Andy was already drunk by the time Jackie got there. He had been in his room with a bottle of cheap wine and had finished it as he watched the people head down the street to Sam's apartment building and the party.  When Jackie came to get him, he was ready to have a blast.
     "Jackie," he asked, "Am I slurring?"
     "No," she answered, "You just looked that way."  And so they left with Jackie double-checking the lock on the door.  By the time she was on the street he was already hugging Vicki who had been heading to the party with her friend Ann.  Vicki not only enjoyed being hugged, but was glad to see that Andy was so slurry looking.
     "I swear, dear, you should get out more often," she said and they strutted off ahead, leaving Jackie to talk to Ann, whom she'd never met.
     "So what's his story?" Ann asked
     "Nothing deeper than wine, I'm afraid," she smirked and they quietly shuffled after the laughing, staggering pair.

     At the door Andy flung his arms open greeting the party theatrically. 
     "Ta-Dahh!!!" he said.  A few people near the door noticed him and smiled, but for the most part everyone just went on.
     "This city's so big no one appreciates a grand entrance anymore, Andy said to Vicki.  He shrugged and she shrugged and they went over to the familiar punch bowl.  Jackie and Ann caught up with them as they finished their first drinks.
     "Not much left," Ann said.
     "Not much at all," Jackie noted.
     "Ahh, the bitterest dregs," Andy added.
     "Drink them if you got them!" Vicki screamed.  Other people screamed too.  People like screaming at parties.  Jackie huffed off and talked to some people she knew.  Soon it looked like she was having fun.  Andy and Vicki looked into the empty punchbowl.
     "Well, what do you guys want to do now?"  Ann questioned.
     "I don't know, what do I do?" Andy asked.
     "Let's have some fun!" Vicki suggested.
     "Have fun?" Ann wondered.
     "It has to be healthy," Andy said.
     "Sure," Vicki answered.
     "Let's run on the roof," Andy decided.
     "I'm gonna go talk to that blond with the bowl cut," Ann whispered to Vicki.
     "We'll be on the roof," Vicki declared loudly.

