Chapter 29: Cuddly Toy

Montcalm Volleyball Party House, London, Ontario

9:21pm, Friday, December 7, 1979

“Are you guys really gonna play a few songs for us?” Cassie West, the host of this Montcalm volleyball party excitedly asked as Lisa, Lynette, Sammy and I walked into her house carrying our acoustic guitar cases.

“Didn’t E come in with a guitar?” Lisa asked her older teammate.

“Yeah, but she’s like the drummer of your band, so I wasn’t sure ‘bout what was happening,” Cassie replied with a huge smile. She then quickly set about introducing herself and a few of her friends to our early arriving Medway crowd.

“Is there a spot for us to set our guitars down, Cassie?” Lynette asked as a few more of our Medway friends came to the front door of this large Tudor house in Huron Heights.

“Yeah, yeah. You guys can put them over here beside the couch. You can play from there, too, if you’d like.”

It was going to get pretty crowded in this place in a hurry with about twenty Medway students joining the forty to fifty Montcalm students. With it being a cold December night, we put our cooler with our Cokes and all out on Cassie’s deck, which overlooked Stronach Park Sportsplex and Arena.

I tried to keep a close eye on my girlfriends, as all the girls but Shannon had switched out of their scarlet Medway polos or sweatshirts to put on some type of sexy blouse or sweater. Lisa was bouncing around, just being Lisa with her school friends. It seemed like a few of the Montcalm students were a little shell-shocked at having us there as they huddled up, laughed, pointed and giggled as Lynette, Sammy and me tried to mingle with Eda’s and Lisa’s teammates and friends.

This was soon confirmed when a couple of Lisa’s ninth grade friends stopped us and asked, “Can we get a picture taken with you guys. We can’t believe that you’re here ... in Cassie’s house.”

“And you brought your guitars! Gawd! How awesome is that?” another cute raven-haired girl added.

This group of five girls took turns taking pictures with the three or four of us, when Lisa came over to us. They really wanted to get one with all five of us, but Eda was with Wayne and a few of our Medway friends on the other side of the house.

With Lisa with us, Lynette said, “Do you wanna play something around ten-fifteen or so?”

“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll get with E to let her know we’ll meet up over by our guitars,” Lisa loudly replied to be heard over the music.

While my girls hung around with me and my basketball friends and girlfriends, with Lisa being the obvious exception, Sammy seemed a little lost because Gary wasn’t able to come with us to the party. She moved around between our Medway friends and some of E’s Montcalm friends.

“Are you alright, Sammy?” Tempe asked as our redheaded friend just seemed a little lost in space after being out of our sight for about ten minutes.

“I’m kinda ... I don’t know, tired or something,” Sammy replied but then added, “I’m gonna get another Coke. Maybe that will spruce me up some.”

At about ten-ten, with a silly music mix playing over the speakers, we started to make our way over to our instruments in the living room. The house started to buzz a little when the Montcalm students figured out what we were about to do.

I had to chuckle when The Monkees’ late 1960’s song, Cuddly Toy started to play. I remembered my sister, Mary, was in love with Davy Jones, the pint-sized lead singer of that group. While I never really listened to the lyrics of this song before, I couldn’t help but think that these lyrics were ‘a little out there‘ for a former top-notch pop band. While the music was typically, sappy sounding Monkees’ music, I cringed as I heard Davy Jones sing:

(Note: Cuddly Toy was written by Harry Nilsson for The Monkees in 1967. It was on The Monkees’ album, Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones, Ltd., with Davy Jones singing lead and Micky Dolenz providing harmony. This hit song was featured in two of their television episodes, Everywhere a Sheik, Sheik, and Monkees on a Wheel.)

‘How in God’s green earth, did they think this was an appropriate song for a teenage-age heart-throb band, even in the late sixties?‘ I thought. ‘Girls aren’t just cuddly toys.’ When the cherry delight line was repeated for a third time, I shook my head and said to Lynette, “Can you believe that line, giving up your cherry, ‘without a fight.’?”

“I’ve never been a fan of the Monkees, but this song ... now that you’ve pointed that out makes me cringe,” Lynette replied as she lifted her six-string from its case.

With Eda, Lisa, and me pulling out our acoustic guitars, Zupena, with her tall vantage point, said, “I no see Sammy anywhere. Have you seen her, Mikhail?”

