That scene was replaced by an approaching dolly-shot to a lighted window in a house at night, which moved through the window to show a young and nude male and female couple fornicating very theatrically in bed, both thrashing and breathing hard, a bright flickering lantern on an end table by the bed. The girl spoke in a wavering voice that rose with each beat, “… almost, almost, almost, it’s, it’s, omigod yes, it’s—” The scene was replaced by stock footage of a nuclear mushroom cloud, superimposed over which were the flying heads and limbs of apparently the couple seen just previously, followed by the scrolling words:
There was applause and laughter from the audience.
Roni groaned softly, looking around. As the screen lit up repeatedly with the continuing atomic explosion, she caught a glimpse of Glenn, sitting in the back row, watching the movie and eating popcorn.
She hurried over to his aisle. “Yoo-hoo, Glenn,” she said in a low but testy voice. “You’re supposed to be at the security desk.”
“Oh, hi,” he said, looking surprised and downcast. “I was checking things out in here and sat down for a minute.”
“Where’d you get the popcorn?”
“Somebody left it here, so I was just having a handful.”
“Please go back to the security desk right now. We really need you there.”
“All right,” he said, getting up and sounding annoyed.
Christ, sorry to interrupt you. Next time we should make sure the guard we hire isn’t a dumb-ass movie fan.
As she stepped through the door of the auditorium, two girls came up to her, dressed in identical leopard-skin miniskirts, tall black boots and white sleeveless crop tops made of imitation fur. One had a trim waist and the other was pudgy, so one looked good and the other only managed to emphasize her worst features. Someone should tell her. “Hey, you work here, right?”
“Yes, why?” Roni wanted to get a cigarette before she went back to the ticket booth. This would delay that.
“Are people supposed to drink that pink water in the water coolers?”
“I sure wouldn’t. It’s got babydoll heads in it and all that.” Really, how could anyone drink that?
“Because some people are, and it’s making them really sick,” said the fat girl. She twisted her mouth around, making a grossed-out face.
“I don’t know why anybody’d—”
“You can’t drink at the water fountain. It’s turned off,” said the skinny one. Hobie’s doing.
Hoo boy.
Roni heard someone nearby moaning and hacking, ending with the unmistakable sound of puke being hurled. Several voices went “Ewwww!” in out-of-key unison, like a chorus of yowling alley cats.
There were more voices: “What’s he doing now?” and “I dunno. Look at him. Jesus.”
Roni rushed to the place where the voices came from, the leopard-skin girls following after. A boy in fairly standard corpse paint and zombie gear was on all fours on the floor, his face hanging above a pinkish pool of vomit, retching as if trying hard to add to it. A crowd surrounding him watched, mostly appalled, though some were grinning.
“Fuck, I had some too,” said a guy in a Tor Johnson mask. “I thought it was just colored water.”
“Really, you drank some of that shit?” said another, wearing a KFC bucket as a hat. “Yeech! What did it taste like?”
“Kind of like beets.”
“That sounds horrible. Are you going to puke too?”
The one who’d drank belched, covered his mouth. “I dunno yet. Yeah, I think I am.”
“Uh-oh. Look out, you guys!” Onlookers backed away from him as he began to make chugging sounds. His eyes were darting around frantically.
The kid on his knees stopped retching, and his limbs slipped out so his turned face went into the puddle of puke.
“Ewwwww!” came the chorus again, more emphatic than before. Another kid, this one with Spock ears, came up to the girls in leopard-skin with a paper cup in hand. “Hey, you try this shit yet? It’s weird.” They backed away.
Better get some signs to put on these coolers, thought Roni. But first she’d try making an announcement. She spoke in an unnaturally loud voice that sounded strange to her.
“Hey, you guys? Everybody? Don’t drink that stuff in the water coolers. They’re decorations and might not be safe to drink. Tell anybody you see getting some, okay?”
People stared at her while she spoke, though a few nodded. The one with the Spock ears and paper cup both nodded and sipped. She couldn’t help but feel maybe people were looking at her that way, like they didn’t much understand what she was saying, because they were distracted by the mark on her face.
She decided she’d better go upstairs and talk to Hobie. That’s where there might be some paper to make signs, anyway. She went up, knocked at the door, paused, opened it.
“Hobie, are you there?” The main room was dark, but the auditorium in the back showed a line of light under the door, and muffled voices were coming from it, like from a TV. She went up, knocked again, hesitated to open it. “Hobie? I have to talk to you.”
Instead of answering, he chortled loudly. “Oh my God! Oh, that’s beautiful!”
“Hobie?” she called again.
“Yes,” came his voice from beyond the door. “Come in, come in.”
She did, and saw that he was still in his pajamas, sitting in a chair and watching the news on TV. On the screen was a scene of the crowd outside the Mirror Theater, showing the mural with many people surrounding it, some of them holding signs, the only one of which she could read said “Christ Has Come.”
Seated in another chair was Hobie’s skeleton that he used to keep stuffed in a TV set at that video store he and Todd Dewolf had.
“It’s going very nicely, isn’t it, Veronica? I feel like I’m a real director at last.”
“Hobie, things are getting out of control downstairs. Some people are drinking that pink stuff in the water coolers and throwing up. They think it’s drinkable because of the coolers and cups and all.”
“Good, very good. That’s the intention.”
“But people are puking. It seems to be getting them drunk or something. What’s in it? You know you can’t serve alcohol here, especially like that…”
He laughed. “Alcohol! Ah, that’s rich. There’s nothing to worry about. What’s in those coolers is good for them.”
“What?”
“What what?”
“What’s in there that’s good for them?”
“Water. What else?”
“What makes it pink?”
“Now, Veronica dear, you worry too much. If anyone asks, tell them that it’s food coloring.”
“Is it just food coloring? Food coloring doesn’t make you puke.”
“Yes. It’s food and it’s a color. The food is an old soft drink from Louisiana. It does have some special properties.” He laughed.
“Okay, that’s it. I’m going home. I don’t want any part of this.”
He became very serious. “No, you can’t go. I need you here. You don’t know how important you are to me, do you? You have no idea.”
“At this point, I don’t care, and besides…”
“Veronica, please listen to me. You know that I’ve changed, don’t you? That’s why there’s this problem with Benny.”
She wasn’t going to mention Benny. “I think he’s worried about you.”