I remember this night, despite the alcohol. Aside from the journal entry I wrote the next day, that is. I remember sitting at that window. I remember the lawn of Theta Chi and the tents. The silhouettes in the tent.
This chapter refers back to my time at Drexel. That's part one of the book, which I'm not posting because most of it is dull. I was at Drexel for two years, studying Civil Engineering. That's where I joined Skull. My roommate both years was a guy we all called "Ripper." In the first chapter of the book, I described him as:
My roommate “Ripper” and I lay on our
floor, staring at the plaster ceiling.
Ripper was short- five foot eight at best. He had an extremely boyish face which
would’ve been more at home on a thirteen year old. However, he was powerfully built: sculpted
like a bodybuilder or a pro football player.
No one doubted he could kick ass.
Well, he could kick all of our wimpy asses anyway. Ripper also had a dry sense of humor aided by
a voice with the character of a deep dial tone.
He and three other guys on my floor pledged the "party house": Theta Chi. (One other guy pledged the "jock" house: Sigma Pi. That was the Drexel house most like Skull was at PSU.)
I transferred to PSU for fall 1986, and readers know the rest of the story from there. When I moved back home from Drexel was the last time I saw Ripper- who has no social media presence.
Of our group that hung out together on our floor, "Kevin" was the partier. He was the guy on the floor who always played his music loud, etc. In a way, looking back, he was a prototypical "frat boy." He was nice though. I wonder if he graduated.
In any case, this night started me down a road that I shouldn't have taken, and, if I were honest with myself, wouldn't have taken. But I did.
************************************************************
Chapter 57: In Tents Love
Saturday, March 28, 1987 U.S.: Soviets spied freely in embassy
Time
for another Crow party! Of course I
went. Free beer. And my girlfriend would be there ready to
play games and laugh and drink. Then I’d
get laid. Who could want anything more?
I
spent most of the day doing the homework I blew off the day before when I was
drinking at the Bone. My Pyramid money
must be making me boatloads of cash, shouldn’t it?
I
went to dinner at this place that just opened the previous week called
Baby’s.
Baby’s was (and as of this
writing still is) a
re-creation of a 1950s diner.
It’s right across
Garner Street from the Lion’s Den and
next to McClanahans.
I went with Virginia,
Judy, and two other Crow little sisters: Traci and Michelle.
It was obvious that Judy and Virginia weren’t
speaking to each other.
Judy was more
sullen than ever.
I felt so bad for
her.
Who cares if she got laid?
Still, I had fun looking at all the cool
stuff in Baby’s, like a sign that said “Famous since 1987.”
(Then it was funny, now it is just a
statement.)
Baby's- Oct 2018. It isn't much different from 1987
Sigh. I cared if Judy got laid. It meant that I could’ve. I should’ve.
But I didn’t. I didn’t have the
guts. I didn’t want to be the "other
guy."
Oh well. I had Virginia. Things were good.
So anyway- it was
the usual. I went over Dave’s for a
while, and at midnight headed over to Crow.
The nights were getting warmer, but I still had to wear my heavy blue
jacket.
As always, there
was a pledge at the door who waved me in (was he the one that fucked Judy?). I dumped my coat and headed down the stairs
to the bar passing two pledges on the way (maybe one of them?). I found my usual spot and Virginia was in hers- beer waiting.
The dice were
passed to me (as late-comer I was automatically
three man) but I missed.
The rest of the bar didn’t though- between
cups and dice I was hammered.
By the
time the dice returned to me (after several reversals) I was sloppy drunk.
My first roll was a pair of 3s so I made Mandy
the three bitch and staggered away, holding up the wall as I did as it kept
threatening to spin over onto me.
Had a few more
upstairs. Saw more pledges (him? or
him? Couldn’t be him…)
Virginia came up from the bar and found me
sitting on a window sill talking to, uh, um, what was your name again? Somewhere during the week she learned that
Theta Chi was having a big regional thing, and brothers from all over would be
there, including Drexel.
“Wanna go see if
your old room mate is there?” she asked.
“Shurr-burp-rr.”
Virginia was fairly drunk too so it must’ve
been fun to watch us find our coats and put them on. Must’ve taken at least an hour. Or two.
Maybe two in the
morning or so as we staggered across the wet grass and the streets headed for
Theta Chi which was a couple blocks away.
Two in the morning and still that background buzz of noise and fun in
the air. God, I love State
College!
Theta Chi and its
neighbor, Phi Sigma Kappa looked a lot alike.
Drunk as I was they looked like huge mausoleums. Theta Chi had lots of tents all over its
yard. What- their brothers couldn’t
afford a fucking hotel? (Still, drunken
tent camping sounded fun.)
Theta Chi, pic I took in 2008. It hasn't changed either
We bumped into a
Theta Chi with puke all over the front of his faded red sweater.
“Where’s the
Drexel guys?” I asked him, speaking
Drunkese.
“That tent over
there,” he replied, also fluent in the language.
I staggered over
to the tent and knocked on the red canvas.
“Hey is Ripper
here?” I called into the tent.
There were a bunch
of dark shapes all sitting around- maybe ten of them. It smelled like canvas and pot in there.
“Who wants to
know?” a voice asked.
“I’m his freshman
year roommate.”
“Hey Lance!” It was Kevin, who lived down the hall from me
that year. He was one of the four people
on the floor to pledge Theta Chi.
“Kevin! Did you drag Rip or Mark or Tom with you?”
“No, they’re all
on co-op. Lame fucks had to work.” Kevin’s voice said. I couldn’t see him.
The whole tent
laughed.
“How you, BURP,
been, man? I asked.
“Drunk! Bizniz majors still have it mmmade at
Dddrexel!”
Another round of
laughing.
Good seeing you
Lance!” he said.
“Yeah, get out”
said a voice.
“Yeah. Tell everyone I said ‘hi’ and that I love it
here,” I said.
I stumbled away
from the tent. Virginia was watching.
“That was fuckin’
rude!” she said.
I started
staggering back in the direction of campus.
I could hear the Whales Tails game resume in the tent behind me. I never saw Kevin again.
I stumbled on Phi
Sig’s lawn and fell hard on the mushy wet grass. After a few seconds of collecting my thoughts,
I then rolled over and saw Virginia
standing over me, offering her helping hand and smiling.
“Kandler! You are a mess!!” she said with a little
chuckle.
My
girlfriend. We’d had sex, we’d drank
together, we had great times, and she had a hot body. I was happy drunk.
So
I laid there on my ass and flashed her the sign language sign for “I love you.”
“You’re
just drunk,” she said suddenly serious.
“No
really!”
“We’ll
see how you feel tomorrow,” she said, helping me to my feet.
I expected a better
reception than that!
So we walked back
to my apartment, plopped onto the couch (getting mud all over,) fucked, and
passed out.
The next day, I
felt the same.
I was Young, at
Penn State,
and in love.
