Comfortably Numb

Naveen leaned back against the car. He wasn’t able to stand straight. Loud music still rang in his ears. His roommate, Marvin, staggered behind him.

“We are fucking drunk.” Marvin was a fan of stating the obvious.

“How many drinks did I have?” Naveen wondered.

“I stopped counting after my fifth.” Marvin declared. “The first two rounds were tequila shots, then a vodka, then two whiskeys…and then…” He paused and appeared to be thinking. He laughed, “Who the hell knows what else I had.”

Marvin skipped forward. “Tonight’s gonna be a good, good night….oh yea...tonight’s gonna be a good, good night…”

Naveen cut him short, “Tonight is over man. But, tomorrow’s gonna be bad, bad hangover…oh yea…tomorrow’s gonna be a bad, bad hangover…”

Both of them burst out laughing. Marvin rolled his eyes. “You’re an idiot.”

Naveen nodded. “Thanks. The feeling is mutual.”

Marvin pointed at the car they were leaning against, “Is this your car?”

Naveen turned and stared at the car, as if noticing it for the first time. “Oh yea, it is my car. The good ol’ Honda Civic. I love this car.”

Marvin pulled against the handle of the door, “Open it.”

Naveen searched his pockets, produced a key and unlocked it. Marvin opened the door, leaned down into the car and let out a gut-wrenching sound.

Naveen’s expression froze. “What the hell are you doing? You opened the door to throw up in it?”

Marvin remained bent over, holding his stomach and vomiting out. Naveen grabbed his roommate’s shoulder and pulled him up.

Marvin had a broad smirk. “Ha ha ha ha…I got you….”

Naveen exhaled, glanced into the car, and then cracked a smile. “Not bad….well done.”

Marvin smiled, “Alright, let’s get out of here now.”

Naveen nodded. He opened the driver’s door and paused. “Are we gonna drive back?

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, like you mentioned earlier, we are fuckin’ drunk.”

“We definitely are. So what?”

Naveen shook his head. “Let’s take a cab. We’ll pick up this car tomorrow.”

Marvin grunted. “Don’t be such a wuss.”

Naveen raised his eyebrows, “A wuss?”

“Yea, a wuss. If you want, I’ll drive.”

“You?” Naveen laughed, “C’mon man, you’ll barely be able to make it into the car without falling a few times.”

Marvin frowned, “I fooled you with the fake vomiting, didn’t I? That shows how sharp my mind is right now.”

“I don’t know about your sharp mind and all, but yea, you did fool me, I’ll give you that.”

Marvin stumbled towards him. Before Naveen could react, Marvin grabbed the car keys from his hand and collapsed into the driver’s seat. Naveen stared at him for a moment, shrugged his shoulders, and went around to the passenger’s seat.

“Alright, that’s more like it.” Marvin fired up the engine. “Let’s do this.”

Marvin backed the car out and picked up speed. “So, where we headed?”

“Umm…how about home? It’s 3 am man.”

“Home?” Marvin was offended, “Where are the others?”

“Everyone split after we left the club, man.”

Marvin frowned, “Fine, fine…home it is.”

He changed lanes and pulled onto the freeway ramp. Suddenly, he grinned and looked across. “We still have half of that whiskey bottle remaining, right?”

Naveen winced at the thought. “You really want to puke, don’t ya?”

Marvin sang aloud, “I got a feeling…tomorrow’s gonna be a bad, bad hangover…oh yea….tomorrow’s gonna be a bad, bad hangover…”

Naveen joined in, “Oh yea…tomorrow’s gonna be a bad, bad hangover…”

They cruised along, picking up speed as the freeway cleared up ahead. Marvin put on the radio and tuned to the classic rock station. The lyrics sounded from the speakers “Now, I’ve got that feeling once again. I can’t explain...this is not how I am…”

Marvin’s eyes lit up. He cleared his throat and started to hum. “I….have become…”

Naveen joined in, “….comfortably numb…”

Both sang aloud, out of tune and out of sync, “There is no pain you are receiving....”

Suddenly, Naveen noticed some flashing lights behind them. “Did you see that, man?”

“Shhh…” Marvin admonished. “A distant ship’s smoke on the horizon…”

Naveen shifted in his seat. He blinked and looked back again. A black-and-white police car appeared behind them.

Marvin continued on. “When I was a child, I had a fever…”

“I think the cops are following us man.” Naveen said.

“…Your lips move but I can’t hear what you’re saying…”

Naveen nudged his buddy on the shoulder. “Seriously man, there is a cop car behind us.”

Marvin glared at him. “I’m sure it’s not for us. Here, I’ll show you.” He changed lanes, giving the police car room to pass.

“…now I’ve got that feeling once again…”

The black-and-white car changed lanes too and stayed on their tail. Without warning, the flashing lights blazed on. A siren rang out, piercing their ears. A voice bellowed over a microphone. “Please pull over to the side.”

Marvin shut the radio off, and pulled the car aside and turned off the engine. The two roommates exchanged a quick look.

“I told you.” Naveen murmured. He felt his heart beat faster.

Marvin sat in silence. He rubbed his eyes.

The police officer slowly walked over to their car, and demanded to see license and registration. Naveen fumbled through the glove box and produced them.

The officer shone a flashlight on Marvin. “Do you know how fast you were going?”

Marvin cleared his throat. “Must have been about sixty five?”

“You were doing seventy miles per hour. Do you know what the speed limit is here?”

Marvin stuttered, “Six-Sixty?”

“It’s a fifty mile per hour zone.”

Marvin swallowed. “I’m sorry officer.”

The office stared at them with unblinking eyes. The bright yellow light from his flashlight shone directly into their eyes.

