Small brick wall

They drank. He needed to pee. They drank. He needed to pee. The room was dim, and the people were laughing. He was buzzed. He laughed louder. The girl who had invited him was drunk. She got up, and changed the music, she started dancing loudly. Sadiq invited him away. He got up and followed him out. One of his friends, the one with the huge collection of guns that his host was scared of, the collection, not the man. Probably the man too. That person was crushing white powder and making lines of it in a small steel tray with a credit card. They offered him some, and they offered him a lit blunt that was being passed around, “Maybe next week, not now.” They were insistent. He turned them down again laughing. He had to drive back home. He didn’t tell them that. He was sure they would make some excuse or the other. They asked again, he turned them down politely. Firmly. They stopped. Then Sadiq began talking to him about how they knew the same people, and because of that, they were brothers, they shared a bond. He just laughed and nodded. They began snorting, and one of them mentioned how they did it every week. He just wondered. The night was beautiful. The stars above were twinkling with delight. The dark sky was blanketing this place. Not too loud, not too obnoxious. “We should invite the girls out, let’s have them try some,” and then Sadiq winked at him. Inside him, something rebelled. Outside, he was silent. He was hoping they would not. He would stop them if it got to that point, right?

They went inside, Sadiq invited them out. They came, he looked at his host, she was really pretty. He could not tell if he was buzzed. The ground did not shake, he was walking in a straight line as far as he could tell, his senses were working. He blinked, looked around. Everything seemed sharp. Yet, he was happy. He was also a little nervous, getting less so as the night went on. He knew there would not be a raid in this particular house in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, based on conversations with some of these people, they were very well connected, and so there would be no police here. So he was getting less afraid of that as the night bled onwards. And he was happy. A little thrill. A little joy. He was excited. He had wanted to try this. For the experience. So that he could write about it. He was happy. He was getting along well with his new friend, the girl that had invited him. They sat on a brick wall across the table outside that had been empty when they walked in, and now had two girls, four guys, passing a joint, snorting some white powder. Behind him, there was the husk of a pool, no water in it. Right next to him sat the girl and then after her, her friend. Who was interested in Sadiq, and Sadiq in her. He wrapped an arm around the shoulders of her host, the girl next to her awwed loudly. And laughed.