An 80's Dream

The Surprise

I awoke the next morning to my mom banging around in the kitchen. I sat up in bed on my shoulders and saw the sun creeping through my tan curtains. I was still half asleep but I knew school was calling my name. I went and threw on something close by in my closet. I brushed my teeth and really gave no attention to how my hair looked. I flicked on the light to my room and my eyes shot open in shock. I was fully awake now. Half my stuff was gone! My 'Bad' album poster was missing. I had no TV, my computer was no where to be found. I scrambled out to the kitchen where mom was and shouted,
"Mom! Mom! We've been robbed mom! I swear this time! Oh god we've gotta call someone!"
She was inside the fridge, the door open wide. Matter of fact, the entire house was different. Things looked, so... rearranged. Our stuff was so...vintage looking. Was I still asleep??
"Now Deidra calm down...let's just breathe why don't we.." she stood up and I gasped in horror. My mother was totally different. Her makeup was done up music video like and she looked like she had a manicure. Her hair was huge like she had a perm from hell!
"Woah...woah..." I backed up slowly, "Mom..your hair..what's..what's going on?"
She looked at me with a confused look, "What? I got it done yesterday..did you not notice?"
Her hair was a foot shorter yesterday. I shook my head at her, my heart pounding against my chest.
"Well anywho, I went to Sherri's and got it done. Guess how much it cost me? 9 whole dollars. What an outage right!? I mean who am I? Princess Diana! But I guess it's alright. If Bonnie Tyler can pull of big hair right now so can I.." she said tossing it behind her shoulders.
Oh god. Oh no. I nodded and stayed silent but shuffled back to my room. I shut the door behind me and almost hyperventilated.
"This is just a dream...this is just a dream...I'm asleep. .thats it...I am asleep!"
I went to the window to maybe get a breath of fresh air, I opened up the latch and stuck my head out. What was even going on? Why is everything so different? What kind of person has body snatched my mother? Where the hell is all my things? I looked around to the street and it was like a vintage car lot was parked outside. Station wagons, Volkswagen beatles, pinto's, Bentley's but all were in pristine condition. Like they were brand new. I gave it a strange look and heard music booming from somewhere. I looked down to the street below, and saw a man with a massive boombox on his right shoulder. He had on rollerblades and blasted
"Video Killed the Radio Star"
I shook my head and shut the window growling,
"Friggin hipster wannabe." Okay whatever was going on I'm sure, if I just went to school and came back it'll be gone. I looked at my watch and winced seeing how I'm almost late. I patted my pockets and looked around. "Wheres my phone?" I muttered. I layed it on my nightstand before I went to bed I know it. It wasn't there now. I looked all in my covers and in my bed. Nowhere. It was gone. I looked over to the nightstand again and looked dumbfounded. Right where my phone was supposed to be, was some dinosaur looking, hunk of junk that looked ancient. It's body was five inches thick and had an ugly long antenna protruding from the top. I picked it up and it had to have weighed a thousand pounds. Oh this is funny. The robbers took my cellphone and left me this as a middle finger type of thing. What jerks. Thanks New York city for breeding total idiots.
I shook my head and grabbed my backpack heading for the door.
In the hallway Shania stood pacing back and forth, arms crossed. I looked at her worried,
"What's gotten into you?"
She looked at me in disbelief and said, "Have you not looked around?! Dee something is going on and it's not cool man!"
I held her shoulders,
"Oh god, you got robbed too?"
She shook her head and brushed my hands away, "Nah Dee. Its just something weird is going on! Something freaking trippy. And I can't put my finger on it, I went to go plug up my iPod for a shower this morning and you know what I found?! A record player that I've never owned or seen in my life! Dee something is going on!"
I tried to calm her down, sshhing her and telling her it was okay. In our consoling her dad steps outside the door with his briefcase.
Oh my god. He was different too. His thin reading glasses were bubble like and unbelievably thick. His hair was darker and combed back. His tie had weird neon pink triangles. It was the ugliest thing I had ever seen.
