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b0nehead · 7 years

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What is this? || Peri&Barrell

TL;DR :: Peri and Barrell have a movie night. Cute-ness and confessions ensue.

@frostskader

PERI: Staring at his front door for more then quite a few moments Peri found herself taking a deep breath. Where did they go from now? After he found out that she was single did it take this into a whole other category. Was that something she wanted. She had a feeling it was after all there was a reason she told him how she did. Finally knocking on the door she smiled as he opened it. "um hi? We're still on right?"

BARRELL: Lock and Shock refused ot leave their younger sibling alone, constantly poking and prodding Barrell as he wandered around the flat gathering up all the dvds, blankets and pillows. He did a fairly good job of ignoring them until the doorbell rang, to which they erupting into a bunch of 'ooh's and 'ahhs'. He begged and argued, something he was praying Peri couldn't hear until they finally surrendered and shut themselves in a different room. He let out a relieved sigh before putting on a smile and pulling the door open for her, "Yeah, 'course." He replied, stepping out of the way. "Why would I cancel it?"

PERI: Slipping into the flat peri managed a smile at him brushing her hair back from her ear. It was such a girly move but she couldn't help it when she was as nervous as she was. "I dunno? I didn't really give you time to say anything last time so....." She didn't know if that changed things for him.

BARRELL: "Oh. Right." He mumbled, smile faltering the tiniest bit. Barrell had walked home alone in a daze after she told him the truth, huffing and making all sorts of whiney noises as he tried to sort himself out. Part of him had actually considered postponing their movie night but quickly decided against it. It would only be more awkward to put it off. "As if I'd call our movie night off for that." He closed the door behind her before making his way over to the living area where everything was set up. "So, um." He plopped down and scooted the stack of dvds toward her, "Take your pick. I have popcorn and stuff in the other room too. ya know, if you want."

PERI: "Sorry about that... again." Peri mumbled glancing back at him as she walked into the room glancing at everything. The place was gorgeous she had to admit that. Plopping down near him she flipped through the movies before choosing her favourite of the bunch before showing him as if for approval. "Sure sounds good. Might be a good time to mention I'm a vegetarian so only snacks i'll eat are you know veggie friendly."

BARRELL: "No, really. it's fine!" He interjected, waving his hand in a 'don't-worry-about-it' motion. "Don't sweat it." Actually, he probably did enough overthinking for both of them on the topic. He leaned back into couch, the fabric easily giving in to his weight. The dvd was given a quick glance over before he offer the girl a sly smirk and nod of approval. "So no peperoni if we order pizza?" He teased, hand moving to his chest in false pain. "And here I thought we were going to be best friends. I'm second guessing everything now."

PERI: Smacking him with the case she jumped up to figure out how to put the movie in and get it to play. Which she obviously struggled with for quite a few moments. Before giving up and looking to Barrell for help. "no pepperoni thank you very much. You know you still love me pepperoni or none."

BARRELL: He was completely oblivious as to her difficulties getting the dvd player to work, mind in his own little world, until he could feel her eyes boring on him. He hummed in acknowledgement before getting up and getting it started himself. (Which honestly was what he should have done in the first place.) "Maybe I loved you just a little," He replied, not really thinking into it too much. "But you definitely lose a bunch of love points, blondie. Don't tell me, you don't eat candy either?"

PERI: With Barrell finishing what she started Peri pushed herself up until she was back on the couch and she was curling the blanket around her slightly colder frame than normal. "See you have admitted it and now I am going to keep bringing that up whenever I need to." She grinned with a small laugh. "Some? Most? I dunno, a good deal are fine to eat."

BARRELL: He got the movie going, the opening ads starting to play. It'd probably be a good minuet before the actually thing started. Barrell took the opportunity to return to his crease next to Peri. "That I love you?" A 'pfft noise passed his lips, "Please. That's hardly a threat. If I lose this bet though, now that's something to bribe me with." He pulled his legs up as he spoke, criss crossing them underneath him. "Okay, good. If you didn't like them I was going to have to take back my love and kick you to the curb. -- Or at the very least, ditch 80% of the snacks I bought us."

PERI: Glancing at Barrell from the corner of her eye she smiled at him gently before her eyes went back to the movie unsure really what made this, this now. Was this just a bet now? Just friends. It was too complicated to ask. "Like the punishment is truly horrible." She rebutted with a shake of her head. "Wow, I'm so hurt. What did you even get?"

BARRELL: "Whaat? The punishment is /the worst/." Apparently the false theatrics and dramatics were never ending with this one. "As if I want to give you bragging rights to tell people that I was scared of something /and/ get your cooties." It was pretty obvious he was trying to pass this whole 'friends' thing. The bff bomb had already been dropped and now 'cooties'? As if he didn't want to kiss her. "All the candy I could get my hands on. Chocolate, these mint things- Oh and those grilled cheeses I was telling you about the other night. Still figured we could order pizza though, if you wanted. Shock left us money on the counter." Typical mother-figure, though deep down he knew it was just a bribe to get him to introduce them. As if that'd ever happen.

PERI: Leaning over Peri nudged him with her shoulder before laughing and curling into her side of the couch. "sooooo scary. Cooties." She added with a laugh shaking her head at him. Leaning her head on the back though she couldn't help focusing on him more then the movie ads. "yes those grilled cheeses sound so good and i'm starved. You're really spoiling me though with all this food though aren't you?" Though it was a normal amount Peri couldn't say she ever had this much food in her house.

BARRELL:: Barrell just smiled sweetly and shrugged. After all what could he really say? It's not every day I have a pretty girl In my house? Or something like, we really don't have a lot of money but when we do we spend it all on junk food? "I'll go get them before I forget them entirely," He remarked, giving Peri a pat on the head as he passed by her corner of the couch and into the kitchen. He was only gone a couple of minuets but when he returned there were was a bag of sandwiches in one hand, and two bottled drinks in the crook of his arm. "Well shit, how many ads are there?" He mused, passed Peri a drink before dumping out the rest of the contents onto the coffee table.

PERI: Nodding Peri managed to stick her tongue out at him when he patted her head. "I am not small." She retorted just having a feeling that's how he saw her and she really didn't want him to see her like that. Sitting up she quickly took her things to help him out so he wouldn't drop anything. "It's probably a warning, get out before you get too scared. "

BARRELL: Barrell took a sandwich for himself before returning to his previous position. "You are small." While passing her by, his main thought was that he needed to grab this food before the movie started, but she wasn't far off. The fact that he found her to be cute and tiny was almost always playing at the back of his mind. He chewed his sandwich thoughtfully before shrugging, "That could be it." Another moment of quiet chewing before a smile suddenly appeared. "It's giving you an out, blondie. Want to cave?"

