“Joe! Careful with the punch bowl!” Chet called out to his friend and Joe looked up, his eyes glazed over. It was a look they were all getting used to, just like his sudden mumbles that stopped as abruptly as it started. From what Chet knew, Joe was no longer given pills. Emily administered shots to him personally. Frank had been dodgy on the subject and Chet was reluctant to pry. He just hoped that by helping him, Tony, Phil, Biff, Mina and Maggie set up for the party, Joe might feel better. It was the company that counted and Chet had actually asked Biff to stay away for a while but Joe insisted Biff be there. When the two of them met, the tension was so thick it could be sliced with a knife but Joe broke the ice and asked Biff very hesitantly about Arizona . The smile on Biff’s face could light a thousand bulbs.

“Oh… sorry…” Joe steadied the heavy punch bowl with his hands to prevent the water inside from spilling. Sometimes, the way Joe did things left much of his brains to be questioned. Instead of using a jug to transfer water into the bowl, Joe took the cumbersome thing to the sink to fill it up with water and had to climb down the stairs into the basement to set it up on the long catering table. It was a miracle Joe did not collapse under the weight and that it was finally placed where it belonged. Of course Joe had help. Tony rushed over to assist him carry the bowl.

“There. Yo! Biff! Where’re the syrups? We want to try a new taste!” Tony hollered across the basement.

Chet saw Biff was avoiding Mina who was avoiding Joe who was avoiding everyone, turned around with a baffled expression. Biff avoiding Mina was understandable- in a way, everyone had agreed that Mina was Joe’s and Biff would want to keep a safe distance lest Joe’s paranoid mind run amok. Joe, avoiding everyone, was also understandable though Chet could not explain it. Joe was dealing with a rebelling mind and maybe that gave him some excuse to be unfriendly.

Mina avoiding Joe- now, that was the mystery. From Chet’s observation, Mina was always there for Joe when he needed her the most. But she did not help him with the punch bowl though he saw the look of concern on her face when Joe was struggling with it. He thought he saw her take a step towards him but somehow, turned around to resume putting up decorations along with Maggie who was chattering away like a lark. Maggie simply treated Joe like how she always treated him and she was the only person Joe did not avoid as much.

“Ah… with Joe.” Biff answered finally after some thought. Tony turned back to his blunted friend to see him pouring two kinds of syrups into the punch bowl.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tony took the scoop and started stirring the mixture as Joe poured in the syrups.

“Didn’t ask.” Joe muttered and a grin plastered on his face later like an afterthought.

Chet went over to the food table to see if there was anything he could pinch. Maggie, noticing him lingering near the bags of unopened food, dragged him away impishly. His heart skipped a beat but was crushed when he remembered Maggie was extremely attached to Craig, especially after the stunt he pulled at her concert. Chet had a bunch of flowers for her too and he did want to give it to her in the exact same manner Craig did but lacked the guts since it was the night of a prestigious orchestra- not some cheap, campus production.

“It’s your party! Don’t worry! We have a few more hours to get it all set up before the first guests should arrive. Go away and leave everything to us!” Maggie chimed and suddenly, they all heard a crash.

“Too sweet. Should throw the whole thing away…” Joe mumbled miserably but Chet was close enough to hear everything. “Can’t do a damn thing right. Useless… useless piece of crap.”

Everyone was silenced and no one knew what to do. Tony, who was the closest to Joe, put an arm around his self-reproaching friend who was mumbling away until the end of the world while Mina rushed over and picked up the scoop. Chet prayed for Frank and Callie to hurry up and arrive at his place way ahead of Frank’s promised time. His best friend wanted to take his girlfriend to the doctor for a check-up and he expressed that he might be late for the party. Chet was a little unhappy but he tried to be understanding and assured Frank that as long as he turned up with Callie, his life would be spared. 

Mina took a drink and smacked her lips. “It’s delicious! Not too sweet. Here, you try it!” Mina passed the scoop to Chet who understood what she was trying to do.

Chet did better than taste it. He poured it in into a few cups and distributed them to everyone in the room. Gulping it down, he realized that Mina was lying about it being delicious. It was more than delicious- it was wonderful and the taste tingled his tongue most pleasantly. Joe was a genius when it came to mocktails and he wondered if Joe was being too hard on himself.

And then he was touched because he thought that Joe probably wanted to make a perfect punch for Chet’s twenty-first birthday party even though it was so close to the anniversary of Vanessa’s death.

“It’s really good! I bet everyone cannot get enough of it! What do we do with the food now that the punch is going to be the center piece of this spread?” Chet commented but Maggie slapped his hand sharply and he knew he was laying it on too thick.