“How many drinks have you had?” He asked Marvin.

Marvin paused to think. Naveen recollected his roommate’s impressive alcohol consumption chronicles from earlier. He cringed inwardly.

“I…umm…I’m not sure…” Marvin struggled for words. “Maybe just a couple of beers.”

The officer’s expression remained unchanged “A couple of beers, ha?”

“Please step out of the vehicle.”

Marvin looked up. “But officer…”

“Step out of the car.”

Reluctantly, Marvin obeyed. Naveen started to open his door.

“Not you.” The officer commanded. “You stay there.”

Naveen heard the office ask Marvin to take a breath alcohol test. He felt his stomach churn. He saw Marvin make an attempt to protest and then grudgingly blow into the contraption that the officer produced. The officer took it back to his car.

Naveen leaned out the window and looked at his roommate. Neither of them said anything. The officer returned towards them, along with his partner.

“Put your hands behind your back.”

“Ha?” Marvin stood there, dazed.

“Please lie face down on the hood and put your hands behind your back.”

“But, officer...I didn’t do anything wrong.” Marvin protested.

“Like hell, you didn’t. You failed the breath test. Your blood alcohol level is above the allowed limit. You were driving under influence.”

Marvin’s face went ashen. The officer read him his rights. Marvin bent down on the car and put his hands behind. A pair of steel handcuffs snapped on his wrist. Naveen stared at them. He felt the blood rushing through his veins. He swung his door open and jumped out of the car.

“Please officer…” Naveen pleaded.

The officer’s partner looked startled by Naveen’s sudden movement. In a flash, he had his hand on his gun. “Get back in the car.”

“Please sir…” Naveen went on. “We are just kids…”

The partner’s eyes were locked on Naveen. “I’ll ask you again to get back in the car.”

Naveen saw the look in his eyes and hastily retreated to the car. He shrunk into his seat and watched Marvin being bundled into the police car. The officer’s partner got into the driver’s seat and pulled the car away. Naveen’s breathing became quicker and quicker.

The officer appeared at his window. “And how many drinks have you had?”

Naveen looked at him. “I don’t remember….not too many.”

“Uh-huh. Please step out of the car.”

Naveen obeyed. Without a word, the officer displayed the dreaded breath testing contraption that had already claimed Marvin as its victim. With a resigned look, Naveen blew into it. The officer took the device aside and then, came back to Naveen.

“You failed too.”

Naveen nodded, wondering how steel handcuffs felt like. Would they hurt?

The officer continued to gaze at him. “But you weren’t driving. We will, however, have to get your car towed. Another car will come around any minute and will give you a ride home.”

Naveen blinked. He exhaled slowly. So, no handcuffs after all.

“Where did you take my friend, officer?”

The officer glared at him.

“Please officer, tell me where you took my friend, so I can go bail him out later.”

The officer took out his walkie-talkie, said something into it. A voice said something in reply. Naveen couldn’t make out the words.

“Clyde hill station.” The officer said.

At that moment, another black-and-white car with lights flashing showed up and stopped next to them. The officer went over and spoke to the new arrival. He opened the back seat door and indicated to Naveen. “Get in.”

Naveen slid into the seat.

“Where do you live?”

“Bellevue, sir.”

The officer drove the car ahead. “Tell me which exit.”

Naveen felt his head nod. He blinked and tried to stay focused. He felt numb.

“Do your parents know that you’ll are driving around drunk like that?” The officer asked.

“Umm…our parents are in India, sir.”

The officer glanced at him sharply in the rear view mirror. “So, what are you’ll doing here? Students?”

“No sir, we work here.”

“Is this the exit?” The officer pointed ahead.

“Ye-yes. This is the one.” Naveen stammered.

The officer continued to study him in the mirror.

“Next left, after the signal, sir.” Naveen said. The officer swung into the lane.

“Umm…it’s the apartment complex up ahead and the last building to the right, sir.”

The car stopped abruptly. The officer glared back at him. “We’re close enough. You get off and walk from here.”

Naveen felt himself nod again. He opened the door and put one foot down. “What about my car, sir? How do I get it back?”

“Hold on.” The officer mumbled into his walkie-talkie and a voice responded. “King’s Towing Company. Look them up and call them.”

With that, the black-and-white car sped away from him. Naveen staggered towards his house. He paused and took a few deep breaths. He looked up at the black sky. Where was Marvin?

He brought out his cell phone and dialed his roommate’s number. No response. He left a voicemail. Then, he called another friend, Kaushal, and explained the situation to him. Kaushal listened and told Naveen to stay right there, that he would reach there and they could go get Marvin out of jail.

Naveen stood outside his house and waited. What a night it had been. The cold air penetrated his jacket, but Naveen felt nothing.

Kaushal arrived within minutes. “Not been able to get through to Marvin. We should leave a note for him on the door in case he comes back here.”

They scribbled a quick not and stuck it on the door. The image of Marvin being handcuffed was burned in Naveen’s mind.

“So, I looked up Clyde Hill station. Let’s go there.” Kaushal said.

They took off towards Clyde Hill. Suddenly, Naveen’s phone started ringing. The sound seemed unfamiliar. He stared at it. It was Marvin.

“Where are you, Marvin?” Naveen blurted. “We’re coming to get you.”

“Relax,” Marvin’s voice said over the phone. “I’m back at home. They filed the charges and released me without bail.”

Naveen registered this slowly. “So now what happens?”

“Now, my case will come up in court. I have to find a lawyer I guess.”

“Oh…” Naveen went silent. “But you’re okay, right?”

“Yea.”

“How do you feel?” Naveen asked.

“I….have become…comfortably numb….”