I think Thomas should pull the extra pastries (lazy good-fer-nuthin' early-leavin' why I oughtta... <grumble>).
Good transitional chapter. I like Doug already. Am I correct in assuming he and Thomas are brothers?
take care
---jones
I was at work, putting together some catering orders, when I got a phone call. My hands covered in pineapple and honeydew juice, I washed the fragrant nectar off and grabbed the phone.
"This is Tom, can I help you?"
"Bite me, big boy!"
"Hey Doug, what's up?"
"Nothing, you busy?"
I looked over at the diminishing pile of invoices and my employees diligently preparing various meals. I had wanted to take off a bit early, and this might be my ticket out.
"You off already?"
"Didn't work today. Kay and I were wondering if you wanted to get dinner."
"Where we going?"
"What sounds good?"
"Actually, I'm in the mood for Chinese."
Doug covered the phone and asked Kay about that. I knew she'd like that, since we were regulars at several places in town.
"Yeah, she said China Palace."
"Tell him to bring that book!"
"Make sure you bring that book."
"What book?"
"What book? Kay... Kay! Tom says what book?"
"That one, the one he was showing me last time."
"That one you were showing her before."
"Oh, the Reiki one?"
"The Reiki one Kay?"
"Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding!"
I pictured Kay in her patented pose of finger on her nose dinging like a game-show bell. I wondered if the evening would entail large amounts of libation, considering the good mood that already seemed to flow out of the reciever. Looks like I better prepare to drive them home now.
"Well, I'm off tomorrow, so whatever sounds good to you guys sounds good to me."
"Cool. Let's meet at China Palace and figure it out from there."
"Right on, I'm going to head home and take a shower first, I'll see you around 8 or so, cool?"
"Cool, later skater."
"Make sure you bring that book!"
"Kay says to make sure..."
"Got it."
"...you bring that book. Ok, 8 at China Palace."
I hung up and looked at the clock. Time to finish up here and head home quick before 8. And since Doug and Kay had no concept of time, I could afford to stop at the comic shop on my way down there. Occasionally, it was nice to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they would most definitely not be on time.
"Steve!"
"Yeah?"
"You and Joyce can finish the rest of these orders. I'm going to finish what I'm doing and sneak out early."
"Ok."
"And make sure you pull extra pastries, we've got that big order tomorrow morning."
"Got it."
I think Thomas should pull the extra pastries (lazy good-fer-nuthin' early-leavin' why I oughtta... <grumble>).
Good transitional chapter. I like Doug already. Am I correct in assuming he and Thomas are brothers?
take care
---jones
Wow, good insight jones. I didnt even think of that. But Dano says no... Damn, that would have been cool. Well Dano, what can I say? Once again you amaze me. I like the transition, but I am hoping that you're not just gonna leave us hanging on the Crystal issue. I feel there are "unresolved issues" there. More to come?
------------------
"What about him? What are you doing with him?"
"What you should be doing with me..."
Proud family member of Jelymo, gollum, Kelly, Dano, Jaxom27, 5Cats, Fenix and others.
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
Arch-nemesis of Tea Woman
What you doubting Dano? Don't you see, he showing us more of Dano's world. It's somewhat like a couple of days after the talk with Crystal. You know, life goes on until he talks to her and makes his decision about helping her more. It's like a day in the life thing of sorts.
I'm sure he will have more
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"I've had to spend the majority of my life vigilant against the thoughts and emotions of others pentrating my mind. But just this once, as the psychic dam begins to burst, I dont try to stop it... because the only emotion that comes crashing through the breakwall...
is hope.
It washes over everyone. Infectious... growing in strength...
Connecting us... uniting us... until suddenly...
strangers dont seem so strange anymore."
Jean Grey- X Men # 71
PROUD SLAVEBOY OF JELYMO
Enter Daredevil at Hero Realm
Keep'em coming......
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Branflakes, the ninja lesbian milk getter bunny protecting flirt.
The one called "brain" and "brandiflakes" and....
I'm tired of the silent majority. Silence equals death.
Life is what you make it.
"I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality"-Savage Garden
You're going to have to deal with my ego at some point.
A dark, black ray of sunshine.
"So when are you going to quit screwing around and grow up?"
I smiled and took a bite of my food, allowing Doug to sit there staring at me for a second. I looked back up and made a show of chewing thoughtfully, finally swallowing and pointing at him.
