All Around Me - Part 2 Chapter 1

[Oz]

This left me laughing in the best sort of way. It started with the "Im a comic book reader..." comment and continued to the end. This makes me so happy to read soemthing positive from you danoman. I really liked this one quite a bit.

[Dano]

Part Two - The Child Does Not Know The Rules Of The Game
Chapter One - The Body Needs Rest

I was sitting on the floor of our apartment, resting against the couch, listening to music. Crystal was in the kitchen, baking something or another. A lazy Sunday afternoon, nowhere to go, nothing to do.

We'd found a place on the top floor of a rental house. The guy downstairs was a local artist named Sonny Rollins. Now, if you can find me a white man from Omaha, NE with a cooler name, I'll eat my hat. He painted a lot, sculpted a little, and supported himself teaching at a community college over in Iowa. He was cool, in his mid-40s with a young daughter who came and stayed with him every other weekend.

The cd ended, and I was going to get up to change it. Crystal looked around the corner into the room.

"Hey, can we listen to something else? Or maybe go without for a while?"

I looked down at the small stack of discs I'd been playing all morning. I'd started out with some good, mellow piano music, good for lounging around eating breakfast and reading the paper. As the day had worn on, I'd been getting more and more energetic. Some rather frenetic Latin-tinged jazz from Dizzy Gillespie had been keeping us company for the last 52 minutes. In retrospect, I had kinda hogged the player all day.

"Sure, no prob. Anything in particular?"
"How about nothing? I'm sorry, but you know..."
"Yeah, that's cool. I've been bogarding it all day."

She smiled at me, understanding and appreciative. I gathered up the stack and walked into the kitchen. Setting them down on the table, I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her neck. She melted a little, and I could sense her smile.

"Stop it, I'm trying to cook."
"Stop me then." Moving my hands up and my kisses down.
"Thomas... don't make me..."
"Make you what?" Biting her ear.

Suddenly, she disengaged herself and turned around, smiling but obviously not in the mood. She pointed sharply towards the hallway.

"Out! You are hereby banned from the kitchen for the rest of the day. Go outside, get some air, go hang out with Sonny, I don't care, just get out. I'm trying to make some bread."

That was her new thing, baking. Hey, I'm an audiophile and comic book reader, who am I to judge someone's hobby?

Down the hall in the bedroom, I pulled on some socks and my boots and grabbed my coat.

"Honey, I'm going down to Bob's. Do you need anything?"
"No, thanks though."
"I love you."
"Love you too."

I switched off the light and headed out the door, down the stairs, and into the day.

[Dano]

The door-dinger went off as I passed through, signaling the barely-awake staff of Bob's Food Mart that some damn customer had arrived. Sunday mornings were a bad time for them, little if no business, but just enough that Bob made them work.

His son, Bobby, ran the place on the weekends, and as usual, was sitting in the booth watching football. An ardent Jets fan in a sea of Chiefs' loyalists, Bobby rarely heard the end of it, especially when the Jets had an off year.

"Hey Bobby."
Without looking up, "Hey Tom. Kinda late today, aren't you?"
"Nah, just too damn cold to go out this morning."
"I hear that."
"Got any good cheese?"
"What are you looking for?"
"Something nice, not stinky or anything. Crys is baking some bread, so I figured I'd get some cheese and wine and have a nice afternoon."
He looked up at me over the rims of his battered, taped-up glasses. "Man, you've got it good, you know that?"
"I do indeed my friend. I do indeed."
"I'm lucky if I can get Kathy in the kitchen at all. I end up cooking all the time."
"Can she cook?"
"Yeah, and that's the worst of it. She's a great cook, but never seems to have the energy."

I looked into the case at the cheeses. Nothing to write home about, but not bad either. I picked out some Camembert and a block of mild cheddar, a little of this, a little of that. A nice bottle of wine completed the picture, and Bobby came around to the register to ring me out.

Change in hand, groceries in bag, I headed out again into the cold afternoon. Across the street, a young black man stood in the doorway of the pharmacy. I'd seen him around, and he definitely wasn't American, judging by his accent. There had been a big influx of Sudanese into Omaha in the last year or so, for one reason or another. However, he didn't quite look right for that. Too light-skinned, and he had a slightly different facial structure. He actually looked a lot like a guy I used to work with from Nigeria, but younger.

