You are fading in and out now, won’t be too long. Flash backs start, lucid dreams of how you got here.

The mob party! Looking for a good time? Come on inside and have some fun, just remember, if you don’t find some friends around here, we’ll kill you. Consider  this ample warning.

As you walk in and look around it becomes apparent the party is well under way. Groups of people stand around looking at you, but hardly anyone speaks. Suddenly a man is at your side. “Hey kid, want to come to our party?” You are puzzled. “I thought this was the party?” He laughs. “No man, you have to pick one of the parties and then go join it. Otherwise we will kill you.”  You shake your head. “Yes, I read that on the way in. Okay, I’ll come to your party.“ You start to move and he stops you short. “Hey, first off, don’t step on the red squares.” You look down and sure enough there are red squares here and there. “Why not?” He looks you square in the eye. “Those are the rules man, pay attention! Now, why do you want to join my party?” Bewilderment replaces the look of annoyance on your face. “Ah, you just asked me to?” He laughs again. “Not good enough, man.” He picks up radio and begins talking in it as if you cannot hear him. “Hey, got some thug here trying to get me sponsoring him, he can’t even make a coherent sentence.” You see a man across the room talk back into another radio. “Make sure you tell him about the red squares right away so we don’t have to kill him. And bring him by for some cake if you get him.” He looks back at you. “Okay man you can join our party. But if you break any rules we will probably kill you.” You spot a guy walking by with a cake; he has a sign offering free pieces so you grab some. “Boy, you have got to like free cake.”  Your new friend yells at you. “You took his cake? What the hell did you do that for?” You almost choke on the piece. “He had a sign man; free cake.” Your friend looks nervous. “Go give him the cake back, hurry up!” You run over and put the cake back. “Look you, quit doing things without asking first. You can’t eat another person’s cake at this party. Damn didn’t you read the rules? I can’t risk letting you into our party, get out of here.” You look around and then speak with your mouth full of cake. “I thought this was our party mate. What rules? I thought that was the red squares thing.” He storms off as you stand there wondering what just happened. As you move on you notice the sign for this party, it clearly states no eating of another’s cake. However the table is full of cake anyway and apparently you can eat that cake since no one complains when you do.

As you stand there eating cake at the party within the party you over hear radio conversations. “Kiss my ass. Here eat some trout!”  You hear a fish smack another person. Pretty soon everyone on the radio is throwing about fish and telling each other off. Then someone grabs someone else’s ass and the ass grabbing contest begins. Strange party, lots of posted rules but you can say whatever you want it appears. You move on to another party within the party and this time you read the rules first. At this party they don’t care if you eat someone else’s cake. You smile and try to take a guys cake but he keeps it out of your reach. He turns to you. “Why the hell did you try to take my cake? Now give me some of yours you little shit.” You pick up a fish, throw it at the guy and tell him to go read some fucking party rules or something. He stares at you and begins talking on his radio too.

You move on to another party and walk up to a guy in a suit. “Excuse me sir, can I join this party, I know the rules.” You smile because you read rules right away now and it impresses people. No cake taking at this party. He looks at you. ”Go see my guy over at this party.” You fly over. This party has no rules posted, must be wild.  You meet the new guy and he signs you up, you got a friend. You see the guy who didn’t like you taking his cake earlier walking by with real nice cake, you grab a big piece. He tells you to give him is cake back, you tell him to kiss your ass and hit him with a tomato.  Within moments your new friend  asks if you just took a piece of the guy’s cake. “Sure I did, a nice big piece. And I told him to kiss my ass when he wanted it back. He’s real uptight man.” Your new friend is incredulous as you have another bite. “Why the fuck did you eat his cake? Didn’t you read the rules?” Your eyes brighten. “Yes! I did read the rules man, this party doesn’t have any.” He shakes his head. “Not this party dimwit, OUR party.” Bewilderment once again becomes your close companion. “I guess not, what do our rules say?” He looks exasperated. “They say to follow everyone’s rules!” You choke on cake for the second time this evening. “Everyone has rules?” Bang! You fall to the floor. He towers over you and seems to not care that he is standing on a red square. As you fade away you hear him in the distance. “You should have followed the rules man.”

Peace strolling about the crowd, walks up to sylvestro and shows him the silver dollar he had given him.

Hey, don't know if you remember me, but whats goin on here??? 

How could I forget you Mr. Man? Sam checks the silver dollar closely. Yep, what you got there is an original Carollo silver dollar. Might be worth something someday. You see, they're very rare and for some, highly sought after. Once, I even had a fine young woman take one without permission. I imagine it being hung and framed in her HQ someday, should she acquire one by some unforeseeable miracle. But that's not what you asked is it? Lets get to the pertinent point shall we? What we have going on here is a story about a guy just trying to eat some cake. Except every time he eats some cake he gets in trouble, until finally his penchant for cake runs him afoul of the rules one too many times and he finds himself reviewing events before he dies. I believe there is a lot of symbolism being used, for instance, are we really talking about cakes and parties? And what the hell is with the red squares? I think that is where the reader is supposed to interject their own interpretations about the piece. I want to thank you for coming out publicly and asking what was going on here, I had plenty of private inquiry's about what was going on but I always prefer public discourse and let's face it, without you this might have faded from memory much sooner. Sam starts to walk off flipping a silver dollar in the air, he looks back at Peace_Man. Sorry kid, no one ever gets two no matter how hard they try, it would reduce the collectors value.

philli-stein walks up to sylvestro.

"ok so you like questions out in public, try this one . WEHAT THE FUCK?'

Sam takes a step back, insinctively reaching under his coat as the made man from Saint Louis begins to yell. We hat the fuck? Well you got me there Mr. Stein, I have never heard that question before. You probably meant What the fuck? Which could indicate a bit of confusion, however, you yelled the question in such a way that a guy could consider it a challenge or even a threat. So, my turn to ask a question Mr. Stein. What the fuck?

"oops. i got a little carried away. sorry. definatly confused though. metaphor is not phor me."

Oh I don't know, carried away is such a far reaching term, perhaps just caught up in the moment. In any event, we seem to have worked passed that little misunderstanding nicely. Now that we know what the fuck is going on, let me say that yes, I do enjoy public questions. Replying to them in particularly. Sam laughs out loud. It was good to meet you Mr. Stein, and I wouldn't give up the metaphor's just yet, see ya around.