Much Ado About Nothing...well maybe.
Sunday I woke up naked on my couch. I checked to see if anyone was around. There wasn't. I was naked of course. There is a ten to twenty second shelf of time that nothing enters the mind when one wakes up. Saturday did not register. I was too drunk at about 1:30, and Drew had to carry me back the apartment. That was a start. Like a vacuum being broken all the things we did that night came flooding through the low pressure zone in my head.
There was a keg that dried up, and then an exodus to another party. There I believe I found a bottle of Bacardi O. I shared it with my friends who where visiting from out of town; Drew, Kevin, and Rich. We were about a dozen strong, and we were heading towards any wet spot in Roger's Park like a plague of alcoholic locusts. The bottle is where I made a wrong turn. The booze permeated my consciousness, and I was fading in and out. Latching on to Drew was my only hope to get back home. I made it my goal to get this way. Nothing was a surprise at this point. Drew was carrying me. My feet moved but there was no rhythm. My eyes were not focusing. I needed a bed and perhaps a lot of water.
Eventually I got home thanks to the help of a few friends, and I fell into a deep sleep/coma/trance. I was so soundly out of this world I did not hear the police buzzing my door at 3:30am. Nor did I hear Rich, Drew, or Kevin come into the apartment to hide out for a bit while things cleared up. I had no recollections of being on the couch naked and infirmed.
I called Drew when I came to my senses. He was supposed to have spent the night here. Something happened to them last night. Call it a maternal instinct, or call it just putting two and two together. They were not here like they were supposed to be. Something went wrong. On the line with Drew I got the story.
They were in trouble within ten minutes of me crashing into oblivion. Kevin was making out with a drunken girl, and someone didn't like that so they started a fight with Kevin. That someone was the drunken girl. He explained that they hit it off and exchanged numbers, but somewhere in the shuffle something went bad. She ran out of her room crying and screaming rape.
I swallowed hard and realized just how bad I was feeling. This wasn't going to a pleasant recount of the good people they encountered in my little part of town. All I could think about though was the ibuprophen in my medicine cabinet, and a nice cold glass of water. I sat down and held my head gently while Drew laid on the details.
All eyes beamed at her. Then they slowly turned to Kevin. He could not understand what was going on better than anyone there. First there was the guy who looked at the girl. The girl looked at Kevin. Kevin looked for Drew, and Drew looked at Kevin. And everyone grew tense. Drew quickly grabbed Kevin and ran next door to my friends place. There was much confusion as people started realizing what was going on. Drew already had Kevin out of the situation. Rich was holding people back from getting to them. Graham was talking to the girl trying to find out what happened. And Michael Gemma was calling the police.
In a couple of minutes a small mob was forming in the alley next door. A wicked version of street justice was being preformed on Rich just outside the back staircase. Graham, Tribi, and the rest of the funky bunch formed a sort of barrier between the apartment and the red eyed mob. Drew was screaming at Kevin who was screaming at the mob inciting more violence in their booze soaked hearts. Bottle's were flying up and down the staircases and next door. One person found a baseball bat, and looked ready to play home run derby on Kevin's skull. There was madness, shouting, and not one intelligent decision to be found.
Being from out of town and yours truly being out of my mind Drew had to count on the friends I introduced to him to figure out a strategy for getting out of this mess. Graham had them escape through a side door, and they made it to my place without any problems. With Tribi and the rest blocking the way to top for a few minutes the crowd still believed that they were up in the apartment. It was a slick job. After regrouping at my place they took off back home. Michael Gemma came here with the police a few hours later to try and find Kevin. I was not coherent for any of this. I suppose that shortly after the cops came and went I got naked and flopped on the couch.
There was the mess laid out in front of me. What did Kevin really do? What happened to my room mate? Who should I thank for making sure my friends were ok? God I wanted to punch someone for this, but the event had already passed. I could already tell my anger was being misplaced. There were no culprits to point out, and there was certainly no hard evidence. It was time to do more fact finding. I told Drew not to worry, and that I would find out what happened. If Kevin did rape this girl I would know in about 30 minutes. If Kevin was a victim of an over served underage brat then I would know sooner than that. In either case Kevin could be facing a day in court. I wanted to get on this and spread the ashes.