"Good morning girls.. say you should probably be hustling to school. That bell will ring here in a jiffy!" He stroded down the steps whistling blissfully. We looked at each other in horror. Shan's dad never talks that hip or sly. Something was up.
"Shania.." I said in shock.
She nodded and says,
"Yeah?.."
"We ain't in Kansas anymore but where in the hell are we?"
She shook her head and pulled me down to the street.
"Let's just get to Larry's, I think a nice soda might ease our nerves or something.... hopefully." I said to Shan trying to be calm.
She nodded and we crossed to street and took the two block hike to Larry's corner store. We approached slowly, we were both baffled.
"Did he get his sign redone?... over night?"
She asks looking up,
"There's no way in hell it was that nice yesterday.."
I shook my head, "Maybe he did. Who knows. Larry is strange but speaking of which..where is the old codger..his chair isn't even here.."
We looked around everywhere but couldn't find Larry. In our searching a tall, brawny man steps outside with a broom stick beginning to sweep the street corner. I went over and asked, "Excuse me mister." The man turned to me smiling wide, his face lights up he says,
"Hey shortcake, Whatchu up to today?"
Shortcake. That's my nickname only Larry used. I looked over with my eyes in disbelief, his name badge read , 'Lawrence'.
"I guess you two want a nice soda pop don't you?" He said propping his weight on the broom. We both looked at each other and Shania was in as much befuddlement as I.
We nodded and he lead us inside.
We looked around to see everything so nice. So dusted and polished. We went back to the freezers to not find plastic bottles but glass ones. Vintage glass soda bottles. Not even twist off ones, the authentic bottle-opener-necessary type.
We sat the bottles down on the counter and the man spoke,
"That'll be one dollar, shortcake."
A dollar. What? I looked at Shania and she mouthed,
'I thought it was 2.95?'
I shrugged and handed him one dollar bill from my pocket. In the middle of being rung up we heard the doorbell sound. A man came in with a cardboard box, he opened it up beside one of the wooden, newsstands
"Hey man where was you last night? I missed you at the game? " The man at the counter called out to the man stocking the shelf.
"Yeah I was out with the wife. We went to go see that new movie with the pretty little Olsen girl "
The Olsen twins. They haven't been in a movie in years. My eyes looked down and sighed so damn confused. Shan walks over to the stocking man and asks him for one of his magazines. She pulls me over by the collar and slams the item down on an open shelf. It was the Michael magazine from yesterday. But new! Brand new like! The pages glistened having the fresh magazine film ontop. No rips or tears, the barcode still on the bottom. I held my head, not even knowing what to think. None of this made sense. What had happened? My world has been tossed upside down and I couldn't even name how! My eyes looked over to the man stocking magazines. He starts to unload stacks of New York Times papers. I see the date at the top and I could have screamed bloody murder.
"May 16th, 1983.."
I grabbed Shania by the arm and pointed at paper. She looked at it wide eyed, then shook her head looking again. "I'll be a son of a..."
She mutters.
I look around and see the man behind the counter. He lit up a cigar and ran a pick through his half afro hair do. I went up and smiled wide at him, "Larry.." I said soft. He smiled back and said,
"Yes Shortcake.."
It was Larry. It was the Larry. The Larry from 1983. I turned to Shania and she was grinning ear to ear. Some stupid wish on a star did it. We were here! In the 80's! We hugged instantly and spun each other around giggling like crazed school girls.
We laughed and jumped around, "I can't believe this!" We both smile and run out onto the street. It all made sense! The weird changes in dress and hair. The music, the old cars. That's what everything was , back in the day. This day!
"Shania! Were here! This is the eighties!" I squealed and she nodded. "Come on let's go enjoy it!" We passed a little TV store and I stopped in my tracks. I saw as the group of tiny, stacked TVs played a music video. It was Billie Jean. I smiled and sang along. Shan did the same and we danced on the sidewalk like lunatics. But in our joy I saw my reflection in the window pane. I grabbed Shan's arm again and gasped,
"Dear god! Shania look!"
