Louder Than Thunder

Michelle and Sidney were still about the city, taking a leisurely walk by the piers. It was a cool day and heavy fog was rolling in-land. The two walked out on one of the piers and looked out into the bay. Looking out, they could see Alcatraz Island obstructed by the grey-white fog.
“That place used to hold some of the biggest criminals in the world,” Sidney stated wondrously, admiring the eerie view.
“That’s amazing.”
Michelle’s gaze drifted down into the dark, unsettled water.
“Imagine trying to escape in water like this. I wonder how many drowned,” she said dreamily, leaning against the barrier.
“Yeah,” Sidney drifted off.
“Feel afraid?”
“Of what? It’s closed now.”
“I know, but it’s a pretty creepy thought.”
“It’s not really the kind of thing that scares me. It doesn’t even bother me.”
“No?”
“Nope,” he said with a smile.
“Does anything bother you?”
“Of course. What’s life without a worry of some sort?”
“What’s yours, then?”
“Well, I’ve got a few. I guess a big one is not being taken seriously.”
“Like, as a writer or a musician, you mean?”
“Yeah. I guess I’m worried I’ll be lumped into a pile of fads. I want people to look at my songwriting and see something they can connect to, you know? I feel like most people don’t look into what I’ve written. I’m sure you understand this.”
“Yeah, except it’s at least twice as bad for me. No one will take me seriously because I’m a girl. They’re more likely to take you seriously than me. You think you’re worried? At least they’ll give you a chance.”
“You got a record deal, Chell! That means they are listening to you.”
“It means the industry is, it doesn’t mean the audience will. Girls generally don’t write the songs, and they only sing songs about love because that’s supposed to be all that’s on our minds and it’s not. It’s not all that’s on mine anyways, and I know it’s not all that’s on Mary’s and Darlene’s. I can think of a few girls who might be like that back home, but they’re the exception and not the rule. The times are changin’ and not all the people are changing with it, it seems.”
“I see what you mean. That must be rough, having everyone expect less of you.”
“At first, the producer didn’t even want to listen to us.”
“Well, I’m glad he did. I can see that you love what you write.”
“Thanks. I can tell you’re passionate about writing as well, Sid.”
“Here’s to hoping people understand,” Sidney said, kissing Michelle on the cheek.
Michelle looked into his sweet, dark eyes. His cheeks were redder than usual, partially due to the cold and partially due to the feelings he was realizing he had towards her.
“Could I be a part of your world for a bit?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’d like to go to a club with you.”
“A mod club?”
“Yeah.”
“Really?”
“Yeah!”
Michelle leaned against the railing again and seemed to ponder it for a moment.
“What, you have to think about it?”
“I might be shunned if I brought a rocker in,” she joked. “Would you be willing to get a nice suit?”
“Of course.”
“Also, no hair lacquer, okay? Leave it soft, but comb it nicely. Buy some nice shoes - leather, but not biker boots! Unique is good, but make sure you look stylish and put-together.”
“Calm down, Chell, it’ll be fine. This isn’t gonna be hard on you, is it?”
“Not at all. I just want to make sure you look the part whenever we do go.”
“Okay. You just sounded flustered.”
“I’m fine.”
“That’s good.”

The next day, the girls decided to go for a walk down Haight Street to Golden Gate Park. They stopped in some of the boutiques for a shop and arrived in the park a couple hours later. They wandered around the park, finding certain areas busier than others. Some areas were filled with hippies doing their art, making jewelry, playing guitar and dancing.
“I don’t mind them dancing, but must they do so shirtless?” Mary thought aloud.
“I don’t know, it looks pretty freeing,” Michelle admitted.
“You alright, Darlene? You’ve hardly spoken a word since we arrived in the park.”
“I don’t know,” she replied, looking around the park.
She looked paranoid, if anything.
“Come on, Darlene, you’re home! Aren’t you happy to see this city again?” Michelle asked.
“It’s not home. Home is with both of you, in London. This place hasn’t been home to me since I left. I just don’t- Oh, jeez!”
With that Darlene turned around to face Michelle and Mary. She seemed to be in a panicked state suddenly. She put a hand on each of their shoulders, lightly directing them back the way they came.
“Let’s just go this way,” she suggested, turning back. “Damn it, I made eye contact.”
“Darlene, what’s going on?”
“There are some people over there that I used to know that I’d really rather not run into again.”
“What? Who?” Mary asked, trying to see who she was talking about.
