A Day With A Friend

I woke up at 5AM and went through my usual morning routine of showering, coffee and catching the local weather. My friend Sherman and I planned to go fishing that day and I had a forty-five minute ride to North Andover, Mass. from Londonderry, NH.

My wife, JoAnna, came out of our bedroom and asked why I was up so early, as I usually slept in on my day off. At the time I was employed as a Grade 4 wastewater treatment plant operator for the city of Lowell,Mass and worked forty-two hours a week, three and a half days on/off, and alternating weekends.

I told her what my plans were and after some muttering under her breath she went back to bed.

For some reason that she never explained she had never liked Sherman, but as he was my friend and since I made it a point to allow her to see her friends, whether I liked them or not, I wasn't about to let her tell me who I could be friends with.

I arrived at Sherman's house about 6:35 and knocked on his door.

"There's been a change in plans." Sherman said as he opened the door.
"What do you mean a change in plans?", I asked.
"I've got two fifteen year old bottles of scotch and a case of Heffenreffer and I thought we'd get drunk today instead." he replied with a mile long grin on his face.
" I don't think Joanna would appreciate me driving drunk, especially in the new car."
" That's ok, if you're too drunk to drive you can crash here, just call her and tell her you won't be home tonight."
" Don't you think it's a little early in the morning to be drinking scotch with beer chasers?"
" I thought this could be your belated bachelor party,since you didn't have one before you married Joanna."
I thought about it for a couple of minutes while Sherman went in the kitchen to get me a coffee.
He came back in carrying my coffee, two beers and a bottle of scotch.
"Ok, your on!" I exclaimed,"but if I feel like taking a power nap later I don't want you ragging on me."
After promising me that he wouldn't we proceeded to party.
When the bottle of scotch was about 3/4 gone he went upstairs to his room and was gone for about five minutes. He came back downstairs with the other bottle and had a mischievous gleam in his eye.
"Ok Sherm, what are you up to?".
He always was up to something when he had that look in his eye. He just looked at me like I was imagining things and didn't say a word, so I let it go.

About twenty minutes later the doorbell rang. Sherman got up to answer it, then I sort of heard some kind of whispered conversation going on, but I couldn't hear what was being said. Not that I cared, since I was already half in the bag.
Sherman came back in followed by two of the most gorgeous woman I had seen in awhile.
But I guess Sherman hadn't realized that when I took my vows two weeks before that I was very serious about them and had no intention of breaking them no matter how drunk I was. I told him that I was leaving after I had one more drink and beer.
He just looked at me and said "What's the problem, what JoAnna doesn't know won't hurt her. I just sat there and glared at him, trying very hard to control my temper, knowing deep down that he had meant well.

After about five minutes I poured another scotch and grabbed a beer out of the fridge, listening to the stories he was telling the two girls, about how he and I had met and how he had tried to dissuade me from getting married.
The brunette, Ellen, asked me if what he said was true and I said yes, but that it was time for me to leave and I wished everybody a good afternoon.
Thanking Sherman I showed myself out.

I wish now that I hadn't left the way I did because two weeks later he was dead.