We all looked around the living room and kitchen area for Sammy but didn’t find her. Eda said she’d run downstairs to the den area to see if she was there. When she returned about two minutes later with a negative head shake and shoulder shrug, I began to get worried about our friend and band mate.

“What’s upstairs?” I said to Cassie as she watched us getting pretty agitated over Sammy’s where-abouts.

“Just bedrooms. Nobody should be up there. I told all my friends that they were off limits,” Cassie replied with a funny grin on her face.

“Cassie, we can’t find Sammy. Are you sure she wouldn’t have gone up there by mistake or something?” Eda asked the host of this volleyball party.

“Yeah, I’ve been pretty careful about watching to make sure nobody has gone up there,” she said.

“Check on the back deck, Cano. Zupena and Shan, look out the front to see if she’s gone outside to get some air. Didn’t she say she kinda tired, earlier?” I told my girls and added that qualifier.

Tempe joined Cano as they darted through the crowd to the back deck. All four girls came back after thirty seconds with negative responses. I then got a few of my friends’ attention and said, “We’re going upstairs to find Sammy.”

“You can’t go up there!” Cassie shouted at us as we made our way to the stairway. A couple of her friends stepped up to block our path.

“You don’t wanna do that, Dude,” I calmly said as two, six-foot guys moved to block the base of the stairs.

“You’re not going up these stairs,” the biggest guy, who weighed about two-forty, said to me and my friends.

“Ah, yeah we are. Get out of the way or this is gonna get big-time ugly in a second,” I replied as I stopped up to these guys with my friends behind me.

“No you’re ... what the fuck!” he started to reply and put his arms out to stop me.

Having seen and being on the receiving end of Sammy’s wrist takedown maneuver a number of times, this idiot’s last statement was suddenly said with a face full of hardwood floor. I used his momentum and that wrist twist to drop this dumb-fuck and said, “This is reason enough for us to search upstairs.” I then turned to Andrew and said, “Hold his arm like this and put your foot on the back of his shoulder, here. If he tries to get up, step hard and yank his damn arm out of its socket.”

“Got it, Cuda,” Andrew quickly said and moved to take over my hold on this dick-wad’s right arm.

“Jon, Andy, watch this fucker,” I angrily said as I pointed to the other guy who had moved away from the stairs.

“We’ve got this dude, Mike. Go find Sammy!” Jon said as Wayne and I bounded up the stairs, two steps at a time.

The first doors we opened were the guest bathroom and an empty bedroom. As we move toward the third door, I guess our prior slamming of those doors alerted the occupants of that room to our presence. I heard a distinctive ‘locking-click’ sound as I approached that door. When I tried the door, it wouldn’t open. I told Wayne to check that last bedroom as I waited for him.

“The master bedroom and bathroom are empty, Mike,” Wayne said as he hustled back to me at the locked door.

“Open the damn door, now!” I yelled to whoever was inside.

“Piss off. This is a private party,” a guy yelled back through the door.

“Open the fucking door!“ I yelled with more force.

“Get lost, asshole,” another male’s voice replied from within the room.

I turned to Wayne and held up two fingers to him to let him know there were at least two guys in the room. He nodded and whispered, “Whenever you’re ready, Mike.”

I stepped back, and then slammed my right foot just under the door knob, shattering the wooden door frame and unceremoniously opening the locked door.

I saw Sammy basically in la-la-land with her blouse open and her blue jeans nearly off as she was splayed out on the bed. My fury was beyond its limits. Three guys bounded off the bed and moved towards us with fire in their eyes. They didn’t stand a chance as Wayne and I were on them before they could defend themselves. I cold-cocked the first guy, which shattered his nose and sent him into his own type of ‘la-la-land’. With his buddy slow to get up from the bed because his own jeans around his thighs, I drove my shoulder into him as he moved towards me. A nightstand lamp didn’t stand a chance as my anger fed body, and his now broken ribbed body destroyed it against the bedroom wall.

Wayne had tackled the third guy as he got off the bed on the opposite side from the two attempted rapists I just KO’ed. Just as I tossed the second guy down over the first guy who was out like a light, I saw Wayne destroy his assailant’s face with a forearm-elbow strike to the side of his cheek. I then stomped on one knee of each of my thugs to make sure they weren’t going to get up from the carpeted floor anytime soon. I immediately went to check on Sammy’s semi-conscious body. Just as I reached her, Lynette and a bunch of our friends rushed into the room.

