A quiet celebration.

[Rodent]

OORP note: Music tastes are subjective. Do not get aggravated.

A few hours before...

Reginald Lewis sat in his small apartment, thinking. He'd received a message, inviting him to some sort of party over at Manhattan, Navy people only. Maybe twenty years before, he'd have been there before you could finish reading the invitation. A young and lanky Reggie was a terror of small repute on Denver's rowdy nightlife. That was a long time ago though. Before he enlisted.

Thing was, as the years had progressed, he found that he fit in less and less at these sort of occasions. There was no specific reason to it...distance, perhaps. He'd not closely associated with the generations that came after him. Or maybe he'd just sobered out of that kind of thing.

But since it was off-duty hour, he didn't have much to do. Usually he'd spend the time in introspection, thinking. Trying to untangle the webs around his life. He compared his situation to sitting in the middle of an impending storm. You knew it was coming, wind blowing at you from all directions and electricity in the air making your hair stand on end...and you had to make a call, to run for the car or run for the house.

He'd been postponing that line of thought for a while. Procrastination was always a refuge...

Perhaps he'd go after all. He checked the clock, there were a few hours remaining, a shuttle from Denver would probably deposit him in time...he grabbed an outfit and decided to go for it.



And he ended up being late. At least the music hadn't started yet, so he'd probably not missed much...

Walking in, he noticed a lot of faces. Familiar ones. Perhaps most surprising was seeing Natalie Cahoone sitting in a corner with Captain Greenson. He'd kept abreast of the rumor mill, and it had said nothing good about her...both his eyebrows raised in surprise for a moment, but he controlled himself. There would be time to ask later. For now, he waved in their general direction and took an empty chair, giving him a general view of most of the occupants in the room.

"Evening. I don't suppose I missed anything?"

*******

"Your host is here."

Daler Mehndi suddenly appeared on stage, dressed in a unique outfit, to say the least.

He walked around the stage for a little, ensuring he had everyone's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen, blondes, redheads, brunettes....and purples....Thank you for coming here. I suspect sitting here by my lonesome would be rather sad."

He grins, and then paces around the stage, speaking.

"Since long speeches are terrible, I'll keep this short. I see you've located the drinks already. I ordered enough for a hundred people, so we'll probably run out by five in the morning..."

He stops at the centre of the stage, and raises a hand.

"Food will arrive in a moment. Don't eat the red colored round things. They're poisonous. The rest should be good though. And there's only one thing left..."

He leans forward dramatically and puts particular emphasis on the next word.

"Entertainment. It'll basically go like this. Me and the band here will perform a few songs, then we'll stop for drinking, and then play again. This will go on until I fall on my face or ass, depending on gravity. There's spare equipment in the back if any of you want a crack at singing yourself, and the dance floor is yours to conquer. Simple enough, right?"

He stands upright again, recovering from his dramatic pose a moment ago.

"One last thing. Try not to get too drunk and start a fight or something, getting yourself thrown out of the bar. I know, I've been there."

He rubs his chin in contemplation...and grins.

"Actually, only start a fight if I can be involved as well. I'll start the music, and will start performances in a bit. Got any questions, come to me...now, music please."

He steps off the stage, and music starts playing.