The Puppeteer Trilogy by Mike Marino (book recommendations for teens txt) 📖

had undergone gentrification and where once on the corner was a noted Boston mob bar, there was now an Amish Party Supply Company selling balloons and buggies and bonnets.

 

The old liquor store midway down the block where no bottle of wine sold for over $1.98 had been transformed into a drive through Catholic confessional. You had to be 21 to confess any mortal sins.

 

The old neighborhood had changed except for two things. Long Wangs Chinese Restaurant where the three of them would go for chicken fried rice, egg rolls and fortune cookies, and The Vinyl Jungle that had always and still does carry vinyl records. The good stuff.

 

He decided to go in one afternoon and while browsing the Oldies Section he came across a classic Standells album that included the song, “Dirty Water” He, Alexia and Kathleen used to sing along to it and were proud as hell Bostonians. He bought the album nd that evening he put on “Dirty Water” and epiphany time….IT IS OUR HOME. Screw London...Screw Key West!

 

He made up his mind then and there...call Alexia and Kathleen for a Boston hometown reunion to catch up on each others lives. It had been 10 years since they were all last together, and although they kept in touch by Skype and Email there ain’t nuthin’ like face to face with a bottle of wine and some egg rolls at Long Wangs.

 

He made the first call to Alexia in London and turned the volume up on the hi fi so it would be playing the background. Music as bait!

 

Dirty Water lyrics, copyright by Ed Cobb

I'm wanna tell you a story

I'm wanna tell you about my town

I'm gonna tell you a big fat story, baby

Aww, it's all about my town

 

Yeah, down by the river

Down by the banks of the river Charles

Aw, that's what's happenin' baby

That's where you'll find me

Along with lovers, buggers and thieves

Aw, but they're cool people

 

Well I love that dirty water

Oh, Boston you're my home

Oh, you're the number one place

 

Frustrated women (I mean they're frustrated)

Have to be in by twelve o'clock (oh, that's a shame)

But I'm wishin' and a hopin', oh

That just once those doors weren't locked

I like to save time for my baby to walk around

 

Well I love that dirty water

Oh, Boston you're my home (oh yeah)

 

'Cause I love that dirty water

Oh, Boston you're my home (oh, yeah)

 

Well I love that dirty water (I love it, baby)

I love that dirty water (I love Boston)

I love that dirty water

(Have you heard about the Strangler)

I love that dirty water (I'm the man, I'm the man)

I love that dirty water (Owww!)

I love that dirty water (a come on, a come on)

I love that dirty water (come on)

I love that dirty water (I'm in love with Boston)

I love that dirty water (Aww yeah)

I love that dirty water

I love that dirty water

I love that dirty water

Chapter Fifteen

 

It was late summer before T. Rex Fitzgerald, Alexia Dyslexia and Kathleen Morphine convened their unconventional convention of creative creations in Boston  to discuss which way the artistic waters would flow both as individuals and as a collective.

 

Kathleen was the first to probe the waters. “So, F. Scott T. Rex Fitzgerald…I bought your book “The Not So Great Gatsby” and have to say it kept me laughing all the way through. I love how you you took alcoholism and parlayed it into pure farce. Magnifico! Any chance you’d take it on the road with your puppets, dummies and marionettes?”

 

Rex took a sip of wine before he answered.

 

“Not a chance in Punch and Judy hell. Sold the whole lot of them to Jim Henson and his Muppet Mafia. He saw how the performances were boffo and SRO and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse like breaking my legs. I held out for as long as I could but woke up one morning and felt something strange under the covers..turns out it was the severed head of Edgar Bergen...not the dummy Charlie  McCarthys head, but Edgar himself. I made a deal the next day!”

 

Alexia, who loved the puppets looked sad, pouty actually. “So what are they doing now?”

