#34 Star Trek Uniforms

They had the same thing for breakfast the day they drove into Hollywood, to tour the Paramount Studios, as they did before. Always a hearty breakfast, and no lunch. They were good’n hungry by the time supper rolled around, and they always came back to eat at Liz and Al’s. It started with them holding hands; she caught them pulling away from each other, as if they were worms, and somebody had just turned the lights on, when one opened the door, and the other may not have known. China couldn’t stop thinking about it. At breakfast, they acted like brothers, but in their room, maybe they were lovers. Maybe one wasn’t really her brother; but which one. They both looked like her. It was sick for her to think this way. She put the bad thoughts from her mind.

The first thing they were shown at the Paramount Studios was the Star Trek uniforms; they were old, and dusty, but people couldn’t touch them anyway, because they were set behind glass. Perhaps, it was their most successful television series. They could wonder around where they wanted to, but the two brothers stuck together. She kept her eye on them. China caught up to Liz. ‘…hey, what’s with those guys…’ She tossed her head in the direction of the two brothers, and used a hushed tone. Liz answered secretively, but laughed raucously. ‘…what…your brothers…’ She put finger-quotes around the word brothers. ‘…I just want to know…’ China used the same hushed tone as she used before, ‘…are they both my real brothers…’ ‘…yup…’ Liz nodded her head furiously as they approached, then quickly added ‘…and you just figured that weird situation out now…’ Liz wanted to go on, but, China, disgusted, walked away, then the brothers, just wandering, did too, and Liz was left by herself. The tour guide explained that sometimes they were called studios and sometimes they were called stages. Star Trek, between ’66 and’69, was mostly filmed in Stage 9, where they were now. It was sound-proof, had a great big door, cement walls, and floor. It looked, to China, like a gymnasium. The tour guide said there were about thirty of them, so several projects could be worked upon at the same time. A building was devoted to only the props. That was interesting. There were trees, grass, buildings, benches, even a New York; it looked like a city itself. China walked around in a daze, trying to process the information she did have, but stayed with the group. She, never letting Liz catch up to her, walked around all day like that. China kept her eye on the two brothers when they were back at Liz and Al place. They never touched each other suspiciously, but they always shut the door. She was picturing terrible things; she gave herself a shake. She wasn’t going to let this ruin her vacation.

They drove to the city of Los Angeles the next day; the name meant the city of angels. It wasn’t very far; it took more time to find parking than it did to get there. Then they walked until they found a beach. It was early morning, and Malibu Beach was already crowded. China was due for a lay around day. She laid her towel out beside where Liz, who had chosen the spot, and then the two brothers laid side by side, beside her. Normally, she wouldn’t think anything of it, but now the bad thing was in her head, she noticed everything, and her mind went immediately to the bad thing. Even the hand-holding would have been attributed to them just being close, but not now. She knew the truth. The way they slathered sun tan lotion on each other, went deeply out just the two of them, took money from Liz, and the way they went to the hot dog stand together. In fact, they did everything together. It happened all the time, so the abnormal became the normal. They came back with hot dogs for everybody; one each, and all dressed. Getting a vegie dog in California was no