supposed to be here? Like, maybe I should have gone to another department...of some sort…like, for missing people?”

Sheriff picked up a pencil and made some scribbles on a pad of paper.

“OK, don’t you worry now, lad.” Sheriff said. “Go on now, and we’ll take care of everything.”

Rollo was sure they had skipped something. “But what about--” he began, but Sheriff Jr., who had quietly been sitting at another desk on the other side of the room and had been watching the whole thing, came up and ushered Rollo out the door.

Sheriff and Sheriff Jr. looked at each other knowingly.



Once outside again, Rollo, feeling like he was in some sort of confusing dream in which nothing made sense, went to his car and headed home. Sheriff Jr. followed Rollo back to his apartment and parked down the block where he could see Rollo get out of his car and enter his apartment.

There was a very tall hollywood juniper growing against the building under Rollo’s second floor window. Sheriff Jr. decided to climb it. It was shaky and plenty of sap and messy juniper needle stuff sprinkled down on him. The window was quite a useful asset, as it was open and the screen in it looked frail and had small tears in places. Sheriff Jr. watched the silhouette of the jittery young man pacing the floor. Finally, Rollo calmed down and focused his attention on something in a corner of the room. Sheriff Jr. couldn’t quite make it out, but it appeared to be a leafy-looking item sitting on top of a narrow stand. Rollo picked up a bottle and, Sheriff Jr. couldn’t see what was happening, but heard the ‘wush-wush-wush’ of a spray bottle.

“Ah-ha!” thought Sheriff Jr. “Looks like we’ve got a little farmer here!”

Sheriff Jr. took a mighty leap through the screen of the window and landed in the room with a crash. He picked himself up quickly and whipped out his gun. Aiming at Rollo, he yelled (louder than necessary), “GET DOWN! ON THE FLOOR! NOW!”

Rollo did not follow the command. He stared in bewilderment with an open mouth at the man in uniform who had suddenly appeared in his apartment with such a show.

“What’s going on?” he said. “Why—Why are you here?” He searchingly looked around at the confusing world which he had found himself in and asked, “What ever happened to knocking on the front door? Why are you doing this?”

Sheriff Jr. ignored the questions. “What have you got there?” he asked, pointing his gun at the plant and then back to Rollo again.

Rollo threw up his free hand, the one not holding the spray bottle, and said, “A plant which a friend gave me. I don’t even know the name of it. I was just watering it.”

Now, I suppose you want to know why Rollo has a plant. He’s not exactly the plant sort of guy, if you know what I mean. It’s true, Lotti had given Rollo a house plant just a month ago. She had claimed that he needed a plant to add “a touch of life” to his apartment, and although Rollo believed the fact that he dwelt there was enough presence of life there, he accepted it. Truth be told, Lotti was hoping a house plant would help purify the air in his apartment which could get a bit whiffy at times.

“Don’t know the name of it, eh? Suppose I could help jog your memory?”

Sheriff Jr. menacingly moved forward so he could get a better look at the plant and perhaps slam Rollo against the wall if he tried any quick moves, but as he crept closer it became quite obvious that the plant was none other than a philodendron, the king of house plants.

Sheriff Jr.’s gun slowly lowered and he spread a smug look on his face in spite of his mistake. “Well, I see--” he began but suddenly a muffled cry startled both of them.

“Help!”

“What’s that?” Sheriff Jr. asked Rollo accusingly. He puffed himself up again, ready to catch illegal activity in its tracks. He followed the cries to a closet which he flung open. Rollo’s mouth, which was already dangling open, gaped wider in astonishment.

“Explain this!” Sheriff Jr. growled.

There was Lotti, bound with her hands behind her back, gagged, and blindfolded, crouched amidst boxes and wire hangers.

“Lotti!” Rollo gasped. “I’ve been looking for her!” Rollo said to Sheriff Jr.

“Forgot where you placed her, eh?” Sheriff Jr. snapped back.

Before Rollo knew what was happening, Sheriff Jr. grabbed his wrists and cuffed him.



It didn’t take long for a herd of cop cars to gather around the apartment building. Uniformed and plain clothed people were in the little apartment sniffing around and going about business. Rollo disappeared into a police car and Lotti found herself swarmed by persons asking a lot of questions. She was confused and exhausted and didn’t know how to answer them.

“Get away from me! I just want to go home.” She said, holding back tears and feeling a little irritated with everyone. She was also really hungry and just wanted to get some food in her empty belly. A refried burrito and a mug of hot Ovaltine sounded soothing.

They decided to give her some time, and food, and would proceed with questioning later.



When later arrived, Lotti informed them that a man with a curvy, protruding, cleft chin had beaten her over the head with a gourd. He had been wearing a purple bowtie. She also remembered something about huge pink rabbits, a hot tub, and cardboard boxes.



