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Karaoke
Chapter 9
The bathroom was clean. Dan didn’t think he’d ever seen such shiny tiles, and neat towels. He was soaking in the generously sized bath, and could feel the fortnight’s worth of homeless scum slowly lifting off him. He blew some bubbles off his nose, and dunked his head under the surface. Damn, this felt good. Susie had practically ordered him in here as soon as he woke up from her floor. Not that he was complaining, it felt wonderful. Susie was an old friend of Dan’s, from years ago, they even used to date for a while, until they realised that it was a bit weird, and that what they had was more like a best friend/brother/sister relationship. The two of them hadn’t met up since he moved down to Cornwall years ago, yet he never really expected that the reunion would be under circumstances like these.
"How ya doing Danny?" shouted Susie through the door.
"Fine, I’m feeling much better thanks."
"You’ve been nearly an hour in there … don’t be too much longer or you’ll turn into a prune!"
Dan smiled. He tried to imagine himself turning into a dark wrinkled juicy dried fruit, and thought it ironic that it would be water that could turn him into such a creation.
"Won’t be to long" he replied.
"I’ll leave some clothes out for you. They’re Iain’s, but he’s about your size."
Dan heard the footsteps walk off, and sank his head under the surface of the water.
Just five more minutes, he thought
Downstairs, Susie sat at the kitchen table. She had a vacant look in her eyes that suggested she was deep in thought. She hadn’t seen Danny in over three years, and then he turns up like this? What the hell had gotten into him? What could have turned the care free student she knew and loved into such a complete mess. He had looked like he hadn’t seen a bath for weeks. In fact, he had looked like he hadn’t seen the inside of a building for weeks. Susie shook her head in disbelief just as Dan walked in, wearing Iain’s clothing, and she didn’t hold back on her bluntness.
"So, what the fuck has happened to you?"
"Er, it’s a long story, perhaps you’d better put the kettle on."
Once tea was made, Dan sat down and told her the whole story from the start. The Karaoke at Kev’s, moving to Glasgow, getting banned, Getting beaten, losing everything. He told her the lot. All, however, except the events of the previous night. He figured that the story was all a lot for Susie to take in and mentioning that he had just prostituted himself out for karaoke might just be a bit too much. And Dan still had mixed feelings about the whole night. He could still feel the buzz and sense of well-being that only a post karaoke day can bring, but the shame of his actions to be able to do that simply meant that he hadn’t quite come to terms with it all himself yet. Dan didn’t know he was capable of giving a blow job until last night … what else might he be capable of as well? He put his hand in his pocket as he spoke. Sylvester’s card was still there, and he fiddled about with it whilst talking. After he had said his piece, Susie sat silently for a moment, soaking in the information.
"So let me get this straight …" she asked finally, smirking "you’re not talking about a drug, your talking about karaoke?"
Dan simply nodded, just the mention of the word sent his heart pounding in anticipation … perhaps she would even let him sing to her?
"We’re talking singing cheesy songs down a microphone in front of drunken pub goers?"
"Yes.. but…" started Dan
"You’re addicted to fucking singing in a pub? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"But Susie …" tried Dan. He couldn’t believe that she didn’t understand.
"You’re taking the piss right? Come on Danny, what the fuck is really happening here?" Susie didn’t know whether to be angry or burst out laughing, she could barely contain either. Dan didn’t know what to do. He felt speechless, and simply withdrew into himself, regretting ever arriving on her doorstep.
"It’s all true," he protested quietly "please don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, it’s more powerful than any drug we ever tried in our student days, it’s become the only thing in my life that I look forward to, the only thing that I crave.".
Susie looked into Dan’s eyes. She saw a depth of desperation that she hadn’t seen in him before. Pleading, yet lost. Occasionally during her travels she would meet someone with that same look, and as a general rule, they weren’t people who she would want to spend too much time with. They were sometimes victims of their own fuck ups, such as beggars, or other lost souls. Sometimes they would be people that appeared normal at first, but after a while a change would start. They would become obsessed with something they liked, usually drugs or sex and their personality would change. All these people, including Dan, had something in common, they were all addicts.
"You’re actually serious …" she changed her tone, "I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh, I’ve been away, and thought I had seen it all. Then no sooner do I get back then you show up … like this." She tailed off into thought.
"Susie, I need help. I’ve nowhere to go, no one else to turn to."
