***Friday friendship and fun***

Words
The coffeeshop was packed so I decided to visit an old friend (see below).

Whatever
Ever been to a “free love” party? That’s where I was Friday night. I originally had planned to write that evening but, after noticing the huge crowd in the coffeeshop where I normally wrote, quickly changed my mind. Instead, I jumped onto the freeways to visit MG, an old friend of mine.

MG’s an older person, either forty or early fifty-ish, in the same category as The Spouse. Ex-military, divorcee, and struggling to survive in today’s highly competitive market. And one of the colorful of my friends, for MG hosts monthly “free love” parties.

Three folks, all in undergarments, greeted me as I entered MG’s abode. I ignored the exposed, giggling, flesh as MG and I greeted each other with the intimacy of friends long-gone.

We spent much of the early part of the evening catching up with each other. MG gave me the tour of the place. In my eyes, little had changed except the already cluttered house looked more like a (clean) packrat’s den, much better organized than our residence. I met MG’s roommate, 29 turning on 18. This was a surprise, since I thought the two had parted ways. They had, but 29 turning on 18 returned roughly a year and a half ago.

MG introduced me to some of the other “guests” who, while all greeted me cordially, looked me over and dismissed me quickly. Well, I reminded myself, I am fully clothed.

A bit of background: I first met MG through a mutual friend and learned of these parties years ago. I was fascinated and told The Spouse, who finally agreed to let me attend just to be a voyeur. I faithfully did so for many months until boredom set in. While I kept in touch with MG via e-mail and an occasional phone call, I didn’t attend any more parties for—according to MG—at least a couple of years.

Anyway, after the tour, MG went to greet more guests. I was hungry so I indulged in the pizza, the spaghetti, and more mundane snack foods made available by my small donation. There was very little action at this time despite the enticements blatantly blaring on the numerous televisions networked throughout the house.

The Spouse called. I noted R. of my surroundings and got the suitable jokes. I then rejoined MG and a few other guests and discussed topics from military ranks to film. One of the guests turned out to be a producer; another, a (minor) actor. When new guests would arrive or the conversation turned boring (or just plain weird even for me), I wandered the main house for imagery.

And it had. Big time.

Time had blunted much of my memories since I last attended these parties. I won’t go into detail, but I'm pretty sure I saw much more action than I had four years ago. I even saw MG naked during a full-body massage session. What made that memorable (besides seeing a friend naked, which is old hat to me), was that the movie Psycho III playing on the main monitor in the living room.

Renewed and happy to reacquaint myself with an old friend, I left that evening around one o’clock in the morning.