A/N: Sorry for the long wait – I am a very busy person right now… I have a play that I'm in and we're performing tomorrow and Friday… So I have to practice for that… Anyways this will get dramatic in the next few chapters – just a warning! So enjoy this chapter and this is my definition of BAGGAGE – is it the same to the movie/play? WHATEVER JUST READ THE STORY! Hehehe…
Baggage
Definition: Ideas, beliefs, or practices retained from somebody's previous life experiences, especially insofar as they affect a new situation in which they may be no longer relevant or appropriate (informal)
emotional baggage
I DO NOT OWN RENT!
Review please!
Note: I'm guessing you all know the song 'La Vie Boheme' so I didn't put who said each line – so I hope it's not confusing.
April Showers Bring May Flowers
Summary: Who is April? What if she was still alive? Would Roger and Mimi still fall in love? Would Angel and Collins still meet the same way? How would the plot of the movie/play change? Would Mimi Angel Roger, and Collins still have AIDS? Read to find out.
La Vie Boheme
(Present Day)
December 26th 1989
7:45pm E.S.T.
"I'm fine… I have the best news." Everybody stared at Mark waiting for him to say something. When he said nothing – Maureen spoke up.
"What is it?"
"Tonight on the eleven o'clock news, the top story will be your protest." Mark pointed to Maureen who had covered her mouth with her hands in a failed attempt to cover her gasping.
"How do you know that?"
"They bought my footage of the riot." Maureen moved towards Mark and kissed him. Her hands were placed on his cheeks. She pulled back, but still stayed close to his face
"How can I ever repay you?" Before Mark could say anything, Joanne stepped in.
"Let the boy buy us dinner."
"Aw Pookie!" Maureen said and tried to kiss Joanne while Mark and the others tried to get a table.
"Oh – oh no! Not tonight, please not tonight." The host said and Mark looked around.
"Why not?"
"Because you sit here all night and never order anything."
"That's a lie!" Mark protested and the host shook his head. Mark thought for a second. "Last week I had a tea…"
"You couldn't pay for it."
"Oh yea…" Mark looked around helplessly at the others until Angel stepped up.
"Well now we can – KAPOW!" She laughed as she walked towards the tables.
"Alright but don't move the tables!"
"Hey let's move these tables together." April said as everybody moved the tables closer together.
"No – no! Don't do that!" The host said, but seeing that it was impossible to stop them, went back to seating other families and couples. Angel and Mimi sat next to each other and Collins sat down on the other side of Angel. Maureen stood up and saw Benny. Mimi tried to hide herself behind the person in front of her.
" Benjamin Coffin the third. Enemy of Avenue A." Benny got up and walked to the tables.
"Look guys, what happened there was not my fault-"
"Go to hell." Maureen said and looked to everybody else.
"So why did Muffy-" Roger started, but Benny cut him off.
" Allison." Roger looked towards Mimi, Angel, and Collins. Collins just laughed and placed his hands out in front of him. Roger looked back up at Benny.
"Come to the show?"
Benny looked at the ground, "There was a death in the family." Angel looked confused; she always was a softie when it came to death. She knew how that was.
"Who died?"
"Our Akita."
"Evita." Roger, Angel, and Collins said at the same time. Mimi who had recently heard the story about Angel killing the dog started to laugh as Mark, Roger, Angel, Collins, and April joined in.
"You make fun - yet I'm the one, attempting to do some good. Or do you really want a neighborhood, where people piss on your stoop every night? Bohemia Bohemia's… A fallacy in your head… This is Calcutta Bohemia is dead." Benny moved away from the table and went back to sit down. Mark followed him making chicken wings and mocking him. When Benny turned around, Mark stopped and stood in front of the tables.
"Dearly beloved we gather here to say our goodbyes." Mark placed his hands on the table.
"Dies irae – dies illa, Kyrie eleison… Yitgadal v'yitkadash." Roger and Collins stood up and chanted together.
"Here she lies; no one knew her worth, the late great daughter of Mother Earth… On these nights when we celebrate the birth. In that little town of Bethlehem." Mark's body was being passed along the table as he sang.
"We raise our glass – you bet your ass to…" Maureen stood up and mooned Benny and the two men that he was sitting and talking with.
"La vie Boheme…" Mark chanted and looked to everybody else.
"La vie Boheme!" The all did the same kind of dance as they sat down. "La vie Boheme." The pointed to Benny.
"La vie Boheme."
"To days of inspiration, playing hookey, making something out of nothing." Mark sang as the others sang quietly in the background.
"La vie Boheme."
"The need to express – to communicate,"
"La vie Boheme."
"To going against the grain, going insane, going mad."
"La vie Boheme."
"To loving tension, no pension… To more than one dimension."
"La vie Boheme."
"To starving for attention, hating convention, hating pretension…"
"La vie Boheme."
"Not to mention of course, hating dear old Mom and Dad."
"La vie Boheme."
"To riding your bike, midday past the three-piece suits.
"La vie Boheme."
"To fruits – to no absolutes…"
"La vie Boheme."
"To absolute – to choice – to the Village Voice…"
"La vie Boheme."
"To any passing fad… To being an us for once… Instead of an them!" Mark finished his whole preaching section and then let go of Maureen who had attached herself to his legs. Everybody else joined in.
"La vie Boheme – La vie Boheme!" Maureen and Joanne were pushed together and were cuddling. Apparently that wasn't okay with the man at Benny's table.
"Ahem!" The man coughed.
Maureen turned her head to look at the man. "Hey mister, she's my sister."
"So that's five miso soup, four seaweed salad, three soy burger dinner, two tofu dog platter and one pasta with meatless balls." The waiter read as he walked around the table. Roger looked confused at Mark.
