Chapter Five
NEPENTHE
The outraged children caught up with Otis but were disgusted by the pitiful sight. They vowed to yell at him later and make him buy their little sister a new kite, after he finished crying.
Someone gave Otis a bowl of chili to comfort him but it only made him cry louder. Many adult males gathered to discuss the possible meanings of a barefoot man in a tux crying on the beach at noon. Cell phones were whipped out and the stock market took a jolt, all because of the fallen puppy, Polutropos.
The stranger who had warned Otis about the Skylla Surfers happened by again and told Otis he must lower his head. Otis took him for a seer.
"Are you telling me that I am suffering this misery because I am guilty of the sin of pride?" Otis was ready to repent.
"I don't know you that well, " The stranger shrugged, "but if you look down you'll see that dog you've been looking for." The stranger rolled his eyes and walked away.
Sure enough, Polutropos was sitting next to Otis and the little dog had just polished off the bowl of three bean habanero chili bigger than he was. He looked green around the edges but he was alive!
It was going to be a long walk home since Otis no longer had his wallet. He couldn't even buy his wife the Valentine chocolates and roses, but at least he had Polutropos.
By and by some of Otis's former students recognized him and after a bit of conversation, agreed to drive him home. First they would have to fetch Edgewood from the Jujube Rathskeller under the pier.
"We HAVE to go in there. Edgewood's our ride. He's been in there for days and each time we send someone in there after him, we never see them again. Nobody comes out!"
"We have a plan!" another of the boys began to explain to Professor Otis, "When you go in there, don't breathe! You remember what Edgewood looks like, don't you, Professor?"
"He was a promising student. Yes, I remember Edgewood." Otis said the only nice thing he could.
"That's him! He still makes lots of promises!" One of the boys shouted over the crashing surf.
"Don't breathe! Don't listen! Don't talk! Don't drink or eat anything! We just get the Edge and split! Got it?" They synchronized their intent and went into the breach with one mind.
Otis went with them, but it didn't go simple. The Jujube was very crowded and the smoke was so dense that it was impossible to see across the dance floor. By the time Otis recognized his ex-wife's face, it was too late. Circe was already holding him and giving him the ole contact high. Her lovely hair defied gravity and seemed to float as if she was under water.
"Have some lotus, Otis!" She purred like Roger Rabbit's wife, then put her mouth over his and blew the smoke.
Otis tried to spit it out. He involuntarily squeezed Polutropos and the chihauhau released habanero fumes, which for the moment counteracted the lotus smoke that made men forget.
"Nepenthe?" A waiter glided up with a tray of martini glasses glowing with the Egyptian elixir that took away grief and memory.
"No thank you." Otis said.
"Otis, show them what you can do with words, baby!" Circe coaxed.
"No, Circe! I said 'NO'", Otis struggled as Circe pulled him towards the stage where red eyed poets with hoarse voices fought a vicious king-of-the-mountian battle of words.
Otis concentrated on the chihuahua that he must return to Penny. His eyes burned and he rubbed them. When he opened them again, he saw a giant chihuahua on the stage, screaming free verse poetry.
"You think
I think
I own you.
Shut and come to bed boy,
I only want to clone you!" The giant chihuahua said with much flare and attitude in the delivery.
Everywhere that Otis looked there was nothing but chihuahuas. Everyone was a chihuahua. He was afraid to check his own appearance, afraid to see a reflection of a chihuahua in a tuxedo. He avoided looking towards the mirrored walls.
This was exactly the reason he had divorced Circe. This sort of thing. Her drug problem was more than any mortal man could contend with.
"You're on your own boys!" Otis shouted, closed his eyes tight, secured his grasp on Polutropos, quit breathing and headed for the door.
"O God! God! Thank you! Thank you!" Otis gratefully gulped the sweet and salty night air while admiring his big naked human feet. "We made it out! O! That woman! Nice body, but her MIND! O! Let's go home, Polutropos! We'll walk."
Just then the Jujube Rathskeller door burst open and out blasted the boys carrying their squirming quarry like a ramrod.
The boys landed in a heap on the pier and struggled to keep their buddy Edgewood from escaping back into the Jujube.
"You are NOT going back in there, Edgewood!" the boys chimed.
"Tie him up, man! We have to tie him up until that stuff wears off! He'll thank us one day!"
They tied him up and threw him in the back of his van and drove down Catalina Avenue towards the Riviera. The plan was to make a quick stop at Trader Joe's to get some carrot juice for Edgewood to help bring him around and then on to the professor's house.
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