PERI: Quickly taking a bite Peri huffed out. "hot-hot-hot" She murmured slightly huffing on it before swallowing it and looking at him sheepishly. Now that was beyond embarrassing. It wasn't even that hot just her being weak. "I don't need the out. You might though." She stated as the opening credits started.

BARRELL: It was hard to play oblivious. To bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling and pretend he didn't hear her just a food away from him, burning her mouth. But it was for her sake really. "That's such a good comeback," He teased, eyes playfully rolling as the intro music boomed through the speakers. "That's big talk coming from a girl whose losing to her sandwich." Whoops. so much for being nice and ignoring it.

PERI: "I know I'm beyond clever." Peri retorted blushing the moment he brought up he fail at eating a sandwich. Of course he would notice and call her out on it. "It's hot." Shhe mumbled pouting as she looked at him. She was proving him wrong she already knew that. Even with the darkness of the night creeped in and she could feel herself creep closer to him ready for anything

BARRELL: Loud music was such a ploy to creep people out. It was almost as bad as a jump scare, noise to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat. But Barrell only found it to be mildly annoying, his attention flickering between Peri and the screen. As much as he knew he should be just paying attention to the movie, he couldn't help but sneak a glance in her direction. She inched closer and he pretended not to notice. "Have you seen this one before?" He asked quietly. Almost as if they were in an actual theatre. "Is that why you chose it?"

PERI: "I have and as much as I shouldn't admit it the scares always get me." She could always laugh about it either but at the same time she would jump and knowing her lose the stupid bet. "Not that I try to watching them to know them but I've seen it twice already. Have you seen it? I figured you did since you have it?"

BARRELL: It was surprisingly easy to ignore the movie all together when Peri was talking. He'd listen to her and be completely unaware of the screaming in the background. "I haven't he admitted with a sheepish laugh, "It's one of lock's."

PERI: "Oh really?" Peri asked quite surprised by that. Just a touch though. "Are your siblings out then? How did you get them to leave?" Or how did you get them to not come out and bug them because that's what they sounded like they would do

BARRELL: "They're, uh," A million lies crossed his mind; spending the night somewhere else, breaking curfew, drinking, at party- But he went with the truth. "In the other room actually. I had to bribe them to stay away from you?" He didn't mean for it to sound like a question, but deep down he was embarrassed that he had to do such things. "I was almost sure you heard us fighting before I opened the door to let you in."

PERI: "To stay away from me?" Peri mused letting out a soft laugh. She couldn't help it when it just seemed a touch silly but then again she didn't know his family. "How much of a nuisance are they and nah I guess I was too caught up in my own world."

BARRELL: Barrell was quiet for a minuet. There wasn't a good way to describe his siblings. They were his parents, his best friends, and his worst bullies all at the same time. "Imagine really over protective parents." He mused, trying his best to reason with her as to why he'd been so insistent on them staying away. "Now throw in older sibling vibes. A boy and a girl, both older but with worse personalities than me." He gave her a moment to let it process, fingers quietly crossing under the blanket in the hopes that they couldn't hear him shit talking them in the other room. "I'd like to not have them embarrass me and scare you away on our first, uh, first time hanging out here."

PERI: "They sound interesting, maybe not a pair to meet right away but interesting." Peri mused smiling at him. "Next time we can always use my place if you'd like? I don't live with anyone but I guess that's good if you don't wanna bother with people." Peri offered before she could even think about it. And she wasn't sure if she would regret it. The more time she was around him the more likely all of this would come to ahead. "I don't think I'm easy to scare away I promise."

BARRELL: Barrell nodded in agreement, thankful that she didn't push the topic further. Eventually he could introduce her to them and just hope that they didn't scare her off, but today he was not that brave. Nor did he feel like putting her through that. "Careful." He teased, "I might take you up on that." His goal was ultimately just to make it through the night without screwing up, but if their was a next time, if they could make it that far, being alone and not having his siblings within earshot would actually be nice. "Good," He remarked, stretching both arms along the back of the couch. "Cause I'm kinda planning on keeping you around."

PERI: With his arm basically behind her even if it wasn't on purpose he was still pretty close to her and that was enough to send her heart racing. Instead she tried to act like a big girl as she didn't lean iinto him and instead leaned into the back of the couch. Turning back to the movie she took another bite of the cooled down grilled cheese. "Are you? Even after all my downfalls?"

BARRELL: He kept his eyes on the screen, trying his best to follow the plot despite his mind constantly falling elsewhere. Mostly on Peri. What was supposed to be a jump scare hardly even registered with him. "What downfalls?" He mused, playing innocent. Really, aside from the fake boyfriend thing he hadn't found a fault in the girl. "A damsel is nothing without his killer. Besides who else would I bug and have movie nights with? My sister? --- yeah. /Right/."

PERI: Shaking her head Peri just let the downfalls part of the conversation fall away. She didn't want to bring them up. "I'm sure you'll figure them out eventually." Was all she could say. She had so many faults and yet she couldn't forgive those that made the same ones. Glancing over to the screen just in time to see something slam into the screen Peri jumped back and sort of into Barrell's arms.

BARRELL: "Even then." He began, voice light and playful. "Don't think you'll scare me off. How did you say it earlier? 'I don't scare easily'?" Really Barrell just couldn't picture her saying or expressing anything that was so bothersome that he cast her aside. After all, he had his own faults. Who was he to judge? --Peri's jump scared him more than the actual scare itself, a chuckle bubbling past his lips as he moved to properly place his arms around her. "You okay?" He cooed, teasing. "I didn't think you'd lose that quickly, to be honest."

PERI: "Fine fine." Peri mumbled though it was hard to disguise the smile on her lips. She could only imagine how easy it was to walk away so she wouldn't blame him if that's what he did one dat too. Blushing bright red Peri moved the blanket to hide her face. How could she have messed up that royally. She had seen this movie multiple times and yet when it mattered she just had to go ahead and jump. "Oh hush." She mumbled nudging him with her shoulder now close enough to do so. "I just wasn't expecting it."

BARRELL: He could help but smile, too amused by the sight to even consider removing his arm her shoulders. "You've seen this movie before, goof." He teased, lightly poking her face with his finger through the blanket where he assumed her nose would be. "How did you not expect it?" Her nudging only brought on more gentle laughter; triumphant that he'd not only won, but had done so in record time. Not that he was going to brag or prod for his prize. Those things were bellow him. But laughter and innocent teasing? those he couldn't resist.

