TACO TOWN!
Sonata Discovers Taco Town
-ooooooo-
‘Unusually calm’.
‘Unusually calm’ characterized the atmosphere of the spacious living room the Dazzlings occupied quite well. ‘Quiet’ didn’t really describe it; sound was pretty constant in the house as the three often had something producing noise, be it a T.V., radio, or computer. This was in addition to the near-constant bickering the three engaged in with each other on a daily, if not hourly, basis. Even the living room’s decor itself seemed to be noisy, the walls covered in bright, gaudy knick-knacks and golden-framed pictures of the girls wearing their bright dancing outfits.
However, for now there was no bickering and the girls themselves were simply wearing their hoodies and jeans. Adagio lounged in a large purple easy-chair and read a book titled How to Win Friends and Influence People. Aria sat in the center of a big purple couch with her arms and legs spread out as if she was trying to occupy as much space on the couch as possible while entertainment news blared from a large flat-screen TV in front of her. Sonata sat in a comfortable office chair in front of a modern-looking glass desk and stared at an LCD screen as sounds of cartoony violence poured from speakers on either side of it. Sonata’s mirthful laugh would occasionally mix with the sound effects.
The girls continued to indulge in their activities, paying no mind to the others. This was about as close to civil with each other as they got, and much like a living snowman frolicking in the summer heat, it was destined to come to a sudden and tragic end.
Sonata gasped loudly, loud enough that the other two girls could hear it over both computer and TV. Both Adagio and Aria sighed knowingly. Adagio set down her book as Aria shot an annoyed look over towards Sonata.
“You… you guys! You have to see this!” Sonata cried.
Aria rolled her eyes. “You’ve already shown us the cat playing the bagpipes video like a hundred times, Sonata… We’re not getting up for that!”
“No! It’s better than that!”
Aria let out a frustrated “UHG!” and turned to Adagio.
Though clearly annoyed by the interruption, Adagio shrugged. “We better see what this is all about. You know she won’t leave us alone until we do.”
Aria begrudgingly rose to her feet and walked towards the desk were Sonata sat, Adagio followed. Adagio and Aria looked over Sonata as she excitedly moused over a replay button on a video.
The three girls watched as three men sat around enjoying tacos, one asking rhetorically if tacos could get any more ‘kick butt than this?’ Suddenly a voice over kicked in saying that ‘they were about to’. Adagio and Aria watched as a simple crunchy taco had a flour tortilla with a layer of refried beans added, followed by a corn tortilla with a layer of melted Monterey Jack cheese. This was then wrapped with a fried gordita shell with a layer of guacamole in between, and then this was wrapped in a corn husk filled with pico de gallo. Far from over, this was then wrapped in a crepe filled with egg, gruyere, Portobello mushrooms and merguez sausage. This was then wrapped in a Chicago-style deep dish meat lovers’ pizza and a massive blueberry pancake was wrapped around that. Finally the whole thing was deep fried, placed in a commemorative tote-bag, and then the bag was filled with vegetarian chili.
The whole thing took about a minute.
Adagio stared at the screen in disgust. Aria smiled to herself in amusement. Sonata looked as if she had just seen a glimpse of heaven.
Adagio shook her head. “Well, that was a disgusting minute of my life I’ll never have back.”
Aria chuckled. “Oh come on, Dagi…. It was pretty funny.”
Adagio raised an eyebrow. “Pretty sure you’re confusing the word ‘funny’ with the word ‘stomach-churning’.”
Aria’s smile widened. “That’s two words, you idiot!”
Adagio smirked. “No, it’s hyphenated, you moron.”
Aria glared at Adagio. “What?! That doesn’t count.”
Adagio’s smile widened. “Look it up! Come on… prove that I’m—”
“We have to go there!” Sonata interrupted.
Adagio and Aria paused and looked down at Sonata.
“Go where, exactly?” Adagio asked.
“To Taco Town!” Sonata exclaimed.
Aria smacked a palm against her face. “Sonata, you’re so dumb you could choke yourself to death on a wireless mouse.”
Sonata turned and glared at Aria. “Yeah well… You’re… uh… stupid and… erm… dumb!”
Aria rolled her eyes. “Wow, nice one! Hope you didn’t burst a blood vessel engendering that masterpiece of an insult.”
Adagio shook her head. “Sonata,” she began, “we can’t go to Taco Town!”
