Goin' Out To Cally – Part 42, The Straw

There are certain numerical anomalies that occur in one’s life and the date 8/8/88 was one of them. Not only was this one of the rare times in human history that you would have an eight day of the eighth month during the eighty-eighth year… but it also turned out to be Tim’s birthday.

We decided to celebrate by taking a walk down the infamous Hollywood Walk of Fame near the historical Grauman’s Chinese Theater. The sidewalks are covered with stars, within which is a star’s name and a symbol representing their area of the arts for which they earned the honor. For example, Steven Spielberg would have a movie camera, Bing Crosby a record player, Anna Nicole Smith a dunce cap.

We parked the car at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater and started our walk. For those of you who have never visited this area of Hollywood, you would be surprised to know that it’s no longer in a very affluent part of town. It’s run down, actually. In 1988, the streets were populated more by a smattering of homeless than of tourists such as us.

The four travelers started our magical walk down the well worn sidewalk, stopping and gazing at the many stars identified at our feet. Tim, Beth and I chatted as we strolled down the sidewalk when we suddenly realized that Sunday was a half block behind us. We stopped and waited, then continued on.

Shortly after we again found Sunday a half block behind us, walking substantially slower than the rest of us. This slower speed was one of those mole hills that was turning into a mountain. Whether it was at the Canyon or Disneyland or going to the movies or on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame, the three of us found ourselves continually waiting for Sunday to catch up. Tim and Beth had grown tiresome of the repeating annoyance so continued on.

I hurried back to Sunday and asked her to try and keep up. We eventually made it back up to Tim and Beth, but it was not long before Sunday had drifted another half block behind us again. At this time, I had lost my patience and decided to just keep walking with Tim and Beth. I figured keeping up while strolling down a sidewalk was not too much to ask.

With every subsequent block, Sunday fell farther and farther back. Personally, I was torn. Part of me was mad that she just couldn’t turn up her motor a bit faster and the other part of me felt responsible for putting her in this situation in the first place. After a few more blocks I turned around to find Sunday being aggressively harassed by a homeless man three blocks behind us.

I was concerned for her safety so I rushed back and interrupted the confrontation, pulling Sunday aside and explaining to her that she really needed to keep up with the rest of us.

Have you ever tried to psychically motivate someone to do something because you were afraid of confrontation? I’m not a real strong believer in psychic ability… I mean, I think people can have intuition and some people can be gifted, but I find most psychic-for-pay arenas to be bogus. However, having already asked and pleaded for Sunday to push up the pace of her walk with no success, I had run out of ways to ask her politely. Instead of saying what was in racing in my mind, I instead tried to mentally thrust my will upon her as we walked.

First, I walked just a little faster than she did, hoping she would subconsciously keep up. Secondly, I focused my entire mental arsenal at redesigning her genome to recalculate her perception of slow.

Neither tactic worked.

This tiresome day on the star-studded sidewalk would end up being the straw that broke the patience of Tim and Beth when it came to Sunday. Granted, being exhausted from our trip and never sleeping on a real comfortable bed had a lot to do with it, yet I too had reached a limit. However, it was my fault for the issue even existing.

I thought back to when everyone directed their frustration at Beth when Aunt Patsy led us on a meandering journey through suburbia on our way to the interstate. I was now at the end of pointing fingers and it was my own doing. So, I could neither join Tim and Beth in my frustration nor could I align with Sunday.

To put it succinctly, it kinda sucked.

We eventually caught up with Tim and Beth at the entrance to Grauman’s Chinese Theater. We did the touristy thing outside the theater and put our hands and feet in the cement castings of such greats as Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant and Clark Gable.

My last year in college I assistant directed a musical called A Day In Hollywood/A Night In The Ukraine. The first act was all about Grauman’s Chinese Theater. I had to research the history of the building and there was a great sense of satisfaction that I was now standing outside of this great, unique building.

We couldn’t leave without partaking of a flick within the theater’s four walls. Fortunately, the funny film A Fish Called Wanda was playing that day. We bought our overpriced tickets and sat midway in the near empty theater. It was just as beautiful inside, with ornate architecture and memorable design. I tried to imagine where the different stars of the past had sat during their movie premieres in this very same building. It was a very cool experience.

After the movie had ended we went home and changed so that we could make our consistent pilgrimage to the local Hard Rock Café to celebrate Tim’s birthday.

There I would find my emotions surprisingly torn and Sunday would offer an unexpected confession.

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Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)