Justice For Eric Kleemeyer

Eric’s Story

Part Six

Roommate  

    Eric finished work for the day and went home to their apartment. He had hardly eaten anything all day so he was starving. He took off his CostCo badge that said “Eric” on it and put it in his pocket. As he plopped down in his chair he called to Mike “where them naughty axs bxxxxs at?”

     “Coming right up” Mike said as he grabbed two cold beers from the refrigerator. The beer of choice around the apartment was Naughty Ice 5.5. The 5.5 referred to the higher alcohol level contained in this brand and Eric had renamed it “Naughty Axs Bxxch Beer”. It was by now an old and stupid joke that still never failed to make the boys laugh.

     Mike tossed Eric the beer that he tried to catch gently but it still squirted him the face and overflowed when he popped the top. He didn’t care, it had been a long day and the cold beer tasted great.

     For dinner they had some meatball sandwiches and some more Naughty Axx Bxxxxxs. Afterwards, as usual friends would drop by, hang out, and take off.

.      Just prior to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />ten o’clock Eric’s cousin Katrina called on her cell phone to see what he was doing. They were extremely close, more like brother and sister than cousins, so it was not at all unusual for her to call and they spoke almost daily. She asked him what he was up to and he told her he was just drinking a beer and chilling with some friends at the apartment. Not very exciting so they said goodbye to each other. The call lasted only about two minutes.

      Eric was getting good and relaxed and could have dozed off but he felt he was forgetting something. Wasn’t there something he was supposed to do?

     Laundry! He was supposed to go to Mom’s and clean his clothes. He got up and gathering up his dirty things from the various places they had landed while simultaneously trying to figure out if he couldn’t postpone this chore until tomorrow. He could probably get by one more day but it seemed like there was something else he was supposed to do tonight… but what was it?

     Then he remembered “Oh sxxt, I was supposed to go visit Sammy!” Sammy was a long time friend who had been stricken with Leukemia and continued to battle against the ravages of the deadly disease. Eric visited him as much as he could but he had been so busy lately he had fallen behind and he had promised Sammy that by Monday at the latest he would come over to see him and here it was with Monday almost over.

     “What time is it?” It was already past eleven. Maybe Mom would be up late and he could stop by Sammy’s for a quick visit, hit Mom’s and then home to bed to be fresh for work. It seemed like a workable plan.

     Mike told him to calm down. He had a little pxt and put it in a pipe. Mike held up the empty bag and asked “You got any sxxt?”

     Eric shook his head, “I’m tapped.”

     Mike lit the bowl and took a hit. “You got any cash?”

     He got the same answer, “Tapped”

     Mike handed the pipe to Eric and told him “well this is it.”

     Eric took a hit and handed it back.

     Mike asked if he gave him some money could he pick up some stuff since he was going out that way anyway. Eric explained he was on a tight schedule and he would do it if he was sure it could be done quickly.

     Mike sucked one more time on the pipe and said “toast. No man, it will be fine. I’ll call right now.”

     Eric took a load of clothes down to his car and then went back upstairs just as Mike was getting off the phone. “No problem, he’ll meet you in the parking lot outside of Moonlight Lanes. That’s where you’re headed anyway, over to Sammy’s aren’t you?”

     That was true. The Moonlight Lanes was one of the few bowling alleys left in the Santa Clara area and was four miles away located on the corner of Kiely and El Camino Real. Sammy lived just two more blocks from there so it shouldn’t be a problem.

     “Here, better take a hundred” Mike opened his wallet and counted out five twenties. “And don’t take all night.”

     “HEY, I got sxxt to do too other than your stupid errands.  You’ll see me when you see me and like It.” and with that Eric gathered up the remainder of his clothes and headed out the door.

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