Dan's Notebook

Dan's notebook is a private collection of writings (and sometimes drawings) that Dan takes down during his free time. They usually consist of observations about his surroundings and people he's met, interesting conversations he's overheard, and behaviors and names that he's found notable. It is also sometimes a journal of the happenings on Skid Row.

Entries

Entry for November 27th 2001

November 27th 2001
(In the margin of this entry are the words "spirit paper" scribbled very hastily.)

I'm not sure what to think after tonight. This notebook is full of entries documenting the bizarre, but this is truly the most outlandish thing ever to have happened. When I returned from a prank delivery for GD, the entire restaurant was in a panic. The food had come alive. There is no other way to describe it. It was skittering around like cockroaches made of Chinese food. I heard someone describing it as rats covered in food, but it was not rats. When the creatures were smashed or kicked or hit, they were nothing but food, and yet they moved like living things.

There was a tall young man — a foreigner, Hungarian, I think — and a smaller young woman there. They were peculiar. The man, Nicolae, and I fought the things while the woman (I didn't catch her name) went looking around for something called "spirit paper". I don't know what that means, but she apparently found it, and then the things just disappeared. Then the girl and her companion disappeared too (though they went out the door rather than simply vanishing into nothing).

If I hadn't experienced it for myself, and if I didn't have the clothes and bruises and the burn on my shoulder, I would say that I had gone insane. If I fall asleep and wake up tomorrow in good shape, I'll just brush it off as some vivid dream.

Entry for November 28th 2001

November 28th 2001
No true entry, just a few things jotted down.
Hyperion Hotel.
Shut-in woman (former slave girl?)

Entry for November 30th 2001

November 30th 2001
In the margins of this entry are several sketches of a giant worm-like creature with many teeth. It's a fair likeness.

I thought the incident at GD a few days ago was bizarre, but what happened yesterday trumps it. I met with mother and father in Hollywood for lunch. They talked about the usual things — it was very awkward. After they left, I was heading back to the station to return home and I saw the shut-in girl from Hyperion Hotel. She was with a tall, bald Black man and the brunette woman (the Briton was not there). There was a minor earthquake and I thought nothing of it — but then it happened again and the vendor I had just helped set his table to rights was suddenly gone. He was snatched up by a gigantic worm that erupted out of the earth right beneath him.

I fell down and was helped up by Nicolae, the Hungarian man from before. Then he and the tall Black man (I believe his name was Gunn?) began to attack the creature. I was too shocked to help. I stayed next to the women and did what I could for their safety. Sometime during it all, the young woman from GD showed up (or perhaps she was already there with Nicolae; everything was happening so fast that I'm not entirely sure) with a sword. Gunn and Nicolae used hairspray, a lighter, and a gas can to dispatch the creature. When it exploded, I tried to shield the women and wound up with shrapnel embedded in my back. It was a very messy affair.

I'm starting to wonder if that woman and Nicolae have something to do with all this. Is it superstitious and silly to believe such?

Entry for December 1st 2001

December 1st 2001
In the margin of this entry are sketches of a cane top: a cat at the end of a leap.

The woman from GD's name is Ava. I discovered this today when I found her in GCM during my lunch break. She was reading tarot cards for a price, and there was a man with a cane who decided to get his fortune told. I warned him about the woman to see what sort of reaction I would get. Of course there was some hostility from her. The man seemed amused. He asked her to read my fortune, which she did for $50 (which he paid).

I am still unsure about Ava. She knew about the fire in Phoenix, but if she was there in Hollywood during the incident with the worm, she could have seen me with my parents. She might have eaten at their restaurant and somehow heard about the story from them. But I'm not even sure she was there that day — at least not there when my parents were. And there are also the two incidents that have happened while she and Nicolae were present — those have no viable explanation. Is there something — dare I say it? — supernatural about the two of them? I don't know. It is probably best to avoid them, but I'm very curious.

The man with the cane referred to them as "gypsies" when I was walking away. It would explain a few things.