Heaven

chapter 16: a friendly game of trivial pursuit

An ancient album dressed in dust bounced on the record player. The singer's nasally voice bellowed, "If I were an alien and I lived in outer space, there would be no alcohol and that would make me sad."

Sina and Cookie were in the kitchen by an open overhead cupboard crammed full of junk.

Wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts, socks, and a sparkly green fedora, Sina was on his tiptoes – free arm poking through the mess of bottles and chips packages. In his other arm, he was holding a bottle of red wine over his head and shaking it. "Is this all you have?"

Next to him, Cookie rolled his eyes. "You look like a puppet."

Sina dramatically fell to his knees. His head lolled onto the floor. Yet the bottle was carefully cradled in his arms. "A puppet who's had his strings cut off."

"I swear to the Holy Father that I am never, and I cannot stress never enough, giving you beer again. You always end up acting like a clown. I swear..." Cookie pursed his lips and blew out a stream of air. "Regular folks do not act like you do on beer. It's beer. Five percent alcohol."

Sina peeked up through a curtain of hair. "Beer makes me happy. Besides, isn't five percent times six like... a lot?" Mocking Cookie, he blew a stream of air upwards and the dark strands rose and fell. "All you have?" Sina asked Cookie again.

"Aunt May's cooking wine." Cookie nodded as he tossed his feather boa over his shoulders. "Two ninety-five a bottle. I bet it tastes like shit were you to drink it."

Sina got up. He tossed his hair out of his face to mock Cookie's boa tossing and then hugged the bottle. "You've had Travis' dick in your mouth before. I think you can drink cheap wine without gagging." Giving his friend an arrogant nose-snub, Sina trotted to the living room.

"You little sonovabitch." Cookie followed Sina but not before grabbing two glasses and a bag of ketchup chips.

A game of Trivial Pursuit was set on the table. There were two circle pies on the board, one yellow and one pink one. While the yellow carried one little blue wedge, the pink one was nearly full of colourful wedges.

Cookie sat by the pink piece. Next to him was a small pile of Sina's clothing. He placed one glass in front of Sina's spot and one in front of him. "Ready to continue losing?"

Flopping into his chair, Sina snorted. "I was born ready."

Cookie chuckled as he gestured to the clothes by him. "That hat, boxers, and socks will swiftly be added to my collection."

"I shouldn't have agreed to play strip Trivial Pursuit." Sina placed the bottle down with a thump and then cracked open the lid. "Why does cheap wine always open like this? Why no cork? Are corks only for the Hoity Toity wines?"

Grabbing the dice, Cookie shrugged. "I wouldn't know, babe."

Sina reached towards Cookie's glass and poured. "Didn't Travis ever take you any place fancy?"

The sound of the dice bumping against each other as Cookie shook was all Sina heard until Cookie let out an almighty guffaw. "In Heaven? You know any place in this crap hole that you can consider fine dining?"

Sina curled his lip and let out a meh. "Guess not."

"Best place here is Even's and that's just a sad little diner and bakery." Giving the dice one more shake, Cookie added, "Heaven sucks."

The dice came up as snake eyes which by the rule appointed by Sina at the start, meant the player lost a turn. "What was that you said about losing?" When Sina rolled, it was a humble three. But that planted his circle on purple which was the Art and Literature category.

"This'll be good," Cookie teased as he picked up a card. As he silently read it, he chuckled. "OK, fan-boy, let's see if you can answer this. What is the title of the short story written by Franz Kafka that ends with the lead character Georg Bendeman jumping off a traffic bridge and drowning himself?"

While Cookie read, Sina was busy filling his glass to the very brim. Leaning over it, he admired the pretty way the crimson looked despite its lack of elegance. "I will not only tell you the name but also the synopsis my fine feathered friend. The story is called The Judgment and it's about a son who's sentenced to death by drowning by his father. Dude's father believes him to be selfish and disobedient. So," Sina dipped his tongue in the wine nearly causing it to spill, "being a good and obedient son, Georg went and jumped off the bridge and into the water."

"Jesus Christ Almighty," Cookie uttered.

"Kafka," Sina paused to lap at his wine a few more times, "had daddy issues. That's why I love him."

"Yes, you do love his books." Cookie watched Sina while he fanned himself with the card.

"Want to know a secret? He was a great kisser too."

"And how in the world would you know?"

Sina cupped the glass with both hands. Carefully he lifted it and gulped before admitting, "I kissed him once."

Unable to contain himself, Cookie smacked his card-holding hand against his forehead and laughed. "In your dreams." Gesturing to the way Sina was chugging, he teased, "Boy, you need more wine for ya ain't drunk enough yet."

A slurping sound came from Sina before he replied, "Simone send wine."

Placing the small purple pie piece in Sina's pie, Cookie snorted a laugh. "Who the heck is Simone and why are you asking the woman to send wine?"

"You weren't working that day. It was a while back. I was sitting at the bar talking with Cody while he was working, and this woman – I swear she looked like she needed to be carried into the nearest AA – kept calling for some imaginary Simone and that she needed her to send her wine. I don't know. She was drunk as fuck but it was funny and she was cute to look at."

"Boy, I always thought you batted solely for my team."

Sina shrugged and slid down into his chair until he was nose-to-table-top. "I could speak hetero for the right person."

"Lies."

Sina chuckled.

Cookie twirled a feather around his finger. "As big and fat a lie as you telling me you kissed Franz Kafka who's been bone soup longer than you have been alive."

"Eat my shorts, Big Bird." Closing his eyes, Sina felt a memory steal him away. In his drunken state, he let it take him back to 1920. Back to a tiny cafe with washed-out blue curtains, warm red wine, and a stranger called Franz Kafka.

*Fun Fact: I don't know who thinks Kafka is cooler, me or Sina.