Delia's Gift (Delia 3)

I shook my head.

“Let’s get some beer,” she insisted, and led me to the keg.

“One kiss per glass,” the fat, curly-black-haired boy at the keg told her. He was dripping wet and wearing a towel that looked soaked through.

Fani seized his towel at the waist and threatened to pull it off him.

“Give us the beer if you know what’s good for you,” she said, raising her other hand with her long fingernails out like tiny knives.

“Take it easy,” he said, quickly pouring two cups.

She handed me one, and we wove our way through the mob of wild dancers toward the rear of the house, where the patio doors were thrown open.

What would this house look like in the morning? Who would rent his home to such a crowd? I wondered.

The music piped out was loud enough for the partygoers to dance on the patio down by the pool, where we could see boys throwing one another into the water and some girls screaming and being thrown in as well.

“Wild, huh?” Fani said. She looked at me. “You didn’t take the pill, did you?” she asked. Before I could reply, she laughed and shook her head. “You’re going to be a challenge, all right, Delia, but one way or another, I’m going to get you to loosen up and have a good time. You were rushed too quickly out of your youth. I’m bringing you back.”

She downed her glass of beer, tossed the cup, and joined a group dancing to our right. She beckoned for me to join her, but I wandered off to the right to watch some of the havoc at a safe distance. I found a place to put the cup of beer and then sat on a wide railing that ran along the back patio.

Despite the loud music, the screams and laughter, and the partygoers dancing close by, I was able to close my eyes and focus back on Adan Jr. I thought about his little face when he turned toward me and the way he reacted to my touch. Surely, in his baby mind, he was wondering where that touch was and when would it return. My heart ached thinking about it.

“Delia?” I heard, and turned to see Cliff. He had come up the small grassy hill between the patio and the pool below. He looked out of breath, his hair wild and his shirt wide open. “Thank God I found someone I know,” he said. He was gasping for breath.

“What is it?” I asked, standing.

“It’s your cousin,” he said. “Something’s really wrong with her.”

“Where is she?”

“We’re over there,” he said, nodding toward the casita. I could see a small group near the small guest house.

“What do you mean, something’s really wrong with her?”

“She went into convulsions, and then she passed out,” he said quickly. “Her girlfriend is hysterical. I don’t know what to do.”

I looked for Fani. She was really into her dancing and had found a boy she appeared to like and was no longer paying any attention to me. There was no way she could hear me shouting. I looked at Cliff. He was in a genuine panic.

“Someone’s got to do something, and fast!” he screamed.

“Let’s go,” I said, and I hurried after him down the hill and toward the casita.

As we drew closer, I could see Sophia lying on the patio floor. It was hard to believe, but a few girls and some boys were actually dancing around her as if the whole thing were a big joke. For a moment, I wondered if it could be. Was this all an act to get me there and embarrass me further? How could the others be so nonchalant about someone being unconscious? I saw Trudy off to the side being consoled by another girl.

“Get the hell out of the way!” Cliff shouted at the dancers. They looked at him and parted but continued to dance.

I knelt down beside Sophia and touched her face. She was burning up. I remembered reading about the symptoms of an overdose of Ecstasy and knew what this could mean. Trudy came closer. I looked up at her.

“How much of that Ecstasy did she swallow?” I asked.

“All of it,” Trudy said. “She said one pill didn’t do anything for her. What’s the matter with her?”

“She’s going into hyperthermia,” I said.

“What’s that?”

“Her body temperature is very high. Very high!” I shouted.