Return to Skid Row

Chapter Four: Old Friends

I'm late! Oh God, how I wish I hadn't stayed Uptown! Seymour thought, racing clumsily out of the subway station's mouth and into the heart of Skid Row at four-thirty. He felt ashamed of his decision to wander about the city uptown rather than looking for a place for his family, but he was sure that he could find somewhere they could eat at the last minute. What Audrey doesn't know won't hurt her, he decided, ignoring the guilty pang in his stomach after conjuring the thought.

Guilt for being tardy was not the only thing that made Seymour uneasy, but also being back in his old home made him recall and regret the horrors that he had lived through. Blood, murder, extraterrestrial plants… all were the stuff of deranged nightmares of his past that somehow found their way into his memories whenever he felt alone and vulnerable. It was not uncommon for a monstrous plant to manifest itself in the shadows of Seymour's surroundings. Often, he would see the creature hiding behind him, preparing to strike and take the pawn that had eluded its hunger, but then the apparition would reveal itself as just a trick of the light or a neighborhood tree. Seymour would think that he had gone insane.

He could see Audrey II's perfectly horrid image when he closed his eyes. It took on various shapes and sizes, the smallest being a tiny sprout with pink petal-like cotyledons, the largest being a ten-foot-tall, green demon with a mouthful of razor sharp teeth like a shark. It was hard to imagine something that had started out as a seemingly sweet and harmless botanical discovery on Seymour's part soon became a monster. Seymour recalled how blissful he was when he bought the tiny and unique addition to his plant collection that he named Audrey II in the girl of his dreams' honor, and how, to his dismay and health decline, the little plant had an unusual and rather disgusting diet of human blood. Night after night, he let the leech-like plant suckle blood from his fingertips until it grew to be as large as a grown man. His motivation to do so was to keep his guardian's shop in business, for the plant was a local sensation. Every day he grew weaker and his heartstrings were continually pulled by watching Audrey, his only real friend, being beaten by her abusive boyfriend and his boss oppressing him every day of his life, making his mind go in irrational directions. He had just about lost his mind when the plant revealed another surprise: It could speak! The monster demanded more food than a man could provide without killing himself, so Seymour refused. Unfortunately, Audrey II knew another way to get the red meal it desired without feeding off its keeper, and that was murdering and mutilating other innocents.

Now with the plant and its bloody appetite in his mind, Seymour wanted to throw up.

Seymour would tell himself there were always the good times to look back on as well. After he and Audrey married and left Skid Row together, he felt that he was the luckiest man alive. He was deeply in love with his wife, as he had been when they were mere co-workers. He was ever enamored by her beauty, kindess, and desire for love and affection. They both were orphans in their own right, but when they were together, they had all the family they could ever wish for. They relished their quiet life in their tract house far away from the city, just as Audrey had always wanted. Perhaps it was not the fanciest existence, but to them it was the perfect life.

Only one problem confronted Seymour in that first year of he and Audrey's marriage, and that was when Audrey discovered that she was expecting a baby. Seymour was at first excited at the thought of being a father, but he soon began to worry. What if he would treat the baby in the only way he knew how to raise a child; making him or her scrub the floors? What if he could not take care of the baby because he had never had a real father? What if the baby didn't like him? It was all terrifying.

Luckily, all of those fears went away when Julie arrived. Seymour loved his baby girl from the moment he first laid eyes on her. He would try to teach Julie the few things he knew and would keep her far from harm. These were his goals as her father.

It had not been too long before the present year that the bad dreams began to visit him. At first they had appeared as only his memories about before, but over time, they had erupted into full-blown nightmares and occasionally day-mares. Sometimes, the dreams were more like time capsules, such as the hellish plant squalling for food. Other times, Seymour would dream visions of hell, like drowning in a sea of vines or slowly transforming into a plant himself.

The dream that came the night before last combined the present with a true horror of the past. A memory that still made his blood run cold was when he had walked into the shop the night to find Audrey stuck, half-way inside the plant's mouth. She somehow survived with a few telltale scars, a traumatizing view of the plant's mouth, and a ruined wedding gown as souvenirs, yet, in that moment of her rescue, Seymour was sure that lovely Audrey was dead.

If something had happened to her, I would've just let that monster eat Me, he thought miserably before he stopped at a street corner, his feet screeching against the pavement as he put on his "brakes".

The address number of the building next to him was 1315, or two buildings away from the long gone Mushnik's Skid Row Florists. He froze, not sure if he should venture further and have a close encounter with the past. He trusted Audrey with all his heart, but he knew that it would be difficult to revisit the old shop. Taking a deep breath, he stepped around the corner, staring straight down at the dirty, cracked sidewalk. He rationalized that if he only looked up to see Audrey and Julie, perhaps he wouldn't have to see the remains of the shop. Slowly, his gaze shifted from his shoes to directly in front of him. Audrey and Julie were nowhere in sight.

"Audrey?" he called out to no answer, whipping his head around. "Audrey? Julie, are ya here? Damn, I told her to come here!" he muttered and turned the other way, still calling their names.

It aggravated him to think that Audrey hadn't listened to him, even though he knew that she had her moments of not being "completely there". She was not stupid, Seymour would never think his wife was stupid, but she was just a little too spacey for his liking at times.

Well, what do you do?

The only thing Seymour had overcome was not having to be near Mushnik's, which was momentarily a relief. Disregarding his past as non-existent was easy. He would simply ignore his present guilt and predicaments.

"So why am I still feeling so awful?" he asked himself. "-Ah! Keep it together Seymour. You can't let Audrey see you like this."

