Nuclear Vignettes- Flaming June

Huetter, Idaho.
August 29, 1997

[SPOILER="Thread Music"][MEDIA=youtube]UfG-GSwUhSU[/MEDIA][/SPOILER]

As he lay on the dewey grass next to Julie Joseph, James Bullock couldn't remember exactly why he thought coming to an illegal rave was a good idea.  Like many things in his life, he'd gone in headstrong without a clear motivation or an exit plan. He'd been to raves before, but the sweat, the drugs, the sheer noise had always distracted him from the fun, and on a night like this, he couldn't tell why he'd swapped one uncomfortable experience for another. Still, James enjoyed the energetic simplicity of trance, so he always stayed, sipping on Rainiers and throwing too many glow-sticks as the beat dropped.

The 17 year-old half-Couer D'Alene Indian had spent his summer vacation on the Reservation practicing his hobbies of smoking weed, making mix-tapes, and getting into shouting matches with his temperamental father, who preferred cars and liquor. This time, it had gotten physical, since James had made the mistake of letting his father know he intended to drop out and enlist in the Marines.  Names were called, Sis was mentioned, fists were thrown, Mom was mentioned, and James came flying out of the house.

He grabbed his brother Tom at 7/11, and his buddies Bobby Dixon and Jimmy Crowfeather, and they began with their usual post-fight haunt, the dingy Full Moon Drive-In. Still no Titanic, but after a year, the owner had finally gotten his copy of Hackers, though given the deserted lot, it seemed nobody else in the Coueur D'Alene Tribe was interested in seeing Johnny Lee Miller and Angelina Jolie hack the planet. The four shared a joint and enjoyed the movie alone.

As usual, they swapped the week's stories. James kept the group current on the most recent Bullock family showdown, Bobby talked about that one time he demolished the portajohn at his construction site, and Jimmy mentioned the rave he'd heard about working at FedEx. He also mentioned that they were going to be playing Orbital and Flaming June's new album, and that Julie Joseph would be there. That was enough for James, so the four went barrelling down I-90 once the movie finished in search of an underground rave.

The rave was in a disused warehouse just a mile off-Rez in Buetter. Since the police had been cracking down on raves near Spokane, all the Washington college kids had come east into Idaho in search of a good time. They knew the sleepy local cops wouldn't waste time on something that might be the Tribal Police's problem, and the Tribal Police didn't have enough people to make it their problem.

When James and company arrived, the party had already started. The DJ was blasting BT's Flaming June, the MC shouting gibberish from the poorly-mixed microphone that was obligatory to underground raves. The warehouse floor was absolutely packed with a diverse crowd of yuppies, grunge, goths, all dancing to the beat. The sheen of polyester clothing seemed to stretch endlessly from wall to wall in the dim lighting. Tom, Bobby and Jimmy quickly disappeared into the crowd, while James had opted to stay near the exit.

He'd met Julie Joseph early on, taking polaroids for the MC. She was a photography student, so James rarely saw her leave the school dark room, but he always made time for her outside of it, when he wasn't carting lumber for his fingerless shop teacher. It was generally assumed that they were dating, but neither really acted much like it.

A generally good student, Julie had started planning for college, particularly at University of Washington, further west in Seattle. She wanted to keep going in photography, and everything in her life had seemingly been meticulously planned, rationalized to arrive at that goal. In contrast, James repeatedly disoriented her with his dual attention to detail and planning, and his tendency to make snap, impulsive decisions. Much of their shared dynamic was her auditing of his  life goals, while he joked about her extensive Pog collection and her aspirations as an artist.

Tonight, the two found themselves grabbing an armful of Rainiers and sitting next to his pickup, with Julie aghast at his new life choices as Born Slippy throbbed incessantly from the warehouse behind them.

"Why are you joining, anyway?" Julie asked as she took a swig of her beer.

"Man, I don't know," James replied as he took the bottle back. "They pay pretty good, they pay for your college, all the Indians do it for a few years," He offers, seeming to throw out all possible answers to see which one satisfied them both. "They had a guy kill a dragon with a sword in their commercial? They can't be lying about that, right?"

That one got a chuckle out of her, and she took the bottle, finishing it off. "I'd join for that," she admitted, turning to him. "But really, is there a reason you want to be ordered to mop the rain for four years, or are you just trying to get out?"

To this end, he could only shrug. "Just seems like a good idea," he said. Many Indians toyed with the idea of "getting out," and often would do anything to do so. His sister had tried to hitch-hike out of CDA in 1989, but no one saw her again. Still, for many young people in the Coueur D'Alene Tribe, pretty much any other option was preferable to living, or dying, on the Rez.

"How is that any different from going to Seattle?" He asked her, laying down in the grass and peering up at the night sky. "You're not exactly planning on coming back either."

"It IS different," she responded defensively, "because I want to do this for the rest of my life, and I can't do it all here. Maybe it's part of it, but I'm not going to college JUST to leave the Rez." She pointed a new bottle at him like a scolding teacher. "James Bullock, you're smarter than you think, and definitely than you look." She turned it over, offering it to him with a grin. "Maybe you could become a stripper, over there in...Spokane..."

James cackled at the insinuation, but Julie had suddenly trailed off. "Jim..." Her voice was filled with unease, continuing to peer over in the direction of Washington to the west. She repeated his name, tugging at his sleeve.  James felt a sudden breeze as he sat up to check it out.

It was 3:00 in the morning, way too early for the sun, yet the horizon glowed eerily in loud, bright blotches. Was that just light pollution? James rubbed his eyes. No way, he thought. They could see Spokane from here, but never this bright. Lightning? It was a clear, starry night. There was a dull rumble too. Thunder, maybe?

His thoughts were interrupted by a piercing tone from the Jeep. Julie sat in the driver's seat, and was fiddling with the radio. As he jogged over, it became clear that this tone dominated every channel. Julie looked at him, her eyes brimming with dread. For once, she didn't have the answer, or, he sensed, she didn't want to believe the answer.

"Wait here," he said as he jogged back toward the warehouse, bursting inside. No one inside had taken any notice, and the party raged as it had been all night. Jimmy was passed out at the open bar, and Bobby and Tom had taken ecstasy. James and Julie had to practically drag the three zonked-out Indians out of the warehouse and into the Jeep. The crowd simply watched and let out a collective shrug, turning back to themselves.

Halcyon On and On was still playing as James skidded onto the highway heading east towards the Rez.

 The crowd danced into the night, blissfully ignorant that the world had ended.


[SPOILER="Halcyon On and On- Orbital"][MEDIA=youtube]bV-hSgL1R74[/MEDIA][/SPOILER]