The 4th of July ALL-OUT HARDCORE ASSULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They pulled up on a curb on a side street going down a hill. John pulled up the parking break, the doors opened and all three dashed the last 30 feet, around a corner to get to the dry lobby of the Grand Tillman hotel. They all wore large, wet smiles, Jenny's hair hung down a little damp, John's was too short to matter and Max's was even shorter. They all looked up in mouth dropping silence as their eyes scanned up the 34 terraced floors to the ceiling. The open room was numbingly huge, with two huge decorative metal rod sculptures making it seem even larger. Tiny people walked in ones and two's along the geometrically railed promenades, in front of the identical numbered doors, 56 on each floor.

"Everytime I think it's bigger!" John almost shouted.

They walked over to the cluster of elevators to the left, pushed the up button next to the elevator with the blue neon reading "Jeweled Crown". The bell rang; the doors whisked open to reveal a glass room. John playfully ran to the facing transparent wall, and put his hands up by his head as he stared out. Max pushed the button for the top and followed John and now Jenny in this pose, looking like three well dressed stuck against the glass. They heard the door close, and the tiny chamber began to rise upward, slowly at first, then picking up speed, with relatively little inertia. The people that were normal sized began to shrink, the ivy-draped terraces dropped by revealing the geometric, mauve carpet on each floor. John looked down at the larger interior, swelling in size as they rocketed upward. He had thought of the space as a large organ, maybe a stomach on his last visit, and the thought occurred to him again. Jenny looked up as the ceiling rushed closer, and closer. What were once just dots became lights and sprinklers. She thought that they would burst through the reinforced steel and concrete ceiling at the speed they were traveling, and then just as quickly, they stopped. The doors opened. The three turned. Standing at an ordinary floor were two t-shirted teenagers, looking blindly at them as they stood on the mauve carpet. Jenny, Max, and John turned back around, and resumed the position. The elevator rose again, passing through the roof and into the rainy atmosphere for just an instant, and then into another concrete section, slowed, and then stopped. The door rang, and the doors to the Jeweled Crown opened.

"Do you guys know if you have to be 21 to get in here?" asked one of the slack kids.

"Umm, I don't know, ask the hostess there." Jenny replied.

The three walked out into the room. The foyer, carpeted in gray, was small and cramped. A wall of 80's era glass bricks tapered from the elevators to the reservations stand. The two kids were summarily turned away, and the three were welcomed by the small Latino woman, her hair braided and kept close to her dark skin. She pointed her large, almost square glasses toward Max first, and asked "How many in your party?" "We're joining a larger group. Do you have a list of names?" Asked John. She turned around her book and John pointed at a name down near the bottom of the list. "Here, Drucker."

They stepped across the curved seam in the floor. Jenny took careful note that the outside portion was slowly moving to the left, and the three followed the quick pace of the stout woman in the opposite direction. The room itself was simply donut shaped, the ceiling curved, dark and medium gray, and occasionally lined with blue neon strips. Boxy, leather covered chairs were arranged in small groups of four, centered around circular, glass tables. The outside wall was all glass, angled outward at an odd angle, giving the room a sort of leaning feeling.

Max leaned over to Jenny and snipped " This place has such a washed-up retro flair..."

"Yeah, I desperately love it" John interrupted.

As they rounded the corner Max saw a group of three people already here: Carl and Charlotte, and at the end, in a frumpy yet oddly sophisticated housecoat turned smutty lounge dress was Dorothy Drucker. Her hair was short and black, with sharp bangs drawn directly across her forehead that tapered down to a long, regal nose. Her demure, dark licorice-red, lip-glossed lips, opened and semi-shouted "Hey sugars!" Max said first, "Hi Guys!" John and Jenny followed suit, greeting each now standing member individually. John reached over and rolled two more chairs to the group, placing them between the empty one next to Dorothy's and Charlotte. Max sat next to Charlotte and Jenny next to max, leaving the open seat next to Dorothy. A young Asian waitress snuck up to Jenny's side, and crouched.

"What can I get for ya'll tonight?" with a faint southern accent.