Chapter Four
The Date
After a light Korean dinner and light but informative conversation, Godzilla and Adam went for a stroll along the Hudson River Greenway. The light flickered off the gentle motion of the water like the flickering of random thoughts occurring in the brain. Adam lightly kicked a rock that was in the path.
"I can see all that martial arts training paid off," Godzilla said with authentic sardonicity.
"Shut up," Adam laughed. He wore a crushed indigo velvet top and loose trousers. Godzilla had on a plain gray shirt under a brown corduroy jacket.
Adam raised his head. "Ooh, an ice cream vendor. You want some ice cream?"
"Sure."
They went to the booth. Adam ordered butterscotch in a waffle cone, and Godzilla went for a cup of bubblegum. They wandered over to a bench and sat down. Godzilla accidentally tore the back of the bench off with his tail, and they had to awkwardly rearrange themselves.
"Dammit," Godzilla muttered.
"I'll send the city a check," Adam murmured and took a lick off the cone. The water lapped at the cement barrier in the background, a soft susurrus underlying their conversation like wood shavings in a hamster cage.
Godzilla put his spoon in his cup and quickly checked his phone. "Sorry," he said as he put it away.
"Stop apologizing. I get it. You've got a kid. I'm sure you worry quite a bit."
"I'm sure everything's fine and Svetlana would be calling nonstop if there WAS an issue, but you kind of have to teach yourself to constantly be on alert," Godzilla said and took a small slurp of ice cream. He then sighed. "And the challenges of being a single father … man."
Adam gave him a strange look, then looked around, then back at him. "Can I ask you about that?"
"...Being a single father?"
"Uh. I mean. How did that, uh … happen? Did … did you lay an egg or something? I mean, unless you're hiding some women zillas on that island of yours …"
Godzilla blushed, and gave an uncomfortable cough. "No, I uh … I mean, Minilla WAS hatched out of an egg, but it was … you know … a space egg. I'm … I've got all the … usual male … equipment." He stuck a large spoonful of ice cream in his mouth so that he was unable to continue talking.
"Oh!" Adam said, trying not to sound overly shocked. "Oh …" It seemed as if a comet trailed by a tail of sparkling detritus flew behind his eyes, and he got a weird look on his face.
"What?" Godzilla asked, then hissed because there was so much cold stuff in his mouth he'd gotten tooth-freeze.
"Nothing," Adam said, now blushing himself. "That just brings up … uh … possibilities."
"Oh, wow," Godzilla said, "are you … are you flirting with me?"
Adam laughed. "We're MARRIED! Yes, I'm flirting with you! Why does that seem so strange?"
"I don't … I mean, you're like an international superstar and I'm … just a single dad with a day job trying to make it. I'm nothing special."
"You seem pretty special to me," Adam replied. "You don't know how refreshing it is to meet someone who doesn't know anything about me, but who actually seems to like me. Don't forget, it wasn't that long ago that I was just a teenager in Stone Canyon, back in California. If we hadn't helped save that baby in the park, my life wouldn't be special, either."
"You can't say that for certain, but I get what you're saying. Do THAT MANY people recognize you? I didn't realize I was so out of touch with pop culture."
"I get approached by at least one person a week to tell me Pudgy Pig was a stupid fight." Adam sighed. "I wasn't even a Ranger when they fought Pudgy."
There was a long silence. They ate their ice cream and looked at the river. A boat made boat noises in the distance.
"I don't think I'm a good person," Godzilla finally said.
"What?" Adam asked, shocked.
"I mean it. You remember Kumonga, the giant spider?"
"Sure."
"I burned him," Godzilla admitted softly. "When I was younger, I'd just fight or burn anything that came along. I had so much anger."
"We all make mistakes when we're younger," Adam responded.
"Not you, apparently. You were out rescuing babies while you were in high school!" Godzilla gesticulated wildly with his ice cream as he spoke.
Adam got lost in thought for a moment. "Man, that baby sure went a long way in that carriage. Felt like it was out of control forever."
They both looked down, mired in wry rhymes and rheumy moors of their memories for a moment. Godzilla muttered, "I killed like a third of Tokyo's population. Took out a LOT of infrastructure over the years. If the US ever changes its extradition treaty policies with Japan, I am –"
"Look, look," Adam said, "I said we should find out about our history and all that because I wanted to know more about you, not because I wanted to make you feel guilty for every bad decision you've ever made. What you are now is a good man. That's what matters."
"I suppose," Godzilla grumbled.
"I mean, you know Tommy, right? Did you know when he first joined the Rangers he was a secret spy for Rita Repulsa? But he overcame that influence and fights the good fight. You're basically another Tommy."
"Oh, God, please don't let me be another Tommy," Godzilla laughed. Adam chuckled, too.
A sharp electric hiss sounded behind them and suddenly Tommy was there. "Hey, guys!" he exclaimed. "Did you call me?"
Godzilla tried to stifle his laughter while simultaneously shoving another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth, and ended up choking. This made Adam laugh more, and Tommy just stared at them cracking up good naturedly for a moment.
"No, no," Adam finally choked out. "We're actually on a date. Sorry to have summoned you."
"No problem!" Tommy said, and raised his watch up to his face, but before hitting the button, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Ooh, ice cream!" He wandered away.
Adam and Godzilla smiled crazily but silently at each other until he was gone for good.
"Is he Beetlejuice?" Godzilla whispered.
"What?" Adam laughed.
"I think he's Beetlejuice!"
Adam snorted. "He's not Beetlejuice!" Suddenly realizing they'd said the name thrice, they both quickly stopped laughing and looked around, terrified. After a few moments of Michael Keaton not showing up, they both gave out small sighs of relief.
After a few more half-hearted licks, Adam said, "Man, I cannot handle ice cream like I used to be able to when I was young. I think I'm done."
Godzilla looked sadly at his cup and agreed. They got up and threw their trash in a trash can as they passed. A skate park was coming up on their path, and they could hear the distant sounds of people performing tricks on the cement.
"So what do you think about getting a hotel room?" Adam asked brazenly.
"Oh?" Godzilla answered, then a moment later, "oh! Uh … I'm … sure, I'm, uh … I'm down."
Adam reached up, but could not quite reach Godzilla's hands. He settled on resting an arm on one of his haunches as they walked.
Godzilla kept looking down at Adam, then up again, then to the side, drawing in deep breaths as if he were about to say something, then stopping himself.
Adam smiled. "Just relax, it'll be fine," he reassured Godzilla, and Godzilla calmed down somewhat. They strolled in comfortable silence.
In the near distance one of the skaters yelled, "Man, Pudgy Pig SUCKED!"
Adam sighed, but continued moving forward.
Adam cued up his Slow Jams playlist and threw his Apple iPhone 13 Pro 1TB onto the desk in the hotel room.
Godzilla again had that look of wanting to say something, but his mouth continued to hang uselessly agape, like an opera singer struck mute.
Adam stroked his skin. "Your skin is so rough. Like a rubbery alligator."
"Your touch is … very smooth on me."
Adam moved back and slowly began removing his shirt. Godzilla took a deep breath and started hesitantly removing his jacket.
Both pieces of clothing fell to the floor, and a smooth saxophone remix played gently as their fumbling first few steps toward intimacy were taken.