My strategy was to play stupid, so I can catch every detail and bias that people had about last night. The mob mentality that ensued ensured that there would be two distinct sides. Finding who was on what side was important to leading the questions and playing a diplomat. There would be a consensus of what happened on both sides by now and separating the truth from the bullshit would be easy if I can put no one the defense.
I started with Graham. He is a great friend, but fair handed. I knew that I would get the most out of him than anyone trying to push their own brand of last night. He explained to me that this girl was already slurring by the time we got to the party,and they were actually in her room for quite some time. This made me nervous, so I asked him what he thought happened. Did this girl get assaulted by Kevin or was she out of her mind?
His judgment told him it was all bullshit. He heard from her that he did try and have sex with her, but she said no. Kevin stopped. This is the normal response to a shoot down. I was blank. This did not add up. Graham and I both said that when told no try once more, and if the answer is still no, stop. Sounds like Kevin didn't make it to strike two before the umpire was throwing him out of the game, and with misconduct charges to boot. Something diabolically stupid was going on. Why would this girl do this to Kevin if it wasn't true? The girl had no marks, no bruises, her room was still in order, and to top it all off they exchanged phone numbers. If I where a rapist I would not leave my contact information with my victims. The chances of having them call you back must surely reach a number closer to zero than we can imagine. One thing was apparent in all of this. There was no rape.
This was getting too retarded for me. But for Drew's sake I wanted to get the record straight. I wanted him to come up again. A lot of people liked him. I was upset that this might stop him. I had to know. My next stop was Gemma. He seemed pretty into the girl's story; at least into it enough to call the police and lead them to my place. He seemed every bit the opinion leader for the girl. I found him over at Tribi's apartment with Smokey Joe, Riva, and my room mate Nellie who took refuge there for the night.
He told me he did what he did because the girl was sexually assaulted. I did not know what he meant, so I asked him to clear up "sexual assualt" for me. What happened to her? Did he see anything? Was he there when it happened? The first answer came the same way Graham told it. The second answer was no. The third resembled the second. This went no where. Gemma was kind of an idiot. A good friend, but an idiot. So I asked him what about all this made it valid? He said it came down to him just believing her to be honest.
There were five other people in the room at the time. All of them where present that night, but no one spoke up for Gemma's story. There was a certain amount of shame in the living room of their apartment. They knew that something happened last night that no one appreciated or understood. I had my get of jail free card. I had no part in it. I could walk above them and see what it was that they had done, what they thought about it, and what parts they were trying to hide. I did not need to pump anyone for more information. They were ready to speak by themselves. One said that once she started screaming no one asked what happened they just darted towards Kevin. Everything from calling the police to calling her parents was done by other people. Not a one of them asked her besides Graham, and not a single one cared to.
There was steaming bullshit covering the truth that this girl and just about everyone was too plastered. He did not try anything that I would not normally do except maybe get on this girl. She was only a few people's type. Although Kevin should have used better judgment and left her alone. The accounts that the others gave told me that they just assumed she was raped without investigating first. The only problem with guilty until proven innocent is that it is awful hard to take back the punishment laid on someone who committed no crime. They were repenting in the form of spilling their guts to me.
I started asking about the girl; their opinions, any relevant stories like this in the past, what did she do this morning, and the like. I realized that no one really felt all that much for her. She had not had much luck with the guys since she has been in college, and she acted like nothing happened in the morning and refused to talk about it with anyone. Sounds like a naive young girl with some attention problems. But to be sure I asked them if they could see this. They stuck out their bottom lip and consented.I had a feeling that this girl would have all this fall on her head real soon. I kind of felt bad for her, but then again if it didn't happen I would not forgive. She hurt my friends both here and at home. Sexual Assault is not a light matter. Lying about it is on par with actually doing it. She needed to be rattled. The clean up was done. Her friends had a lot to think about, and it was time for me to go see Kenny Wayne Shepherd with Danny and Graham. I left feeling a little better. I called Drew and told him to come up any time just leave Kevin and Rich and home. As far as I saw it the only thing Kevin was guilty of is having bad taste. Now if I can only figure out the nakedness..any takers?
