~~THE PERFORMANCE THREAD~~ **aside** ((action)) %%thought%%

[Meryl]

YOUNG JACK:

**Is this here the gordon blue or black forest ham Biker's Basket, or they come out with a new one? Who the hell is Gordon Blue anyway?**

HIGH PRIESTESS:

** I really haven't got a clue, honey.  Just enjoy! **

((While JACK helps himself to ham and cheese, apples and chocolate cake, the HP gets out a wide, shallow bowl and places it carefully on a small table, then fills a pitcher with water and places it next to the bowl.))



** When you've had plenty to eat, I have a little something I want to show you. **

[Lumière]

((  Meanwhile, Mailman BILL has arrived ...




.. and he is delivering the invitations for the next BAM wedding! 




))

[Daniel]

HIGH PRIESTESS:

** I really haven't got a clue, honey.  Just enjoy! **

((While JACK helps himself to ham and cheese, apples and chocolate cake, the HP gets out a wide, shallow bowl and places it carefully on a small table, then fills a pitcher with water and places it next to the bowl.))


** When you've had plenty to eat, I have a little something I want to show you. **

YOUNG JACK:

((Jack finishes the meal quietly, silently wondering what the HIGH PRIESTESS wants to show him...))

**I reckon that's all I can stand ta eat right now.... Whatcha wanna show me?**

[Mikaela]

Meanwhile, back at Riverton's one and only Super Market:


MONROE:

((Wakes from sculpted, sugar-sweet, creamy, glazed and deflowered flowery reveries - of wedding cakes, that would be    - and realizes how much time has gone by))


Ooooops! I'd better see to the Super Market business that's right here under my nose and not only the future catering business of my dreams. Get real, MONROE!

Anyways, Doris-Doreen down at check-out said she wanted to speak to me about something..... and she's always going on about how she likes nothing better than a big, old, good and proper wedding. Hinted there might soon enough be this massive wedding invitation coming up.

Perhaps I can ask her opinion of these here wedding cake ideas. She might even want to join in on the fun and help out!


((Rushes into the store proper and heads towards the cash registry by the front door, wedding cake sketches firmly in hand))


Do-Do, you wanted to see me 'bout sumthing?

[Meryl]

YOUNG JACK:

((Jack finishes the meal quietly, silently wondering what the HIGH PRIESTESS wants to show him...))

**I reckon that's all I can stand ta eat right now.... Whatcha wanna show me?**

((The HIGH PRIESTESS tugs at the pullstrings on the trailer's venetian blinds til the light is just right--dim, not dark.  She picks up the pitcher and looks at JACK.))

** This is a little trick I picked up from a book some folks think is fantasy.   I found out that the old professor who wrote it knew a thing or two about telecommunications--the kind that came before electricity and wires and all. **

((Meryl slowly pours water into the bowl on the table and calls JACK over to it))

** Now, I want you to think about what's troubling you.  Then look in the water and let it show you what it wants.  It could be something from the past, present or future, but maybe it'll help you decide what you need to do. **

((As JACK peers at the flat, shining surface of the water, he sees it shimmer and shift, slowly revealing an image from the past))

[Daniel]

YOUNG JACK:

((Jack looks into the water and sees the emotionally disturbing image of himself in Ennis's arms. He nods sullenly. That happiness had passed him by and he saw no way to find it again. He could not make time flow backwards, for he eagerly wanted to move forward in life, past the painful moments of the past.... painful, because they were joyous.... painful, because they could not be lived again.))

**Yeah, that pretty much is it.... Now what?**

((Jack looked up to the Priestess with a heart-wrenching, sobering expression.... He knew what his problem was. He didn't know how to fix it.))

[Meryl]

HIGH PRIESTESS:

** The water is changing...look again. **

[Daniel]

YOUNG JACK:

**That must be Alma... He said they were gettin' married.... He don't look too happy. I reckon I know the feelin'.**

((Jack looks at the water again, hoping it will show him something about what he should do next.))

[Meryl]

((Another shimmer, another shift....))

[Daniel]

YOUNG JACK: ((eyebrows raised))

**And two kids? Well he's gettin' lucky all the time, I bet. Still don't look happy, though... Ain't there no happy pictures of 'em in this water? How ya get it to change channels?**