First Time Drinking

I’ll never forget the night my older brother threw his first High School party.  My parents went away for the weekend, and my brother was my designated babysitter.  He told me he was planning on having a few friends over for the night.  I knew most of his pals, so I was excited to hang out with the “big boys”.  When his buddies started arriving, they not only brought snacks, but they also brought booze – and their friends – and their friends brought friends.  I was only ten years old; I thought it was the greatest party in the world!  It was the first time I had seen anyone younger than my parents with a drink in their hands.  I was shocked that they weren’t even using glasses or cups; they drank right from the bottles.  As the music was blaring from the stereo, they were having chugging contests.  For many of them, it was their first time drinking, but they devoured those bottles of Boone’s Farm wine, beer, rum, and vodka.  Most of them didn’t care what they drank, they just drank what was offered to them.  

I remember his friend, Donald, drank more than most.  He chugged more than anybody at the party.  He also got sicker than anyone else.  As the night went on, the greener his complexion looked.  I didn’t witness it, but I was told that he ran down our basement and threw up.  We all assumed he relieved himself in a bucket.  Unfortunately, he couldn’t find the bucket, so he found the next best thing – our washing machine.  But he didn’t tell anybody.  He just marched right upstairs and fell asleep on our couch.  

The next morning, I helped my brother and his friends clean the house so my parents wouldn’t know he had a huge party.  It worked, the house was spotless.  My parents came home that afternoon, and my mom immediately started doing her laundry.  Unfortunately, her white blouse was stained from the mixology that Donald had created and released in the machine.  Needless to say, my brother was caught and punished.  And Donald wasn’t allowed in our house for a looong time.