PERI: Turning redder she shook her head. "I didn't realize where we were in it-" Because she was what? Morre focused on Barrell? How did she say that. Eventually she pulled the blanket further over her head even as he booped her nose. "I get scared easily, or at least if I don't prepare myself I get scared easily? I don't know?" She rambled peeking her eyes out as she looked at him even as everyone on the tv screamed.

BARRELL: He wanted to say that he knew the feeling. That she wasn't the only one who was paying more attention to the person beside them then they were the movie that they were supposed to be watching. Of Barrell had some vague idea of what was going on the television screen, but surely he'd missed several key details. "You get scared easily, and yet you agreed to a competition all about /not/ getting scared?" It was silly. Cute, but still silly. When she finally peered out at him he could smile some more, his free hand moving to brush a piece of hair out of her eyes. "Nothing to be afraid of, blondie."

PERI: "Because I can normally handle this stuff- and if i'm honest - you even knew- that's the whole reason I don't want-like sleeping after theses things - or being alone - i guess." She rambled out taking a deep breath after the mess of words. Smiling gently though as her blonde hair was moved away she nodded. It wasn't that she was scared though more embarrassed. "I'm an idiot." She mumbled curling into him.

BARRELL: "..True. I did know that. And the whole, after dark thing too." He agreed under his breath. Those things had almost slipped his mind among all the excitement of having Peri over and the "new information" taking up so much of his attention prior to the night. "But you're not alone this time. And I'm big and tough, there's nothing going to get you with me around." He was partially joking, partially trying to reassure the girl on the chance that she was actually afraid to sleep or go home or be alone tonight. It wasn't like he could really tell what was going on in her head. "You are not." He replied, adjusting himself at an angel so that he could put both arms around her. "It's called a scary movie for a reason, you're supposed to jump. I bet if I was paying more attention to it, instead of you, I would have gotten scared too."

PERI: Peri sighed this time reaching out to poke his nose gently. "I still came knowing everything that's going on." She knew she didn't have to but she wanted to spend time with him and that she wouldn't lie about. "Oh yeah? You have the ability to switch between a killer and a damsel right?" She teased trying to make sure even through her embarrassment she wasn't making a mistake. Her face was red enough already at this point. But with both his arms around her she couldn't help but blush more. At this rate it wouldn't matter if her body was normally colder she was over heating. "You're just trying to make me feel better, it was a silly thing to get scared by."

BARRELL: Barrell scrunched up his nose ever so slightly at the touch, lips turned up at the corners. "That's what makes you so silly." Putting herself through something she knew she'd dislike. (Even if Barrell had tried to convincer her to do such things..) "Or I could just be a damsel that kicks ass. Unfortunately I don't own an icepick, but i'm more than capable to do some damage." For the first time he noticed her blush, her skin pink in the dim room. It had been hard to see before, what with her face hidden against him and behind blankets. "Who cares if it was silly? It as still tailored to make people jump." He mused, shrugging slightly.

PERI: "Sure sure." She agreed with a small laugh resting her head against his shoulder. They were already close enough or at least she liked to think about it. "True, you're no damsel in distress. Can't have any of that here." She mumbled against his side awardly focusing more on the movie now because that helped calm her nerves. "And now I'm one of the masses." She joked. "I promise I'm not as bothered by it now as I keep making it seem."

BARRELL: Braeden stilled just the tiniest bit as she placed her head on his shoulder, her breath tickling his skin every time she spoke. He wasn't sure why but part of him had just assumed she'd pull away once she realized how close they'd become. "Good. Good." He breathed, more to himself than her. "If it gets to be too much, say something, yeah?" He allowed himself to sink into the couch a bit, relaxing into it. Might as well get comfy and stop overthinking everything.

PERI: Nodding Peri glanced over him as he sunk more into the couch. She knew she still had to own up to the bet and she was for sure going to do it eventually. But now seemed like a good enough moment when he wasn't paying too much attention to her. "I will, but it'll be fine." Deep down she knew what she was doing honestly. Leaning up though she placed her lips softly against his cheek giving him that kiss before pulling away and leaning her head back onto his shoulder

BARRELL: Teenagers ran across the screen, screaming bloody murder as if something was chasing them. -- Which it was. The cameras just wouldn't show who or what was causing all of the terror. Barrell quirked an eyebrow at the television, amazed that he'd completely blocked out all the yelling and noise up until this point. Blondie was taking up so much of his attention he hadn't even noticed. -- --- Her lips brushed against his cheek and Barrell could feel his face getting warm. "Why did-" He started to ask, but then remembered. It was the forfeit. She'd lost the bet. "Oh." He managed, chuckling ever so lightly. /awkwardly/. "...Stop being cute, It's incredibly distracting."

PERI: Brushing her hair behind her ear Peri wasn't completely sure she wanted to see his face. She was completely digging him and she didn't want to see if he wasn't. "I don't think I can stop being cute, It's in my DNA." She teased gently looking up when she thought his face had a moment to clear. "Barrell. What is this? What are we doing?"

BARRELL: "Well in that case, we need to put a bag over your head or something." He teased, laughing a bit more genuinely. His heart sank the tiniest bit at the way she said his name. Unsure if this was her coming to her senses about being with him in such a close proximity. Barrell turned to meet her gaze, shrugging. "Depends on what you want it to be. We're either two friends who are really comfortable around each other. Or.. ya know. Flirting? On a date? Thing." He paused, "Not that I think this is date or you flirting with me. I just- You know. You get it."

PERI: "Really you would put a bag over my head?" She teased poking at his cheek. Licking her lips she sighed thinking about what she wanted from him. She thought he was cute that was for sure. He was sweet and kind, when he wanted to be and she liked it about him. "Do you like me like that? Cause I mean I wouldn't be against it? You know just seeing where it takes us?" She asked quietly almost scared of the rejection

BARRELL: "If it meant getting you out of my head for two seconds, you bet I would." He joked, smirking when she poked him. Barrell watched her face as though that would somehow help him figure out what she was thinking. When she asked about his feeling towards her, he blinked. As if the answer was both painfully obvious, and yet, something he didn't want to admit aloud. "Yeah.. I do. I thought you'd figure out at least that much already." What with his weird way of flirting and mocking, he didn't really blame her if she actually hadn't sorted that out yet. He was confusing to say the least. "But disclaimer." He added, more softly. "I don't know what I'm doing in the slightest."

