000 Present Day - Halloween night
A 70's dance mix thumped over the clubs high-end speakers filling the crowded space with what Pearl only loosely defined as music. But it did have the effect of encouraging the clubs occupance to dance, and dance they did in just about any available space. From her vantage point on the second floor Pearl watched the crowd below, her foot tapping along to the annoying beat. Her hand loosely gripped a chilled tumbler of some kind of fruit-mix, probably pineapple and strawberry, she had no real interest in drinking.
So was so entranced watching the dancers she failed to notice a woman dressed as a belly dancer approaching approaching from behind.
"BOO!" shouted the mystery girl grabbing Pearl around the shoulders causing Pearl to shriek and nearly drop her drink.
Spinning around to confront her aggressor her surprised turned immediately to joy. "Sabina! So glad you made it!" she shouted trying to overcome the loud music pulling the large woman into a tight hug. "Lets go somewhere where we can chat a bit more easily."
Sabina nodded happily then let Pearl leader her towards her reserved booth near the dance-floor overlook. It had cost a bit of her savings but the view of the stage and center-dance floor was worth the expense to make their first halloween meetup.
Once seated Sabina leaned back to get a good look at her dates costume. Whistling her approval she took out her phone and snapped a picture before Pearl could protest. "Pearl! You make a great sexy nurse! Did you have to chase off many suitors while you waited?"
Pearl grinned sheepishly at the silly 'nurse' outfit that clung a bit too tight to her body to be comfortable. "This silly thing? It was Amethysts idea. It was a short wait so not too much, only a few guys tried hitting on me but they were run off easily enough.
Pearl returned the gaze looking Sabina over. "And you have good taste as well, going for the Shakira look? Do you know how to belly dance?"
Now it was Sabina's turn to feel nervous. "Actually I was trying to go for a genie but I guess it does look a bit like the dancer's stage outfit. Oh well, its seems to be doing its job."
The next hour was spent catching up on life's events since the house party those few months ago. Pearl's plans to eventually write a book of her experiences and the latest developments with the gem-family. Sabina's attempts to start a garage band of her own but troubles with finding a suitable practice venue and interested audience making things difficult. It wasn't until they were on their fourth drinks, this time alcoholic, that it was time to change up the visit.
Sabina stood up then moved around to Pearl's side of the table to offer her her hand in a moc bow, "Join me on the dance floor P?"
Pearl hesitated a moment, then accepted the invitation, there was no holding back the feeling of excitement that things were progressing so smoothly.
Following her friend over to a clear spot at the dance-floor overlook they waited for a the next music set to begin. When it did it was some kind of techno-bop that made Pearl wince in annoyance. The crowd below, and Sabina, however started dancing in a kind of rhythmic shuffle of arms, legs and body, swaying along to the synthetic rhythm.
Specializing primarily in ballet, tap, and other more formal dance forms Pearl could barely keep up much less match the rapidly modulating beats of the music. Finally Pearl gave up on dancing to techno to go resume her overwatch at the railing leaving Sabina to shimmy and shake obliviously to her friends discomfort.
Sighing disappointedly to herself she resumed watching the dancers below.
"HOLY STARS!" Pearl shouted at what she was seeing below. There in the middle of a clapping circle of onlookers was a man disco dancing. He seemed possessed by the music, his arms and legs smoothly shifting form poses to kicks, twirls, and more. But it wasn't his dance moves that had Pearl's attention, it was his costume.
Rushing past a still oblivious Sabina, Pearl quickly made her way down the stairs to the lower level. Pushing her way through the crowd she confirmed what she had glimpsed from above. It was a very real looking Nazi-SS officers uniform complete with hat, armband (censored with tape), polished leather boots, holster, long leather coat and more. Straight out of 1939.
Finally the set ended and the crowd dispersed to refresh themselves. The man got up from the floor after his last spin, move then made his way over to the bar. Entranced Pearl followed him to get a closer look and maybe confront him if his costume was more than just a halloween gag.
Reaching the bar she took a seat next to him, she couldn't help but stare wide-eyed which of course he noticed. "Sorry miss, but I'm afraid I'm spoken for, I don't think my girl would like me flirting with another beautiful woman. She'd revoke my hall pass. Names Ron" he said smiling brightly.
Snapping out of her trance she again looked over the 'costume'. "Is that real?" she asked gesturing at the costume. "The outfit I mean."
The man looked down at himself as if conducting his own examination. "Yeah, it is. My grandpa brought it home as a war trophy. The family had thought it lost but we found it when we were organizing his things after he passed on. Sis wanted to burn it but I figured it would make a killer costume for halloween I mean, the nazi's were bad but they had style and that slick villain look that just dripped with classy evil." answered Ron brightly, obviously proud of his unique costume.
