“Even better than the one in your office?” I asked.
“I suppose,” he said, not realizing my love for his sofa. “If you’re tired, you can just relax here, or if you want to get a little cozy.” He winked. “Beside it we have two pool tables. In the middle we have the soda bar. From here you can see there are two stairs going down to the dance floor.”
We moved to the railings. From this vantage point I could see the stage across.
“We’ll go to the main floor in a minute,” Cal said.
Beadsworth had his arms crossed behind his back and was strolling through the tour. His face had the expression of someone who didn’t care much for these things.
“On the right, beside the soda bar, we have the washrooms with attendants.” Cal smiled.
“Attendants?” Beadsworth said.
“Yes, so nothing illegal or improper happens.”
Something caught my eye. It looked like an arcade machine with a screen and a joystick.
Cal saw my interest and said, “That’s what we call a Find-a-Friend. You see that black semi-oval ball atop the soda bar?”
“Yes,” I said.
“That’s a camera. When turned on, using the stick you can control the camera. You can zoom in and out. We have two more downstairs. Here is where we have the private lounge. These sliding doors give you privacy. We keep this area for the celebrities or other important people.”
He slid the door and we peeked in. I saw those ultra-comfortable couches lining the wall with a coffee table in the middle. A thirty-inch television was set up facing the couches.
We went down the stairs and on to the middle of the dance floor. From here I could see how big the place actually was.
“Eight thousand square feet,” Cal beamed.
A disco ball hung from the middle. A curved stage was planted facing the mezzanine with, I guess, all the DJ equipment. There were two large video screens on both sides of the stage.
“There are cameras on either side of the mezzanine,” Cal said. “They are aimed at the stage.”
“You have a lot of cameras,” Beadsworth commented.
“It’s an attraction for the public. For us, it’s security. On the left of the stage we have the back entrance and exit for the performers. There is a decent size room for the bands to change or set up or leave their equipment. We never keep this entrance open. This also leads to an exit in the back. On the right we have another emergency exit. There are lots of building codes that need to be followed.”
“What are those?” I said looking at these small booths behind the chairs.
“Those are our main attractions. We have one on either side of the floor. They are referred to as interactive zones.” We went to the right side of the floor.
“This is called the Beam Breaker,” he said.
I saw a round elevated platform that could maybe hold four people.
“There are parallel light beams that come down above the participants’ heads. When someone breaks the beams the light sensors detect it and this triggers four to sixteen musical keynotes.” He looked at his watch and then turned to us as if to say the tour was over.
“Can you show us the other interactive zone?” I asked. Beadsworth gave me a Let’s go look. I shrugged.
We headed to the left side of the club. “This is the Infrared zone.”
The platform was elevated but square. It could also hold four people. There was a camera pointing to the platform and a large white blank screen at the back.
Cal said, “It’s a state-of-the-art infrared video camera. It registers the participant’s body heat and projects the infrared image on to the large screen. The unspoken rule is that if you’re not hot enough, you’re not dancing hard enough. Lots of fun.” He turned to us. “This is the House of Jam. The best entertainment experience in the city.”
“I would like to experience it, too,” I said.
“Doors open at eight,” he replied.
“I’ll come tonight.”
“Come to the back door and I’ll let you in,” Cal said. “Call me first, okay?”
FOURTEEN
They were all in the Lincoln-Ms. Zee, Kong, Joey and Suraj-heading to the House of Jam. Suraj was behind the wheel and he was nervous. He found the Lincoln too big to handle. He would rather be in his Sundance. But there was no way Ms. Zee would allow that. She only went anywhere in the Lincoln.
Ms. Zee was not in a good mood. It was embarrassing to have to go to your clients and retrieve the samples. Joey yawned beside her. His head was facing the other direction. She was sick of babysitting him.
Joey yawned again, this one longer and louder. Kong fidgeted on the front passenger seat. At first Ms. Zee had refused to bring Joey along but he begged her. It had been a while since he’d been outside the lab. He needed some time to relax. So did she. But this was business.
When I was all dressed up I looked in the mirror. I was decked out in shiny black boots, brown khakis, a green silk shirt and a smooth artificial leather jacket. I was ready to have fun.
Barnes was going to pick me up and together we were going to check out the best entertainment experience in town. Beadsworth thought he’d stick out at the House of Jam, or maybe he didn’t like clubs, so he opted to not go. Whatever the reason, I was glad I was going with Barnes. At least I didn’t have to follow someone around. I was the boss. I thought maybe, given the way I was behaving earlier, Barnes would consider me his superior.
As I was touching up my hair there was a honk.
I rushed out the door and was halfway down the steps when I stopped. I went back up, unlocked, and said, “Goodbye, Mike.” Michael Jordan smiled back at me. He approved of me having fun. He always did.
When I turned the handle of the main door my landlady peered out. “Jon,” she said, “You’re very busy?”
“Yeah,” I smiled.
“You’re eating well?”
“Yes, great.”
“Come and have dinner with us tomorrow.”
“No,” I said. “I don’t have time.”
“I’m not going to argue with you. Come. I’ll make your favourite dish.”
“Mechado?” I said, slowly.
“Yes, mechado.” She smiled.
When I was first introduced to mechado, a Filipino beef stew, I immediately fell in love with it. Now, whenever I hear the word mechado my taste buds start to water.
“I will not come for you, but for mechado. Okay?”
She knew I was joking. “Okay.”
There was another honk.
“Gotta go,” I said. “See you tomorrow.”
Barnes was behind the wheel and he was grinning. “I can’t believe we’ll be going to the House of Jam. Y’know, you’ve gotta be important to get into that place. I tried going the second time. They wouldn’t let me in. I even tried bribing them, but nope, it didn’t work. Can you believe DJ Krash will be playing today? This is awesome.”
“We’re still on duty,” I said.
“What if I get lucky?” he smiled devilishly.
“Your luck will run out if Aldrich hears about this. We’re not authorized to be there. Beadsworth persuaded Garnett to let us go, in the hope we find something.”
He put the car in gear.
“Also, don’t get hammered. This is work. And you don’t want to show up the next day with a hangover.”
“All right, sure,” he said, a little disappointed. “We go in and we scope the place out.”
“That’s it.” I smiled. “If somehow, out of the blue, we see someone nice, we just get their number. That’s it.”
“That’s it.” He nodded.
It was well past eight in the evening and there was a huge line up outside the House of Jam.
“There must be a couple of hundred people,” Barnes said as we drove past the waiting people. We went down the block searching for a parking spot. It is all but impossible to find parking in downtown Toronto. I should know; I used to give tickets to those who parked illegally. I was afraid we would have to park in front of the fire hydrant or something.