We were dressed in our own eighties attire. I had the big teased hair just like my mom, and the acid washed denim everything! She looked at her reflection as well and started to giggle. "Oh my god I'm wearing a scrunchie Dee! Where did these things even go!?" She said leaning over to redo her ponytail. But when we looked down at ourselves. We were in modern 2016 clothes. The skinny jeans and decorative scarves. Oh god so many things make sense now! The reason my 'Bad' album poster was missing is because 'Bad' album hasn't been released or even made yet. My cellphone didn't exist. Neither did Shan's iPod.
"Umm Dee, shouldn't we be getting to school now?" She said soft.
I looked at her smiling wide and said, "No! Shan if we're here in the eighties we are going to enjoy it, by god. No school today..."
She jumped around excited and I looked at my watch prepared to make a joke, "It's eight twenty five Shan.."
She looked at me deviously chuckling. We both quote from Back to the Future,
"Doc..are you telling me..it's eight twenty five....damn. I'm late for school!!"
"Is that movie even out yet?" Shan says laughing, and I shook my head, no.
We both bolt down the street, laughing like maniacs and cheering in joy. We were here, in our favorite era! The amazing, wild and crazy 1980's!
God the music scene was unreal. The fashion was banging. The men were hot enough to melt hell!
"Say you wanna grab a bite to eat?"
She asks going in her pocket,
"Uhm yeah you know I'm always up for food."
"I should have a twenty.." she says and pulls out one bills, but four others tumble to the ground as well.
"Gee Shan did you rob a bank!?"
I ask picking it up, counting it.
"I should only have twenty. I was gonna use it for lunch money."
I counted and gasped in shock.
"You have a hundred dollars right here, Shania!" I counted it again to make sure and she counts with me over my shoulder.
"Good god, how'd I get all this money?" She says squinting her eyes confused. I scratched my head and thought for a second. Could this have something to do with going back in time? Maybe like. Oh my god! The coin value!
"Shania!! Were in 1983! Twenty dollars in 2016 is like a hundred here! The coin value has dropped. That's why everything is so cheap! Wait hold up, how much money do I have?"
I rummaged through my pocket and pulled out eighty dollars and two quarters from the pocket change I had yesterday from breaking a twenty.
"Oh god Dee! Were rich sorta kinda!"
She says celebrative.
I smile and giggle.
"We ain't eating fast food today! Let's go to Geno's and get some homemade pizza pie!"
"Pizza pie-yuh!" She said holding her hands like a cliché Italian and using the accent. I laughed and did the same.
"Wait what if Geno's isn't there yet? What year were they established?"
She asks as we strode along, heading 92nd street. She had a point.
"We'll find something I guess. But if anyone asks, were out on a dentist appointment. People may be suspicious that were not in school."
She nodded and we got up to where Geno's was supposed to be. In 2016 the shop was a little run down and shabby but it looked like a well tamed Italian pizza shop. We sat at a table and someone came taking our order. A waitress with bright neon earrings and leg warmers. She went back to the kitchen with our ticket and I look down at her leg warmers,
"I always thought those things were strange.."
Shan looks at me sarcastically amused and says, "Dee were eating pizza at eight thirty am in the year 1983...I think we've got the leg warmers beat.."
I laughed and tried to open the soda we bought from Larry. I saw Shan trying to budge hers open too.
"Dear lord, how strong do you have to be to open these things?" She scoffs
I dug in my pocket for one of the two quarters I had and tossed one to Shan.
"I saw mom do this once and I can't really say I know what I'm doing.. "
I tried to pry the cap off and showed Shan how to go about it. Finally after feeling like I would bend the coin before the cap, it popped off and we both cheered after getting them open. We made a soda pop toast to this glorious turn of events and we drank to the 80's.