There was a keg that dried up, and then an exodus to another party. There I believe I found a bottle of Bacardi O. I shared it with my friends who where visiting from out of town; Drew, Kevin, and Rich. We were about a dozen strong, and we were heading towards any wet spot in Roger's Park like a plague of alcoholic locusts. The bottle is where I made a wrong turn. The booze permeated my consciousness, and I was fading in and out. Latching on to Drew was my only hope to get back home. I made it my goal to get this way. Nothing was a surprise at this point. Drew was carrying me. My feet moved but there was no rhythm. My eyes were not focusing. I needed a bed and perhaps a lot of water.
Eventually I got home thanks to the help of a few friends, and I fell into a deep sleep/coma/trance. I was so soundly out of this world I did not hear the police buzzing my door at 3:30am. Nor did I hear Rich, Drew, or Kevin come into the apartment to hide out for a bit while things cleared up. I had no recollections of being on the couch naked and infirmed.
I called Drew when I came to my senses. He was supposed to have spent the night here. Something happened to them last night. Call it a maternal instinct, or call it just putting two and two together. They were not here like they were supposed to be. Something went wrong. On the line with Drew I got the story.
They were in trouble within ten minutes of me crashing into oblivion. Kevin was making out with a drunken girl, and someone didn't like that so they started a fight with Kevin. That someone was the drunken girl. He explained that they hit it off and exchanged numbers, but somewhere in the shuffle something went bad. She ran out of her room crying and screaming rape.
I swallowed hard and realized just how bad I was feeling. This wasn't going to a pleasant recount of the good people they encountered in my little part of town. All I could think about though was the ibuprophen in my medicine cabinet, and a nice cold glass of water. I sat down and held my head gently while Drew laid on the details.
All eyes beamed at her. Then they slowly turned to Kevin. He could not understand what was going on better than anyone there. First there was the guy who looked at the girl. The girl looked at Kevin. Kevin looked for Drew, and Drew looked at Kevin. And everyone grew tense. Drew quickly grabbed Kevin and ran next door to my friends place. There was much confusion as people started realizing what was going on. Drew already had Kevin out of the situation. Rich was holding people back from getting to them. Graham was talking to the girl trying to find out what happened. And Michael Gemma was calling the police.
In a couple of minutes a small mob was forming in the alley next door. A wicked version of street justice was being preformed on Rich just outside the back staircase. Graham, Tribi, and the rest of the funky bunch formed a sort of barrier between the apartment and the red eyed mob. Drew was screaming at Kevin who was screaming at the mob inciting more violence in their booze soaked hearts. Bottle's were flying up and down the staircases and next door. One person found a baseball bat, and looked ready to play home run derby on Kevin's skull. There was madness, shouting, and not one intelligent decision to be found.
Being from out of town and yours truly being out of my mind Drew had to count on the friends I introduced to him to figure out a strategy for getting out of this mess. Graham had them escape through a side door, and they made it to my place without any problems. With Tribi and the rest blocking the way to top for a few minutes the crowd still believed that they were up in the apartment. It was a slick job. After regrouping at my place they took off back home. Michael Gemma came here with the police a few hours later to try and find Kevin. I was not coherent for any of this. I suppose that shortly after the cops came and went I got naked and flopped on the couch.
There was the mess laid out in front of me. What did Kevin really do? What happened to my room mate? Who should I thank for making sure my friends were ok? God I wanted to punch someone for this, but the event had already passed. I could already tell my anger was being misplaced. There were no culprits to point out, and there was certainly no hard evidence. It was time to do more fact finding. I told Drew not to worry, and that I would find out what happened. If Kevin did rape this girl I would know in about 30 minutes. If Kevin was a victim of an over served underage brat then I would know sooner than that. In either case Kevin could be facing a day in court. I wanted to get on this and spread the ashes.