If only Audrey could have understood everything that made him so depressed. Then maybe there would have been no more problems between them, but Seymour did not want to make her worried about him and kept most of his thoughts private. Audrey and their daughter's life was to remain happy. It was a self-sacrifice that he was reluctant, yet willing, to make. Another thought entered his mind about Julie in that second.

"She should know what really happened to us, the whole story," he thought aloud before doubting himself yet again. "-But that's too much for her to handle now, she's so little. She would turn away from me if she knew what I... Shmendrik's?"

Seymour's wanderings had brought him directly in front of Shmendrik's Diner, a place that had once been a greasy hamburger stand he had frequented when he lived on Skid Row. It was the same building, but it was far more renovated with a new cream-orange paint job and neon lights that stayed brightly lit in the clear windows. It was quite the contrast to the original, dying lights that he remembered flickering dimly through the cracked and filthy glass, surrounded by dilapidated brick bordering. By far the most striking sight about the new Shmendrik's were all of the customers inside. Some were even waiting in a line to be seated!

"What the...?" he asked himself and stepped in from curiosity, jingling the doorbells like something from a Christmas song. It was fairly charming inside as well. Bright, checkerboard linoleum tiles covered the floor, a jukebox played loudly in the corner and all the while the smell of freshly cooked hamburgers filled the room as the sound of a grill sizzling came from the kitchen.

It was true, the old burger joint he remembered was gone.

"Daddy!" a voice interrupted Seymour's reverie. He looked back toward the window and saw Audrey and Julie sitting at a table with three familiar girls who waved at him. Julie was evidently glad to see him because she ran up before he made two steps toward the table and hugged his leg.

Audrey smiled, sending the clear message, We're here now, let's not fight about it.

"Hey, Julie girl." he answered his daughter, more relieved than anything else to be reunited with his family without an episode.

"Seymour!" said the three synonymous voices of Chiffon, Ronnette, and Crystal. He wondered if they were really excited about him being back or if they were just trying to placate him. However, since Audrey was with their group, he guessed that it was safe to socialize and walked over with Julie tagging along.

"Hello girls," he answered shyly to which all of them squealed and gave him a hug. After five years of separation from them, these girls still made Seymour slightly uncomfortable, as if they were hiding something he wished that he could figure out. Still, he was ever the gentleman and let them speak without showing clear resistance… at least he hoped that it wasn't clear.

"It's good to see you again, Seymour," Ronnette said.

"Yeah! Why didn't you and Audrey come down here sooner? We've all been wondering how you've been," Crystal added.

"Oh, come on, you're just sayin' that," Seymour replied modestly.

"Uh-uh Seymour, it's true!" said Chiffon. "You brought this place out of the dumpster and into the lime light." She wanted to say more, but their server, Al Shmendrik himself, came to the table with their lunch at that moment.

Al was a somewhat portly man, though not obese. His shirt was stained with a splash of grease and his chin had a gray layer of five-o-clock shadow. His voice was slightly gravelly, though soft and friendly at the same time.

"Okay ladies. Four burgers - two cheese two plain, and one order of fries for the little... Seymour Krelborn? Seymour ol' boy is it you?" Al asked excitedly, creating a small scene and causing some of the other customers to turn and stare.

"Um, yes?" Seymour replied unsure of his old friend's reaction.

"Ha-ha didn't recognize you when you first walked in, Pal." he said and looked over to Audrey before hugging them both tightly. "And Audrey too? Well, I don't know how I didn't recognize you, missy-I mean… Missis Krelborn."

Audrey giggled. "Nice to see you too, Al."

Then Al turned to look at the other customers and pointed to Seymour. "Hey look everybody, it's Seymour Krelborn!"

Uproar ensued from almost every person sitting or standing in the restaurant. These were the Skid Row locals who knew Seymour and Audrey from before they left town. They clapped and whistled at Seymour as if he was some kind of celebrity as he stood still and watched the whole spectacle with disbelief.

"Gee, it's like I'm some kind of hero," he said when the applause died down.

"You are here, Seymour," Al replied. "You and that plant a' yours were the best thing that ever happened to us Downtown. Even after Mushnik demolished his shop, people came down here like you wouldn't believe! We ended up with enough money to save the place and finally renovate too!"

"I noticed," Seymour said. "I'm glad that everything's working out just fine for you."

"Yeah, you too. Last time I saw you two here; why, you were just kids with no idea what to do or where to go 'cause Mushnik was always holding you back in that shop of his. Good thing he finally loosened up and let you quit, eh?" Al chuckled, and Seymour winced after hearing what he said about Mr. Mushnik. "But you know, you've both done really well for yourselves. You've got each other, a house outta' town, and…" he recognized who Julie was for the first time then. "Well, that just didn't click 'til now. I'm guessing this one's yours?"

Seymour and Audrey nodded. "She's our Julie," Audrey said.

"Mama…" Julie started not wanting to cause another incident like when they had met the girls.

"Pleased to meet'chya, little lady." Al grinned and finished serving the burgers. "Well Krelborns, anything you want is on the house. You girls had better be with them though. You know I don't give out free food to moochers, especially to you three," he said, giving Crystal, Chiffon, and Ronnette a suspicious glare.

"Yeah, we're with you ain't we, Audrey?" Chiffon asked.

"Oh, yes," she answered earnestly, but still feeling bad about not paying her friend what he deserved for being such a good host. "But I'll pay for the lunch anyway, Al."

"Don't worry about it, Audrey," Al replied walking back through the kitchen doors. "-Anything for my old friends."