Saturdays are my most favorite days. You get to chill at home, or go out and have some fun, and you don't have to do any homework. What I like to do the most of all on Saturdays is dance my head off at the Ravers Club. It's one of the best and safest clubs in this whole town for us teens. I go there at least every month, just to dance my stress away with the music. My mom got me a free pass to that club on my fourteenth birthday, and I was giddy with excitement. My friends and I would go to get ourselves high over the music. The best part about this club is that it's safe. They have the best security at that club. Nobody has ever gotten robbed or shot or violated. There were plenty of guards inside and outside the club, and a metal detector when you first enter the club. There's also no alcohol there; mostly Coke, energy drinks, coffee, and lattes. It's the best place where we teens can be teens and be themselves without judgement.
"So, how was your outing with the foreign exchange student?" Mom asked the next morning while I was eating breakfast.
"It was the bomb!" I said, excitedly. "My friends and I took him to the mall, and we had a blast. We took him shopping, and let him try on new clothes. We were acting crazy when he picked out the hottest clothes. We also let him try a smoothie, and he liked that too."
"Sounds like you guys had fun," she said. "What's the student's name?"
"Dainu," I mistakenly said. I stopped chewing when I realized I had accidentally slipped and said his name. Just great. Now that she knows his name, she would want to meet him, and she'll throw a panic attack when she sees him. How carelessly stupid I was.
"Day-nu?" Mom asked, looking a little confused in pronouncing the name. "What is that, Slovenian or something?"
I gulped my waffle. "No. He's....Swedish."
"Oh. Interesting."
"I was thinking about taking him to Ravers Club today," I added. "Is that OK with you?"
"Did you finish all your homework?"
"Yep."
"Then you can go. But what about his parents? Are you sure they will be OK with that?"
I better think of something quickly.
"Um, his parents aren't with him. He's living by himself in an apartment," I lied.
"You mean," gasped Mom, "he's an orphan, and he's living all alone with no one to take of him?"
Here we go again. "Don't worry, Mom. It's OK; he knows how to take care of himself. And he has neighbors that check on him every day. He's OK living by himself. As long as I'm around, he's not lonely."
Nice recovery, Kaley.
"OK, if he has other people that check on him, I guess that means he's not totally alone," she said.
I washed my plate after I finished eating, and went to my room to call my friends. I asked them if they wanted to come to Ravers Club with Dainu and me. Amy had to finish up her homework, and Pam had some chores to do. It's a good thing I never rush to do my chores or homework.
Mom ordered me to get the mail. I strolled out toward the mailbox and pick up the mail from inside. As I was about to head home, I noticed Dainu was outside of Kyle's house, near his bushes. What the heck is he doing out there exposing himself like that?
"Dainu!" I shouted, running towards him.
"Good morning to you, Kaley," he said smiling.
"Don't 'good morning to you' me! What the heck are you doing out here?"
"I noticed that Kyle's orchids were wilting. I am tending them for him." He brushed them gently with his fingers, and slowly and miraculously, they changed from light brown to pure white.
"That's great that you are helping out Kyle, Dainu," I said. "But its nine o'clock in the morning and people are just getting up. What if somebody sees you?"
"No one was petrified of my appearance when we were at the market," Dainu replied. "I was a shadow amongst the people; no one gazed upon me twice."
"It's called the mall, not a market, for your information. And plus, it was easy to disguise you when we put you in some new clothes. But in my neighborhood, people would flip out if they see a stray cat roaming around. Not everyone knows you yet, if they see you, they'll definitely call the police or something."
"Be at peace, Kaley," Dainu said calmly. "Do not let your fear and paranoia overcome you. I am sure your people will be equitable to understand without judgments. Give them a chance to know and appreciate me."
"Yeah, but..."
"Good morning, Kaley," said a voice in the distance. I turned to follow the location of that voice. It was Old Man Handy, and he was coming this way. My heart pounded in my chest again. What would he do if he sees Dainu?
I pushed Dainu away from the bushes and shove him against a tree. He protested against my actions, but I told him it was for good use. He obediently hid behind the tree, and I walked away from the tree towards Mr. Handerman.
"Kaley, how'd ya been," he asked.
"Great," I said quickly. "Just great. Everything's going as normal as usual."
"That's good," said Old Man Handy. "I wanted to come and talk to you since we haven't talked a while after the incident with that government agent. How's he doing? I heard he was staying at your place."