“Oh my God! Mike! Is she alright?” Lynette shouted and bounded on the bed to check on Sammy.

“This is as far as they got with her I think,” I replied as I checked on her breathing and responsiveness.

“Call 9-1-1, and then call Sammy’s parents,” Lynette yelled to our friends at the end of the bed.

“Oh, God! I can’t believe these guys tried to do this to your friend,” Cassie cried as she peered in the bedroom.

“Bring that bitch in here,” I shouted to my friends, who immediately grabbed her, and pushed her in the room with us. “You knew about this and tried to keep us from finding our friend. What the fuck kinda monster are you?” I spat out at her.

“I, I didn’t know that...”

“Shut the fuck up! Don’t let her or those two guys at the bottom of the stairs get away,” I said to my Medway friends. Geoff immediately took off from the room to inform the Jon, Andy and Andrew to keep those two guys at the bottom of the stairs, restrained. I then pointed to the two attackers I disabled, and said to Zupena, “If they think about moving, step on their knees.”

“They no move, Mikhail,” my angry, tall girlfriend replied. She then moved to guard those two asses. When I heard one of them scream I figured Zupena put her large foot on one of their wrecked knees as a show of her dominance over them.

“Stupid, fucks,” I muttered as I held Sammy’s torso in my lap as Tempe and Lisa worked to do up her blouse and pull up her blue jeans.

Eda was both crying and lighting into Cassie, whom Andi, Heidi and Tammy all were towering over as she sat in the corner, crying and denying all this. “I thought you were my friend!” E screamed at the cowering girl. “I can’t believe you’d try to protect these assholes as they tried to rape one of my friends and bandmates. God! Cassie, I just hate you, now!”

“I didn’t think they were gonna...” Cassie shouted.

“Shut the fuck up! I don’t wanna hear another word from your mouth,” I said to the shrinking girl in the corner.

When Eda saw Wayne gingerly holding his right arm, she moved to him and asked, “Are you alright, Wayne?”

“Yeah. My forearm is a little sore. That asshole has a pretty hard head,” Wayne said as E kissed the spot on his arm that he knocked the guy out with.

In about ten minutes, we heard sirens coming and then then they stopped outside the house. Two policemen with guns drawn came into the bedroom, and surveyed the scene.

“These three guys tried to rape our friend,” Lynette immediately said as she pointed to the two guys Zupena stood over and the guy Wayne kept down on the carpet on the opposite side of the bed.

“Is she okay?” one of the policemen said as he put his weapon away and moved to the bed to check on Sammy.

“She breathing, but she’s been given something to knock her out,” I replied as I caressed Sammy’s face.

“I’ll radio the paramedics to inform them it is safe to come up the stairs,” the policeman said as his partner had Zupena move away from the two groaning assailants in the corner of the bedroom.

“Did you do this to them?” the second policeman asked me as he noticed the blood on my right hand and on my white and ‘North Carolina blue’ sweatshirt.

“Yes! I kicked the door open and nailed the first guy in the face, before tackling the other guy into the wall, there,” I replied.

“Are you hurt?” he asked as he stood over those two guys.

“Not really. My hand is a little sore in the morning but I’m good. My friend’s arm might be injured, though,” I replied and pointed to Wayne who was still holding his right forearm in his left hand.

“Yeah, I tackled this guy here, and gave him a forearm-elbow shot to the head. I don’t think I broke it, but my elbow is kinda throbbing,” Wayne said.

“We’ll have the paramedics take a look at it. If they think you should get it checked out, we’ll get you the help you need,” the first officer said.

“The two guys our friends held downstairs, and this girl here, they tried to prevent us from coming up here to find our friend,” I said to the policeman, who turned to look at Cassie whimpering in the corner.

“Up, up,” the policeman said to her with a finger motion.

“I really didn’t know they were going to...” Cassie started to ramble before the officer interrupted her with,

“Save it, young lady. You and your friends are in some serious trouble by the look of things!”

After the ambulance-paramedics arrived in the bedroom, they did an initial survey of those in need of help. When they started to go to the two guys I put out of commission, I said, “You need to help Sammy, first.”

“But these guys appear to be badly hurt,” the female medic said.

“I hate it for them; but our friend has been drugged, so she’s gonna get helped before these thugs,” I sternly said and moved to stand up beside Zupena, who was still towering over the two moaning guys.