Sonata put a pout on her face. “Why not?”
“Because it…” Adagio paused as she saw the look on Sonata’s face. “Er… Because…” She turned towards Aria. “Aria… let’s walk over towards the TV for a second.”
Aria rolled her eyes. “Here we go…”
With concern on her face, Sonata watched Adagio and Aria walk towards the center of the living room. The two began to talk in animated, but hushed tones.
“You tell her!” Adagio cried motioning out to Sonata.
“Me?! No way!” Aria replied. “You know how she acts when we explain these things!”
“Yes! That’s why you’re doing it!”
“Forget that, Dagi! You made me explain that it was us leaving presents for her every Christmas instead of St. Giver.”
“Yes, but it’s your turn! I had to explain that whole bizarre chocolate-egg-bunny thing last time!”
“Oh please!” Aria said dismissively. “Like she acted half as bad that time she did over St. Giver.”
“Girls…?” Sonata asked in a concerned tone. Her lower lip began to quiver as her eyes went glassy. “Is there… Is there… something you need to tell me?”
Adagio looked at Sonata’s face and sighed. She walked over to the girls’ purple couch and sat on one end, then glared up at Aria, then stared at the opposite end.
Aria folded her arms, grumbled something incomprehensible under her breath, then walked over and sat on the opposite end of the couch.
Adagio patted the center of the couch as she looked up at Sonata. Sonata slowly walked up and sat down on in between the two other girls. She buried her hands between her thighs and looked back and forth the other two girls with a pensive expression.
Adagio began. “Sonata… there’s something you need to know.”
Sonata tensed up and leaned against Aria. Aria’s cheeks began to turn red slightly as an irritated look came over her. She began to stroke Sonata’s hair.
Adagio continued. “Not everything on the internet is real.”
“Na… no…” Sonata whispered out.
Adagio nodded. “Sorry, but it’s the truth.”
Sonata turned and looked at Aria with a pleading look in her eyes. However, Aria only nodded in confirmation.
Sonata whimpered. “But… but… TV is all real right?! Right?!”
Adagio shook her head. “No, not all of it.”
Tears began to stream from Sonata’s eyes. “But… but… the Teletummies are real right?! Right?!” Sonatas tone became increasingly desperate and shrill. “Right?!”
Adagio leaned forward and shot Aria a confused look.
Aria raised her hands into a shrug.
“Uh… What are the Teletummies?” Adagio asked.
“They’re mummies with TVs in their bellies!” Sonata replied.
Adagio sighed and raised a palm to her face. “Yeah sure… they’re real.”
Sonata breathed a sigh of relief, but her expression soon dropped into an ocean of despair. “So… so Taco Town… isn’t real?”
Adagio shook her head. “No, Taco Town isn’t real…”
“But… but…”
“Hey!” Adagio said in an uncharacteristically upbeat tone. “Forget about it! How about we go to your favorite taco place, get as many tacos as you want, and get everyone there fighting with each other before we devour their energy! What do you say?”
Sonata looked up at Adagio with, sad, tear-filled eyes as she quivered in place. She suddenly erupted into sad, pitiful wails as tears poured from her eyes and snot began to drip from her nostrils.
“WHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Aria sighed as she wrapped her arms around Sonata and let her sob into her chest.
Adagio merely folded her arms over her chest and stared up at the ceiling. “Oh, knock it off!” she cried. “So this place that makes deep-fried-wrapped heart attacks doesn’t exist! You’re being a baby!”
“WHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAA… I’M NOT A BABY!”
Aria rolled her eyes. “You kind of are!”
“WHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOUAAAAAAAAAAAAAA… AM NOT!”
“Are too!” Aria replied.
Sonata leaned away from Aria, snot and tears still covering her face.
Aria looked down at her now-moist hoodie in annoyance.
“AM NOT!”
“Are too!”
“AM NOT!”
“Are too!”
“AM NOT!”
“Are too!”
“BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!” Adagio shouted. “Stupid Taco Town doesn’t exist and nothing we can do will change that! You might as will give up on eating that horrifying thing on the video!”
Sonata’s eyes suddenly went wide. She shot up and wiped the snot and tears from her face with a sleeve. “I know what I must do!”
Adagio and Aria groaned.
Aria sighed. “This is going to be stupid…”
“Go out with us to gather some energy?” Adagio asked hopefully.