"He was, but he left because he had some more work to do elsewhere. Thank God. You have no idea how annoying he was to me the last two weeks. What's worse was that I had to show him around town. We went to the mall, had ice cream; ugh, that was the worst day of my entire life. But now, he's gone and he won't bother me anymore."
"I'm glad to hear that," Handerman said, smiling. "Hey, guess what, I was reading my tabloids this morning and it said that someone spotted Big Foot at an ice cream stand in Québec, Canada. Finally, Big Foot is coming out from hiding all these years. Isn't that amazing?"
"Yeah, amazing," I said flatly. Mr. Handerman always likes reading the paranormal articles in the tabloids instead of reading the plain old newspaper. He can pick up some pretty weird stuff sometimes. Once, he read an article about a person who caught a Fiji mermaid―half monkey half fish―while fishing in a bay. He actually believed that. Even though he's a very nice man, he can believe in the weirdest stuff. But I still like him.
"By the way, who's your friend?" he asked.
"Uh....what friend," I said non-suspiciously.
"The one you were wrestling with, and placed him by that tree behind you."
I acted like I didn't know what he was talking about. "Oh! That was nobody; I was only wrestling with the tree only." The heck was I saying?
"I'm definitely sure you were with somebody. I want to see'im. I like meeting new people." He was about to look behind the tree.
"No!" I shouted. "There's really no one here. You're only wasting your time."
Old Man Handy looked at me confusingly. I think he knows I'm lying.
"Kaley, show your respect to your elder," Dainu said in the distance. "It is not wise to lie to the frail ones. Let him see me."
Old Man Handy was looked around, thinking he's gone crazy into hearing voices.
"Shut up, you, Mr. Tree. Stop talking." My acting skills were never that great.
"This is absurd, Kaley," said Dainu. "Let him look upon me."
"No! Don't be ridiculous! He's not ready for you," I said through my teeth.
"I am here already, Kaley," he said right next to me. I jumped when I realized he teleported right next to me. Dainu smiled at Mr. Handerman and said, "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir."
Mr. Handerman stood there, speechless and motionless. I thought he was in a shock or something from the way he was just standing there. I felt like I had messed up everything. But when I saw the corner of his mouth twitched, I realized it wasn't a twitch to a scream, it was twitch to a smile.
"Are you the–the," he stammered.
"Yeah, he is, Handy. This is Dainu," I sighed.
Old Man Handy burst into an excitable laughter. He was so loud that my ears popped.
"It's you! It's really you!" he said very loudly. He took Dainu's hand in a vigorous hand shake. "I always wanted to meet one. I can't believe I'm standing here with a real-life alien. Everyone called me crazy, but I'm not. I have proof now, real proof that aliens walk among us. I'll show them, I'll show everybody."
"May I have my hand back please," Dainu asked.
Old Man Handy released his grip. "Sorry about that. I'm so excited I got carried away. It's just that my whole life I knew aliens were out there, but I never had proof. Everyone thought I was crazy. I always wanted to see one but I never did. But now you're here, and you've changed my entire life. Now I'll show them, I'll show everybody you exist."
"Uh, you already mentioned that," I reminded. "And we can't show everybody yet. What if someone calls the military or something? Or what if the government agent sees him? If he spots Dainu out in the open, bad things could happen."
"Oh. You got a good point, Kaley," remarked Handerman. "How 'bout we go back to my place for a little chat?"
Dainu looked at me, his eyes questioning me if it was OK. I sighed, shrugged my shoulders and said, "OK, sure. I guess that would be fine."
Mr. Handerman jumped up and down like an excitable kid.
At Old Man Handy's house, we sat in his living room. I have never been inside his house before. I can tell Mr. Handerman was never much of a tidy person. There were piles of newspaper, both old and new, on his coffee table, and his jacket and shoes were placed on the rocking chair. The couch was old and dingy and made a rusty squeak as we sat down. The wallpaper was chipping off bits by bits, and cracks and sawdust were visibly spilling at sight. The ceiling lights were dim due to its low energy; one of the light bulbs was already burnt out. There were also paranormal pictures posted on the wall, such as the old photo of Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster, a wolf man, a jack-a-lope—a rabbit with antlers—and many pictures of UFOs, short gray aliens, and Star Trek characters. He was definitely a more fanatic believer than I was.
