Balance of Power Shifted by Victor Karl Page A

for the Whine Not.  A couple of blocks later, I patted Bill on his back and told him, “Just so you know Bill, you already have one strike against your man card, so be careful you don’t get the other 2.  “What do you mean?” he asked.  “You looked like you were humping the truck today as you squirmed back into it at the post office,” I said with a laugh.  “Screw you,” he said with a grin and added, “I never liked that commercial anyway.”
    A couple of minutes later we paid a five dollar cover charge, which was normal when they had live music.  We wandered in towards where the bands played and headed to a bar on the right.  This place had six bars strategically located throughout the complex.  The place was bustling, but had not filled up yet and we were able to score two bar stools.  Both of our heads were going back and forth, as we looked for anyone we knew, but did not see anyone.  Keeping in character, Bill ordered a Margarita with a salt rim and I ordered my normal rum and diet coke. 
    The band was originally from Louisiana and called itself Blue Flame.  There were three guys and a girl in the band all in their early to mid-thirties.  They played good classic Southern Rock and the girl could belt out some Stevie Nicks tunes back from the Fleetwood Mac days.  I thought they were excellent since they did not just mimic the original bands but also put their own flare into each song and in some cases ended up being better than the original.  They had a good reputation and attracted a wide demographic of people from early 20’s to 40’s.  With shoulder length, auburn hair, Jesse, looked great and her hazel eyes, tight jeans and brown pointy-toed boots did not hurt any.  I must have tried three times to get her to come over to the dark side and hang out with me to no avail.  If she had said yes, I think she would have qualified as my first older woman.
    An hour later the band was rocking, Charlene was cruising by every few minutes as she worked, and Bill made up for time spent on the ship by talking to anyone and everyone.  Derrick and a couple of others guys from work showed up and joined us at the bar.  That is about the time the shots started flowing.  I really enjoyed times like this, the social aspect of hanging out with different people and enjoying good libations.  This went on for a couple hours with the last hour a bit of a fog to me.  I did remember Charlene grabbing Bill for herself, Derrick passing out in a booth, and me crashing and burning once again with my favorite singer Jesse. I think she would be disappointed if I did not try to hit on her every time I saw her.  Eventually I exited the bar, headed back to my pad, and crashed for the night.

Chapter 6: A Shocking Discovery
     
    M y internal clock woke me up a little later than normal which means I missed the 8 o’clock mass at St. Thomas Church and would have to go to the 9:30 mass. This would normally not be a problem except my Spanish understanding skills were um poco.  The 9:30 mass was held in Spanish since the majority of people living in proximity were Hispanic.  Even though I spoke only spoke it a little, I actually enjoyed the mass and liked interacting with the parishioners.  I took a quick shower grabbed a cold Pepsi and nuked a bagel from the freezer, which in my mind constituted being the “breakfast of champions’. 
    With about 45 minutes to kill , I wandered downstairs with no particular goal in mind.  The bag that held Bill’s original specimen was sitting on the shelf next to the utility sink near a window.  The bright sunshine was managing to burst through the grime and bars on the nearest window and the rays appeared focused right on the sink area and the bag.  After walking over, the first thing I noticed was that the liquid in the bag was a much deeper shade of green than what I had seen yesterday.  Picking up the bag, I could see a small one inch piece of the plant that Bill had shown