A Smell To Remember Who: Sam Beckett, Al Calavicci, Annie Wheaton [OPEN] What: Leaps into L.A. for the first time Where: Streets outside of the Hyperion Hotel When: Afternoon Rating: PG
..... Every leap was different. And some leaps were easier than others. Sam always tried to prepare himself, but it was hard to prepare for anything and everything. And that’s exactly what leaps were. If there was some crazy messed up situation out there, Sam’s chances of arriving right smack-dab in the middle of it were practically 100%.
And this leap was no exception.
Trash?
He could smell the stench of garbage even before the blue flashing light of the leap had dissipated. It was almost overwhelming. It wafted off – himself? Sam blinked. He was armpit dip in a trash can. Although, why he was digging in the garbage was beyond him. He immediately pulled his arm out and wiped the dirt and grime off on his sleeves.
“Hey, man. You find anything good in there?”
Sam turned around and found himself staring at a disgusting, unshaven fellow pushing a shopping cart full of paper bags. Blinking was coming more naturally to him than breathing at that moment.
“What’s wrong with you, man? You sick or something? You’re not hidin’ nothin’ from me, are ya? Come on, man! You promised to share any goods you found with me! I’m starvin’. I ain’t eaten since Thursday!”
Sam took a step away from the trash can, and the other man dove into it, frantically searching for the leftover bits of a hamburger or someone’s thrown away Chinese take-out. Sam glanced over at the glass of the front windows of the building nearby and saw his reflection for the first time. It was even worse than the other guy. His hair was greasy, hanging in thin dirty strings around his face. His beard was ragged and gray at the tips, which reached practically down to his breast plate. There was no guessing where that awful smell he’d initially noticed had come from. It was definitely coming from himself.
“Oh boy.”
…..
Sam stood there for a long moment, staring at his reflection. He couldn’t believe it. He was homeless! He was homeless. He was searching through the garbage for food. And he reeked.
“Hey! You two! No loitering!” A police officer called out from down the street.
“Ah, shit, man! If I thought they’d lock me up and give me a place to stay for the night, I’d let ‘em take me in. But I ain’t going back to no ‘sylum. No way, man. You better get lost,” his trash can companion said, quickly snatching up what he could from the garbage and tossing it into his shopping cart.
“A-asylum?” Sam stuttered.
“You deaf or something today, man? Scram! Before the coppah takes both us in!”
“Oh, oh. Right.”
Sam didn’t know which way to go so he simply headed in the direction away from the officer. As far as bizarre situations went, this one wasn’t so bad. No one was trying to kill him. He wasn’t a young girl trying to pass a beauty pageant. And he wasn’t a blind man about to perform a piano concerto in front of a full auditorium of strangers. But that didn’t change the fact that he was lost, confused, and completely out of his environment. He hurried to try and catch up with the other man, but he (and his shopping cart) were too fast. Like a bat out of hell, Sam thought.
Before the man with the cart disappeared around a corner, a few pieces of trash and paper rolled out of the cart and onto the sidewalk. A torn piece of newspaper caught Sam’s eye. He snatched it up off the ground, mindful to keep walking (so as not to be stopped by the officer,) and tried to make out a date.
2005?!
That couldn’t be right. This must have been a clipping from a tabloid. How could he be in the year 2005? That didn’t make any sense.
He made a left and sat down on a bench in front of some hotel. But he was too focused on the news clipping to pay the building any attention.