I didn't comment anything about his house because I didn't want to say anything rude by accident.
Mr. Handerman brought us some water and some cookies. He was excessively blabbering his mouth away, not give us room it speak or comment. We listened patiently to one of his supposed paranormal experience.
"It was 1993," he said. "It was a perfectly ordinary day. I was walking my dog in the park when all of a sudden, it happen. My dog was actin' loopy. He was growling, barking, and jumping up and down tryin' to escape from his leash. He finally did escape from his leash and he started runnin', and boy, was he runnin' fast. So I chased after him. There were other dogs running and barking too in the same direction my dog went. I was like 'what in hickory hills is going on?' I chase after them as far as they could go. Then I saw it! Far down into the open field, I saw thirteen dogs around a perfectly mowed circle followed by a trail of smaller circles. Those dogs were howling and pointing their heads up to the sky. I knew they knew something was up. There were other witnesses that saw it too, but they believed it was some creative lawn mower that did it. But I knew...I knew it was the aliens."
"Intriguing tale," Dainu said, taking a bite out of a cookie.
"Yeah, it's really extraordinary," I added.
"That's why I wanted to ask you," Handerman said. "Is it true you guys send out messages to us to prove that you all exist?"
"We have transmitted numbers of messages through the cosmic atmosphere. We had studied about your kind in books, and we learned that your kind does not have the proper knowledge about the outside universe. Our kind is one of the first to transmit messages into the outside universe. We wanted to remind you that you are not alone."
"I knew it!" exclaimed Handerman. "And people call me crazy."
"I never thought you were crazy," I compliment.
"Thanks, cupcake," he winked. "But I have another question for you, Danny. Why didn't you introduce yourselves to us right away? We've seen many UFOs, but a lot of people don't believe they're real. Couldn't you have done something for others to believe?"
"We, and other kinds, have sighted your planet, but were concerned on how you will react," Dainu continued. "Countless of our sightings have been glimpsed, and your kind would respond in fear, anxiety, or greed. We felt that strong emotional energy from you, so the decision was made: we do not encounter with the outsiders. As for I, I did not agree with the decision, so I took the courage in exploring the seven galaxies. And that is how I encountered your planet."
"Woo-wee," breathed Old Man Handy. "I'd never thought about that. We can be overwhelmed, excitable, and disrupted sometimes. But not everyone is like that, you know."
"Of course, I have learned that since first sight," said Dainu, looking at me with kind eyes and a friendly smile.
I blushed.
"So, how did you learn English? Don't you aliens have your own language or something?" asked Handerman.
"I am capable of knowing six million languages throughout the seven galaxies. When I arrived on your planet, I was able to decipher you language and adopt it to myself."
"Interesting," said Handerman. "Never thought aliens could do that."
"He can do amazing tricks too," I added.
"Really?! Can he shoot lasers out of his eyes, use mind control, and crush a metal bar with his bare hands?"
"Uh, no," I said. "He can't do any of that. But he does have super strength, speed, levitation, healing, and telekinesis."
Dainu started demonstrating his powers by levitating a cookie and letting it swirl around like a Frisbee.
"Incredible," gasped Old Man Handy. "You're full of surprises, my friend. That would explain why my car was smashed to bits."
"I apologize for reckoning you transportation," Dainu said humbly. "It was extremely dark, and I was lost. When I came in contact with your vehicle, it reacted with blaring noises. I was frightened and did not know what to do, so I intended to destroy it in order for it to stop."
"Oh, that's OK. Your apology is accepted. Besides, it was a hunk o' junk, anyway," Handerman cackled. I've never seen him this happy before. "One more thing I'm still puzzled about," he continued. "What about all of those abductions? Many people have been abducted by aliens; even my friend's uncle's cousin's sister's daughter was abducted. But there is nothing for them to prove it to others. So tell me, what's up with the abductions?"
Dainu tilted his head in confusion. I don't blame him; I don't think someone as gentle as him would abduct us.
"Abductions?" said Dainu. "We have never captured any outsiders from their home planet."
"You sure none of you guys done any abductions? Didn't any of you abducted people like us just to experiment them, dissect them, or....do stuff with them?"
"OK, I think you're pushin' it, Old Man Handy," I broke in. "Why don't we talk about something else?"
"Oops, sorry about that," he said. "Sure, let's talk about something else."
