(The Awesome Background And Secret Chronicles Of Michael Guerin)
Episode 108
Burning For You (Heat Wave)
December 2nd, 1999. That was the date. Definitely! I remember it like it was yesterday. There was this weird December heat wave. Okay, I admit it. I do have some pretty good reasons to remember it… that was the day Maria and I started to get, uh, close.
Maria was cleaning up downstairs in the CrashDown, and I looked in through the window at her. She was kind of dancing around and sweating from the heat, and that got me feeling the heat, too, you know what I mean? Anyway, Maria opened the door for me and I came in. We started kissing and I guess maybe the windows got a little steamed up. I think Liz was studying upstairs or something. She got thirsty from the heat and came downstairs looking for something to drink, and she hears noises, so she peeks into the restaurant and sees Maria and me on the counter…
What's that, Zorel? I was helping your mama reach some boxes… of cereal… or something. I don't remember. Anyway, as I was saying…
What? Yeah, what else would I be doin' on the counter… with your mama!? Are you gonna listen to the story or sit there grinning and letting your imagination run away? They all know what I was doing… helping your mama reach… something. I don't remember what. Anyway, it was like 90 degrees outside… in the shade, and we were… trying to reach something… whatever… up on the counter.
The next day, at school, Maria and I got together again in the janitor's closet…
We were looking for chalk, Zorel! For Pete's sake, go swimming or something! Yes, on earth they do keep chalk in the janitor's closet… I think.
Where was I? Oh! There was this girl that Kyle had started dating, Vicky Delaney, and she invited Liz to this, uh… party… at the old soap factory. Kyle tried to tell Liz that she shouldn't go, but Liz said she wanted to. Then Liz told Maria about it and Maria told me about it. In the end, even Max was there… and Isabel… and Alex! And that was kind of a miracle itself, because Alex wasn't talking to Liz or Maria after giving his blood and all and then nobody would tell him what was going on. But as I was saying before… There was this weird heat wave, and it seemed like the whole town just got… hot… in more ways than one. Amy was even talking to Sheriff Valenti again. She showed up at school because Topolsky had wanted to talk to her, then Topolsky blew the town after she got outted and Amy was ticked off because she had taken time off to come in and then Topolsky wasn't there. But she found Valenti there and they talked a little and he made this joke about was she stayin' out of the slammer lately…
Oh, very amusing.
Then later, Valenti came into the CrashDown and found Amy there trying to sell Jeff Parker these alien head cocktail stirrers. And they started talkin' again…
Sheriff! Uh…
Hi! I stopped by your shop. They told me you were here.
Oh! Nothing's wrong?
No, nothing's wrong. It's just, uh… Amy, listen, about what happened. It's just, uh… I realize it was a long time ago, and I just want to make sure that you know that… I was just doing my job.
Oh, yeah. Well, I appreciate the sentiment, Sheriff, but it did scar me for life and all, so…
You were breaking the law. You were stopping honest, hard-working people from doing their jobs.
Those honest, hard-working people were destroying a 200-year-old piece of native American architecture… raping our town of its history.
Amy, the native Americans wanted that thing torn down more than anybody.
That's not the point.
Well, it is kind of the point.
There were more than twenty of us out there that day. I was eighteen, naïve, clueless. Why did you pick on me?
'Cause you were cute.
Cute?
You were wearing cowboy boots and a little skirt. Well, I had to arrest somebody, so…
Well, I don't know what to say. I'm outraged. I am now outraged. You are looking at an outraged woman. Sorry… it must be the heat.
I just, uh… I just wanted to apologize. It's good to see you again, Amy.
Yeah, I know, it wasn't me and Maria, but hey! We're talkin' the sheriff here… Valenti. You have to take everything in perspective. For him, that was ssssizzlin'. Ow! Watch it, Jim! That almost hit me!
There was one place in Roswell, though, where there was no heat wave. In fact, more of a cold front. Alex Whitman. Alex wasn't talking to Liz or Maria, as I said before…
Alex! Alex please wait. Will you just give me a chance?
What, Liz?
Let's just try and talk.
What do you want from me? More blood? A urine sample? How about my kidney?
Then Isabel decided to dream walk him, and she found out that he thought of her as, like, his dream girl or something, so she sweet talked him into goin' to the rave at the soap factory with her… to try to warm him up a little.
Meanwhile, Liz saw Maria in the girl's bathroom wearing a turtleneck sweater.
Maria, it's 105 degrees outside, and you're wearing a turtleneck! …What is going on here? You and Michael. Kyle and Vicky. Ms. Hardy and Mr. Krewlick.
And Max was on my case about being with Maria… But I wasn't backing down this time…
I hate to tell you this, Max, but when I have urges, you're not exactly the first person I think about.
Yeah, I realize that, but the point is, we can't let things spin out of control. I mean, sure, it starts as a kiss…
It's more than that.
How much more?
I don't know, Max. It feels so wrong, but it feels so good.
