Wednesday, October 15, 2008

This one's for Larry.

Last night I was in Pyongyang. I needed to find Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, to explain to him what makes a good suspense book versus a good suspense movie. My sidekick (whom I didn't know, as in all good suspense fiction) and I ran through the empty streets of the massive city, dodging under overhangs and flattening ourselves against skyscrapers to escape view from black government helicopters.

We found Dan Brown in a park. I explained to him that suspense works better as a book, because in movies, the sound track gives away whether someone is a good guy or a bad guy. Covert message delivered, we ran back through the streets of Pyongyang to our car, again dodging to evade Kim Jong Il's helicopters.

We had stashed money in our car, wads of wide green bills. When we reached the car, the bills were gone, replaced by useless North Korean pennies. We fled, knowing that government operatives had been in the car and it was no longer safe.

We needed to acquire a guanabana soda as a sign of goodwill to the Brazilian spies up north. The better part of our money gone, we checked our wallets to make sure we had enough cash to buy the soda. We set out on foot, running, evading helicopters, toward the northern edge of the city. Ahead we saw the two Brazilians, looking very hip in their black outfits. We had the soda---

The alarm went off. I felt more tired than I had when I went to bed.

2 comments:

Larry Jones said...

Wow! You're having dreams just for me? I like this one - it has a Hitchcock-meets-Mamet vibe about it. You're on a mysterious mission in a strange place, pursued by who knows whom, for reasons unknown, and exotic Brazilians appear. (I love Brazilians.) Are they really government helicopters? Who took the money out of the car? Why did they leave coins? What complex (and maybe sinister) machinery is operating just out of your sight?

No wonder you woke up fatigued. You MUST go back, kStyle! You're our only hope!

kStyle said...

You should come live in my town! We have lots and lots of Brazilians! In fact, the nearby town of Framingham is reputed to have the largest concentration of Brazilians outside Brazil. We're about 30 min drive from the Framingham epicenter.