Old Man Handy continued his chat with Dainu for couple more hours. Their conversations started to bore me. They kept on their same topic nonstop without changing the subject. I bore with it a little longer.
After their long interview, Mr. Handerman said his good-bye to Dainu. He also told Dainu that he can visit him anytime he wants and he will securely keep his secret.
"I am much obliged in visiting you home," Dainu said humbly with a bow of his head.
"Thanks," said Handerman. "You have a very nice vocabulary and such good manners. I've never met anyone this polite before. Thanks for having the time to talk to me. You've changed my life."
Dainu bowed his head again.
"And Kaley," Handerman added, "you can come over too whenever you want. I enjoyed having you over. And thanks for your help with everything."
"No problem," I said, blushing.
As I took Dainu home, I told him about the Ravers Club I wanted to take this Saturday night. I explained to him about what the music was like, how it looked on the inside, and that it was safe. Dainu was more than happy to joy me. He told me he was more interested in our cultural music and arts. I reminded him to wear the clothes we bought for him at the mall so that he can dance and look cool at the same time.
Our fun has just begun. By seven o'clock, ink spilled the sky and the temperature dropped. We had to get our jackets so we wouldn't catch a cold. Stars danced in the moonlight like disco balls, our night was still young, and so were we.
Since it was dark, I allowed Dainu to use his flight powers to take us at the club. I pointed at the direction of the club while he carried me in his arms in his flight. Our clothes were dark enough to blend in the night sky without any expositions.
As we arrived at the club, I instructed Dainu to land a couple of kilometers away from the club so that we won't throw off any attention towards the people. We landed in a dark alley; I had to watch out for any muggers while we pass through. We got in the line of the Ravers Club. I brought an extra hat for Dainu and put it on his head so that no one would glimpse and freak out at the color of his skin. I brought my free pass to get inside the club without paying. The guards were nice to me since I come here often; they even know my name and my friends.
When our turn was next, the guard nicely greeted and smiled at me. I showed him my pass and asked him if it was OK if my new friend can come with me since he doesn't have a pass yet. He kindly accepted that. I thanked him and we entered the club.
There was a metal detector inside the club when you enter first. I explained to Dainu that it was a scanner to see if someone was carrying any metal weapons. I demonstrated for him by cat-walking through the detector without an alerting buzz. Dainu walked through it too, expect he got buzzed. He flinched at the blaring sound and looked around with anxious eyes.
"It's OK, Dainu," I told him. "You're not in trouble; it's just your chain hanging on your pants."
Just to be sure, the guards frisked him up and down to see if he was carrying anything else beside that chain. He was clean, of course. I pulled Dainu's hand and scurried onto the dance floor.
Inside the club, the dance floor was tiled with black glittering marble. The club was dark with some laser lights that alternate its colors, rotating disco balls with red, blue, and green lights that twinkle and bead our whole body. There are four enormous lava lamps standing in a four corner position holding up the second floor like pillars. As for the second floor, it was arrange like an outer circular balcony with some tables and chairs for people to sit and eat, chill, talk, arm-wrestle, or to watch the dancers below. Two DJs in the front of the dance floor were working their turntables and selectively choosing the records to mash and mix up the music for some serious freestyle mix.
I was screaming my head off at the techno music and started dancing wildly. What's best about this club is no matter how cool or lame you look, no matter what you wear, no matter how fancy or stupid your dance looks, you're in here because you want to have fun and no one can ruin that for you. Like what Debarge use to say: "Feel the beat of the rhythm of the night, dance until the morning light, and forget about the worries of your might."
I was having so much fun with the music I didn't notice Dainu. He had his hands pressed to his ears and grimace as if he was in pain. The loud music was probably making him uncomfortable. I don't think he's use to loud music. I rubbed his right arm, and forced his hand off his ear so I can speak to him against the loud music.
"Dainu, it's OK," I said in his ear loud enough for him to hear. "This is how the music is like all the time. It excites our adrenaline. You don't have to cover your ears; you'll get use to it."
Dainu slowly lift his hands off his ears and listen to the music.
"You are right," he said. "This melodic tune is not so ruckus. I do find it very addicting, very exotic. I have never heard of anything so uplifting."
"I know, isn't it great?" I said excitedly. "It can blow your mind away–not literally–and it'll drain all your troubles away. Come on, dance! We're gonna party all night long!"
