Chapter 12 - Photo Booth

The concert hall was filled to capacity with shadowed forms. All of them were dancing, singing, or doing both. On stage a rock band was performing. In the middle of the crowd stood Star and Marco, the couple looked to be in their early-50s. The music was loud and the song was one the couple was familiar with. Star, like the rest of the crowd, was fully enjoying the experience. Meanwhile her husband just moved his head back and forth to the beat. Star looked up at him a few times, bumping him with her hip to try to encourage him to dance which he did slightly.

"OK brain, pause concert." Star called out and then turned to her husband. The music had stopped and the crowd around them was frozen in place. "Are you not feeling it again tonight? You're acting like someone killed your puppy."

Marco just shrugged. "This is fine."

"Fine? I would rate your current fine slightly below getting a filling."

Marco sighed. "It's just the third time we've done this concert. I don't know, maybe you're right and I'm not feeling it tonight."

Star shook her head. "What is going on Marco? Ever since your birthday you seem...I don't know...going through the motions. No, it is more like when we were trapped in the photo booth again. We are taking the same pictures but I can see something in you is different."

With that the world around them shifted and they were suddenly inside an old mall style photo booth. The walls of the enclosure were covered in pictures of the couple from throughout their lives.

Star poked his chest. "I've been trying to ignore this but you are in such a funk. I know we are living in ANOTHER pandemic and we can't go anywhere but you were like this even before the lockdowns started."

Marco looked up at the ceiling, obviously annoyed. "Next are you going to dig into my head again? Star, I'm fine. Everything is fine. I don't know, maybe I'm just getting frustrated. Maybe...maybe we are running out of fun adventures."

"Shut your mouth Marco Diaz! We love our adventures awake or dreaming! I mean..." She paused and started to look a little panicked. "...you still love our adventures don't you?"

Marco reached up and pulled down one of the pictures and then laid down on the seat of the booth. "Look at this picture from our daily briefing today. Again, thanks to Mina's friends, we are talking to the same officials about monster hate groups. Same call we had last week. Same call we had last month. Same call we had last year." He signed while still staring at the ceiling. "Star...what drives me? And don't look in my head, just tell me what you think."

Star put on her thinking face. "Drives you? Making other people happy drives you. I drive you and don't you dare make a 'drives you crazy' joke."

"Yes, making people happy but it is really about making a difference for good in the world. Am I still making a difference in the world? Or are we just wasting time we'll never get back on people who are never going to change?" She started to interrupt him but he kept going. "Star, I'm at the age now where I clearly remember my grandparents being when I was a kid. I...I see the end game. We are going to keep slowing down, we might start forgetting things, and at some point we are just a shell of ourselves trapped in a barley function body. Just like what they went through. What are we even doing with this time we have left?"

Star's eyes went all twitchy as she thought about what he said. "That is pretty dark...very dark. Is that what you have been thinking about?" She reached down to hold his hand.

"That and other things." He sighed. "Star, have we already had our best day?"

She looked shocked at first but then shook her head no. "Remember what your dad said about his artwork? The best piece is always the next one. I'd like to think that applies to all our days together. Each day can be our best one."

"Hmm...maybe. But speaking of fathers, I've been thinking about yours. Remember the wedding? In his speech he joked that he loved you so much that when you were 14 he traded 10 years of his life away just to make sure you found your soulmate. Remember how he always called me your boyfriend even before we were dating?"

Star frowned. "Yeah, I remember."

"I don't think he was joking. These last 10 years have been awful for him. With his mind falling apart...he has turned into a shell of himself. No one deserves that. And now I'm thinking, is that where we are going?"

The couple shared the same blank stare followed by an awkward silence. Star finally interrupted it. "Wow. You are totally taking the term mid-life crisis to a whole new level."

"In it to win it." He remarked.

"Ok, before we unwrap this. Are you still good with me? We are good right? You aren't disappointed that my uterus couldn't physically handle 1000 babies like you always said you wanted?"

"Star, I love you. I am not sick of you. But we are stuck in this cycle. Think about it this way, remember you made us watch and re-watch all those old black and white Marx Brother movies back when the kids were little?"

"I loved Harpo."

"OK, so how many different ways did Harpo play the harp in the movies?"

Star pondered this. "I know you are going somewhere with this but I want to answer anyway. He broke a harp out of a piano, played one on a ship, he played one in a department store, and then he played one dressed like a Mewni noble."

"Remember when the kids made us re-watched the movies and you fast forwarded those parts."

Star dropped his hand. "So you are saying I'm Harpo and you are sick of me."

Marco took a deep breath. "NO...I'm just sick repeating some of the things we do and I'm wishing sometimes I could skip past them. Does that make sense? Or maybe what I like is changing? Maybe...maybe I'm changing."

"Hey! I NEVER said we wouldn't change! We just needed to change together. Wait-wait-wait, are you saying...are you saying we've stopped changing together?!" Her expression was of surprise.

He placed his hands over his face. "I don't know, I've just been thinking about this a lot since my birthday and frankly, I'm still not sure exactly what I think. Sorry. I wish what was bothering me was something simple where just a kiss can make it all better."

Star poked his chest. "No, a kiss is not going to help much here. But...talking about it does make me feel better. I'm glad you told me."

He took another deep breath. "It does help. I'm glad I told you too."

She kept her hand on his chest now, feeling his heartbeat. "Make a deal with you Mr. Diaz, we try out a few new hobbies and see if we like any of them together. NOT to use as distractions that waste our time but to see if they help us grow together. How does that sound?"

"I'd like that." With that he put his hand on top of hers.

"As for making a difference, I feel your frustration. It feels like no matter what awesome-world-changing-for-the-better idea we have someone is working to undermine us. Every proposal, 40% are for it, 40% against it, 20% not willing to say what they think for fear of pissing off everyone else." Star played with his hair now while taking a long pause until she was ready to speak again.

"Call it a silly idea but what if you finally ran for office? Something where you can make the biggest difference." His eyes focused on Star while she kept talking. "I couldn't have gotten where I am now without us working together, but now that I've made it you should make it too. We both know that I can never run for president since the stupid constitution says you had to be born here. You however, run for something yourself, anything! Even if you lost in some primary, it would give you a big opportunity to get the word out on issues you care about...maybe make that difference without me taking the headlines."

He replied using air quotes. "Star, I'm good at working against 'the man'. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for being 'the man'."

She smiled at him. "Remember when we were kids, I wanted to raise warnicorns and you were told that you would be the CIO of Garbage Island? If things keep going downhill in this country getting elected would be just like being CIO of Garbage Island."

He looked back at her. "Nice one Senator Butterfly."

"Hey I'm being serious! You know you would do a better in any office then that orange turd president did, remember him from when we were kids. Just make sure I'm your Secretary of Awesome if I ever decide to work for you. OR...you could always focus on charity work. Maybe we could both do that when my term is up? Anyways, you think about it. You have options...WE have options."

He was smiling now. "It does feel better to talk about this."

Star bent down, kissed him, and then went back to talking. "You know, all those stories about us that Starfan wrote, they always skipped this part. I never would have thought that you would feel like this. I thought if you had a mid-life crisis it would involve a convertible and running off with some young legal assistant."

A wide smile grew over Marco's face, "What makes you think I wasn't going to do that too?"

"I DON'T CARE IF I AM ASLEEP I AM KICKING YOU RIGHT OUT OF THIS BED!"

And she did.