On a oddly warm February day, Summer Page sits at a balcony overlooking a well-tended garden; wearing a silk dressing gown she sips a coffee and scrolls on her phone; Summer lets out a pleasant sigh as she listens to the birds sing until-



Page quirks her eyebrow standing up with a groan and looking over the balcony to see Richard Powers, looking like a decomposing corpse in the sunlight as he holds a boombox high above him singing along with the Cutting Crew classic. Richard stares deeply into Summer’s eyes as Page looks back with disinterest.

Back to Richard, passionately singing along.

Then to Page, confused and annoyed.

To Richard, almost crying.

Then to an empty balcony.

And finally to Richard being nailed by a high heel; an arc of blood flying as his head reels back and the boombox crashes to earth, silencing the song. Summer stands back up and leans on the railing looking over at a laughing Richard.

“Hahahaha!!! Hell of a throw, mi amor!”

He smiles widely, blood falling down his blotchy skin, past his cracked lips and into the gaps of his yellow teeth. Page rolls her eyes, resting her cheek on a delicate fist.

“Why are you here, Richard?”

“Why!?” He drops to his knees and throws out his arms to her. “Summer, my GODDESS! My ANGEL! You did it! You forced me through a match and one step closer to my true goal and I! Your lowly thrall shall pay you back as you deserve!”

“By continuing to stalk me and disturb me when I’m just trying to relax?”

“No, my dear!” He stands to his feet and places a hand over his heart. “Allow me to take you to lunch!”

Page scoffs.

“What? Are we a highschool couple now? You going to take me to the food court?” She looks up and down at this decrepit old man who looks like he stumbled through a thrift store rack. “Or the soup kitchen?”

“Would you not like to go to the soup kitchen? WE’RE HAVING MINESTRONE TONIGHT!!!”

Powers yells like it's the most exciting news ever. Summer brushes her perfect hair from her face with a sigh.

“Listen, Richard, you did well in our match… A lot better than I expected; and I appreciate that but we’re together ONLY in the ring, as soon as we get through this Bashmaster Classic, me and you are done.”

Powers looks up at Summer with a defeated look on his face.

“Why do you look so defeated that I’m keeping this strictly business? Hasn’t life kicked you in the balls hard enough already?”

“Isn’t it obvious that it has? So why don’t you do me this favor of letting me take you out as a token of my appreciation since you took me to the gym last time.”

“First of all I didn’t take you anywhere you followed me to the gym. So let’s get that straight. Secondly I’m engaged….

Summer lifts her hand up to show off a very expensive Diamond engagement ring.

“So no tricky Dick stuff to this business!”

( As his face brightens up) “Of course not! No funny business. This Dick is on the curved and turgid.”

Richard chuckles with an eyebrow raise.

“See what I did there?”

Summer motions that she is going to throw up.

“EW! Just don’t!”

“Noted.”

“I’m going to change real quick. I’ll be right down.”

Summer turns and walks into her home from the balcony.

Richard: “Can I come in?”

“You can…”

Richard’s face brightens up with a smile.

“But I have mase, a taser, and multiple guns in the house.”

Richard’s face lights up as he goes to take a step forward.

“Oooh, the lady likes it kinky!”

“Richard, stay!”

Richard halts his movement as Summer turns and leaves.

“Can you drive?” He shouts up after her. “I had to walk here!”

A COUPLE OF HOURS LATER…

Driving through the city in Summer’s Mercedes, windows down as Summer tries to get rid of the stench of what seems to be a dying animal, Richard looks over the leather interior and swipes his hand over the dash with a sigh.

“I miss being in the lap of luxury.”

“Do you not get paid or something?”

Richard rolls his eyes and leans his cheek on his hand as he looks out the window.

“I do! But such measly amounts take nothing away from the mountain of debt Thaddeus Duke has thrown me under.”

Summer glances at Richard briefly then back to the road.

“ALAS! It matters not! For I have YOU! MY ATHENA! MY WARMAIDEN! MY-”

Summer puts up a palm to block the possibly acidic spittle flying at her from Richard’s mouth.

“Stop! I get it.”

Richard gives a nod like a scorned puppy before smiling.

“I cannot express my gratitude, my… LOVE for you! With how we dispatched the flaccid, wrinkly legend of Scoops McGee and proved the disappointing mediocrity of Oz once again! It’s only a matter of time until we succeed in EPIC fashion! After we show Atara and this… Marisol what we’re packing, they’ll be creaming their lungs out!”

“... Did you say screaming or creaming?”

“I FORGET! My point is, we’re on the easy road to victory, my dear. Atara is a mess whose sporadic appearances and poor showing in her matches have made her less of a threat than a 2-inch strap-on. And Miss Marisol? Atara-lite. Atara’s non-union Italian(?) equivalent. Atty’s pet chihuahua shitting in her handbag and chewing on a plethora of used pregnancy tests.”

Summer looks at Powers sideways and shakes her head in disgust.

