We finally found a ride home with a couple of guys in a pick-up truck. The catch was that we all had to sit in the bed. Now, let me just tell you that this was a ride straight out of a cops and robbers movie. In my mind, I could still hear the sirens from the music at the club, which made me believe that we were being chased by the cops. It seemed to me, in my fucked up state, that we were hauling ass, at around a hundred miles an hour and being chased by the cops. Each time the driver took a turn, it felt as if the truck turned so violently that we were taking the corner on two wheels. It must have been the scariest ride I’d taken. I damn near jumped from the truck, but the guys I was with held on to me so I wouldn’t. It could have been a very tragic night, that’s for sure.
We finally made it back to the guys’ neighborhood. Orrie and two of the other guys took off down the street in the opposite direction from us. I had permission to spend the night with Kyle and Bert lived at a house along the way to Kyle’s, so we walked together. Of course, I remained the comedian of the night and was laughed at about our recent ride.
On the way to Bert’s, a police officer pulled alongside us and exited his car. My breath was like a bunny rabbit, frozen with fear, upon spotting a hungry wolf. I just knew we would be in a heap of shit for taking the drug and would be hauled to jail. As he crawled out of his cruiser, he pulled at his pants, you know, all tough guy-like and stuff. He walked, with his arms bowed as not to interfere with his night-stick and gun, right up to us. He turned on his bright assed flashlight and shown it into our misconceiving eyes.
Still, after all of this time, I can’t believe we got away with that one. Have you ever seen the Disney movie, The Jungle Book? Do you remember when the snake hypnotized Mowgli and his eyes were all spinning and stuff? Well I betcha our eyes looked very much like that boys did. Spinnin’ right round, like a record player, right, round, round, round.
“What are you boys doing out so late tonight?”
“We just got dropped off by our friend after dancing at a nightclub, sir,” Kyle said, he wasn’t frying like we were.
“Well, you better be on your way home, because around here, nothing good comes with a group of guys stalking the neighborhood.”
“Oh, we’re not stalking the neighborhood, sir, we are going home, right now, believe us, we are,” I said, all Leave it to Beaver-like.
“You better be, don’t let me catch you boys out here next time I drive this way. I’ll have to take you in for ignoring curfew hours.”
“Yes sir,” we said in jumbled unison.
After the cop drove off, uncontrollable laughter filled the night sky again. We were having so much fun!
“Ha-ha-ha, Shawn, you said ‘believe us, we are’! Ha-ha-ha!” Bert laughed at me. “I thought I’d toss my cookies right then and there after you said that shit!”
“Well, I had to say something to get us out of trouble, he was about to bring our fucked up asses to jail!”
We walked right up to Bert’s house and he reluctantly went inside, separating himself from the group. His mother was surely waiting up for him, reading a book on the Lazy Boy, by the dim glow of the side table’s lamp. She’d had hours to practice the smorgasbord of vile words to be spat at him in distaste, for his disrespectful behavior. Having that sort of thing happen while feeling the effects of the drug was a frightening thought. Sympathy filled my cotton candy brain, as I watched Bert close himself into his home.
It was just me and Kyle now. He was sober and I was not. We made it to his house and I went to the garage, which was set up with a bed, for guests, I guess. Boxes stacked to the ceiling circled the walls. Kyle went to his room and went to sleep. I couldn’t sleep.
Inside the garage was an old dancing light thingy from the seventies. When you plugged it in, a light moved back and forth, causing the colors to change. Normally this would have been something that I wouldn’t have given a second thought to. This night, however, it was the most beautifully magical thing my eyes had ever beheld. I stared into it for hours, until I finally succumbed to the instinctual reality of sleep and drifted off.
shawnbrucepruett 