Sonata shook her head. “We must create a commemorative Taco Town taco!”
“Told you,” Aria said.
“WHAT?!” Adagio cried. “You want to create that food monstrosity?!”
Sonata nodded. “Sure! I mean… Taco Town may not be real, but tacos, and deep-dish pizzas, and pancakes are! All we need is to get all the ingredients and make a Taco Town taco!”
Aria leaned her head back and stared at the ceiling. “Oh hay-to-the-no, we are not doing that!”
“Look!” Adagio said as she rose to her feet. “We’re going out to take some energy and you’re going with us!”
“No!” Sonata cried. “If you won’t help me, then I’ll just make the taco on my own!” she said resolutely. “I’m going to go to the store to get Taco Town ingredients and then I’m going to make that taco!”
Aria leaned up and shook her head. “Sonata… you’re amazing…”
“Thanks!” Sonata narrowed her eyes. “Wait, why?”
“Because every day you do something so stupid, I can’t believe you could possibly top yourself, and yet somehow, against all odds, you come up and an idea so bad that it is literally your worst idea to date. And that’s amazing.”
“Oh!” Sonata smiled. “Thanks!”
“Anytime,” Aria replied.
“You’re not going to the store, Sonata!” Adagio insisted. “We’re harvesting energy!”
“What’s the big deal?!” Sonata cried. “Just go without me!”
Adagio and Aria both scrunched their lips and brows slightly and turned to each other. They turned back to Sonata.
“We can’t!” Adagio said. “Because… uh… because… help me out here, Aria…”
“Me?!” Aria cried. “You’re the one with all the ideas!”
“Yeah but…” Adagio sighed. “You can’t go because you’re the one carrying the money!”
“So?” Sonata replied. She pulled a large, black wallet out from her hoodie pocket and unzipped it. She pulled out a wad of money and held it out for the girls.
Aria narrowed her eyes. “Our dance outfits don’t have pockets, idiot!”
Sonata matched Aria’s expression. “You’re wearing jeans and a hoodie, stupid!”
Aria’s face turned bright red as she looked down. “I erm… your face is stupid!”
“You are!” Sonata cried.
“GIRLS!” Adagio snapped. “Stop fighting!” She focused her attention to Sonata. “Sonata, we can’t carry money in our pockets.”
“Why?!” Sonata demanded.
“Because we… uh… aren’t used to using pockets and aren’t sure how they work!”
Aria flung her hands up to the sky. “Thanks Dagi, way to make us sound dumber than Sonata.”
“Oh, shut up!” Adagio said, wheeling to face Aria. “It was at least better than what you said!”
Sonata rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you two… Oh I don’t know… take a fricken’ handbag?!”
Adagio and Aria sneered at Sonata as if she just said a dirty word.
“Handbags aren’t cool, Sonata!” Adagio cried.
Aria nodded. “They’re almost as lame as you are!”
“Oh, whatever!” Sonata cried as she flung money at the two. “You two are supposed to be the smart ones! You’ll figure it out!” Sonata stormed towards the front door and opened it. She stepped outside and paused in the doorway. “Now if you two will excuse me, I need to buy taco-making ingredients!”
“Sonata, wait!” Adagio cried.
‘SLAM!’
Adagio sighed and bent down to pick up the money that was scattered all over the floor. She shoved it into her jean pockets.
Aria just stared at the door. “Well… this sucks!”
“Forget it!” Adagio cried. “We don’t need her! We can cause havoc and steal energy on our own!” She reached out for Aria’s hand and yanked her towards the door.
“Wait, Dagi!” Aria cried. “At least let me change my shirt!”
“Fine!” Adagio said in a huff.
Soon the girls were on their way, leaving their large, two story home behind and trudging past their completely unkempt yard.
-oooooo-
Sitting in a back booth of a busy café, Adagio and Aria sang harmoniously and swayed gently from side to side. A glowing green mist about two inches thick rolled towards them over the floor, but none of the other patrons took notice. They were all too busy having tense, if somewhat hushed arguments or awkwardly avoiding eye contact with the other people around them.
“Aaaaaaaaah, aaaaaaaaah, aaaaaaaaah, aaaaaaaaah…”
Adagio and Aria paused as the last bits green of energy flowed up into the red jewels around their necks. They both sighed heavily and leaned back in their booths, keeping their eyes closed as they took a few deep breaths.