The two paramedics looked at the police officer, who motioned for them to move to check on Sammy. I looked at the officer, and saw him mouth to me, ‘They were just doing what they were trained to do. All’s well, now.‘

After the two medics did a preliminary examination of Sammy and had her strapped onto their gurney, I said, “I want her taken to St. Joe’s, please. My mom is a nurse there, and we know the ER doctor. Dr. Wellend just started her shift.”

Lynette then angrily said to the next set of paramedics who entered the bedroom, “You can take those assholes straight to hell for all we care. Just don’t take them to St. Joe’s!”

“We won’t,” the female paramedic said over her shoulder as she was examining the guy with the destroyed face.

Following the paramedics who carried Sammy down the stairs, I said to my basketball friends, “Hang here and keep an eye out for Sammy’s parents. Tell them we’re on our way to St. Joe’s, and that I don’t think Sammy was raped ... that she’ll be okay.”

“Will do, Cuda,” Andrew said as we watched another set of police dealing with the two thugs who tried to prevent us from going upstairs.

“We’ll get your guitars, Guys,” Jon said as I led my girlfriends out the door, following Sammy to the ambulance.

“Thanks, guys,” Shannon said as she knew I wasn’t really paying attention to them at that moment.

I couldn’t believe that all five of my girls were crammed into my Barracuda, with Tempe sitting on Zupena’s lap in the front seat, with Lynette, Shannon and Lisa squeezed together in the limited back seat space as I followed the ambulance to St. Joe’s. I had my computer call the ER, and told the charge nurse to inform Dr. Wellend that Sammy was in the ambulance, and that we were right behind them. I wasn’t surprised that Nurse Mendelson cautioned us to drive safely and not run any lights that the ambulance possibly would do. I then called St. Joe’s Delivery Room department, hoping to get my mom before she left for home. She was just heading out when I called, and she said she’d meet us in the ER.

We lucked out and found a parking space on Grosvenor, just down from ER’s entrance at St. Joe’s. All six of us ran up the short hilled drive to the ER and got there just as Dr. Candi came running out to the ER entrance.

“What happened to Sammy?” Dr. Candi asked the paramedics after she looked at us. She knew it was wiser to get professional information first, before asking for our take on the situation.

“We’ll take her to ER-5, Dr. Wellend,” a nurse said after Dr. Candi did a quick exam of Sammy’s heart, breathing and pupil’s response.

“Is she gonna be okay, Dr. Candi?” Lisa and I both said at the same time.

“Yeah, I think so. While a tox-screen will tell me for sure, I’m guessing Sammy was dosed with Chloral Hydrate or some similar date rape drug,” Dr. Candi said with a negative head shake.

“Can we go back there with Sammy?” Lynette hopefully asked.

“Not right now. I’ll keep you guys informed. Did you or someone get a hold of Sammy’s parents?” Dr. Candi asked.

“Yeah, I think they were on their way to the house where this happened, and a few of our friends were gonna tell them Sammy was coming here,” I replied.

“When they get here, have them get with the charge nurse, and they’ll be able to come back, okay? We’ll take good care of Sammy. You kids ... just try to relax in the waiting area, ‘kay?”

“Okay, Dr. Candi,” I exasperatedly said and steered my girlfriends to the waiting room.

“Hey, there’s Wayne and E,” Shannon said as those two walked up to the ER with Wayne’s arm in a paramedic provided sling.

Before I could get to Wayne, my mom rushed into the ER area and gave me and my girls a hug before she asked about Sammy’s condition.

“Mom, see if you can get Wayne taken care of faster than normal?” I asked and pointed to my friend and E as they talked to the admitting people.

“I will, I will. Are you okay?” she asked as she looked at my slightly swollen right hand.

“Yeah. If you can scrooge up an ice pack for me, that should be all I need,” I replied as I flexed and extended my fingers for her to see.

“Okay, I’ll go get Wayne’s arm looked at, and have a nurse’s aide bring a bag of ice or a Chem-Ice pack for you,” my mom said and kissed my hand before she turned to Wayne’s location.

Mr. and Katie Labatt rushed into the ER as my mom was expediting Wayne’s care. When Mr. Labatt saw them at the admission area, he hurriedly asked, “Aileen, Aileen, do you know where Samantha is?”

“She with Dr. Wellend in ER-5, I believe. Nurse Bridget, can you look after Wayne for me while I take the Labatts back to see their daughter?” my mom said and patted Wayne on his shoulder.