PERI: "Wow.... I'm super insulted right now." Peri teased though all the while she was laughing. She didn't understand him even as much as she tried. "I'm not good at picking up on those things. Or at least I'm scared to admit it or realize it? I don't know." She admitted softly taking a deep breath and because she was so close to him she wasn't really able to pull away without it being awkward. "It's okay, my last boyfriend cheated on me so I'm not sure I know what I'm doing either

BARRELL: Barrell's eyebrows knitted together at her last remark, baffled and slightly irritated by it. How could anyone cheat on Peri? She was so lovely and mind-consuming. How anyone could not only woo her enough to make her theirs, but to also throw her aside for someone else... He didn't understand. He didn't WANT to understand. "What a dick." Adamson mumbled, unconsciously holding her a bit tighter. "Want me to torment him?" The boy wore a playful smile but really, he wasn't kidding.

PERI: Peri chuckled slightly curling into him again. The whole thing didn't scar her like it would for others. She didn't trust easily but at the same time she did because that's just who she was. "He was but when I found out I dumped him. I knew better then to try to convince him to stay." She explained gently smiling up at him. "Just don't do the same and we'll be okay." Peri explained before shaking her head. "No I think we're okay. He's all the way back home."

BARRELL: Barrell was glad she wasn't too torn up about it. It still didn't sit right with him and he still wanted to go fuck with the guy. Not because he hurt Peri (her smile was enough evidence that she was okay) but just because the dick had the audacity to pull that on someone like her. "Forget dick, the dude sounds more like an idiot." He mumbled, eyes rolling. It was hard to stay irritated with her smiling up at him like that.. Damn those blue eyes. "I can promise you, that'll never happen." He gently kissed the top of her head, ignoring how out of place such a soft gesture was for him. "Are you sure? Plane tickets can't be that expensive."

PERI: "Well I thank you for that." Peri mumbled with a small smile. She wasn't going to let this guy rule her life and at that she wasn't going to let him potentially ruin anything that she could have with someone. Even if she was now scared of being so close to someone. Men always fucked up in her life. First her father all the way down to her exs. Closing her eyes at the soft gesture she smiled at him. "Thank you." She whispered gently. "Well-I uh- about that- I should probably admit one thing if we're gonna see this through"

BARRELL: Barrell just returned the smile, nodding slightly at her thanks. He wasn't very good at it (being gentle) but with her.. It just kind of happened. He just hoped he could keep it up; to say and do the right things for her. The smiled wavered a bit though, curiosity pulling it from his expression just as quickly as had appeared there In the first place. " Okay?" He replied, unsure.

PERI:Sighing softly even as the movie played behind them the screams of terror long forgotten behind them peri pulled away and held out her hand the frost appearing very quickly the small flakes morphing into something much larger creating a little bunny because why not. "I'm a magick? Technically a fairy actually."

BARRELL: His lips parted, jaw hanging slightly agape as the frost formed little flakes and then fixed themselves in a perfect bunny on her hand. 'Magick' the word repeated over and over in his head; Trying to process everything as quickly as possible. He wasn't mad or upset just.. surprised. And caught off guard. "Oh." Braeden breathed, "That's- /wow/. Um. "

PERI: Peri frowned her nose twisting up in a little displeasure. Of course she couldn't be sure if being a magick around him was a good thing or not but she couldn't not be who she was. "Bad thing?" She asked gently pulling away more and letting the frost float away in her hands letting them return to her side as she wrapped the blanket around her.

BARRELL: "No." His reply was quick, shutting down any notion that this would change anything. "Not bad at all. You just caught me off guard. -- I thought you were going to say like 'sike! the boy's here' or like -- I don't know. Something else. I wasn't expecting /snow bunnies/." Not only magick, but a fairy. He'd heard of the colonies and the passer-by remarks about the ones that lurked near the town. "Okay, yell at me if this offensive or wrong. --- I thought faries were, ya know, super tiny. And like, with wings and all that?" He asked, looking at her like an inquisitive child. A split second went by before moving back to the concerns at hand. "It makes no difference to me. I mean, It's amazing. What you just did. And, I'm probably going to ask you to do it again in a second. But first, I like you. Fairy. Human. Magick. /Whatever/. Nothing's changed."

PERI: Peri let out a soft breath when she realized he hadn't actually thought it was a bad thing and it truly was just a surprise. Letting out a soft laugh she shook her head. "No there's no other guy here or anything like that." She joked with a small laugh. Shaking her head peri shrugged. "And it's not offensive to me so you're good. I actually have two forms. There's this one and then there's. " She paused letting the enchantment fall from herself as she turned back to her fairy form flying up to his face and booping his nose gently. She was just glad it didn't change anything

#frostskader

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ecotone99 · 4 years

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[OT] Old school party

playlist

Where does this story belong? Instagram (not on that). Twitter (seems too long, and I don't tweet). Blogger (who blogs these days?). Snapchat? (please, i'm not 13). Whatsapp (I don't even know what that is). Facebook? (no good pictures and too long)... a story i wrote 25 years ago, and updated in 2007. Does this short story stand the test of time? I'll let you decide. But I did snap the playlist that was saved from the Saturday morning cleanup... and somehow I saved it for the last 30 years in my nostalgia bin. good times. "I wish there was a way to know you're in the 'good old days' before you've actually left them" - Andy Bernard. Excuse any typos. I don't feel like correcting any of them at this late moment.

308 stanton last updated: 20-jul-07

so it was decided. we would indeed throw a party at our house. we’d kicked the idea around for months prior, but nobody championed the idea, so it never came together. this time, we still didn’t have a champion for the effort, but we all kind of came to a zen-like calmness about the decision to go thru w/ it. while waiting in some incredibly long beer lines (really, more like beer circles, with the keg at the center of the concentric circles of folks waving their plastic beer cups) at the Green House, only 5 short blocks away from our house, we finally told each other enough times that we were sick of waiting in other people’s houses, while the beer-gods up front w/ the taps decide who drinks right away (young, good looking women who are friendly, and whoever lives there), and who waits (all males who aren’t actually living at the house or from the house guys’ hometowns).