“Well… that sucked!” Aria said.
Adagio opened up one, irritated-looking eye. “I know, Aria.”
“And not the way it usually sucks…” Aria said. “Like… in more ways than one!”
Adagio opened her other eye for the benefit of rolling both. “I get it, Aria!”
“I mean… we sucked less energy, and that sucks more than usually because that took more energy than usual… to suck…”
“Seriously! Knock it off!”
“… You know… which this situation did… suck I mean… in two wa—”
Adagio’s eyes opened wide as she glared angrily at Aria. “I GET IT, ALRIGHT! STOP SAYING THE WORD ‘SUCK’!”
Aria sighed heavily and slumped forward. She folded her arms on the table in front of her and rested her head on top of them.
“Don’t tell me you actually miss that little idiot!” Adagio said.
Aria shot a glare up at Adagio. “Well, I don’t miss her pointless prattling, but you have to admit, this would have been easier with her!”
Adagio sighed and mirrored Aria’s position on the booth. “Yeeaaaah…” she said begrudgingly.
“Do you think she actually did it?” Aria asked. “Make the taco that is…”
Adagio snorted derisively. “Are you kidding?! Even if she somehow focused enough to get the ingredients she needed from the store, she’d probably slice her fingers off trying to chop vegetables!”
Aria chuckled as she leaned up. “Heh… Yeah or burn herself on the stove!”
Adagio laughed and sat up. “Hahaha… Or scald herself with hot oil!”
Aria joined in the laughter. “Ahahahaha! She might set the house on fire! She might already be dead!”
The two launched into a hysterical fit of laughter. “AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA—!”
Laughter that quickly came to a screeching, heart-pounding, pale-faced halt as the two girls locked eyes and gripped onto the table in front of them. Their knuckles turned white as beads of sweat began to pour from their faces.
“We have to go back home!” Aria cried.
Adagio nodded. “We absolutely have to go back home!”
The two girls bolted from the booth and dived towards the café exit.
-ooooo-
As the two girls sprinted down the well-manicured stretch of suburbia on their way back to their house, they realized with dread that their fears were not completely unfounded. Black smoke wafted up from the back of their multi-story home, causing the two already sprinting girls to quicken their pace. They raced down the sidewalk and onto their walkway.
Aria reached the door first and tried the doorknob. It remained merely rattled as she attempted to turn it. She pounded on the door. “Sonata! Sonata open up!”
“Just unlock the door, stupid!” Adagio cried as she rushed up and pulled her keys out of a front pocket. A wad of bills and some loose change hit the walkway, but Adagio paid the fallen money no mind as she thrust her key into the doorknob and unlocked the door.
No sooner had Adagio opened the front door that Aria was through it, black smoke billowing out as a chorus of smoke alarms beeped frantically.
“Sonata?!” Aria called out in concern. “Cough… cough… SONATA!”
“Thought you didn’t…cough… care about her!” Adagio said.
“Shut up!” Aria snapped. “Just… cough… just help me find her!”
Adagio pointed towards the kitchen where the thick black smoke came out. “I doubt she’ll be hard to find.”
Aria leaned down and sprinted into the kitchen. “Oh my gosh, Sonata!”
Adagio followed, a look of concern on her face.
Sonata laid sideways the floor with food-stained, bandage-covered limbs splayed out in all directions. She had swapped out her hoodie for a simple tank-top of unknown color that was now covered in myriad of lumpy and slimy food substances. Her eyes were closed.
Despite the fact that both Sonata and the floor were an absolute mess of food, Aria leaned down and scooped Sonata up into her arms, resting her head on her thighs.
Adagio came and looked at the stove. Black smoke poured from a massive pot that was set on an open flame and sitting next to several other food-caked pots and pans. She quickly turned the stove off and lowered herself to her knees, under the smoke.
“Sonata!” Aria cried again as she shook the food-covered siren. Tears began to stream from her eyes. “Speak to me! Show me some sign you’re alive!”
Adagio swallowed, she could feel hot tears began to collect behind her eyes. Despite the blaring noise of the smoke alarms, she could hear the blood rush past her ears as the world outside of the two girls in front of her suddenly got very distant.
Sonata’s eyes remained closed as she laid limply in Aria’s grasp.
