Boys Will Be...

Deb grunted and let out a muffled curse as she had to shove her shoulder into Rob's door a few times to get it open. She hated that door.

"Robbie? It's Deb." Though saying it was her was probably unnecessary, it was borne out of habit. Though she'd never say it to him, she hoped for the day where separate apartments wouldn't even be necessary. But. She shrugged to herself. "Rob?" She turned into the kitchen and stopped short. The kitchen table was strewn with small sticks of plastic. "What the hell?"

"Hey Deb! I discovered something!"

"What, a previously untapped vein of plastic toothpicks in the cupboard?"

"Cute. No, this morning I ended up absorbing part of my keyboard."

"You what?"

"No, it's okay!"

"How the hell is that okay?"

Rob gestured to the toothpicks on the table. it took a moment to click but, "Holy... you...?"

He grinned and nodded. He looked for all the world like a kid with a new toy. "How?"

He shrugged, his smile not dimming. "Dunno, don't care. Watch, I think this will be all the plastic." He held up his index finger and slowly, the tip sharpened and lengthened, all the while, the shiny color fading from his finger. Soon, sure enough, he had a plastic toothpick sticking out of his finger. With a sharp tug, he pulled it off and tossed it to the table. It clattered among the others. "Crazy, huh?"

"That's one word for it. How did you figure how to do that?"

He thought for a second. "As stupid as this sounds, I got some roast beef stuck in my teeth and really wanted a toothpick." He shrugged.

"That's lame, Rob. You know that right?"

"Maybe. It's still cool." He sounded slightly defensive.

Deb rolled her eyes and came up next to him. She picked up one of the sticks and examined it. "Sure does look like a toothpick. Odd. From keyboard keys to toothpicks?"

"Yeah, I know. I haven't tried with my right arm yet. Larry drove me to the hospital after it happened. Marqea was rather insistent that I basically bend over to whoever caused this." He sighed, the frustration evident. Deb's heart went out to him, as it always did.

"What are you going to do?"

"I honestly don't know. I have to do something though. At least I don't feel like I'm in danger of losing myself anymore."

"Oh Robbie, why didn't you tell me you felt that way?"

He waved her concern away. "Didn't want to worry you."

She socked him in the shoulder, "Dumbass. I'm your friend. I worry regardless, just like you would." She slugged him again for good measure.

"You done, Rocky?" She made a face at him. "I appreciate it. I do, but this kinda blew my mind. And now, well..."

"Blown again?"

"Oh yeah," he blew out a sigh.

She sat down and looked up at him. "Sit." He did. "Rob, just take deep breaths. We'll get through this."

He nodded. "Yeah. I know we will, Deb. I know we will."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We lost one of our cats today.

Her name was Tami. She was 21 years old. She got her name because of the markings on her face. She looked like she had tons of make-up on, so we named her Tami after the then-household name Tammy-Faye Baker. She had a good run. We loved her very much. Scratch that. We LOVE her very much. She could barely move anymore and she wasn't eating or drinking. We didn't want to do it, but if we didn't put her down, she could have lingered, and none of us would have been able to stand seeing her that way. Anyone who has had to put a beloved pet down knows how we feel right now. It doesn't matter that we have others, it doesn't matter that she "was just a cat." She was, and still is, a big part of our family. I was eleven when we got her, and it is going to be very hard to know she won't be complaining at us for more ice in her water, or for filling her bowls, or any number of other things that we will remember her for. She will be missed. I don't know if I&#
Read more

Investigations

Cynthia looked over the top of the paper she was reading and glanced at her friend. The normally tall Hitomi was slouched down in the chair across from her, the stack of newspapers she took ignored in front of her. They were in Atlanta, looking into a bunch of strange robberies in the area. They grabbed as many different newspapers as they could, though they haven’t found much. Her friend, however had abandoned the search ad was staring into space. “I think I’m supposed to be the quiet one, Omi. You’re upsetting the universal balance.” Hitomi jumped slightly, and looked back at her blankly. A few slow blinks later, “What?” The paper hid the smile that threatened to break CJ’s normally impassive expression, and she watched her friend come back from wherever she was. Most likely, Alana was there with her. “You’ve been staring into space for the last hour. These papers aren’t going to read themselves, you know.” The obvious amusement in her voice made Hitomi raise an eyebrow. “Yeah.” She
Read more

You don't tug on Superman's cape...

        As a comic fan who’s had almost 20 years to mature into the hobby, I’ve learned to take other people’s opinions in stride. After all, I can like something that you hate and vice versa. There’s one thing, though that always get me: Superman is a lame, boring character.         You don’t get to say that. Superman is the first hero, the one to whom the kids putting their underoos on outside of their pants for the first time look up to. He’s been continually published since the late ‘30’s for a reason. He’s an icon. Period.         Normally, you can have your opinion, but you can’t just declare a character “lame” just because YOU don’t like him. You gotta remember that every character is someone’s favorite. I’m pretty laid back on that respect, but... Superman? Really? I’d sooner blame the writer for not writing the character well enough, and *I* am a writer, amateur that I am.         You say he’s boring? Why, because he’s so powerful? Hardly. Some of the best stories I’ve read de
Read more