there were a few party houses that had developed nicknames and that didn’t need directions or street names to go along w/ them. kind of like the ‘cher’, ‘prince’ and ‘madonna’s of the iowa state university campustown houses. we had the ‘gamma Gs’ (a fake frat / party house on lincoln ave). we had the green house (a mint green party house on knapp). we had the ‘pink house’. and we had ‘230 campus’ (a collection of apartments w/ loose keg policies, and plenty of opportunities for crashing parties). we had others, too, but they already have slipped away from my mind forever. the real question was: could we compete w/ the old established houses and get anyone to come to this new location? (‘old, established’ is relative, of course. in real years, their reputations were about 3 years old. but in ‘college time’, tho, it was like 2 generations, like 40-college-years. an eternity. legendary) what if we threw a party and nobody came? we had egos to protect. and our pocketbooks (stupid name... let’s just call em wallets) and we had so many unknowns that could ruin the event (a blizzard, a potentially mega-huge competing party, possible ‘barn dances’ the same night [but that’s another whole story there, the infamous isu ‘barn dances’. pay your $5, get on an old yellow school bus, get driven 15 miles out to the boonies to some guys barn, drink your guts in, puke your guts out, make the rounds and hit on all the women (who make up a HUGE 15% of the party, jump on a bus that leaves every 15 minutes back to campus, stagger home… yack in the bushes a few times if need be. well, i guess that doesn’t require a whole new story, just thick brackets] ).

so, we picked a friday 2 weeks out. it was the dead of winter, early on in the new semester, w/ only a cyclone basketball game as the only known conflict. 308 stanton avenue, ames, ia, 50012 had keggers before, but outside ones, in the summer, where the house can be locked down. this would need to be an entirely inside party (feb in iowa). and this would be a ‘blow-out’ party. or at least we planned for that. not just one (or maybe 2) kegs and an invite list of close friends and neighbors (no lockdown needed. no duct taping cupboards, couches in front of bedroom doors, turnaround the tv, hide the remotes and CDs, tape the fridge shut, etc. this would be a take no prisoners (unless they pony up the $3) kind. totally open to whoever moseyed by. we had connections to a ‘band’ (i knew a band member from honors program, who lived in the ‘pink house’ (cory S). roach (my roommate), knew another band member from same band from his hometown. yup, need quotes around that ‘band’ word. 4 guys who all had instruments. and different instruments! that’s all you need to be called a band. erik, corey, zit, and ?. they agreed to play for our party. that was a good thing. i either forget their band name, or they didn’t have one (yet). nirvana or some such. i’m sure they didn’t amount to anything. but who knows? this was unique enough that strangers would be tempted to go to a house party w/ an actual live band playing. at least we hoped. we reached a point of no return when we reserved the kegs on the monday before. how many to buy? and how many to put on reserve? we settled on getting 3 up front, and 3 on reserve. had to put down some ‘serious’ money for them, and for the tap deposit, and the keg deposit. we had to scrape the money together, tapping out atm cards and bringing back cans/bottles for nickel apiece, etc (pry about $150 which of course now doesn’t seem as much as back then, when we were all about 2-4 years into paying out w/out ever receiving anything back yet).

so, we all worked our contacts all week. we stopped by our old dorm floors to tell everyone to come, and have them announce it at their weekly floor meetings. we even (or at least i did, can’t speak for my roommates) put up signs in the bathrooms and hallway and den on the old floor, to make sure the message got out. told all my classmates in every class (even the ones who normally don’t party hop, which was most of them. chemical engineers just don’t party. even at college. at least most of em). on the engineers side of campus (the ugly, male-dominated side. all the good looking co-eds in education stayed on the opposite side of campus, safely away from us), after 3 years, its amazing how many people you recognize by just walking around between buildings, even at a huge school of 25,000. we were like jehovas witnesses or magazine sellers, we would tell everybody we knew (either by their names, or maybe just their faces) about friday’s party. by the end of the week (thursday), most people i told about the party would say, “i know, i know, i heard about it like 20 times now”. that was a good sign. but i took that to mean that my roommates and me had just told them about it 5 times each.

we over prepared for it, that’s for sure. i blew off friday afternoon classes (but i made it to my 8:00 AM p-chem) we cleaned the house up. big time. in the old forgotten corners, we found and cleaned out magazines and unopened mail that were 10 years old. we put away everything valuable or breakable. we duct taped our kitchen cabinets shut, which included our very valuable raman noodles and assorted tupperware for storing leftover pizza, as well as glass-glasses. we duct-taped the fridge. we decided to barricade the bedroom doors w/ couches. (our house had one big, open room, full of old couches, and bedrooms shooting off of it, so it wasn’t difficult to do it. of course, we kept finding reasons to need to go into the bedrooms, so we constantly kept ‘sealing’ and ‘unsealing’ all the bedroom doors all afternoon. we totally cleaned out the bathroom of everything but one lil roll of toilet paper. moved all CDs, tvs, remotes, anything we could move, we moved, to bedrooms. we picked up the 3 kegs, putting 2 in the basement, and tapped one for upstairs. that was just for convenience and until folks (hopefully) started showing up. then we’d move that to the basement, too. the basement was the darkest, stinkiest, mustiest, mildewy-est, centipede over-ran hole in the ground (literally) i’ve ever seen. perfect for the dispensing of beer. we actually had someone voluntarily live down there. doug, who was only charged $50/month (we all paid $112) for some unknown reason, agreed to those living conditions. he laid down industrial strength plastic over the cracked, crumbling, dirty cement / cement dirt, put in some clothes lines for hanging all the clothes he owned, and put a mattress directly on the floor. he would always be bringing up to show us the biggest, most disgusting bugs/millipedes/centipedes/roaches that he found in his sheets. and he always smelled ‘musty’ when he first put on a new shirt and came up from down the dungeon. but the smell eventually wore off, or at least we got used to it. how HE got used to it is beyond me.

by 4:00, we were ‘ready’. the house looked so different.. so… clean. it put us in a goofy mood. a nervous mood. we had put the tv away, so the only thing we could do is listen to the stereo, play some darts, and wait. and drink. and wait. we were sitting on 3 full, cold kegs, slowly warming up. but we all just kinda sipped. it was gonna be a long night. even roach sipped. didn’t think that was possible for him to do. gotta pace ourselves. the band showed up, w/ their stuff. that was cool. it was one of their first ‘official’ gigs. they were playing for free, which was worked out beforehand. they were just glad to get top-(and only)-billing. and they told all of THEIR friends and ‘groupies’ to come, too, i assumed, or at least hoped. they found the most sturdy part of our floor to set up (which was a challenge. the floor was mushy, uneven, and spongy to the step almost everywhere. their amps and speakers were damn heavy, and they didn’t care about damaging our floor, they just didn’t want their expensive (rented?) things getting hurt as they fell thru the floor and landing on doug’s bed, or at least tipping over.

