An Unusual Establishment

The night lit up with the energetic festivity of a Friday night. Hot with the summer mood, yet cool enough with a chill breeze. However, there is one area that is active with people, loud with music and buzzing with a joyous mood. The streets were lit-up, decorations adorning the colourful bars of the street. People stand outside with drinks in hand, smiles on their faces, all engaged in their chatter with the air warm not only by the season of summer but warm with delight. Some sway to the music, with the speakers bursting all kinds of sound that merge into this ecstatic moment.

A lone young man walks through these cheerful streets, a few drinks in as he strolls with a little clumsily to his step. Dressed in a navy blue tank top, with a design of fiery red sunset on it, with black shorts and grey sneakers. Tanned, with short wavy hair, dark brown eyes with a slender smooth face with a tall basketball figure to him. He stops to lean on a wall, tired he takes a breath and looks around. To his left is a sea of people, like a happy barricade of people. To his right from the bars were overfilling with people, as they spilt out onto the streets with their smiles and drinks. With no place to go, he lowers himself down and squats to the ground.

Exhausted, he looks around hoping to find an alleyway that is not as crowded to escape back home. Just as he finds for this exit, looking through the herds of people, he notices something strange as he peers through the crowds. Caught off guard, he stands up fast and rubs his eyes, hoping that his vision isn’t betraying him. Yet his eyes aren’t tricking him as he sees a towering plumage of Peacock feathers, swaggering away into an alley.

Our young man follows, bewildered at this strange sight. Passing the hordes of people as they speak about their days with the music providing a continuous noisy background. He crawls out of this joyous crowd into a far less packed alley. He walks by seeing a few groups and persons drinking and chatting outside, some of the bars blaring with kinds of music that range from the top hits to calming live performances. Yet no Peacock feathers. He keeps looking around, entering into one alley and then another. Yet in his periphery he sees the shining green feathers pass into another alley.

He rushes towards, his curiosity leading the way, as he enters into a far more calmer area. This one feels rather unfamiliar, as he’s been around and never once passed through here. Cautiously he enters into this alley, the rumbles of the people and music are now distant just a soft thrum in the distance.

The area painted in beautiful intricate graffitis of numerous styles, from big hip-hop fonts, outrageous cartoonish figures to vintage tattoo styles. All across the walls of this alley where they lit up and painted. Through little lantern lights and flags hanging in the air, this felt like a whole new place to him, as he walks down the alley looking around. A few strange bars were open across both sides, all of it oddly colourful with an unusual beauty to them. Through here he finds the plumage of the Peacock feathers just gliding into a bar. He looks at all of this befuddled, wondering how nobody has freaked or caused a commotion as of yet.

He doesn’t shout or make a scene, but now only walks briskly to the bar. As he goes down the alley he notices the few patrons that were outside were rather strange. He couldn’t put a finger on it, but he felt something off with these happy patrons outside. Just as he arrives at the bar, he looks up to find a glowing neon sign in vibrant tropical colours, ‘El Oculto’. The place outside had a radiant aura to it, the graffiti art around it had a jungle aesthetic with flowers and animals painted on the wall at the entrance. He walks in.

“Welcome, how can I help you?” greets a voice next to him.

The young man jumps in fright, only to see a young woman in a black shirt with a skull in a Calavera style printed onto it, with a dark flowing skirt. Long curly to her shoulders, shiny brown skin with big green eyes and a friendly smile.

He straightens himself, clears his throat and tries to look he hasn’t had a close heart attack.

“I’m fine, just ughhh wanted to check this place out, looks quite nice from the outside,” as he shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, keeping his cool.

“Well glad you found us, would you like to sit at the table, booths or would you prefer you the bar?” with a smile she motions to the rest of the establishment.

He looks around to the bar of the establishment, thinking it would be a small dive, but in actuality is much bigger than it seems from outside. There were a dozen or so tables with patrons sitting at them, a few booths currently occupied, then there is the bar long and lavish, but not a single stool occupied.

“I’ll take a seat over at the bar, please?” the young man smiles shyly.

