Two Is Company When One Is Falstaff, 1906 Lemp Brewery Postcard

Saturday night, we had dueling parties in the houses behind ours. Saturday was commencement day around town, so both these parties were likely connected with the end of the college school year, if not any actual graduations. It has been pleasant enough this spring in Saint Louis to have the windows open and not yet have to turn on the air-conditioner. This weather was perfect for eavesdropping on our neighbors. Both parties were well underway, when we returned in the afternoon from our bike ride downtown to the train station. The house party directly behind us was being hosted by the ‘party girl’. That is how her father described her, when he installed her there last year. She goes to SLU. He built a big backyard deck and outfitted it with lots of furniture. He subsequently bought the lot next to hers at auction. That property’s house had been condemned by the city and torn down. Now it is just a vacant lot. Across this lot from the first party was the other party. Like I said, we had dueling parties going on that night. This second house party had the additional convenience of having a port-a-potty installed in its backyard. They weren’t going to be fooling around with their party mojo that night.

We could hear the music, laughter and shouting throughout the evening, but it never got too loud and by the time I decided to go to bed things had quieted down a little bit. All through the night though, I was occasionally awakened by the odd shout or cry. The music had been turned down, but you could still hear it, especially if you listened for it. The noise was so sporadic that there never was any one thing to complain about though. I don’t know which party it was, maybe it was both of them, but things were still happening at five in the morning, when I was awakened again, but this time by a new noise, the peal of thunder. It was less than an hour before dawn, officially it was Mother’s Day by then and Mother Nature had come to tell the kids next door that it was high time that they went to bed. Dawn’s early light was rising above our backyard, while bad weather was coming in from the front yard. From the first roll of thunder until all of their lights were out, only took ten minutes and the rain began only five minutes after that. Anne and I both slept-in late on Sunday morning and we really didn’t get much done that day, except that later I took Anne out for a late lunch. Maybe we were just worn-out from all of Saturday’s exertions or maybe it was our restless night’s sleep? Anyway in the morning, Anne wouldn’t let me walk around the block and ring a couple of door bells. I wasn’t going to complain about the night before. I just wanted to borrow a cup of sugar or maybe two.