They had just come off another show… “Bye Bye Birdie” and the cast had about 24 kids, teens aged 13 to 19. The other half of the cast consisted of the adult members of the community. The two groups together filled the stage. It was a fun show, cool dance numbers, costumes out of the seventies… chartreuse, day-glo pink, tangerine…
The cast party was to be held at the three bedroom home of one of the dancers. “JR” was pretty bitchin’ as the kids would say. She walked around nude all the time, cussed like a sailor, and was very free in her discussions about sexual matters.
“JR” laid out the party so the kids had the master bedroom suite for their snacks and hang out area, and the adults had the living room and the outdoor deck and pool for the booze and snacks. Everyone is usually hungry after a show and most adults would enjoy a drink or two. They had the typical fare one would expect: cheese, crackers, salami, dips, chips, sodas… but no alcohol for the kids.
It was decided by a few of the older boys that the teens needed alcohol too, and since none of the adults seemed willing to help obtain it, they began speculating on who would be the best candidate for the job. They looked around the room accessing the various qualifications of each of the girls. They automatically ruled out all of the boys because even the oldest one did not look old enough.
Their eyes all fell on Kristie simultaneously. “Why the hell should she be the one to go, she’s the youngest one here,” one of the boys commented, a close friend of her father’s and probably a snitch. While Kristie was not enthused by this caper, she was up for the challenge. They all thought she was enough of an actress to pull it off.
She was wearing full stage make-up, big eyelashes, hair ratted out in that sixties’ big hair style. She wore heels,a low cut sweater, a short black skirt, and a big white fake fur coat. She had her pimply faced driver take her over to the west side of town to one of those liquor stores with bars on the front windows.
She decided she would play the part of a slightly drunk, kinda loaded starlet and see what the results would be. Luckily she had the list of what they wanted written out because she really didn’t know the first thing about all these different beers and liquors.
She strolled into the store ringing the bell on the way in. The clerk was behind the counter eyeing her questionably. “Can you help me?” she asked in a sultry tone. “I have this list of all this stuff I’m supposed to get, you know.” She breathed out heavily each time she said, “You know.” She said it more like a statement than a question.
“We’re just over from Hollywood doing a shoot and I got nominated for the liquor run, you know.” She paused to light the cigarette she had thought to place in the cigarette holder she carried for affectation.
The clerk took the list and lumbered around the store picking up the items to fill the order. He doesn’t seem to give it a second thought. “Who’s the guy out in the car?” he asks.
“Oh, that’s my driver…” she didn’t miss a beat. “They don’t like to let me out unattended, you know? But it just drives me nuts sometimes.” With that she paid the clerk, carried the packages out to the car, and they tore out of there making a U-turn across a six lane highway.
The clerk probably thought she was a hooker, but she thought she had played a great role that night on the Liquor Run.
(First published 1/4/12)
