This Is The Most Public of My Many Humiliations
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Chapter 1
As most Saturdays' began John woke up on the couch, once again to
drunk the night before to make it to his bed. Looking out his living
room windows that glared out on the street he look down at his new
phone to see the time. John was so proud of his phone, state of the
art technology, a keyboard, video and picture capabilities and
internet access. However the effects were beginning to wear off.
Just as he was trying to read the time his phone rang abruptly.
"Kitty Home" showed up on the call display, John immediately turned
off the phone as he did not want to inflict anymore pain upon himself.
Bunny's real name was Lara Decarchier, but for some reason no one had
ever called her Lara it was always Bunny. She always called John when
she needed something; she was probably calling for a drink from the
local depeneur in order to combat her hangover from the night before.
Bunny's voice was just not something that you wanted to hear this
early in the morning.
John went to school in Montreal, called Concordia University. He had
chosen the school because of its location not because of the school
itself. He was originally from Toronto and had always wanted to come
to Montreal to study ever since his first visit in Grade school. But
for some reason this year was different, he did not have the same
excitement or enthusiasm for the city. What had gone wrong. The
first two years of his University experience had been so full of fun
and excitement, everything he love about the city last year, irritated
him this year. His once love for the French and their culture turned
to hatred from their lifestyle. Of course drinking helped, either to
drunk or too hung over to have any thoughts like this.
John had finally gotten up off the couch and stared out his windows.
John lived in a half basement apartment with his roommate Sammy. The
apartment was in the heart of the "Student Ghetto" for McGill
University, the Ivy League school in the city. The walls were falling
apart, the hot water was always questionable and Hydro Quebec had just
sent a $900 bill in the mail. Maybe it was time to start wearing
jackets inside instead of cranking up the heat, during the cold months
of January and February. The two large windows were the best and
worst feature that the apartment had to offer. The two large windows
that were located on the street level allowed for the tenants to live
in a fish bowl apartment where everyone walking by can see everything
that is happening. The boys were quite fond of this as, weather
permitting they could leave the windows open and was a great way for
them to meet females on the street. They would simply walk through
the windows and introduce themselves. However come winter time and
these once great windows full of life and lays became wind tunnels
from the cold streets of Montreal directly into the apartment. This
might also explain the rather obscene hydro bill.
John walked in to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. He seemed
particularly pale today making his brown hair and eyes look even
darker. He splashed water over his face and brushed his teeth trying
to alleviate the taste of alcohol from his mouth. As he brushed, for
the first time that morning John attempted to remember what he did
last night, a task that was proving to be quite difficult. He
remembered "pre-drinking" in the apartment before the big night on the
town. The Lodge followed after that a shitty bar located on St.
Laurent, in the heart of the city. Bunny worked there and John
usually got pretty dam hammered anytime he would go. However after
that John could only remember images as if someone had taken pictures
of his night and planted them in his mind. That was usually the sign
that he had drank far too much...then suddenly out of nowhere he had
remembered meeting someone last night. Had a great conversation with
a very attractive girl at, well that wasn't coming back right now.
John spit out the toothpaste from his mouth and ran to turn his phone
back on. He proceeded to scroll down the list of names looking for
any new name that could possibly be a new number. A,B,C,……M,N,O they
were all the same old names John was beginning to wonder if this
encounter had actually taken place. And then out of the blue
"Rebbeckaa" the spelling was so off that John could have only typed it
in when he was in last night's state of drunkenness. Rebecca, maybe
this is John's new love the one that will turn this year around for
him, the one that can get him back on track, he can stop drinking so
much, maybe join the gym, maybe even take part in some social clubs at
his school. For the first time in as long as he could remember John
felt something, he didn't exactly know what that something was but it
was there. BUT DID HE EVER FEEL HUNG.
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