PattiKen and the Muses: Invisible

Continued from Part 4: Margaret

Part 5: Mackensie

By the time the bus reaches the small station and he steps down to the sidewalk, Mac had seen most of Main Street. His old home town; it hasn’t changed much. Oh, sure, that Walmart he saw on the outskirts wasn’t there back then, but for the most part, he recognizes a lot of it. He feels a peacefulness settle over him. It’s such a relief from the feelings L.A. gave him. Yes, it was exciting at first, full of promise, but that had faded pretty fast, leaving stress and worry about food and his rent in its stead.

The last time he saw this town, he was on a bus about to travel in the opposite direction. He was on his way to Hollywood, the bright lights, and the fame that awaited him there. He was sure of it. He eschewed the idea of going to college like so many of his high school classmates. He was an actor, and he could hear Hollywood beckoning. Hadn’t he been a hit in the senior play? Yeah, he knew he wasn’t matinee idol material. Remember that guy on TV a while back who used to refer to himself as ruggedly handsome? OK, so Mac wasn’t ruggedly handsome, but he was ruggedly…rugged. And he could act, right?

Once in Hollywood, Mac answered some roommate wanted ads and found himself a room in a house with a couple of other guys trying to break into the business. He started answering audition calls, and after a few months, a small studio signed him. First thing they did was change his name. He was now Mackensie Chastain, for Pete’s sake, a mostly unemployed actor. It didn’t take long for Mac to realize that every other restaurant server and valet guy was a wannabe actor, and they were movie-star handsome. He wasn’t a total failure though. The studio put him to work. He got some parts. Sort of. He at least got onto the big screen, albeit in bit parts, most with no lines. That was more that many of the others could claim. He was great at looking busy while walking down the hall behind the action. Hah. That was his life out there, looking busy while wandering around behind the action. Totally invisible most of the time. Except for his last film. Oh, yes, the audience noticed him then.

At what must have been his three-thousand-seventy-second audition, he got the lead in a psychological horror film called Midnight Obsession. Horror was not quite what he aspired to, but, hey, it was a movie and he had the lead! Ha. It turned out that he played the creature. It was still considered the lead, even if no one would ever recognize him. He had to wear a dreadful creature suit made of some kind of smelly rubber or something. It was really heavy and hot as hell inside.

The film was actually a success. Although it was no big box office smash, it had a decent cult following. And Mac hated it. Sweat, scales, secretions, and sex. Hell of a plot, huh? When he finally washed off the gluey makeup, he washed off the last of his ambition along with it. He decided to go home.

And here he is. Home. After a moment standing on the street, inhaling the cold but clean---what a concept--- air, Mac thinks lunch. He heads toward the old corner drugstore. A tuna sandwich and a lemonade, that’s the ticket.

When he reaches he corner where he is sure the drugstore used to be---after all, he and his buddies used to hang out there after school---he’s surprised to see a sign telling him that it's now a bookstore,

Well, damn. Time passes. He turns his back for a few decades, and look what happens.

But the place looks intriguing. He decides to go in and check it out.