 

“The puppets? Oh hell.” He began explaining. “They have their own goddamned show talking about the alphabet, learning to count and sexual hygiene. How to change a Tampon while singing songs from ‘Sound of Music’ to How Much Should A Doctor in an Alley Charge for an Abortion? Elementary math is another area they get into as well. You know “If Billy enters a school cafeteria with an Ar-15 that has a high capacity magazine that holds 100 rounds of ammunition, fires off 35 rounds wounding 15 of the students out of 60 students eating lunch….how many rounds does he have left and how many students are still targets? Will he have to reload?”

 

They all nodded their heads in affirmation that it was sad that T. Rex was no longer a puppeteer. He loved that work. The creativity, the story telling, the performance, the sheer joy of the art. “Hell I don’t even write weird fortunes anymore...damn those sarcastic ones were fun until my book started to sell , then it was book signings, radio and TV interviews and all the schmoozing that goes with it..but I got to realize my dream at last!”

 

Alexia had somewhat the same story. Her dance career was in orbit, her dance schools were world class and she no longer had to struggle.

 

“I miss the old days with the Booze and Blues Band when we were forging a new kind of dance and music. What a rush in those days. Now I tech young swans to be young swans in the classical sense but toss in a few improvisations on the side and let it filter into the mainstream of ballet. Ha, my little rebellion to storm the ballet bastille!”

 

They found out that the Booze and Band was signed by a major German label and the first album, “Goosestepping to Woodstock” soared like a bullet and they were in high demand world wide.  ABBA was their warm up act and Willie Nelson drove the tour bus from gig to gig.

 

Things were going well for Kathleen too.

 

“Assignment after assignment. Great money, but miss picking my own subject matter. After awhile you get numb and bored with filming “Can a Shrunken Head Give a Decent Blow Job” or “The Mating Rituals of the Vatican” but I can’t complain.

 

After a few moment of silence for the three of them to absorb the conversations that just transpired, T. Rex made a suggestion. “Look, let’s all go to Long Wangs restaurant. He’d love to see you guys and we can enjoy some sake, won ton, chop suey, chicken fried rice...the works...well?

 

There was no argument and with mucho gusto they headed down to Long Wangs. It was better than a high school reunion. The old gang back together..temporarily..but together once again even for a small fraction of time they had managed to carve out for themselves.

 

As soon as the entered, Long Wang ran up to them with the biggest smile you could imagine and ushered them to a comfortable booth by the front window they always preferred.

 

Sake was plentiful and they were served enough food to feed a Chinese army battalion  about to invade Taiwan!

“Man, this is the life,” T. Rex remarked. “‘We’re all successful and have what we want. Except for another egg roll!”

 

The group became quiet as if in contemplation as the table was cleared of dishes and the waitress brought out three fortune cookies which is a must at any Chinese restaurant to end the meal on a happy and high note.

 

“You didn’t write these I hope,” Alexia said with a sly wink in her voice.

 

“Ha, no, I assure you...after all the ones that insulted people they fired me! Sure was fun while it lasted. I tell ya….we’ve all been on a long road but finally we have reached our destiny, our goals, our vision, OUR DESTINATION!”

 

They all three cracked open the cookie, extracted the thin slip of paper holding there fortune, their fate such as it will be or not to be…

 

There was dead silence all around the table. It wouldn’t have been so bad except for the fact that all three fortunes were the same. The exact same! Although they had all three attained the pinnacle of success in their field where do they go from here. Where is the spark that creativity and discovery controls. They had reached to top of their respective mountains...but it was a hollow victory...near boredom at times they had never felt before...then it hit them all at once...the success they sought and attained  was not what kept them happy, full of life, creative juice...all three fortune cookies held the answer…OK, so a little zen answer but an answer nonetheless….

“The journey itself  IS the destination…”

 

They walked out into the dusk of Boston and  while thinking of the Standells song...T Rex Fitzgerald said it aloud…”If the Journey is the destination..then we overshot the runway!”

Imprint

Text: Mike Marino
Images: Mike Marino
Cover: Mike Marino
Editing: Mike Marino
Translation: Mike Marino
Layout: Mike Marino
Publication Date: 08-14-2018

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
Puppets go berserk on journey through the world of ballet, puppetry and photography and modern dance Shanghai Fortune Cookies and the Puppeteer Trilogy