The Disillusionists cont'd...

"So anyway, there we were with this S.U.V. on a flatbed half way to Inuvik and there's no water to wash it. I mean, it's been on the back of this truck the whole time, hundreds of miles... flown in to Whitehorse and we get to this spot and there's no water to wash it with because it's covered with crap so later we have to put fake crap on it because it's an S.U.V. right? But they wanted some nice clean shots so it looks pretty so what do we do? Drive it back out and find a river and bucket cold water on it..." Mike laughed and wiped some saliva from the corner of his mouth, "Unbelievable. We were there for a week. Had to re-mud the truck anyway, the crap off the road didn't look real. Looked like it had been on the back of a truck. It's hilarious, the rep's are freaking out, gas is like, two bucks a litre and there's nothing to do but ball the production assistant all day."

The last comment was the only one that seemed to get through. I caught a glimpse of Alexis, who ignored the statement intently. Mike laughed nervously. Jay acted unimpressed. His entire thing was to be unimpressed. I imagined his parents were stock brokers and much too self-absorbed to raise him properly... he ran away at eighteen to Berlin probably and actually cried when the wall came down - the end of an era of dark, murderous creativity. He returned home to a career of smug condemnation as a waiter or shoe salesperson. Jay thought he was a protege, he had taken on Mike's tutelage out of desire or even a lack of his own imagination. He didn't make much of an impression. He was a parasite.

Mike continued ad nausium, "...sometimes I exagerate things in order to gain a reaction or provoke a response..." Whatever buddy, get over yourself. He carried on a conversation within his own head and what came out of his mouth was merely an extension of his own giant ego. Sure he provoked a reaction, it was the only way the outside world entered his. I suddenly felt sober.

"My film is essentially this..."

May got up and went over to the bar. May. What kind of name was that? Last time I saw her she was still livin' at home. Did she still? Eat dinner with her parents every night? How'd she get hooked up with these people? I could hear her shouting over the music to the waiter... "This and that, still livin' at home... It's okay. Still down at the shop. Yeah? You should come by, we've got some new stuff, you know, stuff from Japan - these little lacquered cabinets which are mass produced but the build quality is still way ahead of what you get from Indonesia. Yeah, joinery is a bigger deal and it gets reflected all the way down to the crap we're selling... It makes it a bit more expensive initially but we know we're going to move a whole bunch so the margin's kind of worth it..."

"My film is essentially this..." echoed Mike's voice. "A cowboy is carrying a hundred-foot long coil of rope. He comes out of the ocean, through the woods, down country lanes and into the city. The rope slowly unwinds and he drags it along behind him. At first he doesn't realize it's unravelling but eventially it commands his complete attention. We see him on city streets. People trip over the rope. Cars run over it. It gets caught in gaps and becomes frayed. As the hope and tragedy of the cowboy's journey unfolds we see the entirety of his being change as he concentrates and struggles to get his rope through the streets... Then, as he reaches the end of his rope, he has an epiphany and he simply lets go." Mike inhaled at the genius of his creation, "And He Is Free."

"And gets hit by a fuckin' truck!" May was back. She gave Mike a peck on the cheek as he ground a layer of tooth enamel off.

"And I came up with the title." added Jay somewhat excitedly.

"No you did not." countered Alexis.

"I did so!"

"You said, " she sighed, " 'Why don't we tie an elephant to it.' "

"So." Jay sulked, "It stuck, What Becomes An Elephant, voila!"

They all beamed at me, the group creepy-smiley thing again. They seemed to believe in it so strongly that it was infectious and kind of hard to resist -despite the weirdoness. It could have been the two Mexican valium I had taken earlier, before May even showed up but they should've worn off by now.

"At least take it home and read it." Mike produced a script from out of nowhere and handed it to me...