The train was five hours
behind schedule and pulled into the station well past
"Ah, here it is." he said out
loud to no one in particular. "I guess there's got to be a place to stay somewhere near the station."
Few people got off the train. Most
were on schedule to go to the furthest destination. Jake was alone on the
platform when the train departed letting out a whistle as it disappeared into
the evening mist.
At
Jake walked towards the
entrance and noticed immediately once he entered the lobby that it was indeed a
hotel with a solo woman as a receptionist. She was sitting in the glow of a
soft light which let off a reddish glow,
"Do you have a room for
the night?" Jake asked sauntering up to the desk.
"Yes, we do." she
said letting a stream of smoke escape from both sides of her mouth through
clenched teeth.
Her greeting was not all
that welcoming.
"May I take it for the
night? I just need a single room."
"We don't have singles.
All our rooms are doubles?"
She looked at Jake
suspiciously. "You mean you are alone?" Here question seemed to
assert the incredulous.
"Yes, I'm alone. But,
I'll take the double anyway. How much is it?"
"Fifty
dollars. Here's your key." As she handed the key over to Jake she
kissed the card and starred into his eyes, It was the kind of stare which
opened into an empty and vacant room; the stare that knocked on doors in the
middle of the night hoping for an answer.
Jake went to the elevator and
pushed the button to access the life. It hummed its way down from the fifth
floor and settled with a sigh on the first. The doors hushed open and a
fragrant whiff of lilac flowers escaped onto the lobby. The aroma was
overwhelming, the smell one finds at funerals or weddings when all the guests
have either arrived or departed.
Jake stepped in and was
surrounded by mirrors which made the space seem larger than it actually was and
more spacious than it needed to be. A taped woman's voice came from nowhere
wishing hi a good day, peaceful sleep and safe journey.
He pushed the button for the second
floor. the doors closed and then the opening chords of
Beethoven's Moonlight sonata began to play without request or invitation.
Lilacs and Etudes! What more can the weary traveler ask for on such a night as
this when the train was six hours late.
The elevator eased its way to a
gentle stop and the doors once again opened. the
hallway was awash in a soft glow, the
glow of dusk just before the sun has set and evening sinks upon two lovers lost
on the banks of a lazy river. As soon as Jake got out of the elevator, the same
woman's voice from the receptionist's desk begged him to be careful not to
catch a cold and to check to make sure he had not forgotten anything in the
elevator. From whence comes such concern? The voice of
a maiden and the maternal love one first encounters when leaving the womb.
Room 2005
- at the end of the corridor. Jake ppassed the key, which was really just
a card, through a slot and the door slowly and ever so quietly opened.
"Hush". it whispered..."Hush".
Enter her and find your rest."
Jake gave the door a gentle
shove and the lights dimmed open automatically as one would expect at the
theater or the opening of the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet.
As if on cue another whiff
of flowers filled the air. It was the smell of roses this time mixed with
carnations; the embalming fragrance to ward off death and deodorize underarms
and to invite eternal life and undying love.
The hotel magically
emitted scents every time doors opened and closed. They came floating on a
breeze emitted from vents in the wall, on the ceilings and from crevices hidden
beneath the floors. One could only suspect that in the subterranean basements
of the building there were fields of flowers grown especially for this
occasion.
As jakes eyes adjusted to the new
light his gaze scanned the room. The decor was definitely tacky but ultimately
feminine. Carpets caressed the floor and drapes on the windows kept out not
only the outside view but also any contact with that which was not of the room.
The room was sealed off from whatever may have occurred outside. the drapes were so thick as to absorb the sounds of conversation
within the room. A small table with glass top, two wrought iron chairs and
wrought iron frame was in the center of the room and two wine glasses with a
small carafe of 'house wine' set the mood for intimacy. The walls had
reproductions of classical art; a Cezanne nude, a van Gogh sunflower. Both
ideally suited to add a classical touch to a night of sin.
An attached bathroom was
immaculately clean with condoms laid out on a tray next to the soap dish. The
bathtub was large enough for a couple to sit and entwine and a small shelf near
the tub was an alternate setting for the wine glasses. Jake thought to himself
that this was a hotel for special occasions for ordinary people who felt
special to one another.
But, being alone and sweaty from a
long ride and laden with a dusty backpack, the romantic setting of the room was
more amusing than inviting and strangely uncomfortable,
He took a quick shower and called
reception.
"Yes...?" came a woman's vice.
Perhaps the same one which kissed the door key.
"This is Room 205," Jake
decided to withdraw his name and to keep the matter businesslike and
impersonal.
"Can I help you?*
"Yes, as a matter of fact you can.
I would like a wakeup call in the morning around six."
"Sorry, sir," came the
soft-spoken, impersonal reply. "But, we don7t make wake-up calls. Follow
the instructions on your phone and dial-in the time you want to be
awoken."
Then she hung up.
Jake fumbled around the
phone for instructions and found a laminated card in several languages.
"You can dial-in your own wake-in call. Press the asterisk on your hone
and dial in the time you want to be awakened." Pictures and diagrams on
the card made it an easy procedure even for a child to follow. Although one would
hardly think of the hotel as having children as guests,
As soon as Jake sat on the
bed the lights began to dim and another whiff of floral fragrance drifted
across the room. Was it lilacs? At this time of night Jake could no longer be
sure.
he lay back on
the bed and noticed the ceiling was a wall to wall mirror. The dimmed light of
the room let off a soft glow and the glass ceiling was blurry at the edges
giving the mood of soft porn, an excellent view for those who prefer to be
"bottom." the room continued to dim as though the final scene of
Salome were about to unfold. Then there was total darkness with only the soft
hum of the air-conditioner beating a rhythm at the same pace as the beating of
the human heart,
At six in the morning
the phone rang and Jake reached out and grabbed the receiver.
"This is your morning wake-up
call. It is
Jake pulled open the drapery
shades to get a view of the day awash with sun, to experience the view from his
window. Across the street was a parking lot and a
construction site with a crew of workers assembling themselves for a day of
banging and destruction.
A week later back at his office
Jake was sitting at his desk and a colleague reached over and asked him if he
could borrow a book of matches which lay in an ashtray on the desk.
"Hey, Jake, where did you get
this box of matches?"
"Oh," I picked them up
at a hotel where I was staying on the last day of my trip.
Across the box in foreign script
was written several words and a logo,
*This here says the name of the
hotel is Cleopatra's pillow."