The Blood Orange Curtains by Richard A Perez Jr.
The fifth mug of espresso should finally color any ripped pieces of cardboard schemes that surf around the stream. When you go stone cold turkey after years of bar crawling and solo drunk, you have to establish and stamp out a ritual.
50 reps of push ups.
NO phone use or any type of screen time for at least a half an hour upon waking.
Drink slowly. Acknowledge the swirl, tongue, and java aftermath.
Now, on paper the weekend warrior drank with the occasional vodka and blood orange nightcap. Baileys on the rocks during December. Grinded down my credit card till nil — Silverlake Lounge, Venice Room, The Cave (RIP), Lil Joy, ShortStop and other tired stereotypical broken color vinyl record dive bars in Los Angeles, HollyWEIRD and beyond.
Worked sober and on time...clocked out just in time for happy hours!!!
This April breeze ripples along my sleeve, whistles from above mixing with the wild parrot screams. I slide out the dusty railing further to air out any bits and pieces of bad juju I may have missed. During the technicolor daze of swill, the bedroom curtains were drawn blood orange. Any direct sun exposure would kill my buzz or hangovers.
When the bottle caps and hollow jugs of Carlo Rossi hoarded bedside, I had to slowly drill an extra hole on my leather belt without stripping, vice grip control of my indulgences swimming in three feet of water.
The primer fused clouds punch some numbers on my head in the triple digits. I pull out a sketch book that has survived post 9-11, COVID, and earthquakes. The 1.5 rapidograph metal tip pen hits the Dollar Mart sketchpad, flat black lines drafting along the white desert. No twelve inch rulers or mathematical hunches, just a vein pumping free hand compassing new waves of seeing.
The sixth cup of espresso meditation conjures ghostly episodes: public intoxication, urination in crusty midnight alleyways, fuzzy slow motion bus rides.
And peep the script read from a local sheriff:
Where are you headed???
What are you doing out so late???
Are you on probation???
Bar stool flirtations and whispered phone numbers transmitted static and false nature. Could the same courage be poured under full moon bright street lights that hover over a 10 min wait at the bird infested bus shelter?
A plot of land the shape of a headless and tailless snake is revealed on a 9 x 12 sheet of paper.
**According to a reliable source (google), blood oranges are typically harvested and available for purchase during the winter months, specifically from December-May.
Wait till winter, Perez.
Richard A Perez Jr. short stories have appeared in L.A. Affairs: 65 True Stories from the L.A. Times., Blink-Ink #38, The Missing Slate, Exposition Review, and It All Dies Anyway: L.A., Jabberjaw., and the End of an Era. He lives in Los Angeles County and sometimes works at a restaurant.