TONIGHT, I HAVE THE MOST INCREDIBLE DREAM.
I’m not at Fever and I’m not DJ Lord.
I am a real DJ, getting paid to spin in a real club.
The club is a little spot downtown called DRC and I am myself all night.
I stand at the entrance, clutching the laptop and turntables I use when I’m at school. Chuckie was right about Mr. Faulkner. Not only did he not have a problem with me using them for the weekend, he actually met me at school on his day off to get them, telling me all the while how proud and excited he was to see how far I’d come. I stare at the closed metal door, holding my borrowed equipment and feeling nervous as hell.
“You the DJ?” the doorman asks.
I’m about to shake my head no when I have this crazy thought. I am the DJ!
“Yeah,” I hear myself say.
The word is still pounding in my head as he opens the door and lets me in.
Scuzz and Chuckie get in on their fakes without any problem, and Scuzz picks up a woman without any problem. Chuckie picks up a few different women but has all kinds of problems getting any of them to stick around for more than five minutes, leading him to chug beers at the bar alone the majority of the night and end up pretty heated.
I play through it all, caught on an incredible, unreal plane somewhere outside of my life for one beautiful night. It’s nothing like I’d imagined it would be, with me starting out all nervous and messing up at first and getting booed by the crowd but then getting it together and winning them back in the end and watching them cheer. I guess that stuff only happens in movies.
The crowd doesn’t boo. They don’t cheer either. I don’t think they even notice I’m here. The DJ works from a little room with a window that overlooks the dance floor where you don’t see him unless you’re looking up. Besides, everyone is too busy being into themselves and each other to notice any of the workings of the club.
But I am here, standing in the DJ booth playing radio rap and R & B circa 1970 to 1990, like they asked me to.
Tonight, I have the most incredible, amazing, unbelievable dream. But I’m not asleep when I have it. I am wide awake. I am so very awake.