I was working in the crazy restaurant. A beautiful young lady who was around my age came in with her folks for dinner. Her voice was raspy and she said she had a sore throat, so I whipped her up a home remedy. If I recall it was hot tea with honey and lemon, plus a dash of cider vinegar, a pinch of salt, a few shakes of Cayenne and a shot of Jack Daniels. By the time they left she was feeling better. It could've been the Jack but she definitely sounded a lot better. "Thanks, y'all. Have a nice evening!" "You too. Thanks, we enjoyed it!" "Come back any time" I said. I was hoping they would. "Oh, and thanks for taking care of our girl!" said mom. "My pleasure" I said. If she only knew...
Imagine how pleased I was about 45 minutes later when I looked out through the big glass windows and saw the girl formerly with a sore throat walking toward the front door, sans parents. Apparently she was pleased with the results of my home remedy. Hey, I wasn't nicknamed "Doctor Octafer" for nothing. I was wondering if she was coming back to express her gratitude. She was. She looked so good walking past the windows and I had a big ol' grin on my face. My friend (to this day) Cinj was working that night and she could never resist an opportunity to fuck with me. "Hey, Kelj...look who's here! Looks like your medicine did the trick. I think she's coming in to get another prescription filled, if you get my drift." "Just tell me where to sign" I said. Good times.
She came in and we had a drink or two and she thanked me for making her throat feel better and then she followed me over to my buddy Doug's. Doug's inner circle of friends was welcome any time. There was a hot tub, a studio, a fridge and stove, music and a queen-size bed. I introduced her to Doug and we hung out for a bit and then hit the tub, and then hit the queen-size. All I'll say about the rest of the night is that I had a rubber band on my wrist and it got stuck in her curly blond hair, she smiled a lot, and "Yeee-HAWWWW." She was a nice lady. I wonder what she's up to... ... ...hmmm...
Anyway next morning I woke up with a beautiful naked woman. At first I didn't know where I was but I didn't ask questions. I thought for a second..."Oh, yeah! The scratchy-throat girl. Oh, HELL yeah." A minute later she woke up and had to assess the situation too. She looked around the room, then at me, then at her naked body, and then she smiled. That was a good sign. Given the circumstances we decided to give it another go. I knew that the Challenger launch was that morning but it was the last thing on my mind. I had a rocket in my pocket.
Doug was living at home with his mom, who was on dialysis. They had a machine there and Doug became certified and gave her dialysis three times a week. Doug was crashed in the next room and his mom was upstairs. She yelled down the stairs to wake him up and let him know that the shuttle was about to launch. It took an act of God to wake Doug up and it scared the shit out of me and my girl when she yelled. The bottom of the stairs was right by the queen-size.
"DOUG? DOUUUUUUG? WAKE UP!" "huhhhhhh?" "WAKE UP DOUG. THE SPACE SHUTTLE IS ABOUT TO LAUNCH." Doug muttered something about it being old news. We felt the same way. We took a pause during the cause in case Doug's mom decided to come downstairs and wake him up in person. She was insistent that he get up and watch the launch. It was weird. Doug yelled back "We've seen it before." "Yeah, but you never know if something will happen" she said. "Get up!" Wearily Doug got up and turned on the TV. We pulled the covers over us and took up where we left off.
Suddenly there was a commotion, and it wasn't my date. Doug was yelling and his mom was yelling. "It blew up! IT BLEW UP!" There arose such a clatter that I sprang from my girlfriend to see what was the matter. I walked into the next room, still naked. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. "C'mere" I said to my friend. She wrapped up in a blanked (sexy thing) and came in the room. We were stunned. Stunned and naked. Millions of people saw the iconic image above that day. I wonder roughly what percentage was naked. The Challenger had blown to smithereens. Our jaws were hanging open. Doug's mom was right. I'll never forget how strange that was.
Another interesting thing was that she happened to be cousins with another really close friend of mine from the restaurant named Cay, although I didn't know it at the time. It's a small world. I found out a couple of days later at work when Cay came up to me with a grin on her face and popped me on the arm. "Ouch! What the hell was that for?" I asked. "You slept with my cousin!" she said. "Umm...I didn't know that," I said, "but I do now." "Well, she likes you" said Cay. "Good" I said. "I like her too. A lot." "You'd BETTER!" said Cay. Cay's cousin and I saw each other a few more times, and for the life of me I can't remember why we quit dating. It certainly wasn't anything bad and I didn't burn any bridges. I think maybe it's time to give my old buddy Cay a call and see what up with Cuz. I'm single. Maybe she is too. This doc still makes house calls.
Well, that's my Challenger memory. I think it's a good one. If there's a disaster I'd just as soon be fucking. It certainly helped lock it into my brain. The moral? Always help a gal with a sore throat.
No comments:
Post a Comment