Before the Glitter: 1971

A Case of the Giggles

July 12 – 1971

John laughed ridiculously as he looked at Veronica. He rolled over in the floor still laughing at her. Veronica was laughing almost as stupidly as John. In fact she was laughing so hard that it had turned into one of those silent laughs that hurts deep in your chest. It was interrupted by a delightful snort that escaped her. This only made John laugh even more.

"Oh my god! Oh my god did you just snort!?" he asked, rolling over face down in the carpet.

"Shut up! Shut up, shut uuuuup!" Veronica begged of him not letting up on her laughter any at all. This would likely be the last time they drank two and a half bottles of wine. At this point, they hadn't any idea what they had been talking about to get them laughing this hard. John rolled over on the floor again as the phone rang. "Sssshhhhh! Ssssssshhhhhh! The phone's makin' sounds!" Veronica said, practically falling off the couch. She reached above her head and answered it, practically dropping the receiver. "Hello?" she answered, trying to curb her giggling. She immediately covered the receiver. "John! It's your mum!" she said, nearly losing her balance on the edge of the couch as she reached the phone toward John. "Don't sound like we've been drinking!" Were her instructions. His eyes grew wide as he crawled across the carpet to the phone.

John's parents, as kind as they were, frowned upon the fact that John had moved Veronica in with him earlier in the year. John's mother loved Veronica because she was a good Catholic girl who came from a good Catholic family. She was rather shocked when John had made the announcement that they would be sharing a home together. John's father hadn't much to say on the matter. As for Veronica's parents, they had been rather distraught over the matter as "good Catholic girls" didn't live with "nice Catholic boys" until after they had made a commitment to one another. Furthermore, there was the case of the wine bottles on the table. John didn't want his mother to know they had been drinking and as she blabbed away and so he did his very best to sound sober. Veronica had to quiet herself from bursting into laughter at some of John's sentences, otherwise his mother would know they were up to what she deemed as 'no good'.

Freddie also found himself in a fit of laughter as he watched his new-found friend Mary on the verge of destroying her kitchen entirely. "It's not funny, Freddie! My friends are going to be here in an hour!" she reminded him.

"I know! I know I shouldn't be laughing but....oooooh Mary the look on your face when you opened the oven!" he said, laughing at her even more. Mary pulled out the ruined cookie sheet full of...well, it was unrecognizable now and threw it in the sink. She then slumped down across from Freddie and stared blankly around her kitchen before reaching over to the nearby drawer.

"I suppose there's no harm in Chinese takeout eggrolls. People like those well enough." She said, looking over the takeout menu before reaching for the phone and pulling it to the kitchen table. As she dialed the number of the Chinese restaurant, she couldn't help but watching Freddie sketch away at something a the phone rang. "H-hi? I'd like to place an order for delivery. Yes. 1312 Avondale, B. Austin. I'd like twenty-four eggrolls please and a large order of duck sauce. Yes. Thank you." Mary had been watching Freddie for the length of time that she was on the phone. She hung it back on it's receiver and sat the phone back to the counter, pushing her hair behind her ear and shifting her focus back to Freddie. "What are you working on there?" she asked.

"Just a little something. I was thinking this could potentially be the emblem for my band!" He said, proudly turning his piece of paper in his book around only to shove it in Mary's face. She pushed his book aside.

"Freddie. You failed to tell me how very talented you actually are. You have this magnificent voice. I was blown away when I came to see you." she said. He grinned at her.