She smiles and leads him to the bar. As they are walking he sees the walls in a base clear sky blue are painted as well. Inspired by the histories, cultures and folktales of Latin America and the Caribbean. There is a small party of skeletons on the walls, a woman with the body of a serpent sun-bathing on some rocks, to even little weird creatures with backwards feet hanging in a jungle scene. She leaves him a menu at the bar as the young man takes a seat.

“If you need anything, just give a wave to the bartender he’ll be here shortly. Enjoy!” she smiles and heads off to another set of patrons to check on them.

He looks at the menu, a small colourful booklet with drinks and snack written into it. He skims through it, deciding best for a simple cocktail. At the bar, it had an exotic garden aesthetic to it. Hanging blooming flower pots and green vines slithered around to decorate the bar. He finds a small plate of olives, brings it closer and looks around as he has a little snack. He turns where he now has a full view of the bar from where he’s at.

The patrons were odd looking, he sees a group of muscular biker men and women their hair wild, feral faces and hands like claws. Rowdy and drunk, as they share pints of beers with their table covered with a few empty glasses. They hoot, laugh and talk on their booth. There is a gorgeous couple at one table, gently chatting to one another. A beautiful woman in a slick complimenting black dress with bright red lipstick that scarily looked similar to blood. Her partner just as handsome, with suave hazel brown hair, a shark’s smile spread across his face dressed in a formal outfit with sleeves rolled up to reveal scars.

In one table was a group of immaculately dressed men in white detailed suits and big sombreros. They chat, whistle and drum at their table. Melodising and swaying to a song in their head. As the young man looks across the strangest of strangers, he finds nothing of the plumage of Peacock feathers.

“Anything whets your appetite, friend?” says a voice from behind.

The young man turns to see an older gentleman behind the bar. A tall, burly dark brown man, with curly wispy ashen hair and a full beard. In the same black shirt with the same Calavera skull on it and black jeans. His arms were intricately tattooed, his right arm was painted with bouquets of flowers in a pattern like style, a collage of vibrant and deep colours. His left covered in peculiar symbols and unfamiliar constellations of star patterns unknown, traced onto his skin with a fine dark pen. The young man tears his eyes away from the tattoos to look at this man in the eye, to be caught off guard by his gaze. For this gentleman’s eyes were a dull gold yellow, majestic to behold as the young man stared at them lost.

“You okay?” asks the bartender, amused at his patron’s sudden bewilderment.

“I’m so sorry, I uh just spaced out there, woo, wow…” the young man blushes deep red as he looks down unable to look back up in sheer embarrassment.

“That’s fine, brother, it happens to the best of us. What can I get ya?” The bartender chuckles, his voice a smooth low rumble.

“I’ll take ummm a…” he searches through the little booklet, flustered till he finds a drink name and blurts it out. “I’ll have the Jungle Bird, uhh please?” He gives an awkward smile, his cheeks feel the hot blush of embarrassment, and now feeling stupider with his choice.

“Quite a lovely choice, you’ll love our brand of it,” he winks and gets to make the drink.

“Thanks, liked the name and thought I’ll try it out,” he responds as he blows out a defeated sigh with his actions, but takes a breath and composes himself.

“So tell me, what’s your name?” ask the bartenders trying to get a bit of small talk rolling along.

“Marco, nice to meet ya” the young man introduces himself as he feels the embarrassment and awkwardness fade from him.

“I’m Colorado, a pleasure!” smiles the bartender as he begins to set up for the drink. Colorado starts to grab his tools as he begins pouring and mixing Marco’s drink. “So what have you been up to so far?”

“Just out, was about to head home when I saw something weird,” Marco says scratching his chin recollecting his recent past few moments.

“Weird how?

“Well weird as in,” Marco chuckles to himself, thinking how outrageous it seems but continues. “Weird as in I saw like Peacock feathers, a big batch of it.”

“That certainly is strange,” Colorado nods in agreement, as he begins shaking the mixer. “And what else?”

