It was February and the air at night was crisp and cool for Southwest Florida. The temperatures at night were down in the 50’s and sometimes dipped into the 40’s. Everyone seemed to welcome the change of seasons as they had a chance to wear their sweaters and sweatshirts.

The county fair was also going on and some of the Thistle gang were headed to midnight madness. It actually started at 10pm and went until 5am with unlimited rides all night. Ten of them from Thistle were in three cars and headed out to the civic center way out east on Hwy. 80. It was an hour drive from the island so each car was provisioned with a few joints, some beers and Lena the bartender even brought a little blow. She was riding in the Sprint with Joe and they drank, smoked, snorted and laughed about their former alma mater, Cypress Lake High. Emphasis on the high as Lena had graduated right before they started having a cop working out of the office so it was the pandemonium Joe had seen his freshman year yet worse.

Lena was a good-looking brunette with a large chest and that full-bodied Italian look. Joe and Ted always liked hanging out with her as she was hot and partied. Once in while, she would slip them a drink that was made by mistake in a plastic cup that the employees used. That was the best as sipping on a drink while running around busing tables soothed Joe and Ted’s nerves. She would offer Ted shots of tequila as she seemed sweet on the guy originally from West Virginia.

They didn’t drink too many beers before the fair as no one wanted to throw up while on the zipper. Joe loved this ride as not only did the small, white cage go up and around in a Ferris-wheel type way, each car had its own bar that when you flipped it over the individual car started to do a fast 360 degree spin. The rush was almost better than their buzzes. As they walked around the fairgrounds, rode rides, and partied, a relaxed feeling came over Joe like a warm blanket. It was so great just to be with people he knew, worked with and most importantly, trusted. Joe sure as hell didn’t trust everyone and selling pot probably contributed to that. Guys trying to get him to front quarters and pay him on Friday. What did he look like First Federal Savings? Fuck it, pay cash or don’t come looking for a bag!

They all ended up at Sherry’s parent’s condo in South Fort Myers as her family was up north for the holidays. Sherry was from “Newww Yorkkk” as her accent obviously revealed. She was another hottie that Joe and Ted worked with. She was blonde, curvy and fun to party with. As her and Tom Farluchi, the sous chef + amateur body-builder, snuggled on the couch about 5am, Joe thought they made a good couple.

Lena shared the last of her lines with those who still wanted to stay up and Joe let Ted have his share. Ted eagerly snorted his line and Joe’s then asked Lena if she could get some more. “Its about time to go home and crash. Besides my dealer goes to bed around 2am”, Lena finished with. Ted’s face sunk quickly as he knew there would be no more blow high unless he wanted to go off to Harlem or MLK.

Sherry’s clock struck 6am and all of them groaned. It was so late yet they were having such a good time hanging out and talking, no one wanted to make the move to head towards home. Finally Tom and Sherry headed to the bedroom for some early morning gymnastics. Joe and the others took that as a signal to vamoose so they cleaned up the beer bottles and traces of coke on the glass coffee table then headed out.

“Hey dude you want a ride home?”, Joe offered to Larry the pantry guy. He was another 20-something dude from New York also yet it was upstate where he had grown up so he didn’t have the heavy accent like Sherry. “Yeah man, I was going to ask you as Ted lives by me but he’s pretty fucked up and think he’s going to try to find some more coke”, Larry had lowered his voice to almost a whisper when he said the last part. “Dude, I get it, jump in bro”, Joe said understanding the deal. Besides, Larry was only a 10 minute drive out of his way. They quickly climbed into Joe’s car before Ted realized they were gone. Joe didn’t want to make Ted feel bad.

As Joe started driving away, he realized the buzz he had was pretty serious. His vision was blurry and yet he kept it to himself as he wasn’t going to make Larry more paranoid about the drive home. Pulling into Eagle Ridge, the housing community where Larry lived with his parents, he noticed the roads were slick due to the rain that had fallen in the last hour. Driving down the slick entrance way, Joe had a great idea since the roads were wet. He used to enjoy pulling the emergency brake on his Toyota as they would slide around empty parking lots. He reached down, pulled the emergency brake and the Sprint went into a sideways slide immediately. What happened next was similar to watching a movie in slow motion. Larry grabbed the wheel from the passenger’s side to keep them from hitting a palm tree on the left. Then the car swerved way over to the right, hit a mound of dirt on the side of the road and then launched itself on top of a large rock that the landscapers had used to decorate the road.

Larry came to first as they the car laid sideways on the rock off road. “What the hell did you do that for?”, Larry asked exasperated. Joe was now coming around and realizing what had happened. “I don’t know, it was always fun in my Toyota”, he rasped. Joe’s window was still intact so he rolled it down and started to climb out. After a few huffs and puffs he was out standing on the street looking at the car.

I hope you liked this little sample of the book and that you are wanting more. If so I invite you to acquire the complete book at the link bellow