I took the helmet off.
"Not bad," I said. "The clouds are a little blotchy."
"Thanks. I'll make a note of it."
"And the eagle, man. "
"What eagle?"
"The eagle. The bird, with the claws. It came after me. With the claws, man."
"There was no eagle, dude." Crouch looked at me like I was crazy. Like maybe he was a little scared. But that didn't make any sense.
"Ah, yeah. There was an eagle. I saw it. I was standing on your mountain."
"Yeah, I saw that. No bird, though."
"Listen. I was standing on the mountain, looking around at the clounds."
"Right. I saw that. Mountain and clouds. A little wind to blow them around. You saw them moving, right?"
"Yeah, I saw that. And then this great big bird. I swear it was an eagle. It sees me, and then it goes tearing after me with its claws."
"And then what," Crouch says, staring at his monitor.
"And then I got out of there. I thought it was going to tear my head off."
"Yeah, right. It's VR, man. It can't hurt you."
"Ha. So there was an eagle."
"Um. No."
"So how do you explain it?"
"Maybe you fell asleep. You dreamed up the eagles."
"One eagle. Were there supposed to be more?"
"No. There weren't supposed to be any. Didn't you hear me? There weren't supposed to be any," Crouch looked almost manic. He grabbed my arm. I pulled away. He stood up and glared at me.
"I heard you. What makes you think I didn't hear you? But I'm telling you there was an eagle. In the program."
Crouch looked like he was about to grab me again. I wasn't going to let that happen. We locked eyes, just for a second. Then he shook his head and laughed.
"You're right," he said. "I was just messin' with you, man."
"I knew you were. You son of a ..." I was laughing now. "I'm outta here. You coming?"
"Nah. I have some stuff to clean up here."
So I left him.
Two days later, I call Crouch at work to see if he wants to buy me that drink he owes me for testing his VR thing. The receptionist tells me he doesn't work there anymore. So I call his apartment and I get his machine.
So I go to his apartment, and I buzz a few times and then I turn to go and then, I don't know why, I mean, I don't know him that well, but you know, something seemed wrong or something. So I buzz the manager, this well-meaning long-haired goateed guy in a black Judas Priest t-shirt, and I tell him Crouch hasn't been at work for two days and we're kind of worried about him, so we trudge up the three flights of stairs to his room and he knocks and knocks. And the manager guy turns and looks at me and I look at him and I point at the door and he shrugs and turns the key.
I push past him, because I have to see, you know? And there's Crouch, just where you'd think he'd be, laying there on the couch his jeans and no shirt, but he's wearing that funky VR helmet wired to his notebook and his mouth is open and there's this little run of drool running down his cheek.
I shake him and he doesn't move, so I take the helmet off his head and he lets out a little groan while the manager guy is dialing 911. And without even thinking about it, because if I thought about it I would have thought better of it, I put on the helmet.
I'm on the mountain, in the beautiful sun above the perfect clouds drifting gently in the wind across the bright blue gray sky. And then I see it, the eagle, soaring into the sun, a limp human figure gripped tightly in its claws.
# # #
No comments:
Post a Comment