“It’s nice, Joe. Really nice. You must teach me to make it one day.” Maggie finished her cup and asked for another to which Mina obliged. Tony, Phil and Biff too mouthed their own praises and Joe smiled feebly but the glazed blue eyes seemed to shine a little.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to kick a big fuss… just wanted it to be perfect…I’ll make more for the party later.” His mutters drifted off to inaudible babbles.

“You want a cup too?” Maggie passed her half-drunk cup to Joe who shook his head.  

“I’ll get drunk on the praises later.”

“Ehm… Joe… there’s no alcohol inside right?” Chet ventured tentatively and was relieved when Joe broke into soft laughter.

“No… just syrup and a secret ingredient. No alcohol, nope… promise is a promise…” Joe walked away from them to fiddle with the music CDs which Phil had already organized earlier on, mumbling to himself again.

“Quick thinking on your part there.” Tony commended Mina who smiled a little too sadly. Chet’s heart went out to her and knew something must have happened between Joe and her- something heartbreaking. He wanted to take the chance and ask her what was going on between Joe and her when Maggie leaned over and whispered into his ear.

“I really worry for Joe. He could not be discharged on Wednesday as promised earlier. Dad got into a fight in Buckteeth on Monday and Mom’s driving me crazy… whenever she’s worried about something, she always does housework and I have to help out. Frank’s either out or walking around the house with pens, get it, pens, stuck in his overgrown hair…” Maggie exhaled heavily. “Why can’t we all be happy?"

“Happiness is a choice. Everyone must choose it for him or herself.” Chet replied, feeling very wise. Maggie nodded, watching Joe with a sad regret in her shimmering brown eyes.

“I just miss him so much. I’ll let him pull my hair and ridicule my violin skills If only he’d be Joe again… that will make all of us happy.”

“He must choose to heal for himself. We can only show him the way though I admit he’s not really in the mind to choose anything now. I’m sorry, can’t help eavesdropping.” Mina smiled grimly at them and Maggie reached across the table to hold Mina’s hands.

“What happened between you and Joe? You used to be close…”

“Nothing…” Mina shook her head and beamed a little too unnaturally. “We’re fine.” She extricated her hands away from Maggie and proceeded to fiddle around with a few things on the catering table listlessly.

Maggie’s face fell and she twisted her lips when suddenly, she teetered a little. Chet immediately supported her to keep her from falling but felt like she was too heavy for her size.

“You must lose some… whoah… what’s happening? Mina?” Chet turned and saw Mina gripping the table so hard that her knuckles were bone-white.

“Sleepy…” Maggie garbled and fell completely in Chet’s tedious embrace. Chet tottered and the basement spun around him- wood beams, hanging lights, the cozy red sofa and loud music whirled into one kaleidoscopic MTV.

He heard crashes before his legs gave way, with Maggie landing on top of him. The only person left standing was Joe and in his drugged state, he made up Joe’s silhouette hovering over him.

“The punch…” Chet realized but was losing consciousness quickly. Joe nodded and Chet felt Maggie’s weight on him gone. Joe had rolled his sister off his body. Chet noticed that although he was extremely tired, he was not about to fall asleep yet. He heard some moaning and knew he was not the only one to be barely awake still.

“Joe… we can help you…” Chet tried again to snap his friend out of madness but his grip on the waking world was loosening very fast. Joe mumbled something that Chet could not catch. A piece of rope was in Joe’s hands and Chet struggled feebly when Joe hefted him into a sitting position to tie him up.

“Joe!”

“I’m sorry, Chet. I must do this. I cannot take it anymore… you understand, don’t you?” The dullness seemed to be a veil that Joe had very effortlessly ripped off. Looking into Chet’s somnolent mien now was a pair of madly intense blue eyes.

Chet’s lids grew heavy. He wanted to fight off the sleep but the tranquilizer was having too calming an effect on him. From his blurred vision, he saw Tony trying to fight Joe off but Joe had the clearest mental faculty of them all, something… his oozy brains could no longer think of a description but he felt it strangely odd so he giggled.

“Chheeeet… what’s wrong?” Maggie who was beside him, lolled her head to look at him. Chet, before his brains totally shut down, managed to answer her.

“Your… bro… mad…”

***

“My stomach’s swelling up!” Callie announced excitedly. “And it’s not those flabby kind of swell! It’s pretty taut!”

Frank reached over from his side of the car. Placing a hand on her stomach, he chuckled. “No… it’s not. You’re imagining things. Callie, it’s too soon to feel much difference.”

“You’re a guy. You don’t understand these things.” Callie taunted him and flipped opened the magazine she accidentally took with her on their way out of the clinic, being too engrossed with an article inside.

“Oh, yah. I’m so jealous I can’t give birth. All the labor pains… it’s enough to make me cry with envy,” Frank snide playfully as he turned around the bend. Hearing Callie girlishly growled under her breath, he let out a low guffaw. Another twenty minutes more and they would be at Chet’s party. He was very late and he hoped Chet would not be too angry. Tony had fetched Joe to Chet’s house in the early afternoon to help out and Frank was glad that the old gang was accepting Joe back into the folds of their wings without much discomfiture.

