Rough around the edges, trying to figure out if I have something worth building on. Thanks,
The Project
When the idea first hit me, I have to admit that I was a little repulsed. After a couple days of thinking about it though, it grew on me and I began to see the logic in it. That is when I began the process that would last almost nine months to it’s culminating in me being here.
The first thing that I had to do was get a job. I began applying to all the bars, clubs and pubs that I could find. I needed to work somewhere that served alcohol and had at least a couple busy nights. After about a week I had a job at this place called O’Malleys. It was a dump. In the middle of a fairly large town, this place sat in a hole in the wall but it was a fun place where a bunch of college people hang out. Because of it’s location, right next to campus, it got pretty crowded on Thursday and Friday nights. I got a job as a bar-back, which was exactly what I wanted.
Well, in order to complete my project, I had to make a lot of lye. I started by setting out about 20 buckets to collect rain, and I gathered all the hardwood I could get my hands on. To make the lye, I had to get a large wooden barrel and set it up. The barrel was actually quite difficult to get because they just don’t sell them at Wal-Mart. I managed to find one at a local winery and convinced the, all too proud, sales rep to let me have it for only 30 dollars. I chose a small little clearing in the woods behind my house to set it up. I didn’t want anyone getting into it or finding it. Lye is very caustic and if a kid came along and messed with it they could get hurt real bad. So I got the barrel, set it up, and started working.
I got all the wood that I had gathered and burnt it all. I needed the ashes to make the lye. I took half the ash and stored it in a big trash bag. I took the other half and put it in my barrel. At that time I had gathered about three gallons of rain water and I poured it in the barrel over the ashes. Now all I had to do was wait.
It took about three months to catch all that rain water and while I was waiting I worked very hard at O’Malleys. I started doing well enough that the owner let me work the busy nights and the manager started letting me close, which was great. It was a real fun job and I met all sorts of new people.
Namely, I met a girl named Cindy. We started talking one night and found that we had a lot in common. She was a sweet girl and very intelligent. She had golden hair, and chocolate eyes. I thought she was the most gorgeous girl in the world. We began to date and really had a lot of fun with each other. She came and saw me at work almost every night. She was a student at the college and she was studying to be a lawyer. I loved spending time with her. I believe that she enjoyed my company as well. Over her Christmas break, she took me back home with her to meet her parents. It was nerve racking but fun at the same time. I loved her. I would have died for her.
Anyway, enough about her for now, back to the project at hand. After the rainwater had set in the ashes for two weeks, I drained it out the bottom and collected my first cycle of lye. I wanted to ensure that it was strong enough so I added more ash, and cycled the water through it two more times. Needless to say, when I drained it out the last time, it was strong enough, but I still wanted to test it.
I took about half an ounce of the lye and poured it on my deck. Not only did it take off all the paint where I poured it but it ate through the entire piece of wood overnight. It was definitely strong enough.
After months of preparations, everything was ready for my project to proceed. I bottled up two gallons of the lye on a Wednesday and went to work. It was a pretty slow night and I could hardly contain my excitement and nervousness. After we closed, and everybody left, I was left alone to clean the bar and close as usual.
Once alone, I went to the car and got the lye. I came back in and started working. I poured the lye in the vodka, gin, and whiskey bottles. I made the mixture about 1/8th lye and closed up for the night.
The next night was great. Over the course of the evening we had about 200 customers and five of the six bottles that I had made were almost completely gone. I watched all those drunks drinking and having fun. They cussed, propositioned women, and sinned. This was to be their judgment. On Friday night it was a similar crowd except Cindy was there. I tried to stop her but she drank two “Red Bull and vodkas” before I could say anything. At the end of the night all “my” bottles were gone.
On Saturday I watched the news and waited. Sure enough, my project was a success. By 12:00 on Saturday 342 people had died from a strange “alcohol poisoning” or so they thought. By the end of the weekend the count had risen to over 400. I could not have been more pleased.
Late Sunday afternoon, I got a phone call and learned that Cindy had died. That is the reason that I am writing this. I loved her, and I killed her. I’m sorry for her and I can’t live with the knowledge that her death is on my hands. You can find me in the woods behind my house, I’ll probably be beside a large wooden barrel.
