Porch Monkeying And Such...

Warning:: This is a long ass post!

This little story starts near the end of the reunion dinner. My family is known to gather together and hang. And I do mean hang. This particular night was the last full night of the event. And the rooms in which the dinner was held were closed around nine or ten. So a group of us "tweeners" decided to keep the party going. One cousin, The Prophet, had a bottle of wine he had been saving for a special occasion. Another cousin, Big P, had this gigantic bottle of Parrot Bay. So we all decided to transfer to the hotel courtyard for a little drinking and a lot of story telling. So we gathered the crew, the Chocit and Banilla revolutionaries, The Ol’ War Vet, Babyface, Twin Lady and Six. Yeah, yeah, I know we sound like the Justice League or something, but the names had to be changed to protect…something…

Anyhow, it was a little rainy outdoors at the time. And there was a porch that led to the courtyard. So there we went. The nine of us, respectfully, congregated at the far side of the entrance and had us some more drinks. And some stories. A lot of stories. A bag of Crown Royal and a bag of ice came out with Cousin Slim. A couple of aunts and uncles joined. And I had another drink.

By this time the talk of the Detroit-Atlanta People Mover kicked into high gear. So we decided to stroll across the street and jump on the MARTA around midnight. I have to say that it is interesting to see a bunch of half drunken 30 and 40 somethings on the move all wearing the same t-shirt. Then there was a great debate as to how to use the fare dispensers. The proper buttons were pushed and the associated monies paid. Off to the trains!

The cousin in Atlanta mentioned that the trains stopped running around 1:00. So we didn’t have a lot of time. We waited for about five minutes for the train. We hopped on and rode the five stations to Five Points Station. There we jumped off for the ride back. While in the station I noticed that we had quite a bit of time left and asked if they wanted to explore the station or take another train in a different direction. Then somebody noticed that the escalator was broken. So I went to find another one. Nobody followed. So I went back to the group and got on the next train back to where we came from. This train car however smelled like it had just pulled out from the Atlanta Zoo. So thankfully it was a short ride back to where we started.

Out of the station and into the bar across the street. That was an interesting place since it was the first bar that didn’t really have a set closing time. I have to say that was the cheapest bar run I have ever made. We all drank a shot with this guy who was fancying the t-shirts. All those shots he bought and still didn’t get the shirt… Was tasty though. Wish I could remember what it was called. But the $1 Rolling Rock made my day! Although we didn’t get him a shirt we did try to explain family relations and what they mean. I have to admit it is some hard to lock on subject matter when you have been drinking and you don’t have visual aids. I wonder if he remembers any of those explanations…

Out of the bar area and into their smoking area to join the smokers in the crowd. I guess we were having too much fun because one dude just came right up and joined us. I suppose the folk of less color were less colorful personalitywise also. Now I don’t know how they do where you come from, but where I come from party crashers are likely to get that ass spanked. And not in a fun way… But we were feeling rather peaceful so we let him entertain us. And he did. By trying to hit on Big P on the sly. Didn’t go over well but it wasn’t like we didn’t suspect such a thing to happen in Atlanta! After that we all crashed out and prepared for the long treks back across the You-Ess-Of-Ay!