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A 24 year old lesbian massage therapist is struggling with the Big Questions after her salon was shut down during COVID. Her name is Jamie. Even though there is a now a vaccine, and even though the community supports her, the experience made her skittish. She has been taking classes online to finish her BA but is unsure of what to do going forward.
A 26 year old gender fluid person named Eddie has come to the small Colorado town where Jamie is shutting down her spa to see a friend from college, Paula, who is struggling to keep her resteraunt open. Both Eddie and Paula suffer from severe bi polar as well as borderline personality, and so make strange attractors, even when the friendship "falls apart". Both have made great strides during the shutdowns with their respective disorders, helped by the fact that both of their careers have been impacted. Eddie is a musical theatre performer who was working part time service jobs to fill in the gaps. Paula and Eddie did drag shows together in college, Paula would drag male, Eddie would drag female.
John runs the local small theatre, which during the summer time is a tourist draw with many named Broadway and TV performers on the cast lists, mixed with locals.He had to go on unemployement and worked very hard to receive a PPP so he could pay his administrative staff during the shut down. He turned his shop into a make shift PPE manufacturer, keeping the community stocked with masks his costume crew stitched, and hand sanitizer his stage hands bottled. He has not opened yet, officially, but his wife, who is an amateur photographer and son have begun to play a comminity Christmas Pagent. They are wife Paige and son Kenny, who runs his own little radio show from their attic that the older community supports.
Ted is the local realtor and mayor. He seems old for 30 as he's conservative both politically and financially.
Bud runs the fishing tackle/ski shop/barbershop on the strip.He has lent a hand to Paula, as her stage hands are few off season. But is in his 60's and while he is an entrenched member of the community, nobody knows much about him. He tends to show up when needed, and has a wide variety
plot
Eddie's destination is Durango, not Creede, but they know Paula has a restaurant there and they want to stop and see how he is. Paual is not on social media, which has nothing to do with accessability, she just doesn't like it. Eddie is interested in seeing their friend and the small, respected theatre. They have applied and auditioned to perform at the theatre the last four years, with not even a squeak of interest. As long as they're driving through, they may as well kill two birds with one stone. Paula lives in an apartment above her restaurant and has told Eddie they can stay as long as they like. Eddie is not really very interested in Duraango, they are toying with the idea of getting a Masters Degree and thought they'd drive down and spend some time in the town that the college is attached to.
As Eddie enters town, passing the broken train tracks as they enter, the town is decorating for Christmas. The town is not a "quaint, eastern sea board" town or a "quant, midwestern town". It is a hard fought, dusty, small Colorado town with a specific charm all its own. Instead of hiding its history, it leaves it out for everyone to see: collapsing barns, snow washed liquor store with a small bar inside--Eddie had never seen anything like it---low buildings built for endurance through the winters, all of which have changed hands at least a dozen times over the decade, and a small bedroom community, floating off toward the mountains, begun in the early 2000's, small, brick ranch houses that look out of place in this area. Eddie drives the one block through "town" and notes a massage spa, another liquor store, a real estate office, three restaurants and the theatre.
Jamie is struggling to find any Christmas spirit as she's talking to the local real estate agent in her spa, which is really a store front with a massage room. As the only MT in town, Jamie hires additional help in the summers for the tourist crowd, but now those rooms stand empty. She is telling Ted, the realtor, she thinks it's time to leave. Maybe she'll go back home to Denver. She's been doing online school during the shutdown toward a BA, but she does not really know why just that she wants out of MT.
Paul is struggling to reopen. He is fortunate that during the shut down he was able to continue with take out, since Creede is such a small town. The three resteraunts on his block all recieved PPP and combined forces, borrowing one another's kitchens and staff, to start a delivery to the folks in the bedroom community. When the snow starts here, it locks everyone down, and it can be difficult to drive the short mile into town. The combined menus and collaborative work was what they all needed to survive, but now they are all faced with the reality that soon, things will re open in their entirety and they wll have to go back to running their own business. Paul isn't sure he wants to do that any more, and is thinking he'd rather turn his place into a bakery, or a bookstore. He just needs a change of pace. He is in his kitchen with his girlfriend, unloading a delivery as Eddie drives through.
Ted, the realtor is also the mayor. He has decided that the Christmas charm of past years in this small, western town, needs a solid reboot. He has no evidence that anyone intends to visit this year, but the vaccine has been out for nine months and the summer people who trickled in kept the local businesses afloat, and gave him hope. He is a relentless social media user, who follows ideas and trends regularly.What he wants to do is use Jamie's empty rooms to set up photo booths so visitors can get those old timey, western black and white photos taken. John's wife has agreed to loan her equipment, and their son has also agreed to help.
