“You wear contact lenses right? I swear the other night you had blue eyes.” Alice said, totally off subject and Quin remained silent, and finally Alice broke down. She never could stay quiet for any amount of time.

            “I want to sit down and have a cup of java with you, maybe learn your last name? I know you won’t let me do an article on you, and that’s fine, but your music speaks to me.” Alice admitted and Quin kept the same stance, staring at Alice. Alice turned away, the stare was to intense, to hard nosed, and to ***** arousing. Alice wished she were wearing underwear because she was sure she was soaking through right about now.

            “Who took these?” Alice asked, her eyes falling on the photos on the wall, she moved up to them, her fingers reaching up to caress the picture. It was of an old woman, wrinkled and old, the photo was in black and white, the woman wasn’t smiling exactly. She had a rather Mona Lisa type smirk on her face, but her eyes, they were alive, filled with something. Alice recognized it immediately, it was life.

            “Just a local photographer.” Quin said, and Alice stared at the photo for a long while, then Quin was at her elbow, and Alice jumped. She hadn’t heard the woman moving around the counter.

            “Where were you just now?” Quin questioned and Alice didn’t really leave the zone she’d been in, looking at the woman’s dancing eyes. Passion, love, hate, rage, just pure life in those eyes, filled with her soul.

            “I was… Thinking how wonderful it must be to be that age, and still be so vibrant and filled with the lust for life.” Alice said in a very soft voice; she turned and Quin was back behind the counter, Alice wondered how stand offish a person could be.

            “She died, a week after that was taken. Or so the story goes.” Quin said, bending down and Alice lost sight of her for a moment. When she popped back up, she was holding a bag and looked like she was going to leave, but Alice couldn’t move. She was rooted to this place, this time, the moment was so keen in Alice‘s reality that she thought perhaps it was a dream.

            “Wow.” Alice managed to say, and Quin went to the door, opening it and holding it for Alice to go out and she did, walking in slow measured steps. She stopped in front of Quin, with her hair pulled away from her face, making her look that much older and more severe.

            “How about that coffee?” Alice asked, feeling a bit more assured of herself, she’d heard Quin speak more than one sentence in 20 minutes, that was enough to satisfy her for now.

            “I have practice, at the Planet, right now actually I’m late.” Quin stated, walking in front of Alice and Alice groaned, damn it what was it going to take to break the enigma of Quin? Years? She wasn’t going to give up, no way, no how.

            “Mind if I tag along?” Quin kept walking, she went to the curb and there was a cab waiting for her, Alice wondered if it was always the same cab that picked her up. It seemed to have just appeared and that never happened in LA. Quin turned to her, seeming annoyed at the tag along.

            “Even if I mind, I’m sure you’ll materialize there, won’t you?” Quin stated/asked and Alice nodded, and Quin held the door opened for her and Alice scurried into the cab. She turned to see if Quin watched her *****, but she was staring over the roof of the cab at a limo parked at the opposite side of the street.

            “Company?” The driver said, and Quin’s jaw was locked in anger. She chewed on the gum in her mouth and snapped it, her gaze harsh as she said.

            “How about we drive.” Came the order from her lips, so effortless, yet not sounding offensive or demanding. Alice was taken back at how commanding she sounded at that moment, and she watched her every move.

            “How about we do that.” The driver said, and Alice read the name R. Searhurst on the cabby license. She grinned at the ***** looking woman and winked at her, the woman winked back.

            “So you drive her often?” Alice asked and the woman looked up, clear blue eyes meeting hers in the mirror.

            “Every day on the weekdays and sometimes Saturdays, right Quin?” Quin merely grunted, looking out on the streets as they people whizzed by and Alice began an easy conversation with the cabby. Ten minutes, and R. Seahurst‘s phone number later, they arrived at the Planet. Quin got out, throwing a Twenty to the driver and walked away, not waiting for Alice.

            “Hey Alice!” The cabby called back and Alice turned and leaned into the passenger’s seat window. An easy smile from the cabby and Alice grinned back, thinking she might just call this little cabby gem.

            “Don’t give up, she’s never had someone in the cab with her before, it’s a first, gotta mean something right? And believe you me, there have been some ***** ***** women at the corner with her, and you’re the first to get as close as you did.” Alice brightened, and she grinned.

            “Thanks Sea!” She yelled, turning and jogging into the Planet, ignoring the regular fair and going into the back room, where Quin and the band were already playing a song. Marina sat at the bar, watching and Alice sat with her.

            “I was expecting you.” Marina said, and Alice‘s eyebrows shot up, Marina smiled softly.

            “You cannot let a mystery go unsolved.” Alice looked up, watching Quin work the guitar and she shook her head.

            “No, that I can’t.”

Brink
10/12/04

World is an artwork of tapestry
Of chaotic images and emotions
Haphazard lives thrown into tailspins

Drama and insanity
Pepper our daily lives
Driving me to the brink
Of the dark inviting abyss

Tempt me to cross the thin red line
Dare me to plunge headlong into the darkness
Can you see where you’ve driven me
I’ve lost my mind
You’ve orchestrated my demise

Broken and tattered
Completely shattered
Picking up the shards of what was once me
Scrambling to reassemble my life

Now I’m free
Of the hold you had over me
I embrace the insanity
Peace finally washes over me

JadedRogue