And you know what that means...
Sunday morning I met up with Ric and the Boys at Islands of Adventure. It was a great day. Hot but not so humid, moderate crowds and lots of energy on my part, it should have been an enjoyable day throughout. But it took only an hour or so before the metaphorical dark clouds started to roll in and ruin things.
Joe and Zach have as tempestuous a relationship as Ric and Gary back in the day. And just like the latter coupling, alcohol is the fuel that feeds the fires.
They were already throwing attitude towards each other after getting off Ripsaw Falls because Zach was pissed that he'd been advised to wear sneakers rather than sandals, but now, due to both Popeye's and Ripsaw Falls, his feet were soaking wet and he was uncomfortable.
Yeah, it's that petty most times.
They made up as we went along making the circuit through the park in the traditional clockwise direction. By 3:00 we'd finished the entire park and went to our usual lunchspot NASCAR Sports Grille in City Walk. Ric kept drinking the Coors Lights he'd been sucking back all day and now the boys joined him with Long Island Iced Teas. They'd finished about three each by 5:00 when I bowed out. Trying to stay sober, drinking only soft drinks while everyone else is getting as drunk as possible can be a bit of a downer. For them and me.
I called later and found out they'd all gone on to the original park and rode Mummy, Simpsons et al. Apparently they stayed 'till closing which I think is about 7:00 now. But things weren't happy at home around 8:00 when I called. They found out Ric's toilet upstairs was leaking and there was a big flood in their bathroom directly below. Ric was bemoaning the potential cost of repairs and the boys were yelling at Ric for allowing this to happen.
Apparently, the stress of all this caused even more arguments to sprout up between Joe and Zach and, according to Zach, Joe started flipping out and screaming. Ric said that he and Zach then locked Joe out of the house but Joe pounded on the door hard enough to crack it and broke a window pane. Zach then instructed Ric to call 911. The sheriffs deputies came over and went to apprehend Joe who by now had been let in by Ric and Zach. He apparently resisted arrest and struck one of the officers. After wrestling with him, cuffing him and booking him, he's now charged with multiple offenses including domestic violence, striking an officer of the law and resisting arrest.
I checked out the county jail inmate website and his mug shot is there, showing him smiling.
So the latest is Zach and Joe are no longer together, Zach already updated his Facebook status to Single. Joe got bailed out by is step-father and I guess he's staying there. Zach is planning on returning to South Dakota in a couple weeks.
As I told a disbelieving Ric, who still is in a cloud of denial, we knew it'd end up like this from the get go. He had no comment.