An Evening With Perlman

July 11th, evening, Perlman and I set out on a small, weak, unassuming, but oddly cathartic adventure. Walking up and down and around downtown, the sweet city with the smell of salt coming up from the pores of the dead deer hiding in the alley walls. They told me to meet at the beat cafe, wait no, that one, that expensive ass one, I peak through two different corners as the emperors map keeps blurring my vision. Finally, after exhausting myself and almost passing out from dehydration I fall on top of the building. I scurry down to find him, nodding his head like a bowling ball.. I go in and stare blankly at the cashier, she looks oddly at me, I almost jump, stunned that she can see me, its’ only been 20 years since I stopped being a ghost, I sigh, order an espresso and a scone, at least not much has changed. Its a coffee shop, anyways, the cashier isn't really a cashier, or a barista

We sit down, chat, Perlman and I, I mean, not the barista, of course I’m sure I could have taken her on a date at the place she works, I just don't know how easily that would’ve fallen on her ears. Not that it even crossed my mind, only an afterthought, like all the possibilities. I could’ve thrown the espresso on her. I could've hid in the walls. Im asked to read a dirty, dirty piece, and of course, I oblige. I tell him however that the piece wasn't the kind of thing I would read, it felt like a china shop, interesting, sure, but before I could settle on anything I would get too exhausted from the sight and the aroma. 

When we began our walk my plan was pretty simple, see I had just gotten a fancy bottle of Rosé and cooled it perfectly. When I went into my girlfriends cupboard, however, I came across not one wine glass. So, I went to find one. After meandering again through the cities alleys we came across the “Nudge, a little antique semi-thrift shop. This was a bad idea. So we went down the docks and drank the sweet wine there, taking the lush bottle as our glass.. I got to show Perlman the jellyfish. I've been here two years now and no one has told me about the jellyfish, it’s just that my girlfriend happened recently to start swimming in the morning and realized they were everywhere.

After tossing around the bottle, the mission was clear, we are professional journalists, detectives of the people, with a very strict mandate and a meager pay. We walked, because that's what detectives do, they interrogate the city with their feet, first and foremost. I knew sometimes that christians preach to the homeless and offer them crumbs to scramble for, just a couple blocks down, right across the transit station. When we pulled up I stopped as I realized what it was. Is that a three piece vest? I thought to myself. No, two pieces. No nazis. I saw the words Jesus Saves and realized we had arrived, it had been hours, no, my watch was just wrong. I quickly stashed away the bottle to make ourselves more appealing to the christian biker gang we were approaching. I realized they were evangelicals. I turned to perlman and asked if he was still game to go in and investigate, he shrugged and said yes. 

I tried to approach a couple but a wall of cold, not a racing heart, but an uncomfortable lack of air breached my fishbowl world. Shit, I can do this. Obviously, I’ve done this many times. A couple of them turn to me, so that the patch showing Jesus nailed to the cross now looked twisted, like the son couldn't stand to be on the backs of these men. The two pieces read “Saved Sinners” One of them wss off a bit from the group, a nice prey. His name was Danny, I found this nestled deep in the pit of his handshake. I began questioning, finally, I could do my work. He had joined the group a year ago, his niece’s “gym coach” is one of the coordinating members. He was part of some 2 piece MC that ran with 1 percenters called “Sons of Delinquency”, or something like that… anyways it was just a “booze n ride group” as he called it. Didn't really do much. I guess he was looking for a nice christian biker group and got connected though his niece. We were told this little plaza is used every thursday by different christian group, last week it was just some old couple, but “this week, cause it’s the second thursday of the month, its us cooking.”

Curious, I questioned more. I found out the group was local, and out to two other towns, fairly close. Very active, many of the members work inside the Evangelical church and with other evangelical organizations. The conversation got more interesting from there on. He seemed agreeable enough to answering my questions but there was also some stiffness. (also, just came to mind, a lot of them had black bandannas in their left back pocket). He got excited when he was talking more about the homeless people. He said, very openly, that in the two other towns they have these big homeless camps. If homeless people are christian and want off the streets they can go to them. They sounded like little trailer home parks, shitty living, with mandatory bible study. But this wasn't charity, the people had to work, like good protestants. Working wherever, organized by the gang, and everything paid directly to them. Ran like a good feudal town. In chehalis, he said, it was about 30-40 people, but in Shelton it was supposedly much bigger, and a nice estate. All the men and couples were in a big mansion and all the women in a side building. “Its really stunning, beautiful even” he said. I shook his hand a second time and thanked him for his time as we scurried off. 

What's next, we wondered. We went in circles a couple times and then darted off in a straight line, amused at the sight of the carnival, so we went directly away from it. We agreed there had to be more to investigate, there really had to be. Soon enough, as the hot asphalt was beginning to drown us away, we heard music, live music. The crashing sound of the drums that set the volume was just too clear. We found a band playing, with some chairs out front. It was a chill, post post punk band. It kept us entertained for at least a song or two, but soon enough we were whisking past cars to the next location. A couple blocks down is The Herse, an autonomous space and punk venue, and thats where we ended up. We didn't know it was their open mike tonight, but it so happened to be. Incredibly, we were presented with just what we needed: Coffee and free Vegatables. We shouted with joy. I think. Or maybe that doesnt really happen.

We went to sit down at the couch to drink our coffee and eat our melted macaroons we found on the table. Right there on the table were a few zines, so of course we dug in, hungry as we were. Pleasantly surprised I came across the zine for the article of an AnCom reading group coming up. It was just as this that we were out the door. All that happened next was we got some pizza and ate our full of zines. Had to be midnight when we found ourselves once again staring off at the jellyfish, polishing off the now luke-warm wine, and saluting each other goodnight.