raymond and brigit are cuddling at
one end of a red crushed velvet sofa
camilla and vernon sit entwined at
the sofas other corner . i am on the floor
kneeling in front of a crate of jazz albums
vernons mom mrs matilda and his stepfather
mr redding work until evening . after ditching
school the five of us are in vernons room
on a glass coffee table is a shoebox lid with
a handful of grass and several used and unused
joints . theres also an open fifth of johnny
walker scotch black label and a pitcher of
iced tap water and several glasses
suddenly the door to vernons room opens
and there is mr redding . he looks around
the room then says " what in the devil is this !
what kind of monkey business and tomfoolery
is going on in my home !! "
vernon raymond their girls and myself are all
speechless . mr redding puts his hands on his
hips " i just said what kind of monkey shines
are going on in my house ! "
he notices me and his record collection
" boy what in the devil are you doing in
my records ! " i try to speak but can
only shake my head from side to side
turning his attention to the coffee table
he looks at the grass and starts to talk
but stops when he notices his bottle of scotch
" what in the blazes is my bottle of johnny
doing here open and half drunk up ! "
completed liquored and toked up first brigit
then camilla burst into hysterical laughter
mr redding looks at vernon and says " well if
this aint a mighty fine day in the garden !
my liquours drunk up dope is smoking in my
house and half naked girls are fornicating
and having a laugh at me in my own home ! "
vernon sinks down into the sofa . i am frozen
in place and raymond is trying to shut brigit
up while camilla laughs on . mr redding bends
over and picks up a joint and looks at it
he says to vernon " boy i am going to smoke
this here funny cigarette of yours and if i dont
get a feeling to go out of this room and give
a damn good rooting to my wife i am going
to beat your ass today tomorrow and the day
after tomorrow ! "
he grabs a books of matches from the table
strikes a match lights the joint takes five
huge tokes and holds on to his breath for what
seems like a minute . exhaling mr redding looks
down at camillas mini skirted legs then turns
towards the open door
" dad where are you going ? "
vernon drunkingly asks . mr redding
points his left left index finger at him
" i am going to fuck your mother ! "