Author's Note: Here it is, people! And before you read this chapter, for those who haven't stepped into the music of the 1960s, or just love that era, here's the song, just replace the words with the puncuation marks. youtube dot com(slash)watch?v=qQboYZpEITw
Enjoy!
Back at the flower shop, Mr. Mushnik was watching Seymour on television, and was semi-pleased. "For the love of—Seymour, you could've spruced yourself up a little!" he yelled at the television set. "You look like you got harassed by a couple of long-haired Beatniks!"
"And thus we conclude our interview with the young botanical—Mind if I call you a genius?" Wink's voice shook the television.
"Gosh, no!" Seymour cried in awe.
"...The genius who has discovered this amazing, unidentified plant."
"Um, I'd like to remind our viewers that the Audrey II is on display, exclusively at Mushnik's Skid Row Florists."
"The address!" Mr. Mushnik continued yelling.
"Open seven days a week..."
"The address!"
"...That's M-U-S-H-N..."
"I said, mention the address!"
Then Wink announced before he was to sign off, reading a piece of paper, "and coming up next, we'll have a live performance from the two members of the Mattachine[1] Club from Skid Row Community College—Really? Beatniks? Really? Really? They're so verry quueee—er, I mean, weeeiiirrrddd!"
Mr. Mushnik turned off the television and sighed, "Oh, well. It's still good advertising."
Meanwhile, outside of the shop, the Urchins mysteriously appeared once again as greasers, along with Natalya and Beth Phoenix as Drew and Heath's girlfriends, respectively. The girls were dressed with their hair ratted, pink jackets with hearts on them. Natalya was wearing black Capri pants with red pumps and a black-and-white striped top, while Beth wore a beehive with cat's-eye glasses, and a skimpy cocktail dress with stiletto heels and fishnet stockings. They all hung out in Heath's car, as Jinder, in a mechanic's uniform, was under the hood fixing the engine. The two boys teased him about how he sucked at fixing cars, especially Heath, who was giving him a hard time about it.
"You're lucky I'm not charging you a dime!" yelled the Indian.
"What's wrong with mah car, man?!" yelled Heath. "You better not wreck it more!"
"I don't know—I just got this job, why don't you have a little patience?!"
"Well, ya sure are doin' a terrific job, Jinder!" The Southern-bred Ginger's voice grew sarcastic.
Jinder started cursing in Punjabi.
Drew and Natalya started chewing and popping bubble gum from their mouths when the Scot told Heath, "At least he ain't gettin' married! Or runnin' a grocery store like hes old man!"
"Mind your own business!" scolded Jinder. "I didn't have a choice. My mother was at my case all last week. She was gonna get me a strict mother-in-law to boss me around if I didn't get a job or go study medicine. If I didn't do what she tells me, she was gonna get my father to disown me."
"Oh, settle your tea kettle!" Natalya whined. "Your old lady wouldn't dare let you sleep with these bums here on the sidewalk!"
"If you're a towelhead, who sucks at fixin' cars, then yeah," said Heath.
"Fuck you!" yelled Jinder.
"Fuck you!"
"You wish, queer!"
"No, that's Drew!" The Ginger soon got a headsmacking from the Scotsman in the backseat, leading to more racial insults.
"Will you two grow up?" Beth scoffed.
Suddenly, Natalya and Drew blew bubbles and popping explosions from their mouths, annoying Heath. "Goddamnit!" he yelled at the two in the backseat. "Will y'all stop poppin' that dagnab gum?!"
"At least I'm doin' somethin' with meh teeth, unlike that yukmouth ye got!" snorted Drew.
"OOH!" cried Jinder.
"Yeah," agreed Natalya. "Beth, I don't know how you survive after kissing him."
Suddenly, Drew held out his left hand towards Heath and asked for a quarter. "Hell naw!" scoffed the Ginger. "I ain't supportin' your bubble gum fix! Both of y'all! Ah'm gettin' sick an' tired of the goddamn poppin' and blowin' bubbles! Ah just got these seats cleaned after yo' woman left some, an' ah sat and ruined mah Levis! You have a problem, Drew!"
"There's a jukebox in teh alley, ye wanker!"
