Chapter 1: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-1-f4656b418a5c
Chapter 2: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-2-c70a642ffc74
Chapter 3: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-3-aad87a15dd6f
Chapter 4: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-4-6154af4a99bf
Chapter 5: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-chapter-5-104f291bf1cc
Profound Presence
The pranksters’ vehicle drove off toward the setting sun, leaving the two Stormers standing by themselves, agog. Like a sandcastle built too close to high tide, Hurly’s flash mob disintegrated faster than it had formed. They stared at the mountains on the horizon for a few seconds, processing what just happened.
Polanco took his girlfriend’s hand and broke the silence with a wry grin, “Sooooo, Hurly, eh?”
“Oh no, not you too,” Hurly objected.
“Hey, it’s out of my hands.” Polanco shrugged. “This place knows you solely as Hurly now. You might as well embrace it.”
Hurly sighed and lowered her head in resignation, “Fine. I guess it’s better than a lot of the other playa names I’ve heard out here.”
“Exactly. AND you have a killer story to tell when people ask how you got it. ‘Sir Blabsalot’ sounds hella lame now.” Polanco pointed out.
“Oh honey…it’s *always* sounded hella lame.” she jabbed at her boyfriend.
Hurly peeked in her bag at how the Polaroid was developing, tilting it toward Polanco so he could see the emerging yellow-ish brown outline of a frightened, pony-tailed maniac, mouth wide open in a scream. The mid-swing blur of her pack dominated the foreground.
“You were fucking great on that red carpet, sweetie. I didn’t know you had it in you!” Polanco gushed, before clarifying. “I mean, of course you had it in you. But still…”
“It felt like an eternity before I figured out what was happening.” Hurly recalled. “And then…I really don’t know what came over me. I just…I just let go, I guess.”
“Yes. Yes, you did, beautiful!”, replied Polanco. He lovingly grabbed both of her shoulders and looked her squarely in the eyes, “Geez, your pupils are way dilated, hon. Wait, did you…?”
“No no no…I just woke up!” she chortled. “You know that’s not my style. It must be from the adrenaline. I can still feel my heart beating through my chest!”
“Ok, good. Well, definitely enjoy the rush!” encouraged Polanco.
“Oh I’m definitely enjoying this crazy place!” she spread her arms out wide.
As if right on cue, an enormous metal octopus swam up on the other side of the porta-potties. Huge spurts of hot flame discharged straight up into the desert air from its head and each of its arms.
“Whoa — check out the octopus, ‘Lanco!” she exclaimed, then added without thinking, “I wish we didn’t have to leave in a couple days.”
“Wait. What did you just say?” Polanco jumped at her comment.
Hurly blushed, immediately regretting what she had said. “Ummm…I said ‘look, an octopus?’”
“Riiiiiight. And THEN you said…” Polanco taunted.
“Yes. Fine. I said I didn’t want to leave this place.” Hurly admitted, “But I’m sure that’s just the adrenaline talking. It’ll fade.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure it’s just that.” Polanco replied, before adding “You know…just yesterday, you were begging me to take you anywhere but here.”
“Yeah, but that was before…” she paused and glanced down, noticing that he had managed to successfully unsmudge Lil Polanco. A wild thought popped into her head. Before she could change her mind, Hurly grabbed the bottom of her shirt with both hands and lifted it up and over her head, flashing anyone who happened to be looking in their direction. Her tiara went flying off her head in the process. She pulled her shirt back down and gauged her boyfriend’s reaction.
“Whoa! WHAT is happening?!” Polanco looked like he’d just been electrocuted. “You never cease to amaze me, Hol…I mean Hurly.”
He reached down to pick up the tiara from the ground and handed it back to her. Hurly balanced it between her fingers. After thinking for a few seconds, she seized her boyfriend’s hand and dragged him to the main thoroughfare. A giant mutant vehicle intricately decorated as the Golden Gate Bridge bounced down the street behind the metal octopus.
With Polanco in tow, she marched purposefully to the nearest end of the gliding bridge, where a bleach-blond-haired teenager was dangling his legs out the back. He shouted “Reverse Trick or Treat!” at unsuspecting pedestrians as he tossed them stale marshmallows from an old, beat-up Jack-O- Lantern basket in his lap.
Hurly stepped up on the back of the truck and grabbed the side railing with her free arm. She thrust the tiara at the kid, saying “Here, this is for you.”
He took it from her but kept his arm extended. “What do I want with this?” he replied. “I’m no princess.”
“Well I wasn’t either when someone gave it to me.” Hurly stepped off the truck before the youngster could give it back to her. “Just trust me. Keep it with you at all times.” She crescendoed her voice as his ride carried him away. “You’ll discover the perfect moment for it…”
“Well you’re certainly getting into the spirit of things, m’lady!” Sir Blabsalot leaned over to give her a big wet kiss on the mouth. Just before his lips reached hers, he got two nostrils full of puke breath. He adjusted his target on the fly and planted a loving peck on her cheek.
“If we hurry, we can still make Kristoff’s set.” he reminded her, before lowering his voice, “But first, let’s go back to camp for our bikes, and so Hurly can grab some mouthwash.”
She laughed freely, “Ok, let’s go! I can’t wait to tell the other Stormers what just happened!”
“Hell yeah!” exclaimed Polanco. “And I can’t wait to introduce them to Hurly!”
Dedication & Gratitude: https://withtwoesses.medium.com/holly-and-her-dusty-pranksters-dedication-gratitude-fc9c6ab2907b
