Ana Philaxis & The Chokers #1

The stench of cigarettes always reminded her of the best nights she'd been out and about. That and the smell of charcoal grills. You knew it was going to be a good time when you smell that. Smells like a night of debauchery and promise.

That's what it was like that night long ago in 1981. It had just rained, and the sky was clearing up. The moon started to shine behind fast moving clouds. The streets were still slick and reflective, but the rain had stopped. She was down on Avenue A in the Lower East Side, NYC. Hanging out like she always did. Walking by Tompkins Square Park looking for her pot dude. Her friends at the time were into all sorts of drugs. Quaaludes were still a thing then. She preferred her tequila, shrooms and weed. It got the job done without all the chemical dependence and angst.

She just wanted to get high, hear some good tunes, get sweaty and maybe if the vibe was right…get laid. She wasn't above just getting laid. She'd seen the MOST grungiest dudes get laid by chicks. Smelly, greasy, sweaty dudes who hadn't showered in days (in some cases, weeks.. another story for another time).

She went out into the night slightly buzzed on a mix of weed and shrooms with a nip of Tequila. It was to ward off the breezy October chill of the previous storm rolling its way to the Atlantic. She smelled the air…she smelled the ocean in the air still from the tropical storm. She also noticed this guy staring at her from across the street. Standing in front of the pizza place. Looking at her from over the tops of his shades.

She didn't know his name at the time but it's Gian. Dark haired, bearded tall man with dark eyes. Body between lanky and athletic. Very hairy. You could tell from the shirt that was open damn near to his waist. He was clearly an Italian, mob related. Clearly. Slicked back hair, shades on at night. Gold chains around his neck getting stuck in his chest hair. The Burgundy Members Only jacket.

She was dressed in the punk style of the time: ripped tights, ripped jeans, leg warmers, off the shoulder ripped sweatshirt, doc Martin boots, military flak jacket, huge wool scarf and a humongous spliff dangling from her lips. She grew out her dreadlocks long for the past few years. Eyes rimmed in black like she did it with a charcoal briquette. Black lipstick. A look of stoned boredom on her face as Gian started strutting over to her like Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever. He was the absolute cartoon of a mob dude in 1981.

He was grunting a little when he walked up to her. Like he was out of breath from all the strutting. "Howyoudoin?" Gian sticks out his hand to shake hers. "I'm Gian…I apologize for looking at you so hard from over there, but you intrigued me." Gian takes off the sunglasses and he has these flashing dark eyes. Like looking at an onyx in the light of a flame. His voice is low and deep. Ana pauses for a moment because he smells like incense. It struck her. Like Nag Champa incense. She regained her composure and took a step backwards. She hadn't stuck out her hand to shake his yet.

Gian sees she's not going to shake his hand and retracts it. Instead, he folds up his glasses, He pulls out a comb, runs it through his already slicked down hair. He has mutton chops and a goatee at the same time. That is a bold move she thought. "Yeah..hi…I'm Ana..how's it goin?" Gives him a halfhearted military salute.

"What brings you out into the night, Ana?" His voice is also gravely like he smokes a lot. "Just coming out to hear my friend's band play." As she pointed towards the venue. "What are their names again? Something heads." snapping his fingers trying to remember the name. "Talking Heads…the name is Talking Heads." She said this rolling her eyes as she lit up the spliff again.

"Wow! That smells strong! You mind if I take a hit, man?" as he reaches for the joint. Ana isn't having any of it and pulls back before he can get his hands on it. She'd already had enough of this guy. He was ok looking but he was so annoying and pushy. Like…dude…no. Stop..please. So to avoid having anything else to do with him, she stubs the joint on the wall (to be lit later on and put in tin foil) and walks to the entrance of the venue. Benny, the bouncer with the black light to check if you have been stamped to get back in. Of course, Ana was stamped. Ana was always stamped.

Something told her to look behind her to see what annoying mob dude was doing. He was standing perfectly still staring right at her. People smoking and laughing and spazzing out all around him, but he didn't move a muscle. She could feel him staring into her soul somehow. It was freaking her out. Majorly.

She decided to shake it off. She's safe here. This is her home away from home, this dingy little club on Ave A across from the park. Painted black on the outside and inside. Rickety little stage at the back of it. Dark corners to chill out and be stoned in. Loud bands making your ears bleed. It was glorious to her. Her band will be ready to play out in a few months. They just had to ride out the winter and practice. She was ready. Got a new bass guitar. A sexy black one.

