Liberation Day

‘Yup. This ought to be enough beer for today.’ The fridge door swung closed as Willem-Jan gave it a thump. He smiled triumphantly at Vera and Bianca, standing on the balcony with their home-made mojitos. The music from different stages reverberated through their bodies as they watched the hordes of party-goers crammed into the street below.‘Listen ladies,’ started Willem-Jan commandingly. With expressions of boredom, the pair looked up at him. ‘You’re not allowed to have any of my beer. I’ll be back soon with my friends to drink it. So hands off.’ Giggling, the girls mimicked Willem-Jan as he left the house. This was clearly not their first drink of the day.A mojito later, Filippo swanned downstairs, all tight-fitting shirt and glossy hair, ready to go into town. ‘Ciao ragazze,’ he greeted them flirtatiously. ‘Wow, that is a lot of beer!’ he exclaimed when he opened the fridge looking for something to drink. ‘Please, take one’, slurred Bianca. ‘I am sure Willem-Jan won’t mind.’ Filippo opened a bottle of beer and greedily took a mouthful. Suddenly they heard a lot of noise coming from downstairs and soon the living room was full of Filippo’s Italian friends. One of them was talking nineteen to the dozen and like his friends he had a face as black as thunder.Bianca’s curiosity got the better of her. ‘What’s up?’ she asked Filippo. He explained that his friends had tried to smuggle beer into the city centre. At Emma Park they had hung bags full of beer cans in the canal before going through the security check. But when they fished out the bags on the other side, they were ripped and all the cans were gone. ‘Now they want to know where they can buy cheap beer,’ concluded Filippo. ‘Well, we have a refrigerator full of beer,’ said Bianca slyly. ‘If you leave some money on the table, I’m sure Willem-Jan will be okay with it.’ The faces of Filippo’s friends brightened. They charged towards the fridge with empty backpacks and when they’d finished it looked like a plague of locusts had passed through. The guys left some money on the table for Willem-Jan and were getting ready to leave. ‘You want to come party with us? We have beer,’ one of Filippo’s friends asked Vera and Bianca. It wasn’t a difficult decision. ‘I think it’s smart to go where the beer is,’ said Bianca with a grin.