Xanadu (Lost)

Chapter 3: Suspended in Time

Hugo didn't pay that much attention to the movie at first. Sure, the girls' legs looked great, and Olivia Newton-John's magical girl Kira skated like a graceful fish sliding through water. Her long, lithe body reminded him of Claire's. Things got psychedelic pretty fast, though.

Once Claire went to get them some water, and when she came back, she plopped down a little closer to him. When Hugo remarked that he recognized that big auditorium in the movie, Claire stopped the tape. Encouraged, Hugo said, "I was just a kid," he told her. "Grandpa Tito was working at these houses up by Beverly Hills, and I went along after school. To, you know, get stuff from the truck for him, things like that. It was late, and we were finishing up. All of a sudden the whole sky filled up with this black smoke. There were so many sirens, it sounded like the Martians were landing."

Hugo and his grandfather had stood on the hillside which overlooked the L.A. basin, watching the thick red-black column grow larger and larger, until the sun finally went down, and nothing but a yellow and red glow remained. Might as well wait, Grandpa Tito had said. There would be no getting through that traffic, as it was. They sat down on the coarse sedge grass, and the owner of the house came out to sit with them. So much black smoke filled the sky that the stars couldn't be seen. "I wanted to drive over there and look. Hey, I was just a dumb kid."

"Was anybody hurt?"

"I dunno. It was probably empty."

"That's sad. Such a pretty building." She snuggled a bit closer as she started the tape up again. He wanted to put his arm around her very badly, but argued with himself so much over whether he should or not, that he sat stiff and unmoving. When Kira's father Zeus told her that she couldn't stay with Sonny, but could have one last evening with him, Claire's deep sigh resonated all through Hugo's own body, but he was afraid to look over at her, for fear she'd scoot away.

Then it was over. Because the music was so awesome, they watched the credits anyway until the screen turned blue. Then they turned to each other, and as if reading each other's thoughts, both said at once, "Did you—" and "I don't—" and "What just happened there?"

"Didn't Kira just, uh, beam up to the mother ship or something?" Hugo said, still confused. "So how could she—"

"Weird," Claire answered. "Because the waitress was her, right? But I thought she couldn't stay with Sonny."

"Well, maybe she broke the rules."

"What rules?"

"Remember that song, where they were in disco Mt. Olympus? Her mom said something about breaking the rules."

Claire frowned, still trying to piece it together. "I thought that was supposed to be just for one night. But then again, her mum and dad didn't have much of a sense of time, did they?"

Hugo shrugged, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Sorry it was so dumb."

"Dumb?" Claire said, a little surprised. "I loved it."

"You did?" He was genuinely surprised himself, as well as relieved.

"Sure. Yeah, I know it was crazy. Like that cowboy bit, where did that come from? But Sonny was so sweet. And I'm glad they got to be together in the end." As she reached for the popcorn bowl, the space between them shrank to nothing. "Nothing but old maids left," she remarked as she dug around in the remains of the popcorn. "It was a real feast. Delicious."

"I could make some more," he offered.

"I'm full." She picked up the controller, but the fast-rewind button didn't work. "Maybe the button on the front will do it." She glided across the room, while something inside told him that she wouldn't be back to snuggle up close on the couch like before. "There," she said, manually rewinding the tape. "Things around here are kind of broken."