We’re having a year-end school party in the house of a stranger who normally lets a group of us use it for studying.
Joshua Jackson is there, cracking jokes. I tell him he should play Paul Thomas Anderson in a fictional Making Of Inherent Vice movie, and he politely dismisses me. Someone I half know makes a speech about cancer, briefly mentioning how I beat it and then explaining how I did my own version of One Week from Vancouver to Toronto, at the same time Gord Downie also had cancer, and still I didn’t run into him.
A girl I went to junior high with, Stephanie Noel, wants a hug. The request turns out to be very awkward, through no fault of mine. Still I accept her offer but still she only does a half hug.
Once I realize there will certainly be evidence that people were here having a party, it occurs to me that I’m the only one with a key. I contemplate removing all evidence of our study group, but that would make it even more obvious it was us. Then I consider breaking the door to make it seem like a break-in, but since there’s essentially no damage, this option seems much worse to me. We’re being relatively respectful, yet I still picture the homeowner overreacting, with the, “I feel so violated, etc.” platitudes.
I fill my pockets with leftover cookies and other snacks. Luckily I have a ziploc bag in my pocket, because most of the treats are homemade and I don’t want them going to waste.
There’s an elaborate mural on one wall, containing many different small, somewhat-connected images, that we take photos of. After reviewing my first shot, I see that it’s fairly incredible and a lot of actual stars are in the background somehow, a full night sky that only the camera can see. This one is a long exposure, giving those small star trails, which looks trippy, but I change it to a short shutter speed for subsequent shots, for variety.
My mother calls me, and after I explain the situation about the party, she tells me not to worry.
Mudder: I doubt you’ll get any more than 90 days.
Me: In jail?! I’ll go to jail for this?
Mudder: Well of course. You can’t go breaking into anyone’s house these days. The government, you know?
She has a point.