Velma Loses Her Glasses (Seis)

Where in the Hell were we? Oh yes, Portugal. We're en route to that infamous moment when Alceste loses his glasses on New Year's Eve 1991 in Espana, more specifically Madrid.

But why refer to Alceste as "Velma?" The Clown Squad has, at times, shown surprising similarities to Scooby-Doo and the gang. Due principally to my height but also because I do enjoy the occasional snack, I've been tagged Scooby Doo. Coco, with his gangly posture and unkempt appearance plays Shaggy, though he was not along on this adventure. LBok is obviously Scrappy-Doo. This is due not so much because he is an annoying dwarf but because most fans wish he had never been invented. Bundeskraut usually plays Fred, though I think that this was Colyp's role while in Spain.

But what of Daphne? Many, if not most, of our gang's adventures involve the search for a willing Daphne. We've had many participants over the years, most of whom have been less than satisfactory. Some, if not all, of our wives, girlfriends, girl-friends, girl-acquaintances and girl-strangers over the years have been asked, in so many words, to be Daphne. Many have declined, and the rest have failed.

Anyway, that leaves Velma. Alceste, like Velma, displays a certain "frumpiness." Though he lacks her analytical tendencies, he, like Velma, typically cuts quickly to the heart of a problem. Whereas Velma might deduce something like, "This dirt only could have come from the abandoned gypsum mine shaft where Mr. Thompson stored his armadillo-flipper," Alceste would be likely to say, "Stop tracking in dirt you fucking dickheads." Also, Alceste wears glasses and, as you will see, he has the same propensity as Velma for losing them.

-Got up early, went for breakfast beers and sandes-got tickets -checked out a Hermitage - got some groceries & a couple bottles wine to kill the time ->saw a yak - got the evil eye from the conductor - train.

-Got to Lisboa at night - met Alceste's friend at the station, had a cute Texan with her, ate with two airheads at a nice restaurant near the center -grilled swordfish - rushed to catch the train - sin alcohol - crowded car - met freak bros., banker from Brazil, other drunks in the dining car -> they gave us some rum - one pulled the emergency alarm and stopped the train - we went back to our cabin but too hot to sleep, I went back out, met Australians =two chicks and a dude, & Madrid guy ->shot shit for two hours, went back to sleep. (So, now we're on the return train from Lisbon to Madrid. We had gone out wandering in the dining car again and had encountered a new set of drinking friends. The "freak brothers" were a couple of soccer players who were far drunker than any of us. One of them stopped the train by pulling the emergency alarm, and this caused quite an ordeal. We all played "dumb" while the conductors tried to find the problem. We should have turned the idiot in because he ended up costing us about an hour sitting still in the stifling heat. He did have rum, though. I remember the Australians were very entertaining, though I don't recall why. Presumably, they laughed at my jokes.)

Madrid - beds filled with Germans - Al y yo finished and started bottle DYC, drank a bit w/ the Germans, 2 wines & chocolate. (So, now we're back in Madrid. When we got to our apartment, we discovered that our German room-mate Gunther had filled our beds with Germans. He had 3 or 4 friends visiting from Germany for the New Year's celebration, and Gunther must have figured we wouldn't mind if they made themselves at home. How presumptuous.)

Remember that our accomodations, though not properly described as "spartan," were yet quite minimal. My bedroom was a 4 foot x 9 foot former closet which was just barely big enough for a bed. Alceste had the largest bedroom, and he slept on a mattress/nest of clothing and blankets on the floor. I think Colyp was still sleeping on Alceste's floor at this time, but this was just about the time when John-the-gay-New-Yorker moved out and Colyp took over his room.

Gunther the German and we clowns maintained a certain detente through mutual respect, only without the respect. John-the-gay-New-Yorker, however, found us more difficult to stomach., and he had been fairly miserable since Alceste and I moved in. I don't recall what set him off first. Perhaps it was the bathtub full of dirty laundry soaking for days. We didn't have a washing machine and could not seem to find a laundromat, so we would just load our clothes into the tub to let them soak for awhile. We would just stand on top of the clothes to shower (kind of like making wine). Perhaps John-the-gay-New-Yorker did not enjoy wine-making. Perhaps what set him off was the fact that we seemed to always be losing and/or breaking all of the kitchen utensils and appliances. Though, to be fair, we did find a substantial amount of replacement stuff during our dumpster diving. John-the-gay-New-Yorker didn't seem to appreciate our recycling program either. Perhaps John-the-gay-New-Yorker most disliked the fact that we would stumble in at 3 or 4 or 5 am, drunk, singing, and hungry and sometimes accompanied by a group of random others. Whatever it was, John-the-gay-New-Yorker found it difficult to have us for housemates.

We knew we had a problem when, shortly after we had moved in, Alceste and I were sitting in his room drinking wine when John-the-gay-New-Yorker poked his head threw the doorway. "Uh, guys." he began cautiously, "Do you think we could set aside some time to schedule a meeting?" Gunther was standing behind John-the-gay-New-Yorker, obviously at his request. Alceste and I looked at one another with slight confusion.

"I'll have to check my appointments." I finally answered. But Alceste, as I've said, is more direct. "John, we're all right here, what the fuck do you want?" I don't remember which of John-the-gay-New-Yorker's complaints was his first, but, as you can see, in addition to his actual concern, there was also a clash of styles.

UPDATE: I have been advised that the infamous "Guys, could we set aside some time to schedule a meeting" conversation took place after not only Alceste and I but also Colyp, LBok and Coco were all more or less residing at the 3 1/2 bedroom flat with Gunther-the-German and John-the-gay-New-Yorker. The likely reason why John wanted a meeting just dawned on me.

Admittedly, we were not the best housemates. Frankly, Alceste, Colyp and I could barely stand one another either, and we had known each other for 5 years by this time. But John just couldn't take the combination of filth and gluttony, not to mention the smell. If I remember correctly, and I don't see how I could, John-the-gay-New-Yorker was also a tee-totaller. We weren't. So, John-the-gay-New-Yorker moved away and Colyp took over his room.

Gunther also disliked many of our lifestyle habits, but he was much more game about playing along. I think he found us to be something of an entertaining curiosity. For example, on one occasion, Alceste, Colyp and I were sitting in Alceste's room drinking wine when Gunther strode in. In his stern German accent he informed us "Guys, there is a chicken in the kitchen."

"Yes." I replied. One day while walking home from work, I had encountered a stuffed taxidermy rooster in a dumpster, so I brought it home and put it underneath the kitchen sink. We called him, "the Cock." We would take it out on our excursions playing guitar in the park for change, and it turned out to be quite a draw with the children. It was Gunther's preference that the bird not be stored in the kitchen. However, none of us wanted that filthy thing in his sleeping area.

The cupboard under the sink was also what we called the "dishwasher." After we had burned food to the bottom of one of the pots or pans, we would fill it with water and place it in the cupboard. Then, we would forget about it. Our assumption was that we would find a new one, and we often did.

While John found these kind of tactics intolerable, Gunther would just stare at us with a slight smile as though he were trying to solve a clever riddle. The riddle was not that clever.