earlier in the week, we had recruited what we called (and in our defense, what everyone else in our world at ISU called), the ‘beer wench’. pry the most important person at the party. the pivot person. the go-to woman. except for any cops that may show up. the beer wench doled out the glasses, acted as a ‘bouncer’ to keep out high-school lookin kids, made sure nobody brought in their own glasses, but most importantly, collected the money. 3 for guys, 2 bucks for women. NO EXCEPTIONS. we knew if we had tried to collect the money ourselves, a few things would happen. we’d lose interest, we wouldn’t get beer in a timely manner ourselves, we’d get sweet-talked by our girl – friends (not just girlfriends, but … oh, i’m sure you understand) to not have to pay, and we wouldn’t be able to ‘mingle’. i can’t believe i forgot her name already… it’s only been 10 short years. cherry? lampy? i’ll come back to the name.. i’m sure i’ll wake up tonite at 3:00 AM shouting “April! April!” good thing the wife is in tampa. the B.W. was tough as nails, actually enjoyed being a *itch. and loved being in charge. getting her to help was the key, in hindsight, to a good party.

i remember the 5 of us (burk, woody, roach, doug, and me (aka homie – a name carried over from the dorm floor days of tone loc, when everybody was “me and my homies”) {scrappy and rebar minus doug would be the next generation to live there w/ us, but weren’t quite yet} standing in our empty house, nervously asking each other if we thought anyone will show up. we had no idea. oh, sure, we hoped, and we estimated, but what if only 17 folks showed up. hope they’re thirsty. and rich. we were a jangle of nerves, even tho we all tried hiding it.

luckily, at around 6, some folks started trickling in. some old dorm friends, duke and shu, came waaaay too early. i was the one who named duke, duke, back in the dorm days, cuz his name was john wayne H. that name stuck; John Wayne, The Duke. nobody knew him as john, and even as i write this, john sounds goofy… he was duke. wonder if that name stuck to him after college? pry not. folks like fuzzy from the roommates’ hometowns, and girlfriends, and some more stragglers started arriving, who we told to come early to drink before it got too crowded. and then, at about 7:30, the floodgates opened! this wasn’t new york city, where you went out at a stylish 11:00. here, you ate, then put on and up your party hair (for the flock of seagulls-type women), got together and started the night ASAP. in fact, you pry started right after classes on friday (F.A.C. Friday After Class drink specials. did any other campus have FAC bar parties?) like dime-a-tap-beer specials, the kind the city cops were always complaining about.

a crush of people started showing up, flowing in like a river. we moved the 3rd keg to the basement. the money started flowing in, and the beer flowing out. the volume picked up. we had achieved CPM. (critical party mass). the only thing that could extinguish CPM was running out of beer, or a visit from one of ames’ finest. plenty of beer was available, and the police stayed away all night. it was a sweet feeling being the giver of one of these, finally. barging to the front of the beer line (circle), and commandeering the tap. being able to fill up the young, nubile women’s glasses ahead of the obnoxious guys who i didn’t know. it was taken for granted that one must yield the power of the tapper to the owner of the house or his designated delegate upon request. all that power in one guys thumb. it was intoxicating. (or maybe it was just the beer. ok, it was definitely just the beer). the Beast. Milwaukee’s Best. cheapest stuff available. the basement, for the first time ever, actually was getting hot in the dead of winter. usually, our house stayed at about 65 degrees during day, and pry 50 or 55 at night (some mornings, and i don’t think i’m remembering this wrong, i could actually see my breath <insert bad breath jokes here>) doug had barricaded his ‘room’ off w/ his mattress and rope. it was still holding.

the band wanted to start warming up. the public enemy on the stereo was killed. it wasn’t like the opening of a U2 concert, let me tell ya. it just kind of ramped up… slowly.. so slowly.. guitarist tuning and playing some licks that were maybe recognizable. mic checks. random drumming. then, no friendly banter from the lead singer erik, welcoming us, or saying it was great to be at 308 stanton, ames. just the start of their first song of their first set of their first gig ever. and maybe it was just the beer (ok, most likely), but they sounded okay. i recognized their songs. they had the place rockin. people were actually dancing to them, and everyone was facing them. it was cool. i’m sure the band was into it, jammed into our corner, the throng pressing in on them.

during their first break, roach convinced me to help him w/ a ‘beer-ee-oaky’ song. put loud public enemy back on the stereo, and we would help chuck D belt out the verses using the band’s sound system. trust me, it sounds better when i type it than it sounded. i think we were unceremoniously escorted away from the mics by erik, to much applause.

i took a break to go across the street to 307 stanton. (aside: while co-op-ing (interning) at quantum chemical in lil old clinton/camanche, iowa, i looked for some off-campus housing for my return to State, i hooked up w/ roach, et. al who had found the house available at 308 stanton ave. unbeknownst to me, the future wife to be, B, had also been house hunting w/ some of her grrrrls. when she told me she found a house at 307 stanton, i thought she was pulling my leg (or pulling something). but nope. either she did some great detective work to find out where i was gonna live, and made sure she was close enough to be able to harass me, or it was serendipity. of the 25,000 student living quarters in ames, she picked the one 100 ft away. anyway, that led to “us” directly. 307 vs. 308. goofy how life works out. had she picked 230 campus ave who knows? i may be w/ one of becky’s roommates (hopefully not the goth i hate men patchouli wearin’ black dressin’ greasy hair unwashin’ coppin’ attitude liberal, pasty, pierced scary one w/ the 2 cats). anyway, becky (nee rebecca) was planning on being fashionably late to our party, and she was putting the finishing touches on her ‘party hair’ / peacock / bend over, hair spray your bangs, stand up. repeat, along w/ her friends/roommates maria and kelly. while at her house, at the upstairs windows, it was the perfect vantage point to take it all in over at 308. folks streaming up the sidewalks in waves, nay, armadas, from all directions, some carrying glasses (hope the BW confiscated em) and every time our front door opened, a huge plume of steam/smoke just poured out into the february night. really billowed out, like there was a fire inside. most of it was just hot, sweaty, humid air hitting the feb. cold, cuz there wasn’t many smokers there. it was somethin. wasn’t many cars out front, just a smattering (everyone lived walking distance to everything. one block off main campus street, in between everything, was 308). i loved that scene. was anxious to get back in the middle of it.

