What My Mother Never Knew #15: Alone in the Dark

It was spring and warm enough for a beach party. We didn't risk a fire as that would draw the cops but we all gathered under the wings of a huge dipped arbutus tree, hidden from sight and protected from the evening ocean breeze. Brice was allergic to alcohol and had brought a bag of weed instead. The rest of us had Adidas bags full of beer - and some wine stolen from cellars or mine-bars. I indulged in all of the above. I'd brought beer but people were high enough not to be worried if I was dipping into everything. I knew it meant a worse hangover but what can I say? It was in my nature to want more of everything.

Pleasantly bombed, I flirted with boys, tried to stop them from smashing bottles and screaming and grabbed our Adidas bag as soon as I saw the cops flashlights. Our party fragmented in all directions and I ended up in a dirt parking lot, trying to walk straight in the glaring headlights of a slow moving van, it's white eyes watching me like a predator in the night. My stomach clenched as I moved past it and confirmed that it was a police van, ready to cart away the most delinquent (or slowest moving) youths. Somehow, I slid past, without capture. I found the main road and headed right. Strangely, I had no idea where I was heading. I'd come with a friend who was so proficient at the bus lines that I never needed to learn them. I had no idea if I was heading g toward town or away but headed along the shoulder with the remaining beers slung over my shoulder. As I later figured out, I was heading AWAY from town and due to a hole in the gym bag, I was leaving a trail of broken beer bottles behind me, too drunk to notice (or too concerned with evasion). The wasted alcohol earned me a severe reprimand from my bossy friend the next day, when we returned to retrieve the remaining beer (of the case, only one survived).

As I walked along that night, alone on the unlit pavement, I looked over my shoulder one last time to make sure the pigs were not in pursuit. A powder steel blue Volkswagen van pulled up behind me and slowed to a stop. A thin hairy man asked me if I needed a ride. I thanked him but said no, and carried along. The van didn't drive off as I'd hoped and 30 feet later, he pulled along side me again and asked if I was sure. I confirmed my false self-sufficiency and moved to keep walking but then he asked if I wanted to go smoke a dubie. Pausing only for a moment, I said sure, and jumped in, flinging the much lighter Adidas bag into the ditch.

We drove to a secluded cove and he lit one up. It was potent and soon I was quite forgetful of the previous stress.