My strategy was to play stupid, so I can catch every detail and bias that people had about last night. The mob mentality that ensued ensured that there would be two distinct sides. Finding who was on what side was important to leading the questions and playing a diplomat. There would be a consensus of what happened on both sides by now and separating the truth from the bullshit would be easy if I can put no one the defense.
I started with Graham. He is a great friend, but fair handed. I knew that I would get the most out of him than anyone trying to push their own brand of last night. He explained to me that this girl was already slurring by the time we got to the party,and they were actually in her room for quite some time. This made me nervous, so I asked him what he thought happened. Did this girl get assaulted by Kevin or was she out of her mind?
His judgment told him it was all bullshit. He heard from her that he did try and have sex with her, but she said no. Kevin stopped. This is the normal response to a shoot down. I was blank. This did not add up. Graham and I both said that when told no try once more, and if the answer is still no, stop. Sounds like Kevin didn't make it to strike two before the umpire was throwing him out of the game, and with misconduct charges to boot. Something diabolically stupid was going on. Why would this girl do this to Kevin if it wasn't true? The girl had no marks, no bruises, her room was still in order, and to top it all off they exchanged phone numbers. If I where a rapist I would not leave my contact information with my victims. The chances of having them call you back must surely reach a number closer to zero than we can imagine. One thing was apparent in all of this. There was no rape.
This was getting too retarded for me. But for Drew's sake I wanted to get the record straight. I wanted him to come up again. A lot of people liked him. I was upset that this might stop him. I had to know. My next stop was Gemma. He seemed pretty into the girl's story; at least into it enough to call the police and lead them to my place. He seemed every bit the opinion leader for the girl. I found him over at Tribi's apartment with Smokey Joe, Riva, and my room mate Nellie who took refuge there for the night.
He told me he did what he did because the girl was sexually assaulted. I did not know what he meant, so I asked him to clear up "sexual assualt" for me. What happened to her? Did he see anything? Was he there when it happened? The first answer came the same way Graham told it. The second answer was no. The third resembled the second. This went no where. Gemma was kind of an idiot. A good friend, but an idiot. So I asked him what about all this made it valid? He said it came down to him just believing her to be honest.
There were five other people in the room at the time. All of them where present that night, but no one spoke up for Gemma's story. There was a certain amount of shame in the living room of their apartment. They knew that something happened last night that no one appreciated or understood. I had my get of jail free card. I had no part in it. I could walk above them and see what it was that they had done, what they thought about it, and what parts they were trying to hide. I did not need to pump anyone for more information. They were ready to speak by themselves. One said that once she started screaming no one asked what happened they just darted towards Kevin. Everything from calling the police to calling her parents was done by other people. Not a one of them asked her besides Graham, and not a single one cared to.
There was steaming bullshit covering the truth that this girl and just about everyone was too plastered. He did not try anything that I would not normally do except maybe get on this girl. She was only a few people's type. Although Kevin should have used better judgment and left her alone. The accounts that the others gave told me that they just assumed she was raped without investigating first. The only problem with guilty until proven innocent is that it is awful hard to take back the punishment laid on someone who committed no crime. They were repenting in the form of spilling their guts to me.
I started asking about the girl; their opinions, any relevant stories like this in the past, what did she do this morning, and the like. I realized that no one really felt all that much for her. She had not had much luck with the guys since she has been in college, and she acted like nothing happened in the morning and refused to talk about it with anyone. Sounds like a naive young girl with some attention problems. But to be sure I asked them if they could see this. They stuck out their bottom lip and consented.I had a feeling that this girl would have all this fall on her head real soon. I kind of felt bad for her, but then again if it didn't happen I would not forgive. She hurt my friends both here and at home. Sexual Assault is not a light matter. Lying about it is on par with actually doing it. She needed to be rattled. The clean up was done. Her friends had a lot to think about, and it was time for me to go see Kenny Wayne Shepherd with Danny and Graham. I left feeling a little better. I called Drew and told him to come up any time just leave Kevin and Rich and home. As far as I saw it the only thing Kevin was guilty of is having bad taste. Now if I can only figure out the nakedness..any takers?