the peacock finally ready. getting back to the party, fighting our way thru the folks milling or waiting or getting cooled off or yacking or relieving or whatever, katie (kate! katie! the bw’s name! too lazy to correct it up there in the story, tho) was at the door, doing the her job better than anyone in the business. in fact, when i came back in, she was in distress. she looked relieved to see me. she immediately moved a couch and pulled me into the barricaded room (witte’s room) right by the door. i wondered why. here’s why: she then started pulling money out from every pocket and fold and sock and who knows where else. it was unbelievable. mostly crumpled ones, but a few fives and tens. damn! and she said that roach and burk had already cleaned her out a few times already. wow, a bed full of money... several inches high. i rolled it all up like the big shots do in the casino movies. ended up as a thick can-sized wad. and stashed it in witte’s backpack. never to be seen again. (nah, we all pooled all the money together in the ‘morning after’). thanked kate for her services, but told her it was only 10:00 and people still want glasses. went to the basement to freshen up the glass. some folks were relieving themselves in the way back corner. i started yelling at them, until i realized doug was back there, too, and it’s his room, so who was i to stop em? “hey! doug SLEEPS there! oh, hi, doug... nevermind. carry on”

near the beer, along w/ the countless plastic cups being held up, this one guy was actually holding up a sandwich tupperware, jockeying for position towards the tap. he had been drinking out of THAT. after working my way over to him, and trying to make him feel as stupid as he looked, i kindly suggested that he go buy a cup from kate and put back our favorite tuna sandwich tupperware. he was trying to tell me that that’s what they gave him at the door. i don’t think so. however, everybody’s attention quickly turned to the old 2 X 8 wood planks without railings that made up our stairs. roach was bounding down them, backwards, loudly, w/ a full keg tumbling right behind him. he was trying to hoist it down gently, but lost his footing. the keg landed on his left leg at the bottom of the steps, snapping his bone right at the upper ankle. ouch. first, he thought he’d drink thru the pain, and sat upstairs having folks beer him, sitting like a mafia don w/ his captains. finally, the wuss went to the hospital, got it set and casted, and actually made it back before the party was over. now THAT’s dedication. true anecdote.... actually, everything here is true... at least through the beer fogs of time. was too passé to have anyone sign the cast, but just put his casted leg up on a table, and folks kept his glass full.

upstairs, the band was working through their set list for the second (third?) time, but nobody cared. the game was to try to figure out the song first. sometimes, it took a few seconds (or minutes). burk then brought out his snake, Monty, the python. a big ball python about 7 feet long. coiled it around his neck, chomping on a big stogy ala schwartenagger. big guy was burke. played football as a freshman, i think. gave it up (or it gave him up) chicks dug the snake. and he passed it around to em. the snake loved squeezing necks. it was a huge, heavy thing, but always very sedate and nice. the heat inside the house was intense. crammed shoulder to shoulder absolutely everywhere. must’ve been 300 folks there. more kegs needed. someone already had picked up the 3 reserves, but we needed more. i enlisted duke and shu, along w/ becky (‘rebecca’ wouldn’t be born for another 5 yrs). <sermon time. yes, i realized i shouldn’t’ve been driving, but of the bunch, i was in the best condition. sorry as i was>. also, luckily, it wasn’t too far away. about a mile on slow city roads, w/ stop signs or lights every block. so, w/ 2 kegs in the trunk, and a few more in back seat, and w/ them sitting on em, and the back end almost riding on the tires, it was a precarious voyage back. had to break off some of the benjamins (oh, wait... i mean jeffersons and lincolns in cold cash, homie!) but we received a hero’s welcome back at 308. well, ‘we’ didn’t, i guess, but the beer did. hundreds of dry coeds and guys, having only drunk 1.50 worth, or 0.0 worth, or 5.0 worth, but still! a dry house! oh, the horrors. we had borrowed a second tap from someone earlier in the night, so the beer was disappearing quick. almost too quick.

a gaggle of chemE’s even showed up, and were off in a corner, in a tight group, looking shell-shocked, sipping their beers. maybe this shouldn’t have been the first party to invite them to, because everything was to the extreme. not for the timid. we (roommates/me) worked the crowd w/ pitchers of beer, whenever we got the chance or felt altruistic. i always started in that chemE corner w/ a pitcher and worked out from there, so they wouldn’t have to fight their way downstairs into the most aggressive beer circle i’d ever seen. tempers usually didn’t flare up, tho, even tho folks got spilled on, pushed, crushed, stepped on, because it was just par for the course. expected. and most everyone knew everyone else, or at least knew somebody who knew somebody else. no beer-rage here.

finally, the band wrapped things up (no encores, thankfully). they did an impressive job, and certainly didn’t embarrass themselves or our fine house’s reputation. back to the stereo, back to public enemy and other old school hiphop (and for roach: milli vanilli, who still liked that damnable trashy cd even after they were discredited as pop-induced lip synchers). and his milli vanilli posters and milli vanilli do-rags and ripped t-shirts and autographed 8x10 glossies? oh, c’mon! well, not really. he was more into new kids on the block. some young lil freshman-like girls thought nothing could be better than some garth brooks and some ac/dc, and that new rap *hit had to go. they kept trying to break into roach’s room to change the music. bad idea. they were escorted out. really annoying. “no! we want garth! not this rap sh**!”

after cleaning out katie (the BW) one more time, i made an executive decision. (actually, i think i ran it by whoever roommates i could find, just to make sure they agreed) i gave the band some playing money. 20 bucks apiece. of course, they weren’t insulted by the paltry sum. rather, they were thrilled at the unexpected windfall, which looked bigger than it actually was, via the delivery method of handing them crumpled, uneven, mismatched fists of cash. this was their first paying gig. they stuck around to see if any ‘groupies’ appeared, but nope, just the same friends they always party with. the band was always high on my pitcher refill list, too, right behind the circle of cowering chemEs.

people started filing out after 11-12ish. not a mad rush, but the direction was certainly out, not in. some pizzas should have been ordered w/ part of the windfall, but nobody got around to it. katie gave up the glasses job. we insisted that she take 20, or 40, or whatever a handful of wet, badly folded, mismatched bills was worth, because w/out her diligence, we would have not cleared half of what we did.

i didn’t have the energy or incentive to un-barricade my room, and chose instead the quiet, warm, dry, smoke-free puke-free, noise-free environs of 307 to crash for the night. i guess the fact that becky-the-big-party-haired-woman was there may have had something to do w/ that decision, too, tho, in retrospect, but actually not too much. even if sister ezekiel (a short, warted, mean nun in full nun-wearables) from my from 2nd grade teacher/nun had been in 307 instead of becky, i STILL would have went there.