“I’ve got this young man covered, Aileen,” Ms. Bridget softly said as she motioned for Wayne and Eda to come with her.

About forty-five minutes later, my mom, Dr. Candi and Sammy’s parents came out to see us.

“How is she?” all of us asked in near unison as the four adults walked up to us.

“She’s sleeping now, and doing pretty well ... all in all,” Dr. Candi replied with a smile.

When I looked at the tears in Katie’s and Mr. Labatt’s eyes, I simply said, “I’m so sorry for not keeping a better eye on Sammy.”

“Oh, God, Mike. I, we came out to thank you for saving my baby from, from those hoodlums,” Mr. Labatt cried as Ms. Katie rushed over to me to give me a monster hug.

“But I shoulda kept an eye out for her after she said she was kinda tired, when everyone else was jacked up from our big win. I just...”

“No, no. You, Wayne and the others were all wonderful taking on those punks. The police at the house said you and Wayne got to them before anything awful happened to Samantha,” Mr. Labatt said as he squeezed my shoulder with his wife still hugging me.

“Oh, Mike! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Katie cried as she peered up in my face before she pulled me down to give me a kiss on my cheek.

As this was taking place, Nurse Bridget came out and whispered something to my mom. My mom nodded and then said, “Wayne just has a bruised elbow, so he’s good to go.”

“Great! Great!” Mr. Labatt said.

“Can we go back to see Sammy, please, Dr. Candi?” Lisa asked.

“Well, we normally don’t let this many people come back in our ER rooms, but ... c’mon,” Dr. Candi said with a smile. “Sammy will probably be sleeping, so just be relatively quiet, okay.”

“We will, Dr. Candi,” Shannon and Lynette replied.

We spent about five minutes in or just outside Sammy’s exam room with each of us moving in to give her a little leg rub or light kiss on her cheek or forehead. Before I moved over to Sammy, Dr. Candi said, “As soon as she wakes up, she’ll be fine to go home. Her blood test showed it was Chloral Hydrate, which her body will clear before too long.”

When I leaned over to kiss her cute nose, Sammy with her eyes still closed, softly whispered, “Thank you for rescuing me, Mike. Tell Wayne that, too, please.”

“I don’t need thanks, Wushu. You better get some good rest so you’ll be up and at ‘um, ‘kay?” I replied and kissed her nose.

“I’ll be ready to play tomorr...” Sammy barely replied before fading back into peaceful sleep.

“We’ll see, Sammy. We’ll see,” I whispered to her as she let a long slow breath escape from her sleepy body

Back out in the ER waiting area, Wayne’s parents were now there. My mom escorted Wayne and Eda out to them and us, with his arm still in a sling with an ice pack wrapped around his elbow.

“Nothing broken, huh?” I said as his parents gave him a hug and kiss.

“Nah. My elbow is just kinda sore,” Wayne replied with a smile. He then asked, “How’s Sammy doing?”

“She’s doing well. She’s sleeping off those knock-out drugs they put in her drink,” Lynette replied with a head shake.

Just then, the two police officers from the bedroom, and a man I assumed to be a police detective entered the ER’s waiting area. The lead officer motioned for me and Wayne to come over to their location. Both my mom and Wayne’s dad walked over there with us.

The taller officer said, “Mike and Wayne, this is Detective Milstaps. He will be handling this sexual assault investigation.”

“Sir,” I said as I reached out to shake the detective’s hand.

“You’re good, Wayne. Don’t bother reaching out with your injured arm,” Detective Milstaps said as Wayne started to follow my lead for a handshake. “Are these your parents?”

“Yes, this is my dad, John Psotkin.”

“And my mom, a nurse here at St. Joe’s, Aileen Nevins,” I said right after Wayne.

“Do you mind if I talk with your boys in private? I’ve found that kids are more comfortable talking about things of this nature without parents around to hear their comments,” the detective asked.

“Are they in any possible trouble? If so, we need to be with them,” my mom replied with a concerned look on her face.

“No, no. Your boys were justified in their actions based on my understanding of these unfortunate events,” Detective Milstaps replied to my mom’s question.

“We’ll be good, Mom, Mr. Psotkin,” I replied as I lightly touched my mom’s shoulder.

Wayne and I spent the next twenty minutes with Detective Milstaps and Officer Mellanson going over what we did to find Sammy, and then how we broke into the bedroom to take down the three assailants.

