Our friend and fellow writer, Dora Abel (also an artist, also an archeologist) said this about herself, Sara, and me (full disclosure: I remember it as being about us, but I’m old — it may have been about some other trio):

We’re three trippy peas in a far-out pod.

The following story is not a true one. It’s mildly possible that it may be partially based on something that once happened to somebody, but I couldn’t say. I will say that Rosie was Charlie’s pet name for me, and Claudia was my dear late friend Jane’s first name. If you don’t understand this story, your preacher is probably very proud of you.

In the Ozone

by Marian Allen

Rosie and Claudia smoked the dooby down to the roach clip, talking about PIECES OF HER, the book they had each just read. The joint went out from lack of fuel.

After fifteen minutes of silence, Rosie said, “I can roll another one.”

“I’m hungry,” Claudia said. “Are you hungry?”

“Yeah, I am.”

Claudia looked around the room, then called over her shoulder toward the back of the apartment, “Anybody else hungry?” She told Rosie, “I’ll bet she’s hungry, too.”

“Bound to be.”

It was Claudia’s apartment, so Rosie didn’t suggest anything. When Claudia didn’t suggest anything either, Rosie said, “We could go get ice cream.” Rosie was the social director.

“Ice cream!” Claudia called toward the back again, “We’re getting ice cream! Come on! Close the door behind you.”

They decided to walk, since the place they wanted to go was no more than a mile away and they were young. As they walked, they went back to talking about their book, losing and finding the complicated threads and connections in the plot and the shifting natures of the characters.

At the 47 Flavors, Rosie opened the door (social director) and asked Claudia what she wanted. Rosie always wanted pistachio.

“Claudia said, “I can’t decide. Let her go first.”

They had no companion.

Rosie, licking her ice cream before it could melt all over her hand, looked out the door. “Where’d she go? She came with us, didn’t she?”

“Yeah! We were talking to her all the way here.”

“Whaddya want?” the server asked. “We got a new one: Lemon Peppermint.”

“Oooo, that sounds good! I’ll have that.”

When they got outside, Rosie said, “Let’s look for her on the way back to the apartment. Maybe she got distracted.”

They almost got lost, when Rosie forgot what intersection they had reached and wanted to turn the wrong way. It would have been the right way, if they had been where she thought they were, but they weren’t. Claudia laughed so hard she nearly dropped her cone.

They had reached the apartment without finding their third amigo. She wasn’t inside. They checked all the rooms and closets, but there was no sign of her.

“You know,” said Rosie, “I’m kind of embarrassed to say it, but I forgot who was with us.”

Claudia popped the tail of her cone into her mouth and said around it, “Andy.”

“I thought it was a chick.”

Claudia swallowed and said, “An. Dree. Ah. Andrea.”

“Andrea who?”

“You are stoned. Andrea Oliver.”

“That’s so funny! Andrea Oliver is the main character of PIECES OF HER. How come we never thought of that before?”

Time, ice cream, and exercise finally worked their magic on both of them at once.

Rosie started the giggles, then Claudia caught them, and they laughed until they could hardly breathe. Rosie shook her head and Claudia poked two fingers at herself, then Rosie.

When they had collapsed into chairs and had gotten their breath back, Rosie said, “At least we didn’t lose anybody. I hate to lose a friend.”

They exchanged a few more uncontrollable giggles and fell silent.

“I’m hungry,” said Claudia. “Are you hungry?”

This post is part of Linda G. Hills weekly blog hop, One-Liner Wednesday. If you have a one-liner or just like them, follow the link.

MY PROMPT TODAY: That line of Dora’s, and totally not something that happened to me to any extent.