Red Light, Go

It was a Thursday afternoon. I was sitting at my desk at work, bored from monotony. The phone rings. I answer reluctantly. It wasn't business. It was Juan, a life long friend from childhood. "There is a plane ticket waiting for you at the travel agency on 50th street. You leave tonight. Cheese, Lam and I will meet you at the baggage claim." "Juan, where are we going?" "You will find out when you pick up your ticket. Make sure you have your passport. See you Later." My drowsy state quickly dissipated. I grabbed my sport coat off the back of the chair and started my journey to 50th street.

My mind was racing with excitement. Where could we be going? Cheese and Juan were in London, Lam was in Spain, and I was in NYC. I arrive at the travel agency and give them my name. They flip through their files and hand me over an envelope. Inside is my plane ticket.....AMSTERDAM!!!! I race home to pack. My flight leaves in 5 hours. I search everywhere in my tiny 300 sq foot apartment from my passport. I can't find it. I phone my dad. "Dad, i can't find my passport. Any idea where it is?" "It's here with me, and as I am looking at it now I see it's expired." Great, i have an expired passport that is a 4 hour drive away and a plane that leaves in 3 hours. My spirit deflates like a popped air mattress. I decide to call up another close friend of ours who lives 2 blocks away. "Z, do you want to go to Amsterdam tonight?" "Sure, I can meet you there at 8pm for drinks." Amsterdam was also the name of a bar around the corner from where we lived. "Not that Amsterdam," I said with a chuckle. "You mean the country?" "Indeed I do." "Wish I could but I have meetings tomorrow I cannot cancel. Good luck and thanks for the offer!" I thought to myself....no way am I giving up now.

I called Juan on the phone and informed him of my debacle. We concluded I should go to the passport office in the morning and figure it out from there. 8am arrived and i was first one in the door. Armed with a printed out copy of my expired passport and a bevy of charm, I walked out 4 hours later with a brand new passport! Woohoo!!!! Now, off to the airport to solve problem number 2...carrying a plane ticket for Thursday yet it being Friday while not wanting to spend a dime to change the ticket.

I arrived at the airport 3 hours before the same flight the following day as it read on my ticket. Should i play dumb about what day it is and see if that works? Just then, a brilliant, yet incredibly stupid idea came to me. I stepped up to the lady at the ticket counter and began to explain how there was a bomb threat at my office which is why i couldn't make the flight the previous night. She looked me in the eye and explained that faking a bomb threat is a federal offense and asked me again if I wanted to stick with the bomb threat story. I stood up tall and confidently said, "yes Ma'am. That's exactly what happened." She proceeded to issue me a new ticket for the upcoming flight at no extra charge. Phew! I texted Juan and shared the good news. Off to Amsterdam!

After a trouble-free overnight flight, I arrived Amsterdam at 7am local time. There waiting for me were Juan, Cheese, and Lam. I was ecstatic to be in Amsterdam with my life long friends albeit for only 36 hours. I turned to the crew..."Where are we staying?" "No time to sleep with only 36 hours," Cheese said. Good enough for me i thought to myself. Without any communication we all knew where we were headed first...a coffee shop!

We found one of the few coffee shops that sold both liquor and cannabis. We ordered up the highest quality sativa and 4 beers. Our trip had officially started. We passed the joint around, took some swigs of our beers and hit the Foosball table. Whatever we smoked made the Foosball table seem like a living breathing soccer stadium. After several hours of coffee shop hopping we decided to get a hotel room just to freshen up for the evening affairs. After quick showers we procured some drinks from the hotel bar and headed to the Red Light District to see what all the stories we had heard were all about.

What a crazy concept....boutique shopping for sex the same as walking down Madison Avenue in New York City or Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. We walked a whole street and turned around to do the walk back. It was around 2am local time and the street wasn't overly crowded. Lam, Juan, and Cheese were all a step in front of me as I paced a little slower to really take it all in. All of a sudden, I feel as if there is a big crowd behind me bumping up against me. I turn around and see no crowd but see two guys running away from us. I quickly check my pocket. My wallet is gone! I yell to my friends, turn sharply, and start chasing after the two guys. Although i was completely out of shape, I had so much adrenaline pumping through my blood I could have qualified for the 400m relay in the Olympics. As I was gaining on them, they threw my credit cards down in an effort to stop me. For reasons I cannot explain, I didn't hesitate and kept chasing them. As the thieves turned a corner, one of them ten paces behind the other, i caught up to one and using my momentum, shoved him against the brick building wall. He turns around and pulls a 6" blade out and prepares to attack me. With my mind controlled by adrenaline and the feeling of victimization, I took my jacket off and wrapped it around my around in preparation to fight back. I was sure I was going to relieve the varmint of his weapon and use it on him. Just then, Cheese rounds the corner and grabs me, waking me out of my adrenaline slumber. "We managed to gather all of your Identifications and credit cards. They only have your cash. This isn't worth it." I snapped to my senses, gave the scoundrel a hard stare, and let him run off. What a crazy night!

After settling down, we headed for a 24 hour diner where we spent the next 5 hours recounting the craziness of last 24 hours...as well as all the other shenanigans of our last 10 years together.