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# 36: Fright Night 2 - Cliff Notes to My Halloween
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By Maura Madden
Friday, October 31st, depart work at 3:45 p.m. with friend. Retrieve friend's six-year-old daughter from daughter's friend's house. Go and change into costume. Receive styling advice from six-year-old. Trick-or-treat with friend and her daughter in Park Slope. Neighborhood proves to be the children's equivalent on Halloween to Greenwich Village or The Castro. Revel in the insane cuteness of thousands of children in costume. Spend two hours in the thick of the children's festivities until overwhelmed by the chaos of children in costumes. Bail, thanking unidentified higher powers that I am not the ward of any child in costume.
Take train to Williamsburg. Arrive at friend's house and have drink. Walk to another train station to go to Greenpoint. Wait and wait for train. Take train. Arrive at first party, only to notice that party sounds quite empty. Observe from outside and determine that party is currently lame, and not worth entering. Leave premises of first party.
Walk to second party in back Williamsburg. Walk far to second party. Make pit stop at bar on way to second party because it is so far to second party. Wonder how it could be this far. Wish for the power of flight. Do not receive wish. Keep walking.
Arrive at second party. Stay at second party for refreshments and conversation. Have fun, but get restless due to nature of night in which party hopping is required. Feel need to hop. Gather more people to move on with. Leave second party.
Walk back to first party in Greenpoint. Walk far. Acknowledge that night is quite lovely, but wish that first party, which is now second party, was closer to first party. Walk is estimated to have been 15 minutes long. Despite corroboration from timepieces, believe in heart that walk took two to three hours.
Arrive at Greenpoint party. Music is off. Guests number less than ten. Unsettling amounts of blood decorate 'costumes' worn by guests. Behavior of these guests suggests that they, as a collective unit, recently murdered someone. Murder may have been an act of clique violence, occurring after a member of a competing clique arrived at the party, only to be brutally eliminated in a classic case of clique-on-clique crime. Tension in room is so thick that it could not be cut with a fake plastic sword - tension cutting would definitely require a real knife with a good, stainless steel blade. Decision is made to leave party quickly, but without attracting attention. Goal is achieved, as everyone is "too cool" to care who is staying and who is leaving at this point. Also, they are trying to figure out what to do with the body.
Search for cab in a land without cabs. Suddenly, in a stroke of great luck, find cab. Get in cab, only to discover that cab driver should not be driving cab, because he has no idea where he is going. Almost end up on bridge into borough of Manhattan due to miscommunication between driver and friend. Get out of cab. Find second cab, with knowledgeable driver. Friends sharing cab get into awkward separate-issues-with-each-other-coming-out-in-fight-about-situation-with-previous-cab-driver fight. Ignore fight. Go to third party in Fort Greene.
Arrive at third party. Find that door to party is locked; entry can only be gained by cellular connection to party hosts. Friend who passed along invitation to party is unreachable. Therefore, party access proves impossible until trusting/careless guests leaving party hold door open. Entry is gained, but is not worth the trouble, as party is clearly over. Referring friend then shows up at party, offers nightcap in apartment upstairs. Nightcap invitation is accepted.
Nightcap is imbibed. Cab Friends depart House of Nightcap. Nightcap Friend seems to be heading off to Land of Sleep. In attempt to salvage evening, final call is placed to friend at dance party in Park Slope. In stroke of luck, friend at dance party is smoking cigarette outside party and answers phone, speaks highly of party. Nightcap Friend, having just come from dance party, offers wristband for free entry at door. Wristband is accepted, and departure ensues.
Cab is procured and taken to dance party. Entry is gained via borrowed wristband. Watch is checked - time is 3:15. Many people on dance floor, many people near bar, many people all around, many people are happy. Evening is saved by finest dj'ing, as provided by college acquaintance. Wounds of troublesome evening are assuaged by dancehall reggae and early 90s R&B hits. Four in the a.m., music stops and lights come up. Fight nearly breaks out between friend-of-friend and foreigner who seems to be joking at first, but then proves to be hilariously serious. Source of tension is unclear, but fight is averted. Goodbyes are said; final cab is procured. Home is achieved. Costume is thrown over chair, lights are turned off, and sleep befalls. Full year is estimated to be necessary for recovery from all-out Halloween. Full year is granted by calendar, and recovery begins. |
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