Sound the fanfare! Beat the drums!
Shout hosannas! Here he comes....
CELEBRITY
By James McKimmey, Jr.
Illustrated by PAUL ORBAN
June 19, 1978. Celebrity day.
The city stretched. Emptystreets glistened from the bath ofa water truck. Dew-wet grasswinked at the fresh peeping sun,like millions of shimmering diamonds.A bird chirped. Another.The city yawned.
Rows of houses lay like squareivory beads on patches of greenfelt. A boy drove his bicycle downthe middle of an elm-bordered avenue,whistling loudly, while tightlyrolled newspapers arced from hishand and slapped against porches.
Lights snapped on in a thousandwindows, shining yellowly againstthe cool whiteness of dawn. Menblinked and touched beard-stubbledchins. Women moved sleepilytoward porcelain and chrome kitchens.
A truck roared and garbage pailsrattled. There was a smell of sourorange rinds and wet leaves and unfoldingflowers. Over this came thesmell of toasting bread and fryingbacon.
Doors swung open, slippered feetpadded across porches and handsgroped for the rolled newspapers.The air was stricken with the blaringsound of transcribed music andthe excited voices of commercialannouncers. The doors swung shutand the sounds were muted.
A million people shifted andstretched and scratched. The sunrose above the horizon.
Celebrity day.
Doors slammed again,and half-consumed cups ofcoffee lay cooling behind. Childrenwiped at sleepy eyes and mothersswept crumbs, touching self-consciousfingers at their own bed-ruffledhair. Laborers and clerks andlawyers and doctors strode downsidewalks and climbed into automobilesand busses and sleek-nosed elevatedtrains. The city moved.
To the center of the city, wherethe tall buildings stretched to thelighting sky, came the horde, likethousands of ants toward a comb ofhoney. Wheels sang and whined.Horns blasted. Whistles blew.
And waiting, strung above thewide streets between the cold marqueesand the dead neon tubes,were the banners and the flags andthe bunting.
The air warmed and the sunbrightened. Voices chattered. Elbowsnudged. Mouths smiled, teethshone, and there was the sound oflaughter, rising over the pushingthrongs. The city was happy.
The bunting dipped and thebanners fluttered and the flagswhipped. At the edge of the city,the airport tightened itself. Waiting,waiting for the silver and bluerocket. The rocket of the Celebrity.
A large hotel, towering above thepulsing streets, began the quiver ofactivity. As though a great electriccurrent had been run through itscubes and shafts and hollows, thehotel crackled. Desk clerks clickedbells and bell boys hopped. Elevatorsrose and fell. In the cellar,wine bottles were dusted by quick,nervous hands. In the kitchen, atowering cake was frosted and decorated.Orders cracked. Handsflew and feet chattered against tile.In one rich expansive suite a gianthoop of multi-colored flowers wasplaced in the center of a room.
It was in the air. Laughter, awe,worship, excitement!
Ropes went up and stretched betweenlamp posts. Blue-coated menon horses began blocking streets.Old women with wooden boxes,children with flashing eyes, men inrich suits and tattered suits beganfilling the sidewalks.
Curbs became lined with people.Bars threw open doors and freshair met stale air. Men with fatfaces, thin faces, white faces, redfaces, t