PERFORMNACE ON THE PROMENADE

When Marsh and Ariel came out of the theatre, they strolled down the crowded Santa Monica Promenade listening to the street performers.

“I want to go to Johnny Rocket’s.”

“What for?”

“I always get their Route 66 hamburger, fries and a malted after a movie.”

“I will split a malted with you. That’s all!”

“The hamburger can be lettuce wrap and no fries…?

“No.” And he went inside while Ariel got a table at the outside patio rail where she could watch the people while she thought about the mushrooms and grilled onions on a Route 66 burger.

Marsh came out with a steel mixing container, one glass, and two big red and white straws.

Marsh filled the glass and stuck in the two straws, then he put his head directly over the glass, with his straw straight up, and bent Ariel’s straw towards her.

“No fair! You bent my straw!”

Ariel straightened her straw and put her forehead against Marsh’s over the glass. They locked eyes and started sucking on the straws.

When they had reached the zurpping point, Marsh refilled the glass from the container.

Ariel looked to the side and saw that half a dozen people had been watching them with amused smiles to see the dignified man with white hair engaged in a head to head drinking contest over a malted.

One little old lady smiled at Marsh and Ariel.

“You looked like a Norman Rockwell painting.”

Marsh pushed the refilled glass towards Ariel.

“Here, you finish what’s left.”

Ariel picked up the glass and drank down the malted as Marsh got up to leave, then she followed him.

“The composer of The Clowns Suite, shouldn’t mind amusing people.”

“I’m the composer, not one of the clowns.”

They strolled down the promenade to where some street acrobats were performing. The keyboard man got up to join a pyramid and Marsh slipped down on the seat and picked up the music where the keyboard man had left off.

The performers saw the man at their keyboard and froze.

Marsh started to get up, but they called to him in delight.

“No, stay! Play your ‘Acrobats’ from FantasyLand.”

Marsh sat back down to play them through their act.

When he started, there were about twenty people standing around. One of the spectators recognized Marsh and told the others that the man at the keyboard was Sir Marshall Chalfont, the composer of the music.

More people stopped to listen and the growing crowd drew a bigger crowd, until there were over a hundred people, including some of the teenagers who had been at the horror movie.

When the act ended, there was enthusiastic applause and the acrobats found their hat filled with money, to which Marsh added a twenty-dollar bill.

As Marsh and Ariel made their way through the crowd, everyone near enough reached out to pat him.

One of the teenagers called out “Bravo Maestro!”, while others shouted “We love your Galaxy music!” One of the teenage girls even squealed, “Oooo, he’s soooo handsome!”

Each of the teenagers got a smile and “Thank you,” from Marsh, which clearly thrilled them.

When Marsh and Ariel got through the crowd, they ran for half a block to get well away, then slowed down to a stroll.

“I could do very nicely with a keyboard here in the Promenade. I could dress you in a clown suit to pass the hat. Maybe you could learn to make balloon animals.”

They laughed and walked along with his arm around her shoulders and her arm around his waist.

When they had strolled all the way down to the end of the Promenade and back, Marsh turned to Ariel with a mischievous smile.

“Oh, by the way, you got a malted mustache guzzling from the glass.”

Ariel flushed with embarrassment and wiped her face.

“Well, thanks for telling me before now.”

“You’re the one who doesn’t mind amusing people.”