     Andy was out of breath at the top of the stairs.  He looked around.  There was a door and a window and an alcove full of boxes.  Then he poked his head out the window.  Vicki snuck up behind him.
     "Boo!" She said.
     "Ahhhh!" Andy screamed.
     "Ahhhh!" she screamed back.
     "Where's the roof?" Andy asked.
     "Over our heads."  Vicki pointed up.
     "Is that the roof?"  Andy looked up and saw a small hatch.
     "It's obvious."
     "Let's go."  Andy pulled down the door and Vicki pulled down the ladder.
     "Upsy-daisy." Vicki went up the ladder.
     "Up, up and away."  Andy followed.  The roof was flat and dark and lonely.  It was just like a lot of roofs.
     "This doesn't look like fun."  Vicki blinked.
     "Let's run anyway, maybe it'll seem better."  Andy started to run.  He ran from one corner of the building to the next near the edge.
     "Vroom," he said pretending to be a plane as he passed Vicki.  She laughed and chased after him.  She pretended that she had to gun him down.  They ran around and around again and around once more.  Then Andy tripped over something and Vicki tripped over Andy.
     "Oww!" Andy screamed.
     "What happened?"
     "I tripped over something."
     "What is it?"  Vicki asked.  Andy looked over.
     "It's just a brick," he said.
     "What's a brick doin' up here?" Vicki asked.
     "Why don't you ask it?" Andy said as he massaged his ankle.  Vicki didn't ask.
     "I mean," Vicki continued, "Where do you think it's from?"
     "Maybe the wall?"
     "Yeah, but which wall?  The wall around the roof, the wall holding the skylight, or maybe, just maybe, the wall that needs that brick to hold it up, and the building is gonna fall at any minute."
     "I think it's from the skylight."
     "Oh well, it would have been fun if we were about to die," Vicki said.  Andy crawled to the roof's edge..
     "Vicki wants to die!" he screamed.
     "No I don't!" Vicki shouted.
     "We don't care!" someone shouted from the party.  People like to shout at parties.  Andy leaned on the wall along the roof's edge.  It was good to sit.  Vicki sat down too.
     "Well, that was fun."
     "Yeah, but it's over."  Just then Sam walked up.
     "I heard you two want to die?"
     "That was a joke."
     "Only Vicki wants to die."
     "Well," Sam said, "this is a really pretty place to die."  He looked around.  Sam liked his building.  Sam liked his party.  Sam liked a lot of things.  He smiled too often.
     "You don't want to die, do you Sam?"
     "Oh no, I just wanted to check that everyone's happy."
     "I'm happy."
     "Me too," said Vicki.
     "I thought that you wanted to die."
     "I want to die happy, you know."
     "Oh, of course."  Sam now knew.  He decided to go back downstairs.  Vicki and Andy laughed.  They gave each other a big hug.
     "I'm gonna get us a drink," Andy said.
     "The punchbowl's empty,"  Vicki reminded.
     "I'm gonna get us... a different drink."
     "Make it two drinks."
     "All right."  He went down the ladder and down the stairs and into the party.  He saw Sam.
     "Can, um, I have a drink?" Andy asked.
     "The punchbowl's refilled," Sam answered.  "Has Vicki died yet?"
     "I don't think so."
     "Kill the oranges!" someone shouted.
     "Kill the oranges!" people shouted.  People like to shout at parties.
     "Where are the oranges?"  Jackie walked up to Sam.
     "They're in Florida."  Sam pointed to the refrigerator.  Jackie looked at Andy.
     "Hi, Andy," she said and then took two oranges out of the refrigerator and held them high.
     "Death to the oranges!"  everyone shouted.
     Andy left the room with two cups in his hand.  At the top of the stairs he tried to figure out how to get the drinks on to the roof.  Finally he shouted, "Vicki!"  No one answered.
     "Vicki!"  He shouted, getting upset.
     "Vicki!"  He shouted one last time.  He pulled himself  halfway up the ladder and reached down.  He managed to get the cups and lift them to the roof.
     "Drinks are on the house," he said quietly and climbed through the hatch.  The roof wwas very quiet and very dark and very lonely.  Vicki wasn't there.
     "More for me then," Andy said unhappily.  He drank both cups and threw them over the roof.  They crashed on the sidewalk.  Someone shouted, but people like to shout at parties.  Andy sat against the wall and almost fell asleep.

     "Has anyone seen Vicki?" Andy asked the people at the party."
     "Vicki!" someone yelled.
     "Vicki!" they all yelled.
     "I hope she hasn't died," Sam said.
     "Well, where's Ann?"
     "She left with some blond," Jackie answered.
     "Here's to blondes!" someone shouted.
     "Here's to blondes!" everyone shouted.
     "Doesn't anyone care about Vicki?"  Andy asked.
     "Here's to Vicki!"
     "Here's to Vicki!"
     "Here's to Vicki."  Sam smiled.
     "Damn it!"  Andy rushed out of the door too late.  Someone laughed.  People do that at parties too.

     Andy felt very sober by the time he reached his apartment.  He sat in his room dialing phone numbers as traffic went by.  He was half way through his list when he heard the crashing sound.  A couple of cars collided head-on in an accident that would take hours to clear up.  The wrecks were right down the street and the owners were shouting at each other and people were watching.  Andy was unnerved.  He put down the receiver and took a deep breath.  Then he locked the door and fell asleep.
     In a dream he felt like he was running a long, difficult race.  If he tried harder and gave more it might be over, but it seemed pointless and endless.  He just ran and gravity threatened to drag him to his knees.  He tripped on a brick and awoke.  The phone was ringing.  It was Vicki who had been home all along.  Andy hung up when she was done recounting how she met Ann and had a huge fight and wound up in bed with a stranger.  Then he grabbed some aspirin and a glass of wine.  He looked out at the street at the empty accident site.  He stayed there, sitting and drinking.  Drinking and thinking, and wondering; would anything ever change.
 

Return to Homepage

©CJ Shannon, Webmaster