Heath peered over to the machine glowing in the alley. "Well, why didnya say so? Go on and put on a song!"
So the Scot jumped out of the car and walked to the alley where the jukebox was. He placed a quarter into the slot, and picked out a song. He picked out a Motown hit in the form of The Contours' Do You Love Me, and re-joined the group mouthing the first spoken lyrics before dancing the Swim.
"Whoo-hoo!" Heath hollered. "Now, that's what I'm talking about!"
All of a sudden, The Urchins' and the girls started dancing, not caring about disturbing the bums' slumber, or the block for that matter.
Meanwhile…
As he reached for his coat and hat, Mr. Mushnik heard loud chatter and music from outside. "That does it!" he yelled. "I've had it up to here with those shitty colored-music-Motown-loving, good-for-nothing, meshuganah Urchins!"
He went outside to the source of the music to unplug the racket, but was stopped by the Urchins, who chased him down the block, pissing off Beth and Natalya. The portly Jewish flower shop owner screamed for his life when the Urchins tackled him and gave him the biggest wedgie to take home on the subway to Uptown with him. Drew and Heath went back to their dates, who scoffed and rolled their eyes. Natalya popped Drew's bubble from his mouth as Beth slapped Heath. They weren't going to be satisfied until they act their ages, and they aimed their divalicious glare towards Jinder, who was still fixing the Ginger's car.
Suddenly, Audrey passed by the car, where the Urchins and the girls all noticed her grave appearance. Her arm was in a makeshift sling and she was wearing a sleek cocktail dress. She noticed the flower shop was closed for the night and the only people active this time of night, were the Urchins, Beth, and Natalya. "Did I miss it?" she asked them.
"Yup!" said Drew, putting an arm around Natalya, who refused it.
The look on Audrey's face was of sadness and disappointment, and the Urchins registered it right away. "Seymour's first television broadcast," she sighed. "I wanted to see it so bad, I tried to be on time, but—
"Don't tell us!" Jinder said as he pointed the wrench at her. "You got tied up."
"No, just handcuffed a little."
Jinder shook his head in guilt, as Natalya and Beth warned their dates that if they didn't act like gentlemen by helping the battered Puerto Rican girl out, they would get dumped. They also said the same thing to Jinder, who was a witness to this lovers' quarrel. Reluctant, the Urchins followed Audrey to her apartment. "Girl!" Heath yelled for her, causing her to notice the boys circle around her. "Hey, girl! I dunno who dis mess you been hangin' out with, but he is hazardous to yo' health!"
"That's for sure," sighed Audrey. "But, I can't leave him."
"Why nae?" asked Drew.
"Oh, he'd get angry, and if he does this to me when he likes me, imagine what he'll do if he ever got mad."
They ended up on the stoops to her apartment building.
"So dump the chump!" Jinder suggested. "Get another guy and let him protect you."
"How about the little jerk with the glasses?" said Heath.
"Seymour?" exclaimed Audrey.
"Aye, that's 'im!" Drew snapped his fingers.
"Oh, we're just friends!" the Puerto Rican girl stammered. "I don't even deserve a sweet, considerate, suddenly successful guy like Seymour."
With that, Audrey shut the door on them, refusing any help whatsoever, even if the Urchins were (forced) trying to be nice boys. "Th' poor lass suffers from low self-image," sighed Drew as he jumped off the stoops.
"You got a point," agreed Heath.
"She's got a problem." Jinder echoed him as they all walked to the car.
TO BE CONTINUED….
1. Mattachine: The Mattachine Society was an early pre-Stonewall (Homophile Movement-era) LGBT organization that was started in Los Angeles in the 1950's by Harry Hay, a former member of the Communist Party, and who was openly gay. They branched out nationally before disbanding in 1953 as a national organization, but had active local chapter during the 1960's. For more info, go to here: outhistory dot org(slash)wiki(slash)Harry_Hay:_Founding_the_Mattachine_Society,_1948-1953.
Post Author's Note: Yeah, what do you all think? Working on more chapters, and I really enjoyed 3MB, so this goes on, but I'm still working on the other stuff that will get done possibly by the end of the week, maybe by Halloween. Please review! Your feedback provides encouragement for me to continue.
Lucky (Artemis Phoenix)
