BOOK ONE : LISTENERS AND READERS

:: SUMMER 2001

1.

The Don Cherry film finishes and the lights at the Chopin come up. There's going to be a short reception and then a pair of performances. Ben Vida; Carl Stone. Thomas plans to stick around, although he's not particularly familiar with the work of either performer (he knows Vida is one of the members of Town and Country, and more than one of his readers have recommended them to him, but he's never heard their music).

—That was pretty cool, Lydia says.

—Yeah, Thomas says.

—Hey, Lydia says, —there's your friend.

Up at the front of the theater Freya and that guy she's with have stood up, are standing around now, talking.

—Are you going to go say hi?

—I don't know, Thomas says. —She looks kind of involved.

He feels a little bit weird seeing Freya here. He's never run into her outside of the record store before, and their relationship— as much as it even is a relationship —is really built around the store. He's not sure what he'd even say to her, really.

—C'mon, Lydia says. —I want you to introduce me. Do you realize I haven't met any of your friends yet?

He's not sure he would consider Freya to be his friend. The truth is, he doesn't have very many friends. There's Janine, and his old friend Derek, and the group from the hotel bar who he goes out drinking with after work, and a bunch of people scattered throughout the country with whom he exchanges e-mails. And now Lydia herself. He's not sure who she wants to be introduced to.

Lydia stands. —Come on, she says. She reaches down and grabs Thomas by the hands.

2.

—I liked that, says Jakob. —Especially that last one.

—Yeah, Freya says. —They sounded like something that you would like.

Freya had heard about tonight's screening and performance through her record store coworkers, and she had drawn the screening to Jakob's attention, knowing his interest in media and culture. When she mentioned it to him a couple of days ago he was astounded by her all over again— not only can she recall the lineups and histories of hundreds of different bands, but she also always seems to know about some interesting thing going on in town. When he thinks about it — the size of the pool of information she can draw from — he realizes how truly remarkable she is.

Jakob notices two people, a guy and a girl, hovering at their periphery. He looks over: Freya notices that his eyes have flickered away, and she turns: there's Thomas.

—Hey, Thomas! she says.

—Hi, Thomas says.

—Were you here for the screening?

—Uh. Yeah.

—What did you think?

—They were pretty good. Oh, uh, Freya, this is my friend Lydia.

Freya smiles over at Lydia, and Lydia smiles back, says —Hi, nice to meet you. Her cheerful tone smacks faintly of falseness to Freya.

—Oh! Freya says. —Thomas, this is Jakob, he's the guy I told you about a while ago. Jakob; Thomas.

—Oh, hi, says Thomas.

—Oh, says Jakob. —You're Thomas, the Dronescape guy? I looked at your website a while ago. Hi.

—Hi, says Thomas. —It's nice to meet you.

—Yeah, says Jakob. —I actually sent you an e-mail. And then he stops, because he realizes that the conclusion of this thought is and I never heard back from you, and he doesn't want to start off on the wrong foot, by like accusing this guy of being lax in his correspondence.

—Yeah, says Thomas. —I got it; I remember it. I just- that was kind of a weird time for me, and I just didn't get around to writing you back; I'm sorry.

—Hey, says Jakob. —It's no problem.

—If you still want to go out for that drink sometime, Thomas says, —that would be great.

—Oh, says Jakob. —Yeah.

—Hey, says Lydia. —What are you guys doing after this?

There's a pause. Jakob knows that he and Freya don't really have any plans after this, but he doesn't want to accept an invitation to do something with two strangers, especially not without an opportunity to confer with Freya about it first. He looks over at her quickly; she has her mouth open as though she is preparing to say something, but she is also paused.

—Well, Jakob says. —I have this conference next week; I'm trying to finish up a paper I'm writing for it. So I probably shouldn't stay out too late tonight. He looks over again at Freya.

—Yeah, Freya says. —Have to get him to bed early!

Everyone smiles.

Further Reading ::
Information Prose : A Manifesto In 47 Points ::

A manifesto, outlining some of the aesthetic goals behind Imaginary Year, can now be read here.