“Please no…” Aria whispered out. “Don’t go… I’m sorry for all the times I called you an idiot! I’ll never do it again!” Aria tried desperately to choke back her sobs. “Just… hic… just don’t leave me!”
Adagio stood up and walked forward, then knelt next to Aria and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Aria… she’s…”
“NO!” Aria snapped.
Adagio shook her head. “She’s gone, Aria.”
“SHUT UP! DON’T EVEN SAY THAT!” Aria cried as she looked at Adagio with a mix of despair and anger. “THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!”
Adagio flinched. Her eyelids began to quiver. She doubted her eyelids would hold back her tears for much longer. “Yeah… it… it probably—”
“COUGH! COUGH! URURGLLE….”
Adagio and Aria almost jumped out of their skin as Sonata began to cough and gurgle.
“She’s alive!” Aria cried. Aria suddenly buried her head into Sonata’s chest and held her tightly. “Oh thank heaven!”
Adagio stood up turned away to breathe a sigh of relief as she stood up and walked towards a closed window in the kitchen. She opened it and wiped any hints of moisture from her eyes, she then turned and raised an eyebrow at Aria. “‘Thank heaven,’ eh?”
Aria looked up as her face began to turn bright red. “I mean… uh… It’s a good thing we still have her to help us collect energy…”
Adagio rolled her eyes and turned before Aria could see her smile. “Right… right…” She suddenly pursed her lips into a tight frown as she looked about the room. As the smoke began to clear, she noticed the kitchen floor was covered in various gooey substances. As her gaze drifted upwards, she noted the cupboards, counters, and stove-top were just as bad, as were the walls.
‘Plop!’
Adagio looked up towards the ceiling as a brown, lumpy substance fell to the floor. Somehow, the ceiling looked every bit as covered in food as the floor below.
“Wow… what a mess…” Adagio said. “How far do you think she got?”
“Da… Dagi…?” Aria stuttered out in a voice completely wracked by disbelief and fear as if she had just discovered some sort of horrible monster from her nightmares was very real.
“Hmmm…?” Adagio looked at Aria and took note of her fear-filled eyes. She followed Aria’s gaze to a crumpled up wad of some sort of fabric soaking in a brown mass of what she presumed to be chili.
“No…” Adagio half whispered, half uttered. She walked over to the mass and reached for the chili-drenched fabric and slowly lowered her hand into the mess, coming back up with a tote bag. Despite the mass of gloopy beans and diced vegetables that were getting all over her clothes, Adagio reached out with the other hand. She swallowed as she turned the bag upside down. A few more globs of chili hit the floor… and nothing else.
Adagio and Aria locked eyes as they stared at each other in horrified disbelief.
The smoke finally cleared from the kitchen. The smoke detectors went silent.
For once, the Dazzlings’ house was quiet.
Aria spoke up. “You don’t think…”
“Cough… cough… I did it…” Sonata gurgled out.
Adagio and Aria flinched as they looked down at her.
“What…?” Adagio said, her voice barely above a whisper. “What did you do?”
What Sonata said next made the other two girls cringe.
“I ate the whole thing…” Sonata said as she stared up at the food encrusted ceiling. “For… cough… for realsies…”
The house went quiet once more.
Aria carefully lowered Sonata’s head back to the ground, stood up, and brushed some of the food off her clothing. She looked up and stared at Adagio with a face devoid of emotion. “I’m going to take a shower and rethink what it is I believe I know about the world and everything,” she announced. With that, she turned and walked out of the kitchen.
Adagio watched her go, then shook her head. She walked up and leaned in front of Sonata’s food-caked face. She scowled down at Sonata as the latter laid in what seemed to be a shallow pool of oily sour cream, guacamole, refried beans, and chili.
“You’re going to clean up this entire house!” Adagio said in a stern voice. “The entire house! Heck, I bet that’s nothing compared to the pain and suffering of you simply digesting that horrible monstrosity!”
Sonata simply stared up at Adagio with expressionless eyes.
“Well?!” Adagio snapped. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
Slowly, Sonata raised a hand in front of her face and clenched all but her index finger into a loose fist. She slowly waggled her index finger, motioning for Adagio to come closer.
Adagio scrunched her brow in concern and tilted her head. She placed her ear within inches of Sonata’s mouth.
Sonata worked her lips and forced out something in a hushed whisper.
“…Totally worth it.”
The End.