The community is mostly willing to do this, but not if Ted asks, as Ted was a vocal anti masker during the lockdowns. Their small community only had two spikes, thankfully, and they did not lose anyone, but they believe Ted was the source of both spikes as he was the only one making regular trips to Durango and Alamosa. Ted knows that there is resistence, and his biggest obstacle is Paul and the other resteraunt owners. There was a showdown when Ted insisted that they remain open in June of 2020 to accomodate the few travelers they had driving through. The Restaurant Collaborative (or the Restaurant Cranks as Ted called them) refused to open their doors and instead, collaborated by creating a block long patio on both sides of the street that all three resteraunts tended to. Ted saw the opporunity to take it a step further, and in July he shut down the main street so the patrons could be outside and still receive service. This was a successful strategy in other, more touristy, mountain towns, but Creede does not have T Shirt shops or candle shops or a cute local signs shop. They have one antique shop that the owner crowned "All Things Dead" in homage to his favorite movie, Roxanne, and he has no time for importing or creating anything that seems remotely "touristy" or "cute".
in conclusion all in all to sum up
The community will come together to decorate, and to rethink their strategy to attract tourism again. After all, the reason the rail road tracks are torn up is that they didn't want anybody in their town. they decide if they can put up a pagent, that's a solid step as the theatre is a big summer draw. They also decided the abandoned ranch west of town should be reinvented, and horseback riding should be offered. Someone will need to manage the ranch, which has a few cabins still standing, it just needs a lot of work, and a few horses. There's a main lodge that used to have a kitchen. It will require more hands than they have available in town to keep it going, and maintained during the winter when only the few brave visitors seek them out. Ted has a connection to a horse rescue, who need additional land for their horses. They can care for the horses, offer rides and adopt them out as necessary. Paul agrees to move in and start renovations, he did renovate his restaraunt single handedly, and his girlfriend agrees. The restaurant coalition agrees to rotate the menus and lend staff to run the lodge. The theatre crews agree to run housekeeping at the lodge during the off season, and John knows that many actors and designers have expressed interest in staying longer than the season but they need a pay check.
Jamie is asked to move her business into the lodge, and she acquiesces as long as she can keep her storefront in town as well. She will need more staff as well, eventually, as she still wants to finish her BA. Eddie is asked to participate in the Christmas Pagent and ends up being a performer and director when John comes down with a cold and has to quarantine, since not everyone in town has been able to get the vaccine yet. Ted pitches in as a peformer and wears a mask. Jamie and Eddie meet and walk around town, hike, ride horses, fall in love and Eddie decides to stay. Awe. Jamie is able to get Ken a line on a scholarship to a state university for his radio work, he will leave next August.
plot points
Eddie and Jamie meet as Eddie enters the spa to see about booking a massage after their long drive. Jamie recommends a hike first, as there is an old lodge nearby that is a short, pretty hike. There has been no snow as yet, but it's cold so they bundle up. Eddie has to borrow Jamie's jacket and hat.
Ted, Paula and the other restaurant owners argue over re opening protocols. Since they are a tourist town, the Collaborative thinks they should require masks inside and leave the outside, main street dinign option open for another year. Ted thinks everyone who wants a vaccine has had one by now, so just open and stop telling people what to do. Ted has not been vaccinated, and says he will not, he thinks the government can track him if he gets it. He says this while snapchatting on his phone and sending emails on his lap top. Paula makes him a tin foil hat. Ted is not amused.
Paula and Eddie revive their college drag show at the Pagent.
There is an unexpected snow storm, a family and small group of college kids headed home for the holidays are delayed in town. They must be accomodated, somehow, so they are spread out among the community. This group creates a musical "Wagon Train" number for the pagent, and they pitch in to help clean out the lodge.
Ted misgenders Eddie every time he sees them, finally agreeing that "they/them" works because he sees two people there.
Paula has always loved horses, but renovating the restaraunt single handedly has kept her from fulfilling her dream. She's always looked longinging at the abandoned lodge, but knew she was not able to run it by herself. She takes hikes up there and day dreams. It's her special place. It is also where Ted goes to day dream, and one day they are both there and they connect. ish. Opposites attract.
There is a local high school, somewhere, but the students are far flung and from other small towns. Most live in the bedroom community, they're there, they don't do much. They're like elves, they just show up to help.