When shown a lineup of suspects, including Rollo, Lotti said it was none of them. The police found this unbelievable.

“Are you sure?” they said. “Take your time and look again.”

Lotti shook her head. “No, it wasn’t any of them.”

Have you ever had the experience of seeing someone you know, but in a setting that you never met them in before? For instance, you regularly saw a certain person in a night class, and you were acquainted with them, but then you bumped into them at Walmart and for the life of you, you couldn’t remember what their name was or where you knew them from? This was the sort of experience Lotti had when it came to seeing Rollo in a police lineup. Even though she had been very close friends with Rollo for most of her life, this was the last place she expected to see his face, and so she simply didn’t recognize him.

They were so sure that Rollo was guilty that they had him step forward.

“Isn’t this the guy?” they said very leadingly.

He looked vaguely familiar, but she didn’t know who he was. Too bad, he was kind of cute. Lotti said firmly, “No. I would recognize that cleft chin anywhere.”



Well, it all got sorted out quickly anyway. Within a couple of days, Jonus Fritspatty turned himself into the police, fitting Lotti’s description perfectly and confessing to all. He said he was the one who put Lotti in Rollo’s apartment, framing him. He also claimed temporary insanity, for his ‘good sense was blinded by Lotti’s beauty.’



Rollo was off the hook. Yet the whole kidnapping fiasco had more or less traumatized the poor guy and he suddenly found life very complicated. He didn’t know what his standing with Lotti was anymore and he didn’t know how to lose the reputation he had developed by having a crime scene in his apartment. His tartan landlady had given him a warning that if he ever caused another commotion, he’d have to leave. So, one night, Rollo decided to just leave for a little while.



**



Lotti pounded and pounded on Rollo’s front door. It had been a week since the kidnapping stuff was cleared up and during all that time she hadn’t seen or spoken to him. He hadn’t answered his phone on the dozens of occasions she had called him. She knocked and knocked, but there was no response. How strange. Where could he be? His car wasn’t here and neither was he.

Lotti, lost in thought, meandered back to her moped and was about to mount when she noticed that Rollo’s window above the hollywood juniper was looking pretty wide open. She immediately walked over to the tree and made a very wobbly and messy climb up. She tumbled through the window with a shower of juniper needles and had a look around. Everything looked pretty normal in the apartment. The only interesting thing was a business card for Happy Chin & Chan’s Hot Dog Stand sitting on the sofa. Could this be a clue?

You see, Rollo’s first job, then a young and waify 14-year-old, was at Happy Chin & Chan’s. He only worked there for one summer but Chin and Chan were great guys and Rollo used to stop by for a hot dog every now and then. Even after Rollo moved to the next town over, sometimes he would make the 45-minute drive to Happy Chin & Chan’s to see how the old boys were doing. Lotti herself had come to be acquainted with them when she occasionally went along with Rollo for a hot dog.

Lotti got a strong ‘gut-feeling’ that he must have gone that way. So off she went to China Town, where Happy Chin & Chan’s was. As it was Saturday, and lunch hour, the place was buzzing with hungry people. Chin looked quite busy and Lotti didn’t want to take too much of his time but she did ask if he had seen Rollo lately. His answer was no, Rollo hadn’t been around in a ‘long time, like two, three months.’

Disappointed, Lotti wandered around the shops in the area and found a really cute and colourful Mimi Jake stationary set for a low price. (For your information, Lotti is collector of Mimi Jake items.)

As she dodged the crowds of tourists and shoppers in the busy China Town, she caught sight of a familiar face in a window of a grotto-like shop. She really couldn’t see very well because it had so many colorful hand bags, stuffed animals, umbrellas, and all sorts of junk hanging from the ceiling, nearly obscuring the window and this person. There were racks and shelves overflowing with similar colourful merchandise in the shop as well. Lotti weaved her way through the crowds and entered the shop but the person she had spotted was just disappearing into another room. She cautiously peeked into the other small room and found that it too, was packed to the ceiling with colourful dolls, shoes, plastic ware and whatnot. Again, she barely caught sight of the person going through a doorway on the other side of the room.

Lotti followed on and found herself in a really shabby corridor which had an illusion of being in-doors but was obviously outside the building and had been patched together with rather humble construction. There was a metal door which slammed behind the person and although Lotti felt she didn’t belong on this end of the building, she could have sworn it was Rollo that had just gone through there and she was determined to get him.

She opened the door and found creaky, very steep, tiled stairs. She just caught his feet disappear to the left through a door at the top of the stairs, and so up she went. The wooden door which was painted fire engine red slammed shut just before she reached it. There was the faint sound of music playing on the other side of the door and it smelled strongly of fried garlic and chilli. Lotti knocked, feeling somewhat anxious now. This was all a bit strange.

The door opened and there stood a short guy with glasses and a shirt that said, ‘The Leverage District’ on it. This was not the guy Lotti had been following, she was sure of it.