“I followed it, just when I got close, it disappears and then I see it just like in my periphery.”

“You lost track of it, now?”

“No, I saw the feathers enter here, but it vanished.” Marco sighs, “And I guess that concludes how I am here.”

Colorado shrugs and pours Marco’s drink in a short cold glass. He grabs a pineapple, a cherry as the last garnish to his drink. Then plops it with a little straw and passes it to Marco.

“Hope you like it,” smiles Colorado as Marco takes the drink into his hand.

Marco takes a sip of his drink, sweet, with a tangy pineapple and lime taste, with a hefty kick to it as he tastes the strength of the rum.

“That’s, really good,” Marco clears his throat as his face puckers a bit from the intensity of his drink. “A bit stronger than I expected but it’s quite tasty.”

“Glad you enjoy it, so these peacock feathers just walked in here and vanished huh?” Colorado questions further.

“Exactly not too sure where it went now, has to be in here!” reasons Marco, as he surveys the bar around him.

“Well I’m sure it will appear somehow, perhaps unexpectedly and just at the fringe of your sights” smirks Colorado as he gets to cleaning up and setting up glasses.

“Probably, but definitely unlikely,” Marco with a tired smile sips his drink.

“For now at least enjoy the vibes here, chill, drink and enjoy yourself.”

“Heh, I’ll try.” Marco shrugs and nurses his drink.

The music in the bar here isn’t as overbearing or like a loud blank as it was outside for other places. Gentle, exotic and serene, as he heard guitars, drums, maracas and other instruments play softly in the background. Soothing and catchy as Marco felt his hips sway and fingers tap to the rhythm of it all.

He let his eyes wander around the bar as he looks to the flower pots. Where he sees weirdly small nude peoples with glittery wings. His eyes widen at this site and see each of them with bright shining skin of brass, eyes obsidian black with colourful vibrant hairs and their wings varied from each one. One had the transparent wings of a dragonfly, another with wings of a hummingbird, one had butterfly wings and another the wings of a moth.

They rest at a pot where they got a miniature wooden table and little stools, each of them holding a cup made from a blade of grass. One of them notices Marco, gives him a wink and blows him a kiss. Marco blushes and looks away, he hears just tiny chatter and little laughter. He looks to his drink and checks his forehead, hoping he hasn’t caught a fever that is causing him to hallucinate.

“You okay there, buddy?” Colorado curiously looks to him, examining him.

“Do you see them?” Marco points to the fairies who are now giggling at his hysterics.

“Yeah, what about them?” Colorado waves at them, they swoon and wave back to him.

“So you see them? It isn’t just me that feels like I’ hallucinating or that things feel weird?” Marco’s voice raises up in a panic for just as he shrinks to himself and rubs his temples.

“Take it, easy brother, no need to have a panic attack. Your just in a place where the strange is not gawked at or rarely seen,” Colorado comforts him, his manner calm and steady. “Just take a breath, go slow with this.”

Marco takes some deep breaths and a few sips of his drink. After a hot minute, he feels his nerves go steady.

“Better?”

“Much better,” Marco breathes out a heavy sigh and leans forward onto the bar.

“Quite a bit to take in, huh?” Colorado smiles amused.

“Definitely so, just wow never thought that hit me quite as hard,” Marco chuckles nervously.

“Don’t worry you haven’t been the worst reaction so far in this alley. Some either scream terribly or completely faint from the shock of it,” Colorado mentions as he cleans a glass.

“Well I guess I must seem serene compared to that sort of reaction,” Marco shrugs a little embarrassed but happy he hasn’t made an entire fool of himself.

“You seem like a chill guy Marco, everything okay, you seem quite knotted up,” Colorado asks as he stops his cleaning to listen intently.

“It’s that obvious huh?”

“Just a bit,” Colorado nods as he leaves a bit of space between his thumb and index finger.

“Work stress, haven’t found much in quite a while. A few other personal stuff, but I try to keep my head above the water,” Manolo looks to his glass and swirls it a bit.

“How long?”

