Marsha enters Tom’s apartment and is immediately immersed in the sounds of explosions, alien death cries, a man’s voice shouting and cursing, and the various staccato pops, booming thunderous reports, and high-pitched laser droning of futuristic weapons. The air is warm, stale, and filled with the odor of not-fresh pizza. Tom is sitting on the couch, his complete attention focused on the big screen TV. He’s wearing threadbare workout shorts and a dirty white t-shirt with the words “Welcome to Minneapolis” emblazoned across the front. He’s also wearing a headset and is occasionally shouting “Die lizard die!” at the green scaled lizard men on the tv. Marsha notes the lizard men appear to be complying.
In her mind, she fantasizes about walking to the coffee table, picking up the remote, and turning off the tv. Tom then smiles, removes the headset, puts down the game controller, stands and greets her warmly. Instead, she sighs, crosses the apartment till she’s standing just to his right, puts her coat and purse down on the coffee table, crosses her arms and stares at him. She says nothing.
For several uncomfortable (for Marsha) seconds, he does not appear to notice. Then he glances over at her and then back to the tv. He says “Hey Babe!” in between various shouts to team mates and lizard men. Marsha still says nothing.
He glances at her again, risking his virtual life to actually observe her. He looks back at the tv. Trained by hours of searching every nook and cranny of ancient castles and futuristic dungeons, he has completely observed Marsha’s appearance. He mentally ticks off several salient points from the image in his head: full evening makeup, hair carefully styled, black party dress, red high-heel shoes, arms crossed, and an unhappy expression. His mind races and uses this raw data to calculate the conclusion: He’s forgotten something. He glances at her, smiles, and begins to respond when she cuts him off.
“I take it you’re not ready?” she says, smiling the same smile an executioner might right after saying “Any last words?” His mind freezes in confusion. The worst possible reply is uttered from his lips, like an accident in slow motion over which he has zero control: “Not ready for what?” Inside his brain, one part slaps another part in frustration.
Marsha cocks her head slightly to the right and smiles. Tom swears the temperature in the room has dropped by at least 40 degrees. “Jay’s party. It’s tonight at 7.”
Again, he says exactly the wrong thing. “Is that tonight?” He just nearly slaps himself.
Marsha’s smile slightly shrinks and her voice is very controlled. “Yes. Tonight”
He grimaces slightly. “Oh hon… the guys and I are on a really important mission in the game. Do you really want to go?” Three for three. Part of his brain seriously considers escape, perhaps through the ear canal.
Marsha closes her eyes and sighs. Then she picks up the remote and turns off the TV. Amazingly, Tom does not even attempt to argue. He removes his headset and places it and the game controller on the coffee table. He gives Marsha his full and undivided attention as she speaks.
“I have spent $75 getting my hair styled, $250 on this dress, $175 on the shoes, and then I spent 45 minutes putting on my makeup. “ She pauses and stares at him. Tom is afraid to blink and his eyes feel very dry. She leans in till her face is inches from his. “So yes. I want to go.” She smiles and nods. He smiles and nods. Then he says very softly: “Well I’d better get dressed then.” She smiles and nods then backs up to let him leave. Tom quickly retreats the bedroom.
“Hey! I just remembered! Jay called today! He said Harold would be there tonight. Jay wanted to make sure you’d be ok with that.” Tom shouted from the bedroom.
“Harold? Harold my EX Harold? She says closing her eyes.
“Yeah! Jay just wanted to check.” Tom says entering the room. He’s partially dressed with dress slacks, no shocks or shoes and a white t-shirt.
Marsha, her eyes still closed, sighs and then takes several deep breaths. Then she plops down on the couch, removes her shoes, and sits back. After a second she leans forward and takes one of the game controllers.
“Get your ass in here and show me how to kill these fucking lizard men.”