“Just admit it! Girls have so many more unique experiences than guys!”

“You don’t want to know about our unique experiences.” Frank teased her back. She rolled the magazine up and hit his shoulder with it.

“Hey, you don’t want an accident now, do you?” Frank cringed away from her and she hit him for the second time before a satisfied smile crept up on her lips. He smiled, bemused, and reverted back to concentrating on the road, trying not to drive too fast for Callie’s sake.

“You should sit at the back next time. Less impact.”

“I know. Next time.” Callie answered him with a grin and returned back to her magazine which was filled with female-oriented readings and advertisements.

He drove on for a while more when Callie tapped his shoulders excitedly. “Frank! Remember the letter? I said the face looked familiar? The face belonged to this new and up-coming model, Amber Oleander! Look! Oh.., darn it. Stop the car so you can look at it properly!” She commanded and he obeyed.

Frank pulled the car beside the curb before Callie shoved the magazine in his face. “She’s the spokesperson for a brand of cosmetics called Alderine. How can I forget!”

“Recognizing a face from a cut out piece doesn’t mean much, Callie.” Frank hated to dampen her spirits but Callie shook her head vigorously.

“You’re not looking at the advertisement I’m showing you! Alderine is a major cosmetic brand and they practically bought Amber’s time until their new series of advertisement is finished. I don’t remember Amber because she’s not only new, but Alderine had only just come out with their new publicity stunt which is nothing new but for the storyline…” Callie was about to ramble on but Frank recognize the signs of her runaway speech and stopped her by covering her mouth with his palm. She was losing him.

“Wait. Let’s start all over. What storyline?” He asked stately and released his palm. Callie took in a deep breath as she tried to collect her thoughts. 

“Ok…” Callie turned towards him, her perky face set in determination. “Alderine cosmetics main draw in their marketing strategy is that their commercials are always presented like some soap opera. Each week, they show a different commercial with a plot that is linked to the previous and the next. Amber is their new model and beforehand, she did not do any commercials, not those I know of anyway. She was a runway model in Milan before Alderine discovered her and wanted her to be their new spokeswoman. This is the first of the new set of commercials…” Callie pointed to the advertisement which showed a gorgeous, leggy model sitting in a restaurant, seemingly waiting for somebody with tons of eyes on her but she was oblivious to them. Frank thought it was a little cliché but held his tongue since Callie was getting very enthusiastic in her explanation.

“So?”

“SO? The color scheme of the picture used for the letter is different! It’s not from this one and since Alderine bought her for the whole series, she could not be doing anything else for other brands. Don’t you get it? Whoever used that picture has access to the other yet-to-be published advertisements of Alderine.”

“Maybe it’s a snapshot from one of her … catwalk…” Frank countered and Callie sighed with resigned exasperation.

“Frank. I’m giving you a lead. We should at least check it out.”

“After the party.” Frank flicked his thumb over her nose and she crossed her hands with a scowl on her face.

“Now?”

“Yes! Do you want to stop the person doing such sick things to Joe? I sure want to! Chet will understand. Some things cannot wait!” Callie insisted and Frank capitulated to her demands.

“Where do you think we start? The cosmetic counter?” Frank suggested, feeling a little brain-dead to think.

“No silly! The advertising firm that does Alderine’s commercials, Marcelli Creations. This company is very proud of their commercials and who did what is listed on its website. That’s why I say we should do it now since we can close the case once and for all!”

Frank gave her a curious glance. “How did you know all that?”

Callie shook the female magazine at him. “You have your Internet. I have my magazines.”

He smiled and a sudden thought hit him, bringing him closer to the truth. “If it’s so easy, the person doing these pranks is not a master criminal after all.”

Callie pulled her lips in a taut line and her hazel eyes hooded over. “It’s someone angry with Joe. We can narrow down the suspect to one person...”

The name struck Frank suddenly, it never seemed truer. Anger, pain. Who could be in more anger and pain over Ness ’s death besides Joe and Kenzer? The motives for hurting Joe all fit- leaving nothing to be doubted.

“Phil.” Callie finished and nodded her head, believing in her own suspicions. “He’s doing freelance graphic work for a few advertising firms.”

“Phil?” Frank asked incredulously. No. Callie had not arrived at the same conclusion as him. He did a three-point turn and drove out of the street they were on. “We’re going back to my place since it’s nearer than yours. Call Chet to keep Phil in the party until we arrived.”

“Ok, boss.” Callie took out her mobile and dialed for Chet. Frank turned into his lane after she put her phone back into her bag.

“It must be too noisy at the party.  No one is picking it up.”

“We’ll try again later.” Frank replied and pulled up into his driveway.