The golden cat ear headband
Had a dream last night I can only describe as a Lovecraftian John Hughes Movie as written by Clive Barker.
Buddy and Sarah were in senior high and had the kind of jokey relationship that prevented them from ever actually talking about anything serious. In the background of each scene there was also a Strange Figure about four feet tall sort of stumbling around in the middle distance. It was high school so some kind of social dysfunction was expected so everyone ignored the Strange Figure. Sarah always wore this 80s cat ear headband so Buddy wanted to have one made of gold at the jewelers and surprise Sarah with it and not just ask her to the prom but ask her to marry him (because that was going to work well).
Buddy described the headband and his plan to his best friend Tom. Tom hitches his thumbs into his belt and decides they would steal Buddy's dad's car and go to The Mall to try and find a jeweller, but on arrival the mall was a weird shadow universe version of the mall: there were holes in the walls and everyone was pretty obviously hurt and nobody was helping them. At one point he passed by a hole in the floor from which blue fire was emitting. Wreathed in the blue fire was a bank manager sitting on the edge of the hole like it was some kind of hot tub, his suit slowly charring, and the manager held flaming wads of money and called out to the crowd to take a loan from him.
Eventually Buddy made it to the burned out ruins of the jewelry store and saw the Jeweler. The Jeweler told him to not touch the cabinet. Buddy said "aren't you going to ask what i want?"
The Jeweler said "why would i when i can just reach into your mind and pluck it out?" The Jeweler opened a drawer and produced the Golden Cat Ear headband just as described.
"It's just like you described" said Tom.
"Is it?" asked Buddy, confused.
"It is!" said Tom, "how much?"
The Jeweler looked at Buddy and said "I've already been paid" and handed over the Golden Cat Ear Headband.
Buddy took the headband and staggered back knocking Tom into a display cabinet, which broke and a sheet of glass cut Tom in half.
In a daze Buddy steps over his friend's body and takes the bus home.
Finally it is the day of The Prom and Buddy can't remember Sarah, and she has to eventually drive herself to the prom alone when he forgets to pick her up. Furious, she approaches him at the prom but he turns around holding the Golden Cat Ear headband and doesn't recognize her. Instead he whispers about Tommy and dances with the Golden Cat Ear headband still in a daze while the real girl with the cat ear headband cries ignored in front of him.
She runs out of the front of the school and there before her is the Strange Figure: it's the hind half a deer staggering about on two legs, as if cut cleanly with a band saw. She dances with the half deer for a while until eventually it falls over from exhaustion and its liver falls out. The half deer twitches on the ground for a while and the school nurse comes and injects it with something to make it still. On closer inspection the half deer is wearing Tom's Belt. Sarah takes off her cat ear headband and leaves it with the half deer and walks into the night.
Buddy and Sarah were in senior high and had the kind of jokey relationship that prevented them from ever actually talking about anything serious. In the background of each scene there was also a Strange Figure about four feet tall sort of stumbling around in the middle distance. It was high school so some kind of social dysfunction was expected so everyone ignored the Strange Figure. Sarah always wore this 80s cat ear headband so Buddy wanted to have one made of gold at the jewelers and surprise Sarah with it and not just ask her to the prom but ask her to marry him (because that was going to work well).
Buddy described the headband and his plan to his best friend Tom. Tom hitches his thumbs into his belt and decides they would steal Buddy's dad's car and go to The Mall to try and find a jeweller, but on arrival the mall was a weird shadow universe version of the mall: there were holes in the walls and everyone was pretty obviously hurt and nobody was helping them. At one point he passed by a hole in the floor from which blue fire was emitting. Wreathed in the blue fire was a bank manager sitting on the edge of the hole like it was some kind of hot tub, his suit slowly charring, and the manager held flaming wads of money and called out to the crowd to take a loan from him.
Eventually Buddy made it to the burned out ruins of the jewelry store and saw the Jeweler. The Jeweler told him to not touch the cabinet. Buddy said "aren't you going to ask what i want?"
The Jeweler said "why would i when i can just reach into your mind and pluck it out?" The Jeweler opened a drawer and produced the Golden Cat Ear headband just as described.
"It's just like you described" said Tom.
"Is it?" asked Buddy, confused.
"It is!" said Tom, "how much?"
The Jeweler looked at Buddy and said "I've already been paid" and handed over the Golden Cat Ear Headband.
Buddy took the headband and staggered back knocking Tom into a display cabinet, which broke and a sheet of glass cut Tom in half.
In a daze Buddy steps over his friend's body and takes the bus home.
Finally it is the day of The Prom and Buddy can't remember Sarah, and she has to eventually drive herself to the prom alone when he forgets to pick her up. Furious, she approaches him at the prom but he turns around holding the Golden Cat Ear headband and doesn't recognize her. Instead he whispers about Tommy and dances with the Golden Cat Ear headband still in a daze while the real girl with the cat ear headband cries ignored in front of him.
She runs out of the front of the school and there before her is the Strange Figure: it's the hind half a deer staggering about on two legs, as if cut cleanly with a band saw. She dances with the half deer for a while until eventually it falls over from exhaustion and its liver falls out. The half deer twitches on the ground for a while and the school nurse comes and injects it with something to make it still. On closer inspection the half deer is wearing Tom's Belt. Sarah takes off her cat ear headband and leaves it with the half deer and walks into the night.