Oliver Benjamin
blonde American came up with a great one.
“Why can’t you tickle yourself?” he said. That drew substantial
applause and he found himself surrounded by hands thrusting forth
bottles of Mekong, joints, bong loads, leftover mushroom tidbits and
anything else illicit that was available.
It was Helena’s turn, but she was reluctant to give hers. Finally,
after much prodding she said, “Okay. Why do guys always want to
come in your mouth?”
The guys at the table laughed and made guttural male noises.
Hugo voiced our collective outburst succinctly. He said, “That’s an
easy question! The answer is obvious!” Of course it was, all the guys
agreed.
“What is it then?” she asked. Hugo thought for a while and then
looked at us for help. We couldn’t explain it either.
“I don’t know,” said Hugo.
“Good one, Helena,” Belly chirped, “Next!”
“Why do watched pots never boil?” offered the dark-haired
American, which was met by dead silence.
“OK,” said Belly, “I think I’ve got a good one. Now it’s a little
subtle, so think about it carefully.” We all listened closely, and when
she was finished, I felt that it wasn’t subtle at all. I thought it was
striking. In fact I thought it was easily the best one out of them all.
She said:
“Why do people smiling in photographs appear so much happier
than they do when they’re smiling in real life?”
As the game continued, I tuned in to an intense set of violet eyes
peering at me from the table next to us. They were so piercing and
full of pathos that I became totally and immutably transfixed. Never
before had I seen eyes glow like that. Long before I even recognized
the face, the eyes succeeded in paralyzing me. And it was long after
he looked away that I snapped out of it and returned to the group.
“Look at Rippy!” yelled Huge, “You’re baked! My buddy is toast
on a skewer!”
“Huh?” I responded. Indeed I was. Everything appeared
ridiculous, and I felt a tremendous desire to embrace everyone.
Obviously everyone else felt the same way because soon we became
transformed from eight individuals into a single dogpile of twisted
humans on drugs. We knocked chairs and drinks over and all fell to
the floor laughing and hugging. Now I understood why Dee put
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