The Last Analects of Jasper James Kaufmann

9. The Party

After a several hour long nap, Jasper arose and explained his early bedtime to his parents: he was still discombobulated from the plane ride and needed to decompress, a story which they believed.

The week went by. Jasper at first enjoyed the relaxation of being in his childhood home, spending his days reading, and walking into town, and drinking coffee. He frequently gazed at the lake and contemplated the reflection of himself and of Merlack's buildings. He saw Richard several more times that week before the party, but they didn't smoke again. After a little while, he began to get bored. He had been looking forward to being home so that he could see his friends, but besides Richard he didn't see any of them at all. He figured he'd see the old crew at the party. Eventually, Saturday came. Richard's mother picked him up from his house at a quarter to seven to take the two young men to Martin and Christian's house, which was a little ways away in the suburbs.

They arrived at 7:10 and walked in the door. There was a man with dark skin and long hair standing and smoking a cigarette in the first room, who appeared to be in his late twenties. It was Christian.

"Hey, Richard," he said. Then, with a puzzled expression, he looked at Jasper, and said, "Hey, kid."

"Thanks so much for inviting us," said Jasper.

Christian nodded. "The others are through the door."

Richard led the way into the next room, which was the living room. There were a number of people sitting in chairs or on couches, or standing. Jasper immediately recognized many of his old friends. He knew whom he wanted to greet first.

"Martin! Martin Austen!" he cried, and Martin walked over and gave him an enormous hug. "Deutschbag," he said tenderly before releasing him. It was Martin who had come up with the nickname. Like his brother, he had dark skin, but his hair was short. He had an X drawn with a pen or marker on the back of both of his hands, or they might have actually been tattoos.

"Toad!" cried Jasper, and Toad stuck out his hand. Jasper had to walk over to him to shake it. Then he saw a young woman he had not immediately noticed.

"Oh. Sarah."

"How's it going, Jasper?"

They had not seen each other since he had broken up with her before traveling to Berlin.

"I'm fine, and you?"

"Fine as well." There was an uncomfortable silence that was broken up by the beginning of a conversation between several other of the people in the room.

He stood there awkwardly, wondering what to do and whom to talk to. So this was the state of the Merlack social scene post high school. Jasper realized that he had taken adolescent social life for granted. Back when being in school forced him to be around his friends on a daily basis, it was easy to maintain platonic relationships. Now he was 20 and it wasn't so easy, as the bond that had held friends together was dissolving fast. He noticed a table with various liquors on it, and poured himself a short glass of tequila. He downed it in short order.

Eventually someone got up to go to the bathroom, and Jasper sat down in the now unoccupied seat. He sat there for a long time, listening to the interweaving of conversation. People were talking about college. They were talking about jobs. They were recounting stories from old times, going back to high school and even beyond into middle school and earlier.

Finally, several people, including Christian, Richard and Toad, got up and walked together to the staircase. In curiosity, Jasper followed. They went upstairs into Christian's bedroom. Christian noticed Jasper, and said, "What are you doing here?" "It's cool," said Richard. "Jasper's cool." Christian hesitated, then sighed and slowly nodded his head in assent.

"So," said Toad, closing the door. "As you know, there is a reason Christian and I have brought you into this room. The reason is of the psychopharmalogical sort, if you catch my drift. As you know, there isn't much to do in this town. So we're stuck in each other's houses. Well, I've come across something that will make that considerably more exciting."

There was silence as his reached into one of the many pockets in his pants.

"April 19th, 1943. Basel, Switzerland. Albert Hofmann, a Swiss chemist, decides to experiment with a chemical he has synthesized. He takes a quarter of a milligram of this chemical, and has the first ever trip. Yes, this chemical was lysergic acid diethylamide. LSD."

He took his hand out of his pants pocket and produced a sheet of perforated paper decorated with a drawing of a bicycle.

"Now I give you all the opportunity to try it yourselves. $25 a hit. What say you?"

There was a murmur.

"I'm getting in on this," whispered Richard to Jasper. "Two hits," he said to Toad, and pulled out fifty dollars from his pocket. Several other people in the room purchased the drug as well. Eventually the meeting was over and everyone headed back downstairs.

Jasper was confused. He hadn't even smoked marijuana until a week ago, and now his best friend was buying LSD? He wasn't one to judge, but he felt as if he were descending some sort of staircase that led to a place where he wasn't comfortable being. He headed to the liquor table and drank another short glass of tequila. His discomfort continued as the party went on. He felt disillusioned with the social circumstances. It wasn't how he had remembered it, and the vision he had clung to throughout his time in Germany was crumbling. He felt little connection to his old friends.

Eventually, he drank yet another tequila. This proved to be a mistake, as he quickly became nauseated. He went to the bathroom, but the door was closed and locked. He waited impatiently for the occupant to be done and leave. Just as he thought he was going to lose it and puke on the hallway floor, the door opened and Sarah came out. Jasper ran in, shut and locked the door, and kneeled over the toilet. His forehead felt clammy. The alcohol quickly came up. Breathing heavily, he flushed the vomit down and looked at himself in the mirror. There was an empty cup by the sink, which he filled up with water to swish out his mouth. He dried his face on a towel, and went back to the living room to find Richard.

"I think I'd really like to go now," he said to him.

"All right, it is getting kind of late. I'll call my mom." Richard went to the front room of the house, where the phone was.

The party was winding down by the time his mother arrived to pick Jasper and Richard up. They left for Jasper's house. When they got there, Richard's mother said, "Send my regards to your mother, please."

"Okay," he said. "Thanks for the ride. Good night."

"Good night, Jasp," she said affectionately.

He got out of the car and headed for his bedroom, where he took off his boot and coats and pants and got into bed. He fell asleep almost immediately.