I waved my arms over my head, and moved my hips at the beat. I love to dance wildly to the music and I don't care if I look stupid. Dainu just stood there, watching me move. I don't know if he was checking me out, or he didn't know what the heck I was doing.
"C'mon, Dainu," I screamed against the music. "Get down. Shake your groove thang and have some fun."
Dainu confusingly looked at me.
"I mean," I explained, "stop standing around and dance. Move your hips or something. Go crazy."
"Dance?" Dainu asked. "What is that?"
I stopped dancing and stared at him, dumbfounded. "What is dance? Hello? It's what I'm doing right now. I'm moving my body to the music. Don't you do that at all?"
"We do play music, but we have never done any exotic movement to the melody," stated Dainu. "We listen to the harmonic symphony when the music plays. I have never seen or heard about moving to the music. It is so new, yet bizarre to me."
"C'mon," I rolled my eyes. "You just stand there and listen to the music? That's all you do on your planet? Bo-ring! On this planet, we do not only listen to the music, we feel it in our bodies. When we like certain music, we get the feeling to dance to it. It feels good when you do it, and it's a great cardio workout. Try it out; it's a lot more fun than just standing around. It's kinda like singing with the music, except your doing it with your body. Come on, try it."
"What am I suppose to do?" he asked.
"Anything. Just do anything you feel like doing and it will become a dance."
The last music faded and then brought up a new jam. "Yeah, that's my song!" I jumped with the crowd and recited the lyrics out loud when it repeated the words "One More Time." I was having so much fun, I forgot about Dainu standing right next to me.
Dainu was listening to the music with joy, but made no dance moves yet. I continued to dance so he can understand and copy at what I'm doing. Slowly and evenly, Dainu started to bob his head to the beat.
"That's it," I said. "That's a good start. Keep bobbing that head. You're starting to feel it now."
Next, Dainu tapped his hand on his thigh to the rhythm. He, then, followed the rhythm with some hip dips.
"That's great, Dainu. You're doing great," I said while jumping up and down. "You're getting the fever of the music. Keep it up."
He kept it up alright. The music seized him after all, and he didn't even know what dancing was and how it worked. The bobbing of his head became a rhythmic sway like a rock star performing a concert. Then his arms started to take in the part: they robotically waved with the rhythm and the beat of the music. Looks like Snap! was right: rhythm is a dancer.
To my unexpected surprise, Dainu dance moves started to get fancier. He slid down to the floor in a perfect horizontal split, and reversed back up. Then he did a one handstand and grabbed his shoes with the other hand. I starting to understand now; his dance moves are exactly like our hip hop break dance movements. I totally didn't expect he would learn our dance moves that fast. And I didn't know he was such a gifted dancer too.
I continued to watch him master the helicopter, the turtle walk, the head spin, and Michael Jackson's famous moonwalk (that was random, but cool). One by one, others started to notice Dainu's dancing. They started to form a circle around Dainu's dancing space, cheering and screaming their heads off. Some teenagers at the back tried climbing on their friend's back so they can see the show. As the music was close to the end, Dainu dropped down to the floor and worked out the worm. Everyone went crazy when he did that. He ended his performance with another split and sliding back on his feet with a chest pump. Everyone cheered, clapped, and jumped wildly at his finale. Dainu took a bow. I was laughing with extreme joy I almost forgot how to breathe. I pounced on him to give him a hug.
"Like, O. M. G!" I exclaimed, catching my breath. "I didn't know you could do that, Dainu."
"I did not know it myself, either," he said panting. "Your atmospheric signals are easily adaptable. It seems that I have found my unknown talent."
"Yeah, you did. I like surprises, especially from someone unique like you."
"You are most flattering, Kaley," Dainu bowed his head.
A boy with spiky, multi-colored hair and wearing chains around his neck came up to Dainu and said, "Dude, you got some wicked freestyle! Rock on, man!" Then he left to dance with his group of friends. It was a good thing it was dark in this club, everybody was too busy having a good time dancing than to notice Dainu's skin color.
Dainu looked at me confused and asked me what that guy said to him meant.
"He's means nice dance moves you did on the dance floor," I remarked. "He thinks it was wickedly cool--I mean, remarkable."
"Such strange wordings you use to compliment someone," Dainu said. "But I do find it unique in your culture."
Dainu was right; our slang words were strange, but they are unique.
Our raving night was a night we would never forget in our lives.