The Party

Sherry called her girlfriend “Queenie” who lived across the hall to come help her with Greg but she was not at home. When she finally reached her on her cell Queenie had told her that she was trying to find her car which she had parked off 14th Street near Dupont Circle. Queenie was drunk too and raving that someone had stolen her car! While they were on the phone Sherry could hear Queenie’s date letting her know he had found it. Queenie could hear the panic in Sherry’s voice and promised to get to her as soon as she could if she had to “ fly child, fly”! Queenie, self named, was a 6 ft 2 inch 280 pound Drag Queen who loved drama and a sad story. She never attended Sherry’s Christmas Eve parties. She would always decline saying that she reserved Christmas Eve for kidnapping someone’s husband so she could unwrap them under her tree! This year she had some down low brother from Detroit, who worked for a software company that had offices in DC and New York, to unwrap. To look at him you would not even suspect any foul play. He was rich and gorgeous and cool and married with four children, all boys! Somehow he had managed to ship the wife and kids off to spend the holiday with her parents in Hawaii with the promise that he would join them for New Years’.

Queenie and her date had gone downtown this afternoon to hit a couple of bars and were going to wind the night up with dinner and drinks and sex at her house. Queenie would never tell her age but Sherry knew she was way on the other side of fifty. They had become such good friends over the years and would do anything to help each other. Sherry tried out new recipes on her and Queenie was glad to be her taste tester. Whenever Sherry needed to move furniture, bring boxes up to the condo, or get something down that was out of her reach she called Queenie! Queenie would take off her press on nails, throw her high heels to the side, and pull off any one her glorious wigs and say “here I am I’m yo’ man”, laughing the whole time. They had gotten drunk and sang sad love songs so many times together. Tonight when she called her she knew Queenie would come to rescue her out of this mess. All Queenie could say was how they were going to “track Bea’s low life unhappy ass down and beat her like she stole something” for telling Greg about the party when she knew damn well he hadn't been invited.

"Ok, ok just calm down”, Sherry was talking aloud to herself again. Her outfit was a mess and she was all flustered from Greg pulling on her and trying to get her to lie down with him. She looked at the clock; she still had an hour before anyone with any decency would start showing up for the party. Sherry pulled off her now very rumpled outfit and went into the master bath to wash her face and freshen up. What the hell was she going to wear now? She needed a drink and decided to open a bottle of champagne so she could calm down while she changed. “Mmmmm yes”, the champagne was cold and delicious. She took her drink to her bedroom to pull something else out of her huge walk in closet. Sherry decided on a mauve colored dress. It had a fitted bodice made of soft suede that showed off her breasts. The bottom of the dress was flared crepe and crindling with a satin lining. She found the matching mauve ballerina style slippers and started to feel a little better. She gave the condo a once over to make sure she had cleaned up all the mess Greg had made and clear out any evidence that he had ever been there tonight.

When she crossed the hall to the living room she saw the magnum of champagne and the huge gift wrapped box Greg had brought in with him. She put the bottle and the box in the back of her bedroom closet. She wasn’t the least bit interested in what he had bought her nor did she want Richie to see the magnum of champagne. He knew she didn’t buy champagne in magnums and she didn’t want him asking any questions. Sherry looked in the floor length mirror and was impressed with herself. She looked stunning! The ballerina style dress and slippers made her look like a princess. She took her glass to the kitchen to pour more champagne, she had not meant to be drunk when her guest arrived for the party but fuck it, every body else in the city seemed to be drinking tonight. She needed to catch up!