"Well look, of course I will help you, but if you really want help you need to stop taking karaoke right now."
"What?" protested Dan, "No! I need it, it’s my only pleasure in life"
"Look at your self. You ‘need’ it? You’ve turned into an addict. I always thought you of all people would be okay in life, and now, looking at the state of you, I …" she stopped, unsure of how to describe her feelings
"What?"
"I’m just disappointed that’s all. You always had so much potential to be great, to do great things with your life."
"But if you just knew what it was like,"
"I just don’t get it Dan. You say you want help, but you aren’t willing to give it up. Stay here for as long as you need to, but it has to stop."
"But …"
"No buts, look what it has done to you. You’ve lost everything! You’ve fucked up on a level I’ve never seen in you before. Is this really how you want you’re life to be?"
"No, of course not, but …"
"There’s that ‘but’ again Danny. You need to spend a few days thinking pretty deeply about yourself, and what you want. Do you want your life back, or do you want to spend it searching for your next musical hit of karaoke"
That word again lit Dan’s eyes up, a motion that did not go unnoticed by Susie. As she spoke, he still played with Sylvester’s business card in his pocket.
"You’re right Susie, I know you are, but …"
"It’s that ‘but’ again Danny, don’t make excuses, just have a long think about it all, and let me know"
"Yeah, all right."
Susie looked at her watch
"Shit, I’m late for my bank appointment. Look Danny, I want to help you, you’re one of my best friends, but we need to talk about this more. I need to get my head around it all too. Just relax, get some food, watch some television, I’ll be back in at dinner time."
"Okay, okay, but before you go do me a favour." Began Dan
"Quickly, I’m late."
"Let me sing to you, just a little bit"
Susie rolled her eyes, and sighed. The next few days were going to be tough.
"Dan, just don’t go anywhere, we’ll sort this one out together" She walked out of the flat and shut the door.
As Susie walked off, Dan placed his head on the table and let out a deep breath.
* * * *
Glasgow’s city centre was as busy as normal, and Susie went about her mundane tasks whilst the rest of the city went about seemingly at double speed. Her meeting came and went, bit’s of shopping seemed to happen automatically, but all she could think about was karaoke. How could it be that something as stupid as that could have messed him up so much? Everywhere she walked she would see signs outside pubs, ‘Karaoke every Saturday’, ‘All you can eat ‘Curry-oke’ buffet and sing-along’. Could it be that everybody who tried it became addicted? If they didn’t, then what the hell was so different about Danny? And what else could people get addicted to? In the past few hours the world had gone from feeling like normal, to a place where she felt like a stranger. She had been touched by a dark underworld that she never knew existed, and suddenly couldn’t help but think that her life was never going to feel the same again. The world was now a different place, and her worldly travels hadn’t prepared her for it at all. She had so many questions, so much she didn’t understand, and there was only one person that could even begin to answer them.
But by the time she got home, that person was gone.
* * * *
The kettle clicked off, and Susie poured herself a mug of tea. This is of course the standard procedure for any British person who doesn’t know how to deal with a stressful situation. Her stressful situation was Dan, and Susie was now very worried about him. She sat down at the table in her kitchen, added some sugar and thought about what had happened that morning. She still hadn’t come to terms with the sudden and shocking arrival of her old friend, in the state he was in, and no sooner had he arrived, than he had left again. Had she been too harsh when she practically laughed in his face? Perhaps she should have took him more seriously, after all he was in quite a mess. That reaction was probably the last thing that he needed. But addicted to karaoke? She still didn’t get it and just didn’t know what to do. She looked at the time, Iain was due back any minute now. She was split between a desire to help her friend out, and the confusion of seeing that fear in his eyes. Dan just looked so lost, so confused. Susie sat at her kitchen table and stared. The answer was beginning to dawn on her. There was only one way to find Dan, a man lost in a seedy underworld, but her thoughts were broken by the sound of the door opening. Iain walked in.
"Honey I’m home." He shouted in his best cheesy fifties style.
"In the Kitchen!"
Iain walked in and instantly notice the pensive look on her face.
"What the hell has happened to you?"
And Susie told him. Dan’s arrival, Dan’s story, Dan’s disappearance.
Finally Iain said, "So what do we do, how can we find this Dan?"
"There’s only one thing I can do. I’m going to have to try Karaoke."
Iain’s only reaction was to fall off his chair.
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