the next morning was a bit surreal. walking back over to 308 mid-morning, still in a groggy/drunk mode, i couldn’t help but notice a few things. someone had written a big “NO BEER” with lipstick, on our house siding, right by the front door. kind of like a scarlet letter, scaring away would-be late partiers who heard about a great party too late. or maybe someone from inside kept getting woken up by folks wanting to ‘party’, and thought that sign would keep them from knocking. the front and side yard (and i’ll try not to be too graphic here) was a mixture of melted snow, and plenty of once-ran-through beer remains, as well as ample evidence of mass-indigestion. the bottoms of our house and nearby cars had all the salt and mud washed off them, many times over, in nice little ‘golden arches’. mcdonalds would be proud.

that was just a inkling of what the inside of the house had in store. in fact, it was worse than outside. the green matted shag carpet was barely visible under the broken plastic cups, cigarette and cigar butts, ripped up posters, overturned couches and cushions, some random bottles folks had brought in to tie (tide?) them over until the keg glasses could be filled, some wet rugs and pillows, muddied papers / newspapers and whatever else we didn’t lock up. the rug (that was visible) was soaked w/ melted snow, mud and spilled beer. witte was sleeping on a chair – apparently, he didn’t feel up to breaking thru his bedroom-barricade, either. as he was still waking up, tho, he was worried, and was mumbling about monty. the last thing he knew or remembered from last night, he had the snake, monty. and now, he no longer had the snake, and the snake wasn’t in its cage, and nobody has seen it after witte. so, ever so gently, we started digging for Monty. the snake needed to be found. somewhere. thankfully, he finally turned up in a couch, underneath the cushions, and no worse for wear (at least that we could see). we unwound him from the “C” wire cushion bottoms and returned him to his safe, warm glass cage. he needed to see a snake-therapist for months after this episode.

someone had tried running through a wall by the front door. they made it about half way through. if only i had the tools and know-how of sheetrocking then that i have now, i coulda done magic on that wall. however, a big, free poster for Bud (the bud girls.. remember them, in their ‘bud’ bathing suits written across 3 buxom babes and their underlying bud towel?) hid the hole just at good, and was a lot quicker, too. also, we had no running water. also, someone smashed the natural gas meters in the basement (why, we still wonder). also, the toilet was clogged and broken. the sink was clogged. the hot water heater wouldn’t re-light (someone must have saw it as a convenient ‘watering hole’ and of course every self-respecting guy needs to have a target in mind or have a watering post to help the flow). the main table we used for whatever (newspapers, phone messages, backpacks, groceries) was missing a leg.

but, oh, well, on the positive note, the party was a smashing success. literally. everyone slowly got up, and started putting the house back together. no radio. no tv. no stereo. no loud noises, period. the basement beer mud was thick, and smelly? damn! we all collected the money’s we had squirreled away (pockets, backpacks, hiding spots) and put it into a big pile. a very impressive pile. a foot tall, few feet across. wow. settled up the costs for the extra kegs, and tried to recount how much was given away, and to whom. i forget how much we each cleared, but it was a helleva lot more than we ever thought it would be. about 50 future keggor fees, i think. but we didn’t do it for the money. we did it just for the sake of doing it. with much of the proceeds, we set up a very healthy toilet paper / paper towel endowment fund for the house.. and we were the foundation chairs for this endowment. usually, we just traded in cans/bottles at a nickel a pop when we were way past desperate in the toilet paper arena. but now, we were now rich w/ paper! a whole semesters worth of no-worry bathroom visits.

roach’s leg healed no problem. (altho his car antennae got bent off, too, pry by someone steadying themselves against his car. shoulda got a portapotty out front). the plumber was called. gas company was called. the old pipes were used so much that rust had been shaken free and clogged it all up (or maybe all that bass from the band loosened it. the gas company guy (a young guy not too far out of college himself, or at least college-aged) took pity on us and installed all new natural gas meters for free. becky actually helped clean up, too. i remember that because she pulled the band’s song list out from the garbage and told me i should keep it. it was taped to the floor by the band so they would know the order of the songs, and could segue easier. it was written using a red marks-a-lot smeary, wet, torn, burned, but still barely readable. in fact, i think i’ll dig thru old college notes and memorabilia box under the ol’ steps and try to find that bad boy. too bad that band didn’t make it to the big time, i could auction off that piece of paper on e-bay for a fortune.

i had an interview w/ koch in wichita for that next monday, and had to leave sunday morning for the airport. i still wasn’t quite ‘regular’ and fully over the carnage from friday, but apparently i did okay anyway. i got the koch internship which led me to a full time koch job which then led me to 3m. so i credit that party a decade ago w/ putting me on the road to professional success. i highly recommend a similar career path for every collegiate. but just don’t agree to sleep in any basements, no matter how reasonable the rent. the top-dwellers paid $112 each. doug paid $50 in the basement cave. 4 bedroom + basement. 3 blocks from campus, 1 block from campus-town. house completely trashed when moved in. no security deposit needed. no lease terms. perfect house. we were last ones to live there. it was condemned and tore down the summer after we graduated. rebuilt an apartment complex on our old home. progress? i think not.

we had other parties after that first big blowout, but none were as big, crazy, fun, crowded, or as memorable as that first one was. we realized smaller parties w/ mostly people we all knew had lots fewer headaches than the free-for-all trash-the-house kind. Monty the python finally succumbed to the cold and unfriendly climate of a badly insulated house in the middle of iowa winters, and even though he had a heating lamp and rock, he didn’t survive the year. found him dead and cold and coiled up one morning. we had a snake wake in his honor, tho, where he would come out of his permanent storage location of our freezer, all coiled up, frozen stiff, right between the totino party pizzas, and grace the party goers w/ his presence. that was another good party. the snake-wake party. but all the rest run together. monty slowly degraded in the freezer due to all the handling and shuffling, parts of his skin shedding and peeling off into the freezer. and finally burk had to find a more permanent home for him besides intermingled in the pile of pizzas. (4 totino party pizzas for $3 at value-save-more-hy-vee grocery or whatever it was called)

prologue: about a year after graduating, i stopped by the old house on stanton ave, to see if i knew anybody anymore, and to see what they had done to our place (palace!). everybody was gone, a ‘condemned’ notice on the front door. weeds growing over all the sidewalks and driveway. that made me feel bad. what a waste of a perfectly good party house. they tore it down shortly after, and put up a new building in its place. so it goes. progress. moral of this story? is none. lessons learned? are none. when you’re living thru the middle of a crazy time like college, you take a lot of it for granted, and don’t even realize that it’s out of the ordinary to invite 300 total strangers into your house, have 6 hours worth of fun w/ them, and then they leave, never to see you again. and then the next week, you do the same exact thing at someone else’s house/apartment w/out thinking anything of it. what a time. gone by. gone forever. condemned to the dustbin of memories.

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