“Why would anyone keep used pregnancy tests in their handbag? Gross! For one thing, that’s gross and awfully unhygienic. Secondly, if a woman needs a plethora of pregnancy tests then any slut shaming is warranted…”

“Not the point, my Goddess”

Realizing she went off on a tangent.

“Right, right. It seems as though, Dicky, that you have a good grasp on who and what Atara is all about. Which is good because despite how she will feel about me saying this I have a good grasp on who and what Mari is all about. I’m not sure if you know this or not, Dicky, or if you kept up with current events in the wrestling world considering it would probably be difficult to do so when a soul kitchen but Mari and I go way back. We used to be as thick as thieves.”

Powers perks up.

“Really?”

“Not in that way, perv!!!”

Powers slouches down in his seat in disappointment.

“We used to be best of friends but when I won the Uprising World Heavyweight Championship without her at ringside things began to crumble because Mari is nothing if not an attention whore. And if Mari thinks anyone takes her spotlight away from her then things won’t go well. So she tried everything to tear me down. From turning people against me to a lot of other things that I won’t get into…”

“She sounds like Thaddeus!”

“If you want to imagine Thaddeus’ face on Mari’s body, then by all means, please do.”

Powers contemplates the idea.

"A curious concept, my queen! Of how you speak of Mari; I can picturing her digging into my pockets and taking every last fucking cent I own! The conniving, snivelling cunt sounds like the loose afterbirth that fell out of Duke’s gaping pussy!”

Summer scrunches her face.

“That’s… Vivid.”

“I’m a wordsmith, m’lady! No wonder her and Atara have been paired together, true gutter trash! Atara popping out Raven’s nepo-babies by the dozen ready to overtake the wrestling world along with her gaggle of forgettable extended family members! All ready to take advantage of people like me and our poor business sense! And Marisol, my bird of paradise, what would you say to her?”

Page exhales as her hands grip the wheel tighter.

“We’ve been through this before Mari. In fact on Halllween night I made you tap out! But this time though we’ll each have people on our sides for this fight and I admit Atara is a hell of a wrestler and I have whatever the hell Dicky is. But as we proved a couple weeks ago that even an odd couple such as us can get the job done and we will get it done once again to ready the finals of this tournament!”

Richard nods with a devilish smirk before his eyes widen and he screams.

“PULL OVER, MI AMOR!!!”

Summer caught off guard brakes to a screeching halt. Richard excitedly pushes open the car door almost drooling as Page grabs her handbag and follows Richard who throws his arms out in praise to the exterior of a-

“A strip club!?”

Richard gives a mad glare to Summer over his shoulder.

“A STRIP CLUB WITH A BUFFET!”

Page groans with a look of disgust.

“If I wanted a venereal disease I’d just wait until Anarchy, Dick.”

“HA!” Richard guffaws. “Such WIT, my love! Now COME! Let me treat you to an unforgettable luncheon!”

Richard hooks his arm waiting for Summer to link him but she blanks him and walks past to the bouncer at the front. Richard's wide smile sticks on his face as he watches Summer’s form move past him and he walks behind her until the large, imposing man holds out his palm.

Bouncer: “Twenty dollar entry.” He looks between the two. “Each.”

Summer side-eyes Richard who tries to nonchalantly look around at the clouds. Page elbows him in the gut causing him to double over as he gasps out.

“Yes, of course!” Winded, he checks his pockets. “Forty dollars coming up!”

Patting himself down, Richard managing to conjure up a dried piece of gum stuck to his pocket interior and a moth which flies off into the air as Powers looks at it, deeply saddened.

“Aw man, that was my breakfast for tomorrow.”

Summer scratches her brow with a sigh before digging into her handbag and handing over a fifty.

“Keep the change.”

She says with a smile as the bouncer moves aside letting them in; Richard hangs back for a moment and whispers to the bouncer.

“Hey, could you spare ten bucks?”

The man just mean-mugs Richard who silently shrugs before following Summer into the saddest strip club in the US. A dingy, run-down dive with a small stage and a DJ practicing scratching records. Summer clears her throat as Richard bops his head and throws an arm around Summer who quickly shrugs it off. Richard points over to a singular table with snacks.

“THERE! Your main course, my love! Take a seat, I'll get us our meal!”

Powers licks his lips as he heads over to the table as Summer sits down at a booth and rethinks every life decision she made getting her to this point in her life. Music begins playing as the DJ shouts over it.

DJ: “Please welcome to the stage; the Mediterranean Mecca, Maritara!”

An old hag with a large C-section scar across her abdomen hacks up a lung as she waddles out and places a cigarette in her mouth as she lazily circles the pole to the meager audience. The dancer performs as she has hundreds of times before to no reaction. A washed-up has-been that never was. Summer cringes as Richard is back whistling loudly with two paper plates in his hands, putting one in front of Summer who looks at the assortment of chips, crackers and cocktail sausages. She looks up to Richard who smiles back.

"Hey, could I borrow a hundred for a private dance?"