Wednesday, August 29, 2012

The Daily Write: I'm in trouble now (August 23, 2012)

I'm in trouble now

I never did officially lose my virginity. The one time that one guy tried to poke it in, and it hurt, it also made me have to pee so bad that I ran to the toilet. That was the end of that awful adventure. I had fallen and hit my head so hard on the cement in a tunnel under a street earlier in the night that I could hear it echo. That was after probably 8 beers and some sloe gin; disgusting stuff, sweet and cloying like cough syrup but with a burning alcohol aftertaste in the back of the throat.

We met the guys at the pool hall down the street from the state capitol building. How something so seedy could be in the same neighborhood as something so nice mystified me. Or would have if I had stopped to think about it. But I didn't because I didn't care. I just wanted a hot guy to like me, some money for smokes, and a night without violence or fear. You could usually get two out of three, but not all of them, and I took my chances every time I left the house.

I preferred menthol lights and switched brands frequently, never being a purist. I was currently on Virginia Slims, soft packs, which meant I needed a big enough purse to carry them and my loose change around.

We met them bumming for change. Back when a few loose coins meant something. Now it's all binary code - no real money, invisible value. Back then it was a pack, maybe a side of extra crispy french fries with barbecue sauce, Ranch Dressing had not yet been invented, and a cup of coffee. If you found somewhere good, you could sit there all night getting refills without ever paying again.

After the drinking and the fall the four of us went down into the dark basement room. I was on a bed, my friend was on a couch and, although we didn't know it at the time, the guy I was with had a younger brother who was sleeping down there too, listening and watching while we made out and he felt me up.

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