“Yes?” the little man said.

“Is Rollo in there?” Lotti asked, nervous but determined. At least there was nothing threatening about the person before her. He looked nice enough. Kind of geeky. Geeks are fairly nice, right?

“Who wants to know?” the guy asked.

“Me, Lotti. I’m his good friend. I just want to see him--”

The little man slammed the door in her face and there was a click of the bolt. Lotti decided this was very suspicious behaviour indeed.

She pounded on the door, but there was no answer. They think they can just ignore me? Lotti thought. Hah, I’ll show them. I have nothing else to do today…



Fifteen minutes later, Lotti was continuing to knock on the door, or kick it, rather. She had switched hands a couple times as her knuckles started to hurt. Finally both her hands were dead and she resorted to kicking the door. Not too hard, mind you, just enough for them to know she was there and was not going to leave until they opened up.

Finally she heard from the other side of the door, “Go away before I call the cops!” It was that geek again.

“Please open up so I can talk to Rollo! Please!” She begged.

“Rollo isn’t here!” he said.

“Oh, really, so where is he then?” Lotti said.

“Would you just go away already?”



Fifteen minutes later and Lotti was throwing herself against the door. Persistence is the key, she told herself. Don’t give up.

Suddenly the lock clicked and the door opened. The little man looked vary angry. “Ok, look, what do I have to do to prove to you that there isn’t anybody by the name of Rollo here? I’m alone! Look for yourself--” He opened the door and gestured to the inside of an untidy studio apartment.

Lotti eagerly stepped inside and began scanning the place. It appeared to be true, that there was no one else there. She quietly walked over to a window in the kitchenette and looked down at the busy street in China Town. They were directly above the shop she had first entered, where she could have sworn she saw Rollo in the window. She turned thoughtfully and looked at the kitchenette, where the remains of an oily frying pan and dishes with bits of food were sitting. This must be where the smells of chilli and garlic had come from. Suddenly she noticed that there were two dirty plates and two dirty spoons and two dirty cups on the counter.

“Where is he?” she asked him, trying to sound threatening.

The man shook his head and searched for something to say in objection without giving away any more of his knowledge.

Lotti looked around the room desperately. The last place her eyes fell was at the ceiling, and there it was: an attic door with a pull-cord hanging down. She grabbed at it and pulled down the ladder. The man let out an angry puff of air but it was clear he had given up and wasn’t going to try stopping her now.

Lotti ran up the stairs and found herself in a tiny room with a low ceiling. Cockroaches scurried around in and out of the cracks in the walls. A small table with an impressive tower of balanced playing cards was in the middle of the room, and off to the side was a futon bed. There was a body sprawled on that bed, and in the hazy light coming from the tiny, dirty window, Lotti could see it was indeed Rollo, except he looked 20 years older. His hair was stringy and messy and he was growing a beard. The shirt he was wearing had brown stains on it and his jeans looked like they were permanently creased in a sitting position. He appeared to be in a stupor and did not notice that Lotti had entered the room.

She ran to him and grabbed him by the shoulders. “Rollo!” she cried. Then she realised he was rather stinky. She made a face and scooted back. “Rollo! Look at me!”

His glazed eyes looked at her in the face finally and he said, “No! You weren’t supposed to find me. I don’t know you anymore. This is my new life. I’m starting over.” This was pretty pathetic.

“Some new life,” Lotti quipped. “Come on, let’s go back home…and get you cleaned up.”

“No! I have nothing to gain there! Everyone hates me!” His bottom lip was shaking now.

Lotti, her mommy instinct coming out, cooed, “Oh, that’s not true! There, there.” She hugged him, trying not to inhale.

“Stop patronizing me!” He pushed her away.

Lotti looked at him disapprovingly. Then she reasoned with him firmly, “Have you got a job around here? Are you paying rent for this dump? Or are you freeloading off that guy?”

Rollo wimpered, “I’m still looking for a job. Henry has been nice to me.”

Lotti took liberties and said, “Well, I’ll tell you the truth: Henry resents you sponging off him, he thinks you’re a lazy bum, and wants you out now! You ought to come back home before he kicks you out!”

You should know that Rollo is actually a very sensitive person and is the sort who never likes to offend people, especially his friends. The thought of his friend thinking that he was a lazy freeloader scared him. There was obviously no proof that Lotti’s words were true, but he took them as truth and acted on it.

Rollo got up from the futon and with little more discussion, they departed.



***

Lotti decided the best thing for Rollo was a visit to Dr. Kaplanski, his trusted family doctor. Dr. Kaplanski saw right away that Rollo was in deep distress and it was a severe problem that would not go away without treatment. Dr. Kaplanski was a firm believer in the power of pharmaceuticals and so he handed Rollo a prescription for some pills that would help him ‘feel positive about life again.’



