Déjà vu

A Short Story (Part Two).

It took forever to walk to the esplanade. Near the sea, my feet were swallowed by ravenous puddles who behaved like quicksand. Closer to the dunes, sharp rocks and shards of shell were camouflaged in the soft warm sand. It was hard to believe I’d walked on this beach the night before without my shoes. Or had I?

Once I hit the pavement, I was able to find my bearings. The Sweetwater Lounge wasn’t too far down, and Diego’s red and white mustang was still there, parked in the lot. A handful of staff members – all in black and white uniforms – hovered at the entrance. A cloud of white smoke rose above them, and then drifted with the wind.

A memory flashed at that moment; a young man vaping near our table, asking if he could sit for a moment to rest his legs. And then nothing. No memory beyond that.

When I realized I might be recognized, I ditched the sombrero that was covering my head. Partly because it was embarrassingly large, and partly because I had no idea who it belonged to – or how it ended up on me. Not to mention the fact that it was a sombrero. I’d worn hats like that before, but only on rare occasions like birthday dinners at Joselito’s, and one or two Cinco de mayo parties.

The doors had just opened for brunch. A party of three entered, so I hurried along beside them as the hostess led them to their seats – trying to hide my sandy feet. As she handed them their menus, I slid away to the bar and found a seat in the back corner, as far from the entrance as possible. 

The bartender brought coffee over – which I accepted – and then I ordered a bloody mary. My head was still aching (and now spinning), and I knew from experience that a little hair of the dog would help. 

The drink helped me settle, so I struck up a conversation – informing the bartender that I’d been there the night before. I told him I’d been on a date, and that my date’s car was in the parking lot.

“You must mean Diego!” He said. “I saw his car out there. Where is he?”

“I don’t know,” I told him. “I thought he might be here.”

He looked at me, waiting for me to say more. I wasn’t ready to talk about my own situation, let alone Diego’s, so I shrugged and left it at that.

I kept thinking about the Sombrero. Where did that silly hat come from anyway? Diego didn’t have a sombrero with him (unless it was hidden in his trunk which sounds ridiculous) – so I wondered if tracking down the hat’s owner would help me find out more about what happened.

At that moment, as if it were a sign, I noticed a poster on the wall behind the bartender. The location seemed familiar – like I’d been there before – and there was a man in the picture, walking away from the camera… wearing the sombrero!

“What’s that all about?” I asked, pointing to the picture.

“Oh, that’s Billy,” he said. “Billy Ray. He’s a regular here. He’s playing over at Harry’s tonight and he asked us to spread the word.”

“Interesting hat.” I said, trying to be nonchalant.

He looked at the poster, thought for a moment, and then smiled and said he hadn’t even noticed it – and he’d certainly never seen it before.

I chuckled, asked for my tab, and then ordered an Uber. It was time to go home, and take a hot shower and a long nap. Later, I’d be paying Billy Ray a visit… to see what I could find out about that hat.

READ ON

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FYI for anyone new and interested… (HERE is PART ONE of the ongoing short story). It’s very adlib, so I’ll be as surprised as you to read the ending.

I thought I’d quickly share my excitement over my featured images for this story (and probably future stories as well).

One problem I’ve had in the past is that I think of a story, but then I think of an image or scene that I want to create – to accompany it. I usually end up spending way too much time on the image – then it doesn’t really look like I’d planned – and (low and behold) by the time I’d finished, I’d lost my desire to write!

So, I’ve just started experimenting with Photoshop Beta. It is a GREAT tool for someone who’s not committed to pure original photography. Basically, you choose an area on the image where you’d like to add or remove something, and the AI does everything for you.

For my Under a Sombrero, I removed some mountains, added clouds, added a woman lying in the sand, and then added her sombrero – all just by typing in what I wanted it to do. I’ll go into more details at another time and show some before and after images if anyone is interested.For tonight’s image, I removed a billboard from the side of the building – added the man walking, and then added his sombrero all using AI. No cropping, masking, nada. I wouldn’t do it for images that I literally want to “create,” but for those that are simply there to add to my stories it’s AWESOME. Such a time saver. Now I spend more time on the story than on the images.Of course, I also add effects to make them somewhat my own. But that’s the fun part.Anyway, it’s late again and I’m burnt out. I hope you are enjoying the story so far!