I set Max up… then Liz gave him the double whammy. Because he was feelin' hot for her, too, but he'd been trying to act cool and all. So Liz hit him with me and Maria…
Max, you know when you said before that we couldn't be together… that we were different? I just sort of accepted it, you know? Because I thought that it was, like, physically impossible… that it… that it couldn't be. But when I saw Maria with Michael… the truth is that… I was hurt, Max. Why is it okay for them, but it's not okay for us?
Yeah, see? Everybody thinks Max and Liz hit it off first, but it was me and Maria… well, except for him saving Liz's life after she got shot. But Maria and I got into the… uh, the heat wave… before they did. I know, Maria and I had our little differences at the time. She wanted us to talk and have this visible relationship, and I wanted… a more private relationship. But we both agreed on one thing… we had the passion… in the janitor's closet, the eraser room, empty class rooms…
Passion… that's a… a classic novel, Zorel. We, uh, we had to read it… together… for an assignment.
So, anyway, moving along here, the rave at the soap factory ended with the sheriff bustin' up the party and arresting some people for trespassing. These two jerks that were workin' the sound system handed Liz and Alex each a bottle of liquor when the sheriff showed up and said here, hold this. So Liz and Alex got busted holdin' a bottle of liquor in their hands before they knew what had happened. That got Alex pretty hot… not in the same way as the rest of us. In jail, he threatened to tell Valenti everything, and Liz knew he was dead serious this time…
…I'm done. I'm done protecting you… or her, or anyone else you're associated with. 'Cause I'm telling Sheriff Valenti everything… verbatim… about replacing Max's blood at the hospital, discovering Topolsky was FBI… Everything!
No, look, look, Alex… look… listen to me. You had just… you should just know all of the facts before you do something like this.
Well, I thought you said it wasn't your secret to tell.
Alex, the reason that Isabel did whatever it is that she did is not that she's low, she's just… she's scared.
Scared.
Yes.
Scared of what?
She… she's scared of being different.
Oh, come on. Save it.
Alex… Max and Michael and Isabel, they're different from us. They're different from us in a way that, if the wrong people found out, they would be in a lot of trouble.
I know the whole drugs thing is a load of crap, Liz. I mean, why would the FBI be so interested in three kids into drugs?
No, Alex, listen to me. This doesn't have anything to do with drugs. Alex… Max, Michael, and Isabel… they aren't from around here.
Where are they from? …What? Like, Wyoming? …Oh… okay, fine. Canada. They're Canucks. So what… you're saying the FBI is all over them because they're like… illegal aliens?
Yeah, sort of. Listen, Alex… they're from somewhere else.
Liz, what are you talking about?
God, there isn't any way for me to say this, but to just… but to just say this, okay? Look, Alex… they think they were in the 1947 crash. Okay, they were like in these incubation pods for a really long time… like forty years, and they came out in, like, the form of humans… and now all of these people suspect them. That's why Topolsky's here… and that's why Valenti arrested us… and that's why we're here… because he knows that I'm involved. I'm really sorry, Alex, but… you're involved, too.
Liz, are you okay?
Alex… you don't even understand. The past few months have been like absolute torture lying to you. I will never, ever, lie to you again, I promise.
Fortunately, by the time Valenti came to get Alex to interrogate him, Liz had convinced him of her sincerity… if not that we were aliens…
Whitman! Sleep all right? What say we go down to my office?
No… Right here. I'm ready to talk.
Alright. I want to know what your involvement is with Liz, Max, Michael, and Isabel. And I want to know what happened with Ms. Topolsky.
I'm ready to talk about the fact that I'm a kid. I'm sixteen years old. I'm a sophomore in high school, so what could I possibly have to do with a teacher leaving? What does any of this have to do with you, anyway?
I'm just doing my job, son.
I was at a party! And my only wish was that, while I was there, I engaged in some sort of depraved activity, like drinking or sex, but I didn't. I didn't break any laws.
Everybody who was at that party was trespassing on private property, and both of you were minors in possession of alcohol.
This has nothing to do with that party, does it? Sheriff, I want out of here… right now. I demand it, or I'm going to get a lawyer and I'm going to sue for abusive treatment of a minor. I may be sixteen, but I know my rights.
Alex did it. He got them released. Valenti knew he wasn't going to get anything. He'd have to wait for me to tell him the whole story… if I ever did.
Alex, you were amazing.
Well, yeah… Yeah, I was, Liz.
Uh, so… um, how do you feel? You know, about what I said?
Well, part of me, uh… part of me feels like you've gone insane, and the other part of me feels like I want some of the massive doses of hallucinogens you've obviously been taking. But I don't believe in aliens.
Neither did I… You don't believe me, do you?
I believe that you believe. Leave it at that.
Okay.
Get home safe.
You, too.
See you at school.
And you know what? I was a good influence on Max! Because he went over to see Liz, and they finally got it on… the passion bit… even though the heat wave was over. Well, not the whole heat wave. Just the weather one. All those little fires that got ignited just kept growing… Maria and me… Max and Liz… Isabel and Alex… Kyle… um, well, not all of us maybe. Vicky Delaney didn't last. But chalk one up for the aliens… and especially for the Avenger and his girl. We were the first!
End of Episode 108
tbc…
Huh? Yeah, Zorel, I think Max and Liz did finally read the whole book.