“No, don’t look back! Aw, they’ve seen us. Alright, just stay calm. I’ll do the talking.”
“Okay,” Michelle replied, uncertain.
A couple girls were approaching them, one wearing jeans and a tank top with numerous long, dangly beads hung from her neck and scraggly, sandy hair; the other was wearing a long skirt, and a hand knitted sweater, and was barefoot with a couple ankle bracelets. The one in jeans had an acoustic guitar.
“Darlene? Is that really you?” the one with the ankle bracelets asked.
“Hey, Jen. Nancy, nice to see you both again.”
Darlene gestured towards the ankle bracelets first, and then the one in the jeans second. Darlene had a smile on but, as people who had been around her often, Michelle and Mary could easily see that it was not a natural one.
“These are my friends, Michelle and Mary. Chell, Mary, this is Jen and Nancy. We used to. . .hang out, before I left.”
The girls all said hi to each other.
“What have you been up to since, girl? I heard that you left because you got pregnant or something and I just thought ‘Not my Darlene!’ Definitely wasn’t the Darlene I knew,” Nancy said
“That definitely didn’t happen,” Darlene laughed. “Umm, I went to England. We started a band.”
“Yeah? You’re in a band?”
“Yeah. We’re actually on tour right now. That’s why I’m back here.”
“Wow, that’s a groove!”
“Yeah, it’s cool.”
“Say, do you wanna come visit the ol’ commune?”
“We’re really supposed to get back to the hotel soon, but maybe some other time we could,” Darlene began.
“Come on, just pop in and say ‘hi!’ They’ll be happy to see you again.”
“I really don’t think I should.”
“Come on, quickly! Just around the corner. You remember, don’tcha?”
“Oh, yeah, I definitely remember, I just don’t think I have the time.”
“It’ll take hardly a minute!” Nancy assured her, taking her hand and dragging her along the path.
She took Darlene to the gate of the park, and Michelle and Darlene followed closely behind. After a minute of walking, Nancy let go of her. Michelle and Mary caught up with her then.
“Your friends are awful pushy,” Mary whispered to her.
“Shut up, they’re not my friends. They don’t even know me anymore.”
“I suppose you’ll tell us what this is about once we’re done with them?” Michelle asked.
Darlene replied with a nod. She had no intention of returning to San Francisco just to reminisce with old friends that she didn’t even care to be around to begin with.
When they stopped in front of one of the many rows of painted ladies, they approached one with a greenish blue colour. Darlene removed her shoes inside. It was clear that she had been here before, yet she seemed uncomfortable being back. Mary and Michelle removed their as well, following her lead.
The place reeked of tobacco, marijuana and various sticks of incense, and wasn’t nice looking but it was probably in better working order than their apartment back in London. The furniture was patterned and mismatched, as well as minimal.
A couple others sat in the living room, a boy and another girl, who turned to see them as they entered. A stick of incense sat on the short coffee table.
“Look who we found!” Jen said, hopping into the room and gesturing towards the group of strangers.
“Hey David, Janie,” Darlene said as she entered with an awkward wave.
“Darlene? Is that you?” the boy, David, asked as he stood up slowly.
David was thin and tall with wild, tousled brown hair and a handsomely, crooked nose, wearing patched jeans, and a patterned button-up, undone to reveal a trail of chest and abdominal hair. Janie had long blonde hair and freckles covering her face and was wearing a pair of loose pajama style pants and a tie dyed t-shirt.
Janie stayed seated and looked up in awe at her.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Wow, it’s been so long. Where’ve you been?”
“Away.”
“Darlene went to England,” Nancy gushed.
“I’m a rock ‘n’ roll band.”
“Wow. Why did you come back?”
“We’re on tour.”
“That is so groovy, man!”
“Maybe we should wait outside,” Mary suggested.
“Hold on,” Michelle replied. “I have a feeling we won’t be too long.”
“How have things been since I left?” Darlene asked.
“Fine. Things have been just fine. Not too different. We have a few more people living here now.”
“That’s great.”
It went quiet for a while.
“Do you want to stay a while? We have some green, some acid-”
“I don’t really do that anymore,” Darlene said. “Besides, we have to play a show tonight and we really should be getting back to the hotel. Our manager will be worried.”
“Oh. Alright. I guess we finally get to say ‘goodbye’ then.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye, Darlene.”
“Bye, David.”
Darlene turned to leave and Mary and Michelle followed close behind, replacing their shoes and leaving quickly. Darlene wouldn’t even look back; she just led them down the street back to Haight.