Suspended
2005-09-03 5:33 p.m.
I was driving to M�s house, as I usually did 3 or 4 times a week. I was exhausted and merely headed there to sleep next to her since I hadn�t seen her in about a week. I�d pretty much forgotten about being careful about my driving. My thoughts engulfed in passing out next to M.My license was suspended for about 2 weeks by then. Mostly because of all these damned trips to the suburbs. When I lived on the North West side it was about 45 minutes to an hour to get there. When I lived on Chicago Ave it was a half hour to 45 minutes. From either place, I could squeeze it to about 20 � 30 minutes. Make that mad rush a few times a week and you�re gonna get stopped on occasion.
And here I was, 5 minutes away from a perfect night of sleep when I saw the lights flashing in my rear-view. First instinct is always to slam the gas (why is that?), but I was exhausted and a high speed chase through the suburbs with a state trooper was a bad idea. So I pulled over and then recalled something about a suspended license. I shoulda taken a shot at it.
So the fucker cuffs me and puts me in the back. We sit and watch my old piece of shit get towed away. We head to some station on the other side of the planet. I fell asleep on the way, only to wake up all the way the fuck in Bellwood (far West Suburb).
Who the hell can I call to get me in bellwood? At the time, I was the community driver, since most everyone else had no license or no car. Mom would tell me to rot � as we weren�t getting along all that well back then. I went through the names... Who else� K!!! K would pick me up!
Now K is a very good friend of mine. He�s one of those Chinese kids who�s kinda mad at the world because the world thinks he has a little dick. Not literally that, but you can see society�s burn on his esteem. Well, he had a permit and his mom LOVED me, so I figured he could hook up a ride. Besides, he�s one of the few people I knew I could call at 2am on a Tuesday.
�K, you sleepin?�
�No, what�s up?�
�I need a favor�
�Aw shit, what did you do?�
�Why�s it gotta be that?�
�What?�
�Fuck it� you can drive, right?�
�Yeah�
�Think your mom will give you her car?�
�hm� Yeah, I guess�
�Alright man, I need you to pick me up in Bellwood.�
�Bellwood?!?!�
�Yeah I know. Come on man�
�Alright, alright, I�ll get ya�
And that was it. All set, right? Perfect.
The guy walks me to my cell and turns the light on. It�s a pretty big cell, maybe 9� by 9�. Unfortunately, there�s a puddle of piss in the middle that�s about 7� in diameter.
�Come on man, that�s nasty.�
�Get in there�
�Fuck.�
I literally had to walk along the wall to get to the bench. The smell was so fucking acrid. I had to fall asleep NOW. I thought about M for a bit, who I�d MUCH rather be next to than in this god damned cell trying to ignore a sea of urine. I thought about K being on his way out � good guy. I was out in minutes.
�You�re ride�s here�
I jumped up so fast, I nearly landed in the amber lagoon. I�d no idea how much time passed and didn�t give a fuck. I was going home god damnit. I followed the cop to the front door and noticed K� and then I noticed his mom� and then some older Chinese dude. What. The Fuck. Is his Family doing here?
Well, it turns out that when K asked for the car, his mom got all excited that he was picking me up so she came with. She hadn�t seen me in so long, she was worried and she wanted to make sure I was ok. And on the way out, they mentioned my name to K�s father, who had heard so many great things about me and couldn�t wait to finally meet me.
Of course none of these people paid very much attention to the worst timing to meet someone� Here I am, exhausted, reeking of other people�s piss, getting out of jail.
�It�s a pleasure to meet you, I�ve heard so much about you!�
�Oh man, it�s an absolute pleasure to meet you as well. And such a surprise!! I�d hoped we could meet under better circumstances!�
�Oh, it�s ok. Things happen.�
To this day I never let K forget that he came to pick me up from jail with both of his damned parents.
Now I�m sure K thought he�d long escaped that story, and all the shit I used to call him in high school, and all the shit we got into together. There�s a side of K that all his new friends in LA know nothing about.
I didn�t expect to run the conversation last night. I figured K would scoop me, we�d have a couple drinks, catch up a little and that�s it. Shit, I needed to get out. I�d been sans meaningful human contact for a week. But about 5 or 6 drinks in, K�s roommate, friends and coworkers popped up and something snapped in my head.
A few minutes later I noticed out of the corner of my eye that everyone was completely hushed and hanging on my every word. It didn�t bother me, but was unexpected. I was planning to be a bit more humble tonight. Don�t these people have something better to talk about? Fuck� talk about� right, I�m saying something� Matter of fact, my mouth is moving and words are coming out and here I am thinking� Then I remembered what the fuck I was talking about. I was yelling at his roommate about grades of scotch. With attention like this, particularly from the pretty girl to my left, I needed a better subject.
Poor K. It wasn�t ALL about him, as I haven�t seen the guy in 5 years, but we got quite a bit in the open that he seems to have preferred to keep in the past. It wasn�t in any bad or rude way� all in good fun. His girl was pushing me to keep the stories coming. And when he seemed particularly bothered, I�d sprinkle in some unfortunate stories of my own.
It was great to see him yesterday and put his friends and girl onto his nerdy ways in high school. And that lil hottie he�s with� damned right. I was proud of lil over-worked, ever-depressed K. Doin well, bout to move to London in a couple months, dating a hot lil spoiled chick. Actually, I liked her a lot. Got a really good vibe from her, and thus a good feeling that K�s doing all right. A lot of us worry about him.
And so, yeah� good night out. Stumbled in at about 1 from them and on my way inside bumped into my neighbor. Sure, night cap sounds like a great idea. Strange conversation about sex, music, politics, her ex boyfriend and some other shit.
By then I started dozing off�
I�m planning trips to SF, Chicago and NY soon, as I�ve business and pleasure to take care of in all of the above. I guess staying in one place just isn�t in the cards for the moment. Speaking of which, it looks like I might be heading to New Zealand in February. Ah yes, good things on the horizon.