"Well, if by 'grow up' you mean give up the relative ease of my life now and go down the path that you've chosen, it probably won't happen soon."
"I don't get it man, you're 26 years old, still working crappy hours in a deli, and you have no desire to better yourself."
"I better myself every day."
"You know what I mean. I'm talking about giving up on this hippie garbage and moving on with your life."
"Dude, you and I just are on different paths, I don't hassle you about yours."
He sighed and sat back, glaring at his food. Next to him, Kay was leafing through my reiki book. She had expressed interest in it after I had become a Master, and had asked to borrow it. I was only too happy to oblige. Doug, I'm sure, had other thoughts on the subject.
"What I'm saying is that you keep going to school, but you don't have a declared major and don't plan on having one."
"Right."
"Why not?"
"What's wrong with just learning things for the sake of learning? Why does there have to be a goal other than expansion of knowledge?"
I could see Kay next to him, nodding. I smiled and took another bite, washing it down with water. The waitress came by and Doug got another beer, and Kay asked for a refill on her soda. I looked up at the landscape painting above me, with Chinese script on it off to the side, a poem of some sort.
"Hey, we going downstairs after we eat?"
Kay loved the bar downstairs, the Tikki Lounge. Huge, fruity drinks, full of rum and fun. She could get roaring drunk on one, and rarely stopped at one. Doug didn't like it as much, but he was moody anyway, and once in a while he'd surprise us. Of course, I'd be driving home.
"Sure. Maybe we can do some karaoke?"
"No."
"Oh come on honey, it'll be fun!"
Kay sat there, bouncing in her seat and smiling ear to ear. She and I spent the next few minutes serenading Doug with various songs until Doug broke down and smiled.
"All right, I'll go, but I'm not singing."
Kay was on stage singing 'Fernando', almost totally passably immitating ABBA. She would occasionally look away from the screen and peer over at the booth where Doug and I were sitting, and I'd clap and yell while Doug merely smiled.
"Dude, that's your wife, show some support."
"I'm being supportive."
"You're just sitting there."
"I don't like this shit, you know that."
"Still, she does, and you should at least pretend. This is fun! Remember fun?"
He looked away and took a swig from his bottle. He had gotten increasingly moody in the last few months.
"Is the job that hard?"
He looked back over at me and then up at Kay on stage. He was stony, but I knew him well enough to know he felt trapped. He was never the corporate type at all, pretty anti-authority when I first met him. Long hair, punk rock, artsy-fartsy attitude, but slowly but surely it had drained away.
"No, the job's easy, but it's the whole corporate bullshit. I don't know, I feel like I sold out."
Finally! He was talking to someone. Kay had taken me aside earlier and told me that he was getting impossible to talk to. We all figured that, but if he wasn't even talking to her...
"You didn't exactly sell out, you just.."
"No, I did. I dropped out of school, cut my hair, and took the job with the most money. That's what I did."
"It's not that bad, it's what you thought you had to do."
"I want out."
"Then get out."
Kay sat down after her song was over and kissed Doug's shoulder. She grabbed her drink and took a long pull.
"So what are we talking about?"
*Anxiously awaiting more* I really like the interaction. I hope we learn some more about Doug.
------------------
"What about him? What are you doing with him?"
"What you should be doing with me..."
Proud family member of Jelymo, gollum, Kelly, Dano, Jaxom27, 5Cats, Fenix and others.
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
"Om Namaha Shivaya." ~ Dano
A nice new chapter Dano, thanks for putting it up. I like the fact that he is drinking a beer (bitter), she is drinking a soda (sweet) and you are drinking water (you). I dont know if you planned it that way or if those professors of mine that we've talked about have gotten to me, but I really saw some symbolism there. I like the way that you and Doug are opposites, played as foils. I see good things coming! Keep it up...
------------------
"What about him? What are you doing with him?"
"What you should be doing with me..."
Proud family member of Jelymo, gollum, Kelly, Dano, Jaxom27, 5Cats, Fenix and others.
I believe you can't appreciate real love until you've been burned
"Om Namaha Shivaya." ~ Dano
still reading.
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Branflakes, the ninja lesbian milk getter bunny protecting flirt.
The one called "brain" and "brandiflakes" and....
I'm tired of the silent majority. Silence equals death.
Life is what you make it.
"I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality"-Savage Garden
You're going to have to deal with my ego at some point.
God never gives us more than we can handle. We just don't always know that.
A dark, black ray of sunshine.
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