Moderate Debauchery, Part Ii

...When we heard of his loss we took it hard, at first it was very hard to believe, and it made me double my efforts to moderate my own debauchery. But within a year it all began again, this time with Bomber, our hammer on the drums, he was always something of a wild man, and ever sober could be somewhat...dumb. I know it sounds awful to talk like that since I always really liked the guy, but he was a man who lived for the moment, and difn't reflect on things deep inside. He also spent cash on powerful cars, and one day after a big drinking glut, he got in his Porsche and managed to wrap his car around an old-growth chestnut. Bomber somehow survived the big crash, but would soon face long imprisonment, the groupie in the passenger seat took the brunt of it, died in an instant. Bomber has never forgiven himself for taking away someone's daughter, they say he still cries, serving twenty years in jail for vehicular manslaughter. Now the band was back to Riff and myself, hired sessions hands to fill in the gaps, even decided it was best to go clean, just to avoid these destructive traps. But the damage had already been done, two years later Riff didn't feel well, the doctor confirmed he had H.I.V., and he quit touring, to conserve his health. Now before you ask, he's doing okay, today's drugs really knock down the disease, the doctors all say he'll live forty years, which is about what I expect for me. Maybe he got it from dirty needles, he dabbled in the hard drugs, he did, but more likely he got it from a groupie, hell, he has two out-of-wedlock kids! Riff has always liked chasing the trail, I think it goes back to his high school days, before stardom he'd just been a band geek, too awkward to ever get a date. When famous he overcompensated, he was always slipping off with a girl, and when he received the diagnosis it altered pretty much his entire world. He went out and found those two children, raises then now as a stay-at-home dad, want them to have a good family life and I a cannot blame the man for that. He did built a home recording studio, still writes and plays on all the albums, but he'll never strut the stage with guitar, I guess that phase of his life is now done... CONCLUDES IN PART III