Jens birthday is in Castlerock in the evening, and my neighbor Jade does a dress swap with me so that I’ll have something to wear. I give her a cute little purple and black plaid killstar dress that resembles something Wednesday would wear and in return she gives me a lovely little peasant dress dotted in sunflowers, perfectly enough it resembles my maid of honor outfit for the birthday girls Halloween wedding and it looks nice on.
When we arrive at Jens house a few other guys that I recognize have arrived before us. Greetings are made, wine is poured and her fiance is starting the burgers.
Jen tells a tale of being haunted by a poltergeist lately, and of objects moving without external force. I take that as my queue to bring Nate into the conversation. Jens friend Nate once worked at Domino’s, a wife, child and was murdered one night on the job. The killer then used his uniform to disguise themselves as an employee of domino’s to gain access to, shoot and kill a parole officer. Nate body was abandoned in a meadow. At the end of Jens retelling of Nates life being abruptly thieved too soon, I give a toast to honor the memory of the friends unable to be here with us.
After some lightly charred burgers, David pulls a magnificent little cake out of the fridge designed to appear as a gold dragon resting on flaming curls of frosting. The bakery did a masterful job on the strawberry champagne flavor of the recount. Afterwards we end the night around the patio fire surrounded by fairylight , recounting various concert and friend adventures that we’ve had together and various plans for future courses for fun. Jen threatens me with the amount of bustle I’m going to be having to help her button up on her 3k wedding gown.
I leave my friend with two board games I picked up the night before from 2nd and Charles, The call to Adventure and Key to the Kingdom. One box depicts a woman holding her sword to face the horizon of a fantastical landscape and in a like manner the other box illustrates a man carrying his sword to face the horizon. They like having game nights and it seemed appropriate. It was a pleasant night.