Across the Universe

I was little more than a lad when it all started.  I used to play a few gigs with me mates, like, y'know.  We was getting on pretty well and I remember I had great hopes for the future.  But then there was this girl, right. She was a real doll, y'know.  I don’t mean that disrespectfully.  She had everything.  She was blond and had these amazing sparkling green eyes.  And she had a mind.  We talked for hours, first in the bar and later in my room.  We talked of music and space and where we all fit in the great order of things.  She had a great head on her for weird little facts, things I never knew about science and stuff.  And we talked philosophy too - are we all really real, or ghosts in a machine, or shadows on the wall.  It was intense, but it was the best night of my life.

 

And then she was gone.

 

Just like that.

 

I went out to get a refill of our drinks, but I forgot my wallet and so came straight back. I couldn't have been gone more than a sec.  When I got back she was gone, out of my life.  I never found her again.  I’ve been looking all this time.  I sorta gave up everything else and spent my life waiting.  When she went all my stuff went too, my guitar, my music, my wallet.  But I don’t see how she could have taken them.  There was nowhere for her to go and no time for her to have got away.  She just disappeared.  So I come back here every year waiting for her, hoping she’ll return.

 

The band broke up.  The other guys have gone their own ways.  I don’t know where.  I haven’t seen or heard from any of them since then.  I don’t write tunes any more.  I’ve gone more into physics and philosophy and that.  I’ve learned a lot about the things the girl talked about.  Mostly I’ve been searching for her, in my mind, in my studies and in the hotel.

 

The hotel staff have known me for years.  I always book the same room on the same days each year.  But the guys this year are new.  I haven’t seen any of them before.  There is a convention here this weekend.  It quite often coincides with my return.  They always deck the place out in garish Sci Fi stuff.  It’s just a bit of fun.  They have outdone themselves this year though.  I love the costumes myself.  So many of the folks here dress up as people from their favourite shows and books.  It is kinda groovy to meet aliens in the hallways and robots on the stairs. I don’t get the ponies though.  I don't think there's any ponies here this year.  It seems cats are more in this season.  I like cats.

 

The biggest shock this year is the renovation work they have been doing on the building.  Rooms missing, doors added in strange places.  I guess that is just progress.  There have been a lot of changes over the years.