Blackout_ Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
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THE STRANGER<br />
A few months after moving <strong>to</strong> New York, I got <strong>the</strong> assignment that flew me <strong>to</strong> Paris. I was lying in<br />
my bedroom in Brooklyn at 11 am, giving sleep a second chance. I had a pillow over my face <strong>to</strong><br />
block out <strong>the</strong> sunlight, and I must have looked so strange. Like someone trying <strong>to</strong> suffocate herself.<br />
That’s when Zac called. “What are you doing on Friday? Do you want <strong>to</strong> go <strong>to</strong> Paris?”<br />
I sat up so fast it startled <strong>the</strong> cat. “Are you fucking with me?” I asked, because fucking with people<br />
was one of his specialties.<br />
“I can find someone else if you don’t want <strong>to</strong> go,” he said. All casual.<br />
“No, of course I can go. Yes. I’m going.”<br />
I thought moments like this only happened in <strong>the</strong> movies. One minute, you are languishing in<br />
Hangoverland. The next minute, <strong>the</strong> world’s greatest assignment is sitting in your lap.<br />
Well, “world’s greatest assignment” might be a stretch. Zac was an edi<strong>to</strong>r for an in-flight<br />
magazine, so it’s not like I was being cold-called by Esquire. The s<strong>to</strong>ry I wrote would end up in <strong>the</strong><br />
mesh netting of an airline seat, nestled alongside SkyMall and laminated instructions on how <strong>to</strong> turn<br />
your chair in<strong>to</strong> a flotation device.<br />
And <strong>the</strong> s<strong>to</strong>ry itself was kind of silly. I was <strong>to</strong> interview <strong>the</strong> host of a popular reality dating show,<br />
shooting its eighth season in Paris. It was odd that <strong>the</strong> magazine wanted <strong>to</strong> fly me across <strong>the</strong> Atlantic<br />
<strong>to</strong> meet a guy whose claim <strong>to</strong> fame was <strong>the</strong> phrase “This is your final rose.” But when someone offers<br />
<strong>to</strong> whisk you away <strong>to</strong> Europe on <strong>the</strong>ir dime, here is what you don’t do: Ask questions. I was a<br />
freelance writer trying <strong>to</strong> make a living in New York City, for God’s sake. I would have written a<br />
s<strong>to</strong>ry for Downy Fabric Softener’s internal newsletter.<br />
“I’m going <strong>to</strong> Paris,” I <strong>to</strong>ld <strong>the</strong> guys at <strong>the</strong> bodega where I bought cat food and smokes.<br />
“Ooooh,” <strong>the</strong>y said, which was exactly <strong>the</strong> right response.<br />
After only three months in <strong>the</strong> city, I was dangerously low on funds. But <strong>the</strong> magazine had<br />
authorized $1,000 spending money—a thousand dollars for two days!—which made me feel like I<br />
was standing in one of those game-show booths where $20 bills swirl like a <strong>to</strong>rnado around you.<br />
I was nervous about <strong>the</strong> plane ride. I’m a clutcher of armrests, a spinner of catastrophes. I have<br />
terrible control issues when it comes <strong>to</strong> letting someone pilot me across a vast and churning ocean. A<br />
point arrives in every flight when I fight <strong>the</strong> urge <strong>to</strong> bolt in<strong>to</strong> <strong>the</strong> aisle and scream, “We’re in <strong>the</strong><br />
clouds, people! This can’t last!” But I popped my sleeping pill and drank two vials of wine. Drinking<br />
on a plane is a line-item ve<strong>to</strong> in <strong>the</strong> “never drink alone” rule book. Everyone drinks alone on a plane.<br />
We drink alone, <strong>to</strong>ge<strong>the</strong>r.<br />
MY FIRST DAY in Paris went off without a hitch. I was staying at a hotel in <strong>the</strong> 14th arrondissement, in<br />
a residential area on <strong>the</strong> Left Bank not far from Luxembourg Gardens. It was a nice place: a bright<br />
foyer with high ceilings and marbled columns strung up with Christmas lights. The arrangements had<br />
been made by <strong>the</strong> magazine. All I had <strong>to</strong> do was show up.