An Excerpt from This Evening

Another night of falling asleep at Miguel's place after another evening of being served cuba libres when requesting rum & cokes (rember that rant?) When we get back to his place he suggests tossing the frisbee (from here on out referred to as the 'b') in the street. I'm not about to rain on somebody's parade so I willingly grab it out of the trunk (once a boy scout, always a boy scout - "always prepared" is our moto). I turn and toss it toward him. It slices badly and lands in the street about 10 feet in front of him. He stands there then suddenly yells "Dude!" It's only about 2 seconds that I wonder "What?" until I realize that my b has found its way into the only drain ditch within 50 yards. My very first throw! Sweet! Now, without a few rum & cokes the response would have been "Damn, theres $10 down the drain." But WITH a few of those modified cuba libres the response becomes "Okay, lets get to it!" Within seconds He and I are putting our all into lifting the drain grate to the side. Who in the hell decided to make these weigh 750 + pounds??? I grab my trusty flashlight out of the Jeep (see the boyscout creed above) and use it to illuminte the obstacles that lie between me and my sphere of fun lieing buried in soggy leaves 12 feet below my feet. There is but one step about 4 feet down, from there its a narrow drop. I count 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9+ potential poisonous spider dwellings lining the way down. I'm all for letting all living creatures be in peace but I'm not for letting myself become the source of a local news channel filler story. I hand Miguel the flashlight and instruct him where to point it. I kick the nests of doom aside and manage to drop down without scuffing myself up too badly on the 50 year old brick lining during the drop. I grab the treasured b and look up at him. His hand reaches down and I hear "Okay man, toss it up!" His other hand resting on the grate. The opening scene from raiders of the Lost Ark comes to mind: "Toss me the whip!" "Toss me the statue and I'll toss you the whip Mr. Jones!" "Goodbye Mr. Jones" So I toss him the statue I mean b and the light remains focused on my only hand hold 3 feet above my head. Heres to choosing your friends wisely! After a few attempts that probably would have made America's Funniest Home Videos if a camera had been present, I get a good grip and work my way out while annhialating spiders nests #10,11,12,13,14 and 15 with my face. We carefully work the monstrous mass of metal back into place without crushing any fingers. I put the flashlight back away and make about 20 throws (the b hitting the ground about 23 times in those 20 throws) before I conclude that neither of us are coordinated enough to actually be throwing or catching a flying piece of plastic in the darkness and I ponder what a stoopid concept of a passtime this really is anyway and I make the call to go inside and call it a night.