A few days later, during which Rollo was resting in his apartment and starting to feel the ‘positive’ effects of the meds, Lotti turned up at his door.

“Come on,” she said. “Let’s go to the zoo so you can get out and about.” Rollo agreed.

On the way to the zoo, they passed a salon that had some balloons on the outside of it with a sign saying, “Grand opening!”

Jokingly, Lotti said, “We should go in there so you could get a makeover. That’ll perk you up a bit!”

It wasn’t so much that Rollo needed perking up; the meds seemed to be doing that nicely—he had become exceptionally positive. They were also making him rather spacey and uninhibited too. It was just a little silly thing Lotti said which was one of those things we all could have ignored, except that Rollo actually accepted it as a good idea.

“Sure, ok!” he said. “I suppose I could use a haircut, this is getting big,” he said, running his hands through his dark brown hair.

“Really?” Lotti said, quite surprised and somewhat amused. This could get interesting. Who knows what Rollo might agree to now…



Fourty-five minutes later, Rollo and Lotti stepped out of the salon and headed back to his car.

“Ah! Fresh air!” Lotti said. “The ammonia in that place was really getting to me.” Then she looked at Rollo and suppressed a giggle. This was funny. He no longer looked like the average male with neglected hair, but he was displaying a little mohawk with red ends. As a general rule, Rollo stayed far away from fussy things like hair products, and he had always said such elaborate hair cuts were rather pretentious, so it was entertaining to see him breaking his own rules.

Rollo caught Lotti’s amused look and merely smiled back. Lotti suppressed another giggle.



The two friends strolled through the zoo, going from exhibit to exhibit.

As they watched a chameleon’s eye roll around, Rollo said, “I’ve got a friend who owns one of these.”

“Really? Who’s this friend you never told me about?”

“Sunny. I met him at an auto wrecking place.”

“Sunny?”

“Yeah, his name’s Sunny.”

Lotti became intrigued. She like that name, and she liked the idea of someone having a pet chameleon. “You’ll have to introduce me to him some time,” she said.

When they came to the giant tortoises, Rollo said, “I saw a movie once and some girl was riding a huge tortoise like that one.”

Lotti snickered and said, “That obviously wasn’t a real tortoise.”

Rollo looked taken aback and protested, “What, you don’t think it can be done?”

Lotti looked at him like he was crazy. “It’s probably not advisable. Look at their legs; they look like they can hardly hold their own bodies up, nevermind having to carry a person on top.”

“Nonsense. They’re quite capable,” Rollo insisted.

“With the price of a broken leg,” Lotti argued.

“Not at all! I’ll prove it.”

To Lotti’s horror, Rollo hopped over the wall of the enclosure (it was only about 4 feet tall) and went over to an unsuspecting tortoise who was munching on some soggy greens. An elderly lady who was nearby with her grandchild watched and gasped. Rollo jumped on the tortoise’s back and held on as the great big animal inched forward a bit. It didn’t seem particularly disturbed.

Lotti, however, was in a panic. This was not acceptable behaviour.

“Nana,” the child watching nearby said. “Can I go pet the turtle, too?”

Just then, a very angry man wearing a khaki uniform bolted out from behind the fake rock structure in the rear of the enclosure.

Rollo casually came off the tortoise and said to Lotti, “See? It doesn’t hurt them!” Lotti shrinked in pure shame.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” the man barked with his face turning red and veins in his neck bulging. “You have no business being on this side of the enclosure. You are not to even feed the animals or touch them, nevermind enter their cages and ride them! This is an outrage! I must ask you to leave the zoo at once!” He was pointing in the general direction of the main exit of the park.

“Ok. I’ll go.” Rollo complied without a hint of embarrassment or shame. As he climbed back over the wall, he said to the keeper, “I didn’t hurt anyone, though. It’s a fact: tortoises can carry a human.”

“That does not permit you to ride these tortoises. Leave at once, or shall I have the park security escort you out?”

Lotti spoke up, “We’re going.” She grabbed Rollo by the arm. “We’re very sorry for that. He’s, um, you know, has a hard time understanding things sometimes.” Lotti looked very sympathetic and hoped this white lie would be bought by the keeper.

The man glanced at Rollo and cleared his throat. “Yes, well, so you know, next time, do not interfere with the animals here.”

Lotti began to pull Rollo towards the exit and said, “Ok. Thanks. Sorry. Bye.”



When Lotti and Rollo got back in his apartment, the first thing she said was: “Alright, where’s those pills you’ve been taking?”

Rollo pulled a bottle out of the medicine cabinet and handed them to Lotti. “What about them?” he asked.

“I really don’t think you need them anymore. You’re feeling just fine now, aren’t you?”

“Sure,” Rollo said with a happy little shrug.

“Then let’s toss the rest. Ok?”

Mr. Positive agreed.