"Eww."
Collins pretended to look hurt and surprised. "It tastes the same!"
Mimi giggled, "If you close your eyes."
"And thirteen orders of fries… Is that it here?"
"Wine and beer!" Mimi and Angel were standing up on the table, Mimi holding her wine glass in one hand and Angel climbing between her legs.
"To hand-crafted beers made in local breweries. To yoga, to yogurt, to rice and beans and cheese. To leather, to dildoes, to curry vindaloo. To huevos rancheros and Maya Angelou!" They finished but stayed on the table dancing as Collins and Maureen walked in front of Benny's table. So much for hiding… Mimi thought to herself.
"Emotion, devotion, to causing a commotion… Creation, vacation…" Collins picked Maureen up as Mark uttered the next two words.
"Mucho masturbation."
"Compassion, to fashion, to passion when it's new." Maureen and Collins sang together.
"To Sontag!" Collins yelled.
"To Sondheim!" Angel who was just about to get off of the table, stood back up as she sang.
"To anything taboo!" Joanne, Maureen, and two other girls said together. Benny placed his head in his hands as the two people he was sitting next too looked confused and angry at the same time.
" Ginsberg Dylan Cunningham and Cage…" Roger and Collins were standing on the table together their arms around each others shoulders.
" Lenny Bruse." Collins said and pointed to Roger.
" Langston Hughes!" Roger said and did a fancy hand gesture to Collins.
"To the stage!" Maureen laid on the end of the table closet to Benny.
"To Uta, to Buddha Pablo Neruda, too." They all sang together.
"Why Dorothy and Toto went over the rainbow… To blow off Auntie Em!" Mark and Mimi sang together and did the same hand motions.
"La vie Boheme!" Everybody chanted as Joanne and Maureen kissed.
"Sisters?" The same man who had coughed when Maureen and Joanne were close questioned and they nodded.
"We're close."
Everybody moved out of the way to reveal Collins and Angel kissing. "Brothers!"
"Bisexuals, trisexuals, homo sapiens, carcinogens, hallucinogens, men, Pee Wee Herman. German wine, turpentine, Gertrude Stein… Antoniotti, Bertolucci, Kurosawa Carmina Burana." Mark, Mimi, and Angel sang together until everybody else joined in.
"To apathy, to entropy, to empathy, ecstasy… Vaclav Havel – The Sex Pistols, ABC!" All the Bohemia's did the sign language of 'A, B, and C.'
"To no shame – never playing the Fame Game…"
"To marijuana!" Somebody yelled and everybody turned around to see just another man saying something. Everybody laughed and continued on.
"To sodomy, it's between God and me. To S & M!"
"Waiter... Waiter... Waiter... Waiter!" Benny called and looked around for the waiter who obviously wasn't paying any attention to him and was watching all the Bohemia's.
"La vie Boheme!"
"In honor of the death of Bohemia an impromptu salon will commence immediately following dinner... Maureen Johnson, just back from her spectacular one-night engagement at the eleventh street lot, will perform Native American tribal chants backwards through her vocoder, while accompanying herself on the electric cello – which she ain't never studied." Maureen got off of the table that she had been doing the robot on as Roger came down the table.
"And Mark Cohen will preview his new documentary about his inability to hold an erection on the high holy days." Everybody laughed – Mark blushed briefly but covered it up by talking about Mimi.
"And Mimi Marquez, clad only in bubble wrap, will perform her famous lawn chair-handcuff dance to the sounds of iced tea being stirred." Mimi stood up on the bar and performed one of her highly watched dances.
"And Roger will attempt to write a bittersweet, evocative song." Roger started to play the first few measures of Musetta's Waltz before Mark interrupted him. "That doesn't remind us of Musetta's Waltz!"
Collins and one other person helped Angel up on the tables. " Angel Dumott Schunard will model the latest fall fashions from Paris while accompanying herself on the 10 gallon plastic pickle tub." Angel turned and watched as Collins got up on the board. She jumped off the table.
"And Collins will recount his exploits as anarchist – including the tale of the successful reprogramming of the M.I.T. virtual reality equipment to self-destruct, as it broadcasts the words!" Collins had erased the specials board and written 'FIGHT AIDS' on it. April smiled as she found herself sitting in the same chair that she had been in the whole night.
She hadn't enjoyed this one bit – she was getting quite annoyed but didn't say anything.
"Actual reality – act up – fight AIDS!" Everybody chanted together. Mimi looked over to April who was talking to Angel about something or another. Then she looked at Roger who was strumming the guitar. She got off the bar and walked over to him.
"Excuse me – did I do something wrong? I get invited – then ignored all night long…" Roger took off his guitar and looked towards the group then into Mimi's eyes.
"I've been trying – I'm not lying. No one's perfect… I've got baggage."
"Life's too short babe, time is flying… I'm looking for baggage that goes with mine."
"I should tell you…" Roger started but Mimi cut him off.
"I've got baggage too." Mimi offered thinking about April and all her problems and fits and her AIDS…
"I should tell you…"
"Baggage-" They started but everybody else cut them off this time.
"Wine and beer!" April's beeper went off and she looked over to Mimi and Roger.
"AZT break…" She said to herself and placed the pill between her lips fast enough to see Roger and Mimi making their way outside.
What the hell-? April thought to herself and waited a couple of minutes before she went to find them. She opened the door to the outside a little bit and saw Mimi and Roger standing in the snow.
"I should tell you I'm disaster… I forget how to being it…"
April sat down so they couldn't see her and she watched… She shook her head – Mimi was dead.
End of La Vie Boheme