The Evacuation Pt 2

Part 2 is subtitled: How to Blow A Stack in 2 Days. I'm finished this time. No more parts to this one.

We woke up the next morning and went to breakfast at IHOP. It was crazy packed. It seemed like we saw more people from Savannah than we did ATLiens. I recognized a bunch of people that I knew from back home. Next up, we went to Northlake to tear down the mall. I don't remember where Kareem was at this time, but it was just me and my girl. This is when I bought my blinding yellow hoodie that you all love so much. I also bought a bunch of other stuff and my girl went crazy up in NY and Co. or was it Lerners? Or is that the same thing? Never mind, it doesn't matter. Anyway, that was the first time in my life that I learned that ATM machines have daily limits. I never had occasion to pull out more than $500 in a day until then.

Later that night, we hooked back up with Kareem and went to The Shark Bar for dinner and drinks. I don't think that is still around, but it was great. I still remember the Cajun catfish I had that night. My girl had a friend that worked there, I also can't remember her name, but I remember she was a light skinned chick with freckles and short dreads. We sat in her section and she kept plying us with top shelf liquor. Also, a first. I was more of a whatever's cheap kinda liquor guy, than an XO type. That night ruined things for me. I can't abide by cheap liquor anymore. The friend had a hookup with the weed man, so Kareem had to cop some hydro. I can't remember what it cost, but it was mad expensive. Again, we had those ill gotten gains so money was not really an object at the time. The dro came in little baggies with pictures of a red devil on it. That really should have served as an omen, but in the mind of a weed head, that made it that much better. They decided to save the dro, for the next day as we were already drunk out of our mind courtesy of my girls friend. We called it a night after dropping a load of cash on her as a tip. I always tip good, but that night we had extra cash so I did more than usual.

The next day was a Saturday. We didn't have any definitive plans, so we headed downtown to see what was going on. We parked and walked around The Underground. While there, we heard about the annual Atlanta Football Classic between FAMU and Tennessee State. Impulsively, we decided to get tickets and go. It was fun. I couldn't tell you a thing about the game, but I can tell you that when black people get together, its gonna be a fashion show. The halftime show was cool too, if you are into that kind of thing. This was pre - "Drumline" before everybody and they mama thought they could play. When the game was over, we headed back to my sister's crib to change clothes and get ready for the night.

Strange, that this whole time, I don't think we ever checked the news to see if Savannah was destroyed or anything. I guess we were just having so much fun, that it didn't cross our minds. Anyway, that Saturday night, we split up. My girl was going to a club with her friend, and Kareem and I were gonna go out too. I couldn't tell you anything about what she did, because I wasn't there, and I was foolish enough not to interrogate her when she got back, but Kareem and I sought out a strip club. We asked around for the best one. The almost unanimous answer was "The Gentleman's Club" in Downtown Atlanta. Of course that's where we went. Before we parted ways, Kareem and my girl hit the dro to get ready for the night.

On the way to the club, Kareem smoked some more, and by the time we got there, he was buzzing. Apparently, the weed was much stronger, and therefore worth the extra money he spent on it. Some crackheads directed us to a parking lot and promised to watch the car for $5 so we parked and walked up to the GC. First sign that too much money was gonna be spent that night: They wanted $25 to get in. I didn't normally pay that kind of door extortion, but it is what it is, so they got it. The club was amazing. They had comfortable chairs, and the women were beautiful. No hoodrat dancers, these women looked like girls you would actually introduce to your friends instead of only visiting after 1 AM when all your other options didn't pan out. And they danced exquisitely. Now you know I have my Strip Club Commandments, so I wasn't losing my mind in there, but I did have a little extra, so the expensive ass drinks didn't even faze me. And since I had been introduced to some top shelf liquor the day before, I couldn't go back to the cheap stuff. Here's where the drama comes in.

I'm sitting there getting a table (read lap) dance from this bad dancer that looked like Aaliyah, when Kareem comes over to me and tells me he's going to VIP. Word? It's like that? Even back then I didn't trust the whole so called VIP thing. Plus, I was very much in love at the time, and not interested in sexual favors of strippers. He told me it was just $50 so he was going. Cool, I went back to lusting after the Aaliyah clone while he headed up the stairs. A few minutes later he's came back asking me to hold $50. I was like why? Apparently, it was $50 for the girl and $50 for the VIP room. I obliged, I figured I would get it back later, but then he came back again, steaming. He had originally paid the girl, but when he came back down to get the other money from me, she disappeared in the VIP with someone else. Of course, she didn't return the first $50, so he was assed out. My homeboy got tricked by a stripper. I tried not to let his anger affect me, but he was so pissed off that we had to leave before he tore the club up. Besides, we had spent enough money for one night.

As we left, the crackheads were on us for some more money, but I guess Kareem's glare scared them off. We hopped in the car and bounced, Kareem smoking more dro to calm down. Me, a little tipsy and lost downtown. When I finally found the highway, Kareem got sick and I had to pull over on the side of the highway. Apparently, he had smoked himself nauseous, which I didn't even know was possible. Wouldn't you know that as a police officer rolled up on us as he was throwing up on the side of the highway. I managed to talk my way out of it, and luckily he didn't search the car or ask me to do a field sobriety test. I don't know what woulda happened then. Anyway, we got back to my sister's crib around 4:00, and my girl came in about 30 minutes later. Both of us were pretty gone, but we managed to stay up long enough to well, you know...

The next day, it was time to go back home. Nothing really happened in Savannah, except some minor flooding. No blown away buildings, no widespread power outages, nothing. We got home in just enough time for me to go to work. When I got home that night and really got a look at my apartment, I noticed that it had flooded a little in the bathroom. There was something under the sink that I couldn't place. Wait a minute... is that a... a mushroom? Yep, there was a mushroom growing from under the bathroom floors. I pulled up the bathroom tile and noticed something else strange. There was no foundation to the floor. There was only some tiles on top of dirt. What kind of foolishness was this? Needless to say, we moved the next month which wound up costing us the rest of my illegal money stash. In retrospect, we really shouldn't have spent so much money, but it was still fun.