It was a birthday party of great proportions. The birthday girl showed up with a hat so elaborate and voluminous that she looked like a cross between a witch and a palm-reader.
I leaned in and asked the person seated next to me at the bar, “Can she read palms?” I was told that she actually had unique talents that included seeing things in her dreams before they happened.
It was her birthday party. No, it was her birthday week, her birthday had passed. Her friends kissed the air around her cheeks and said, “You look marvellous, my darling.” It was highly stimulating, this interaction. I felt like drowning in it, my neck stuck above the water’s surface.
The setting itself, the KO Kraft bar was a kaleidoscope of colours. Red and greens leapt at you. Yellows snarled and blues lunged. It was a bit like a set of a Disney game show. You couldn’t deny the energy of the bar though. The host had paid for a gin immersion where we were supposed to build our gin.
The birthday girl commandeered the bar’s playlist, playing very bouncy Afro-beats. Even though it was her birthday and you expected her to sit back and celebrate, she seemed to be in charge, making sure that everything was right.
When I was introduced to her, she held onto my hand and said, “You are the dark writer, aren’t you?” I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. She seemed to have vaporised all my words with her mere presence. The men - we were five - were all silent, we pretended like this sort of thing happened to us every weekend.
The night went from weird to amazing, then back to surreal when she said, “Who wants to go light a fire?” All her friends wanted to. We ended up in a backyard of Lavington that I didn't know existed where a fire was going and seats set around it.
I thought I was going to be sacrificed, but I wasn't. Instead, I had a great time. I guess great nights start at KO Kraft Bar, a truly eccentric bar.