She saw her friend Delilah at the bar and knew she was about to get very drunk. Del was Irish from a hard drinking Boston family that owned a bar or "a bah" as she said it in her Boston accent. Red haired but she dyed it to be almost cartoony flaming "Jessica Rabbit" red. She was curvy with a large bosom that she accentuated with leather bras and see through sheer shirts. "Step up to the bah, Dahl. Whatcha want?" Del already knows and has the tequila bottle in her hands. Ana yells "I'm going to do something different tonight, damnit" and slaps the bar top making some of the other drinks jump.

"Pour me a Tennessee honey whiskey straight up, paht'nuh". Ana slides herself into the barstool and puts her elbows on the bar as she waits. Thinking fondly of how drunk she's about to get, she suddenly feels someone looking at her. She already knows but tries to ignore it. It's the Gian guy. Now he's at the doorway of the venue staring. Intensely. Creepy.

She thinks What the actual fuck as she turns back around really needing her drink to be ready. "Del…what the fuck, man…you go all the way to Tennessee to get this shot or what?!" Ana leans over the bar to see where Del is…she's cowered under the bar. Terrified. Shaking. Crying. "Del! Honey…are you alright??" She jumps off the stool, runs to the end of the bar, goes behind it to find Del on the floor, distraught. "He's here again." Del says in a low shaky voice as she stares off into the distance. "Who, Del? Who is here? Let me help you", hugging Del and feeling a weird feeling of being watched even though we were where no one could see them. Or so she thought.

"Del, sweetie…get up…let me take you to the back room and get you some water". At this point people at the bar are getting rowdy because no one is pouring drinks. Guys are trying to lean over the bar and steal beers out of the trough. It was getting bad. The manager Mike comes out with the look like he's going to rip someone's head off, saw Del on the floor and his look immediately changed to deep concern. Del was Mike's stepdaughter since she was 4 months old. Mike didn't care what anyone said. She was as good his child as if she'd been born from him.

Del looks at Mike with fear and tears in her eyes and whispers to him "he's back here..right now…he's here. He's here for me!" The terror in Del's eyes was unnerving. What the fuck did this guy do to her?? Was this some mob related shit? Did she owe money? Did he try to hurt her? Ana's mind was racing from one possibility to another as he watched Del's sanity begin to leave her as Mike tried to calm her. That's when she smelled it again. The incense. The kind they burn around the dead or in the temple. It smells very ancient and strong. A sharp fragrant smell that can mask the smell of decaying flesh. It smelled so familiar to her like she was there in those far away, long ago places.

"Please, Mike..please…I don't want to be here now. Please let me go home. I want to be with my kid right now..please Mike!" It was hard to look at Del and not want her to get somewhere as safe and as soon as possible. Mike scoops Del up off the floor and Ana is amazed at how strong Mike must be to lift her up so quickly with all the boobs she has. Each boob seems like it would weigh 25 lbs a piece.

"Ana…do me a huge favor and run the bar for me, hon..please..don't worry Javi is here and he can help you. Just let me take Del home and get her settled and I'll be right back." Mike has the keys in one hand and Del slung over his shoulder the way combat veterans save their buddies.

Ana looked at the angry crowd demanding to be made drunk immediately. Ana had training as a bartender so it wasn't a huge stretch. It definitely wasn't the way she wanted to spend her evening but, fuck it..why not. Free liquor for the rest of the night and later on she'll guilt trip Mike into paying her for covering his ass. It's only fair.

Ana also made an executive decision to get as many tips as she can for her trouble so she slapped on some lipstick, took off the ripped up sweatshirt to reveal the black lace bra she was wearing under a heavily graffitied wife beater tank top. She made sure to hoist her boobs up in the bra so it looked like she had cleavage. Ana relights the spliff…takes about 4 pulls, deeply exhales and gets to work.

"WHO THE FUCK IS NEXT?!" she yells as she holds up a Tequila bottle. She notices Mike and Del going towards the front door and stopping suddenly. Del is freaking out shaking her head no and furiously pointing towards the back of the bar. Mike looks over his shoulder and that's when Ana noticed Gian there again. Still and staring. This guy is a pain in the ass and needs to be told something. She decides to play his game and watch him watching her as she poured drinks and scooped up money.

Mike and Del leave out of the back entrance to the club and Ana didn't see them for the rest of the night. She made great tips though and not just money. She got bags of cocaine, luudes, pills…you name it. Of course, she wasn't going to do all these drugs. But she could sell them on and make a pretty penny. On a good night, the drug haul from tips and shit she found in the club could yield hundreds of dollars. People get fucked up and leave all kinds of shit around. It's amazing.