"I used to shoot guys dressed like that." replied Pearl deadpanned.
Ron stared back at her as if she had physically slapped him. "Wha...w...is that a bad joke? Why would you say that to me? I don't recall doing anything to warrant such a reply"
Undaunted Pearl continued her diatribe. "Because while you see a costume, I see old memories, horror, violence on a scale not seen in over 70 years. That symbol on your hat, do you know what it means?"
Ron took the hat off to examine the little symbol on the hat. "It just looks like a big bird holding a diamond shape, what of it?" he asked, curiosity beginning to replace his initial shock.
"That is the symbol of a german unit responsible for more war-crimes than any other in Europe." Replied Pearl irritably, "you make a mockery of their victims, make Germans appear as not-all-bad" This was bad, she was starting to get upset. She needed to calm down and fast.
Ron's eyes went wide nearly dropping the hat as if it had turned to poison. "Uh, wow, I knew the arm-band was bad so I covered that up, but this hat, um, Grand-Pop helped to get rid of some really nasty people then didn't he. ...um, yeah." Ron tucked that hat under his arm, making sure the symbol wasn't visible. "I guess I'll put this thing back in storage then when I get home."
Pearl waited a bit for him to finish adjusting his costume during which she got her emotions back under control. Switching to her 'mom' voice "Its okay, I'm sure you didn't know and it did make an...interesting costume. But please, don't wear it again. Go donate it to a museum or if you must keep it then don't wear it again, tuck it away somewhere to preserve the family history."
Taking Pearl's softer tone to mean he was no longer in trouble he leaned back against the bar counter. "Did you really shoot guys dressed like this or was that just a statement to get my attention for a history lesson?" he asked grinning.
Pearl smirked confidently. "All true, I'm a lot older than I look. If you want to know more about the war and its history I'll be doing a story telling at the Fish-Stew pizza next weekend."
Ron nodded, then took out his phone to mark down the date and location. Finishing his drink he made ready to leave. "I'll be there, and this is" pointing at the uniform. "Is going back in storage after a good dry-cleaning. Good night." With that he turned and pushed his way through the crowd of revelors to the exit.
"You did good P, you did good." whispered to herself quietly. "Now, where did my date get off to." Heading back up stairs she found Sabina had returned to the booth and was playing with her phone. Okay, time to make some happy memories.
Sliding into the booth she leaned snuggly against the larger woman to whisper in her year. "Hey Sabina!, if you don't mind, lets head out, I know a club not far from here that might not be as wild but I guarantee its got more class." Grinning Sabina put the phone away then scooted along the bench and out the other side of the booth. "Stars! I'm glad you suggested that. This joint was starting to get a bit repetitive in the music, I could use a change in pace."
Pearl offered her hand, which Sabina took, then gently began to lead her out towards the clubs exit. "Oh, P, Did you see the dude in the uniform disco-dancing? That was something else huh!" hollered Sabina as they passed the dance floor. "Yep, I sure did." replied Pearl.
000 End Chapter
000 Author's notes
Hello Dear Readers!
This chapter is based on a real encounter my parents had at a local dance-club on halloween night back in the 90s. Damn, now I feel old.
The short of it was there was a very german looking dude in a German SS-Officer's uniform busting out his moves on the dance floor. Just like in the story we got a good look at it when he went to get a drink. When my Mom (who loves ww2 history) asked him about it and he confirmed that it was in-fact very real. There was a long family story about the uniform but basically it was a war trophy his uncle brought home with him from Italy. My mom was dressed as a raving hippy and dad as a Samurai; somewhere I have a photo of the weird trio at the club. It was quite a site to see, they did not lecture him or get into an argument, rather they all got drunk, told stories, then parted ways.
Thats all folks. The story is NOT dead and will be resuming. Its just really really hard finding time to convert the outlines into stories. Real world time constraints and all that.
Till next time.
000 History
Sabina / Mystery Girl
A common fan theory is that "Mystery Girl" seen during the "last one out of beach city" episode is named Sabina. Sabina being the name that Kevin shouted and cursed during the last act of "Kevin Party". Only time will tell if this fan-theory is true.
The bird holding a diamond symbol.
1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring
The division, during its time in Italy, committed a number of war crimes, and, together with the 16th SS Panzergrenadier Division Reichsführer-SS, was dis-proportionally involved in massacres of the civilian population, the two divisions accounting for approximately one third of all civilians killed in war crimes in Italy.