He stood looking at me for a second, and then walked over to a car and got into the passenger door. In the driver's seat was a girl, dark-haired and skinned, very short, she could hardly look over the steering wheel. I guessed she was latina of some sort, considering the neighborhood.

I waited at the crosswalk for them to drive by, and they stared at me the whole time. It was creepy. I watched them as they drove down 10th street, but the went over the crest of a hill soon, and were out of sight. Mentally shrugging and shaking my head, I crossed the street and proceded home.

[Branflakes]

Very nice, Dano. I liked the way both of these flowed.

------------------
The original ninja lesbian milk getter.
Provider of BranMilk (STP exclusive).
The one called "brain" and "brandiflakes" and....
I'm tired of the silent majority. Silence equals death.
Life is what you make it.
Become beautiful on the inside and it will show on the outside.
<Need good quote here.>
You're going to have to deal with my ego at some point.

[Oz]

cool dano, more descriptions. i like the way that yorue familiarizing...

[Dano]

Sonny caught me on the way upstairs. He was standing in the doorway of his apartment, in old paint-spattered sweats and a Pere Ubu t-shirt. No shoes, as usual, and he was wearing sunglasses rather than his regular ones.

"Hey Tom, what's up?"
"Just down at Bob's. What's up with the shades?"
"Man, my fucking luck, right? I fell asleep watching TV last night, and they fell onto the floor. I get up this morning, CRUNCH."
"Damn, that sucks man."
"Tell me about it. Oh, hey, I was wondering, you wanna go down to Mr. Toad's tonight?"
I glanced up the stairway. "Well, I'll tell you, I don't know. I think me and Crys may stay in tonight. But, I'll let you know."
"Right on. Give me a call."

I bounded up the stairs, smelling the bread the whole way. I suddenly realized that maybe I should have gotten some good butter along with everything else. Oh well, nothing to be done now.

Crys was laying on the couch, her arm thrown over her eyes, probably asleep. I went into the kitchen, surrounded by the lovely scent of fresh bread. A note was taped to the cabinets over the counter where the bread cooled. "Don't even think about it. Death will be too good for you."

I put the groceries away and slid down to the bedroom, depositing my boots and coat onto the bed and sitting on the floor. I reached under the bed and pulled out a box. I had kept this stuff, even though I didn't feel I had much use for it anymore. It took me a minute to work up the strength to open it, and when I did, a wave of memories washed over me. One by one I looked over the articles, flipping through the pages of the books, tightening up the loose cassette tapes. Running my hands over photos of people who seemed so far away and yet right there.

The phone rang.

[*Leo the Lioness*]

oh yeah, i can see this isnt a board for feedback..........uh huh

[Oz]

good cliffhanger!

is this where it gets weird??

[Dano]

I ran into the other room to get the phone before it bothered Crystal too much. Grabbing it off the kitchen wall on the third ring, I was only mostly successful. She was sitting upright on the couch, blearily looking my way.

"mumblemumble is it?"
"I got it, go back to sleep."
"mumble the bread mumble kick your ass."
"Yes dear." Into the reciever, "Hello?"
**click**

Sighing, I replaced the reciever and walked around to sit on the floor in front of my girl. Laying my face down in front of hers and stroking her hair, she smiled.

"Will you marry me?"
"Sure."
"I'm serious."
"I know."
"This is not impulse talking."
She opened her eyes. "Thomas, I know. Stop worrying about it. I'm Piglet, remember? You're Pooh. I'll do the worrying, you do the..."
"Pooh-ing?" I offered.
"Yes, exactly, as long as you spray air cleaner when you're done."
I leaned in for a kiss. "Yes'm"

The phone rang again. I hopped up to get it, but she held onto my hand and tried to pull me back down. Instead, I pulled her over the top of the couch, me laughing and her swearing the whole way. She wrapped her arms around my leg, so I drug her into the kitchen with me. I picked it up and laughed a hello while Crystal clawed at me.

"Thomas? Why did I need to get your phone number from your brother?"

It was my mom.

[Chilimuffin]

::cues ominous music:: dum-da-duuuum!!!

good schtuff kiddo. as always.