She felt him staring the whole night. Javi was getting the hang of pouring drinks and the crowd died down somewhat so Ana decides to go have a smoke outside and count her well-earned tips. She knows he's gonna be out there but so fucking what. Who the fuck does this goomba guy think he is anyway? Let him stare.

She is sufficiently drunk enough that she no longer cares if he wants to stare at her. Of course he wants to stare at me..I'm a fucking goddess and he knows it and he can't help himself. Poor bastard.

It's a little chillier than it was earlier. The storm was fully blown out to sea and behind it cool crisp Canadian air barreled through. The streets are dry.

Ana pulls the ratty, ripped sweatshirt over her head and her arms through the sleeves with the spliff roach dangling from her mouth. As she goes to light it, she hears a voice speaking directly in her right ear..like a whisper "need a light". Ana spins around expecting him to be next to her but no one is there. As she turns forward Gian bows in front of her. "What the fuck, man?!" Ana jumps and is glowering at Gian who is looking at her puzzled. "Please..don't be angry with me. I like you" as he reaches for her spliff free hand.

"No! You're fucking weirding me out! And what about Del?? What the fuck did you do to Del??" Ana is staring him down, her hands shaking a bit. She tries to light her joint and the lighter won't work. Gian looks at Ana, steps back, puts his hands in the air and has a gold old school zippo lighter in his left hand. "Allow me?" He waits for Ana's acknowledgement and steps forward, whipping the lighter top back and striking a large flame. Ana keeps her eyes on him. With him this close and with the light of the flame illuminating his face, she could see he wasn't bad looking. He needed a beard trim and his hair needed washing. But he had a pleasant enough face. Dark eyes. Strong eyebrows. Looks like he's about 35ish. And again…that smell of Nag Champa incense. Ancient.

He lights the tip of the joint and Ana takes a deep pull and inhales and holds the smoke in her lungs while sizing Gian up. She loudly exhales the smoke with a sputtering cough. "You know…that stuff ain't great for you." Gian said as he pointed to the joint Ana was pulling hard on again. While holding the smoke in her lungs, she says "You should try it..it might chill you out" and exhales an impressively large cloud of smoke.

"I've tried many things over the years…nothing seems to stick with me." Gian shrugs and smiles. "What is it that you want from me Gian cause I'm kinda having a long night and don't want to play games" Ana says as she flicks the smoked-up roach in a lone puddle in the gutter. "My friend Del was scared to death of you..why? What did you do?". A long moment of silence hung between them. Ana did not take her gaze off Gian, looking him right in the eyes. This took Gian by surprise. She wasn't scared or affected by him the way the others were. Maybe it was the pot dulling her senses. Maybe it was her anger and rebellion that made her bold.

Gian realized he had to give her an answer and wasn't sure where to start. He hadn't actually done anything to Del. Del saw something that freaked her out. Bad. Gian wasn't even sure himself what Del saw. Whatever she saw scared the life out of her.

"I'm sorry Ana…I owe you an apology. sometimes I don't know my own strength. I assume too much. But…something about you…so bold and strong and electric…I can help you. I can make you even stronger. I instinctively feel it. I'm never wrong about these things." Gian's tone seemed softer and more respectful to her. Ana thought either this weed is hella strong or this guy is getting to me.

Ana looks up at the bright moon at exactly half and sighs."Look…I appreciate that and all, but I just got out of a relationship, and I just want to chill out, you know? Nothing heavy. And I didn't ask you for any help. I don't remember ever asking you for help." She sits on the stairs next to the venue entrance and starts rolling a fresh spliff. He stands next to her with his arm on the railing and leans in to talk quietly to her. Only his mouth does not move. Inside her head she hears him say: I can help you be a great queen.

While she was shocked that he was able to do that, she was still at just the right level of high that she immediately thought back: Again, didn't ask for your help.

They sat there looking deeply into each other's eyes, thinking in argument back and forth while the people around them didn't know it was happening. Ana wondered how the hell she was going to get herself out of this predicament when Gian said to her in Thought: I want you to meet my family. No strings attached. Meet them and talk with them over dinner. All will be revealed then.

Ana holds her hand out and thinks to Gian: Hand me the lighter. Gian hands her the lighter, she lights the joint, takes a deep pull, and holds it looking up at the moon. She exhales, looks at Gian and thinks to him: Will your mother be there? I will only go if your mother is there.

Gian smiles and lets out a chuckle. He says aloud "my mother will be there. My mother is always around. I can't wait for you to meet her." Ana thought how bad could he be if his mother was around?

She was soon to find out exactly what kind of family they were.