A Long Night
(March 1981)
Cassie had never seen him like this before. Ennis had come to her door, banging it at one o'clock in the morning. She woke with a start, scared by the loud pounding. She quickly put on her robe and went to the door. She opened it just a crack. At first she was relieved to see that it was Ennis, but then her fear suddenly rose again. She could smell his breath, she could tell that he was drunk, dizzy drunk, right away. In the three years that she had been going with him she never ever saw him like this before.
“Ennis, what’s goin’ on?” she asked.
“Doncha wanna go dancin’?” he mumbled.
“You’re drunk, I ain’t never seen ya like this” she said warily.
“Come on, let’s go dancin’, you always wanna go dancin’” he said, mumbling and slurring the words.
“Ennis, what’s the matter with you?” she asked with alarm.
Cassie took his arm and led him inside. She helped him to the sofa, and then went to the kitchen and hurriedly began fixing some coffee. She kept shaking her head and felt her nerves on end. She had never ever seen him like this before. As the water was boiling she went to check on him. He was still there on the sofa, holding his head in his hands. She poured the coffee and went back to sit beside him.
“Ennis, I made some coffee for you” she said in a real soft voice.
He shook his head. “I don’t need no coffee, just need some sleep. If I had forty winks, I’ll be alright” he said. Cassie held out the coffee. Ennis took it with shaking hands. She put her arm around him and gently rubbed his back.
“Hey, what’s goin’ on?” Cassie gently asked.
Ennis turned and looked at her. “You won’t understand, you can’t understand” he said. He stared at her. Cassie looked down, something about the way he looked at her left her feeling real strange, almost like she just got a hard punch in the gut. She had never felt like this before. As hard as it had been, in all that time, she never had felt anything like this.
Ennis put the coffee cup down, and before she had a chance to stop him, he was out the door. Cassie ran to the door and looked outside but he was gone, there was no sign of him at all.
Cassie went back to the couch and sat there, shaking, the rest of the night.
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