“So you didn’t crush their knees to punish them, Mike?” Detective Milstaps asked as he noted the sequence of events in his notepad.

“No, Sir,” I calmly replied to his question. I then added my reasoning for my actions, “I didn’t want them to be able to come back at me or us, and I really needed to check on Sammy since my other friends hadn’t gotten to the room, yet. Sammy was basically motionless on the bed, and it was hard for me to tell if she was even breathing after I fought with those two punks.”

“Okay, good. That makes sense. Now, Officer Mellanson saw that Samantha was dressed when he arrived. Was she like that when you found her?”

“As we said, Sammy’s blouse was completely undone and her blue jeans were down around her knees. Right, Wayne?” I replied.

“Yeah, her jeans were around her lower thigh, knee area. The guy I fought, he was on the bed right by her legs with his own pants partly down,” Wayne replied.

“After my girlfriends and a few others came into the bedroom to guard those guys, me and Lynette moved to check on Sammy. Lynette did up Sammy’s blouse, and I think Tempe and Shannon, or it might have been Lisa, pulled Sammy’s jeans up. We really didn’t want anyone to see our friend in that state of undress ... like we found her,” I continued with the sequence of actions for the detective.

“Can I have the names and telephone numbers of the people who came into the bedroom to assist you, tonight, please? They aren’t in any trouble, but I may need to contact them for this report. I’m guessing the assailants’ lawyers will want that information as well, should any of them decide to take this to court,” the detective asked.

I gave him my girlfriends’, plus Eda’s names and numbers. I also gave him Jon’s and Andy’s information. Wayne knew Andrew’s and Geoff’s number, so he gave it to the detective. “We don’t know Heidi Amstrong’s or Tammi Gower’s numbers, but they are Andrew Werring’s and Geoff Thirlwall’s girlfriends, so they’d be able to provide it for you,” I added after Wayne shared his information with the detective.

“So, what makes you think that Ms. Cassie West was in on this assault?” the detective asked us.

Wayne looked at me and said, “I wasn’t really involved in this until Mike asked me to go with him, so I don’t have an answer for you.”

I then began to relate my perceptions of the events leading up to finding Sammy. “When she, with those two big guys at the bottom of the stairs tried to prevent us from going upstairs, I just had a feeling they knew what was going on upstairs,” I said.

“Did she ask the two guys to keep you from going up there?”

“She vehemently told me and my friends that we couldn’t go upstairs. That is when those two guys stepped in our way,” I replied.

“Do you remember what she said to you?” the detective asked.

“I think she shouted, ‘You can’t go up there’, or possibly ‘you can’t go upstairs.’ I was pretty worried about Sammy at that point, so I’m not sure which of those two phrases she shouted to me and my friends,” I replied.

“What you just said is good for this report, Mike,” the detective said as he jotted it down in his notepad. He then asked, “As best you can tell, were there any people involved in this besides the three upstairs assailants, the two lookouts at the bottom of the stairs, and Ms. West?”

“No, Sir. I didn’t see or get any other vibe that anyone else at that party was involved. Still, I was pretty focused on finding Sammy by the time we made our way to the stairs,” I replied.

“Wayne, what about you?”

“No, Sir. I was with my girlfriend for the most part, and only got involved when Mike asked for my help in searching the house for Sammy.”

“Okay, guys. Is there anything else you can think of, which might be important to this investigation?” Detective Milstaps asked us. When we both said, ‘No,’ he thanked us for our time, and for being there for our friend. He also said he might be in touch with us should something else come up in the course of his investigation.

We were both surprised when he said, “Good luck in the Purple and White Basketball Tournament. I heard from Coach Clifford that you guys beat his team quit soundly, last night, and you were invited to play in that holiday tournament.”

“Thanks, Sir,” both Wayne and I replied as we got up from our chairs in the corner of the ER’s waiting room.

Our parents and girlfriends came over to greet us as we walked in their direction. “Are you guys okay?” my mom asked.

“Yeah. That was a fun experience ... reliving what happened, tonight,” I said with a touch of sarcasm in my tired voice.

After wishing Mr. and Katie Labatt as good an evening as possible, we made arrangements to return everyone either to their vehicles or to their homes. Wayne was going to give Lynette a ride back to her car at the party’s location before dropping Eda and Lisa at their nearby house. I was giving Tempe and Zupena a ride home, while dropping Shannon off at school, so she could get her car. I told my mom I’d be home as soon as I could.