“A couple months, it’s been not great. Almost terrible actually. Ha, a friend of mine said I’ve been looking quite grumpy lately. Moody some would say.” Marco chuckles, his smile a bit sad as it drops a little.

“That’s reasonable. Kind of hard to be optimistic or cheerful in such circumstances.”

“Definitely so. Getting suddenly angry or stressed, hard to get out of bed. Quite rough actually, some say I should enjoy this ‘free time’ I got.”

Marco laughs out wholeheartedly, amused by such a thought.

“You can only do so much before you start getting loopy in the head and other stuff too. Things just get harder to enjoy you know, doesn’t come out as easy with such a mindset like now.”

Marco takes a shaky breath, finishes his drink in one big gulp and rests his head in his hand. He looks up to Colorado who’s face has changed to such an empathetic worry as he listened to Marco. Marco smiles and straightens himself up, as he looks to Colorado.

“I appreciate for the company, kind of a relief to actually be able to speak out, you know.”

“It is the least I can do, friend. You want another drink?” Colorado motions to the drinks behind him.

“Nah I’m fine, any more and I’ll head home as a really sad mess!” Marco chuckles a bit and later clears his throat, “I’ll just have a water, please.”

“That seems responsible,” Colorado nods and pours him a glass of water, with some ice cubes and a little umbrella. Marco smiles gratefully at the kind gesture.

“I appreciate that I really do. Thanks, Colorado,” Marco raises his glass up in cheers and drinks. The glass clinks with the ice in it, the water cool and refreshing as it goes down his parched throat.

“Well before you go, I don’t want you leaving here feeling down. I’ll get you an interview with my boss, we’ve been looking for an extra waiter to help with the tables. Raquel as great as she is, rather overworked at the moment, so she’ll need a hand.” Colorado offers as he rubs his beard, smirks and winks at Marco

Marco looks to him dumbfounded, his brain is frozen in the spot, too shocked to reply.

“Come by tomorrow evening. Seven thirty at night right here, wear dark jeans, black shoes and a white shirt. Cool?”

Marco nods, his smile grows, “Yes, I can come straight here tomorrow, seven thirty is no problem for me!”

“Good to hear, just a small interview, a three-day trial starting tomorrow. It will be weird and lots of work, think you can handle it?” Colorado puts out his hand towards Marco.

“If it means I can actually do something instead of lying about. It will certainly break this monotonous funk that’s cursed these few months.” Marco grabs his hand and shakes joyously.

“Huh, I guess that’s the Peacock you’ve been searching?”

“Metaphorically, yeah! I guess this job is the Peacock I’ve been searching,” Marco smiles brightly as he puts hands to his hips and strikes a triumphant pose on his stool.

“No literally, is that the Peacock you’ve been chasing?” Colorado points it out to Marco.

A gorgeous and majestic Peacock strolls by, from one unknown part of the bar that Manolo didn’t notice. Marco watches in awe of its radiance, as it walks with such grandeur. It then heads and jumps into a wall, before Marco flinch or shriek a word, it flies through. Merging, growing and becoming a huge radiant mural with wings outstretched its plumage out for a show.

“Wow, that’s amazing,” says Manolo as he looks in admiration of the painting that the Peacock has become.

“Marvellous indeed,” Colorado adds sagely as he looks to the painting. “All good to go, Marco?” he asks as he gently pats his shoulder.

“Yeah, yeah I’m good to go.”

Marco finishes his glass of water, stands up and gives one last smile.

“So I meet you here at El Oculto, located in this alley?

“It won’t be moving anytime soon. I’ll see ya soon, buddy.”

Marco waves goodbye and so does Colorado. Even the little fairies wave him goodbye. Raquel gives him a cute little grin and waves. He heads out, happier, less a weight on his shoulders as he strolls back into the summer night. With a spring to his step, he heads home, the crowds not as thick and the music much lower. He heads through with ease, strolling back with purpose now, happy that he’s found his something in such a beautiful and unusual establishment.

#fiction #shortstory #inspiration #creativity #MagicalRealism