"I'm Click...and I'm Clak...and together we're the Tappet Brothers and we thank you for joining us....." Was all that Raymond heard as the Pinto spit oil in his face.
"Thats it...I've had enough of this" Raymond thought as the NPR affiliate began its fund raising telathon. He slid out from under the car, got up and quickly yanked the radio's power cord out from the wall.
He then went on to shake his head wildly to get the oil out but then noticed that another sound had now filled the garage as his stomach emitted a ferocious growl.
"If I hadn't been so rushed this morning then I wouldn't be so hungry!"
Technically the end of car talk did signal the noon hour and therefore his lunch time but he rarely took that luxury as it required him to rub elbows with all the other people out for lunch.
Today he decided that maybe lunch was a good idea after all and sat down on the back bumper of the Pinto to think about what to do.
CRACK
The Pinto's bumper came lose on the end that Ray had his weight on and he fell to the floor.
"Gaul Darnit!!! wouldnt ya know!" he yelled loudly. The work on the Pinto had been fruitless so far and Leo had recently began bugging him to get it done with and now it was falling apart again.
He got on his feet and gave the Pinto a good look at, and then kicked in the other side of the bumper causing it to clang against the cement of the floor.
"Might as well give that new kid a clean slate to work with" He thought and a smirk came across his face. Might as well throw the new guy some of his work as he now had that Henry guy's car to fix.
Now what to eat? He pondered this question as he wandered out of the garage and down the street. He thought about the Diner but decided that he would much rather like to make his own meal at home. He was quite good at cooking as the death of his mother left him to often make his own meals.
He'd had Mac and Cheese last night and decided that he would like to have something a bit more complex for today's menu and then he saw the root shop, well the "Emporium" to be exact.
"Roots eh?" He thought as he looked into the new shop. There was an OPEN sign so he decided to enter.
He was immediately greated by an eager salesman type " Hello, Im Roots, welcome to ROOTS' EDIBLE HERB EMPORIUM, how can I help you on your journey today?"
There was nothing Ray hated more in the world than the overzealous salesman but because he was so interested in these roots he forced himself to stay.
"Um, yeah, can you show me some roots, I'm looking to make a quick soup, nothing all that complicated or expensive, just something that tastes good." Ray said to the man who called himself Roots.
"Sure, how about some Arracacha, that should work" said Roots as he motioned to a large Bin in the corner of the store.
"Yea um, just what I was thinking of, give me a few will ya?" Ray said as he pulled out his wallet. "How much I owe ya?"......
Ray payed his bill and trotted home to make a quick stew with the roots and get back to work. The nice thing about Leo is his long naps that allowed for extensive breaks from work, and today that break would let him fully enjoy his soup.
"How Am I supposed to make this?"
"What will this taste like?"
"Am I going to be Allergic?"
All of these worries ran throught his mind as he lit up the burner.....
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All she could see was one of his pastel eyes, the striaght line of his nose, and his small thinly crafted lips as they approached the foaming glass. She watched as he considered drinking and then as he set it down looking disgusted with the idea of beer. Night after night she had wandered into the dingy wretched bar with no other intent than to watch this curious man, who seemed to do nothing but suffer. Alana could not understand why, she had seen the younger woman glide up to his shoulder whisper something and then saunter away, a deep twinge of jealousy washed over her and then disappeared. In a moment of desperate desire she stalked out of the decrepit bar and meandered towards her own apartment building with her head down and her arms crossed.
Alana swept past a man older than herself yet not considered old, maybe middle-aged. As she moved past him she slowed dwn to what seemed like a crawl, she didn't generally see people when she returned at three or four in the morning. Their eyes connected and the five seconds they spent passing eachother lagged on for an enternity. One of his rough mechanic oil stained hands glanced her arm and she jumped away from him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you." He reached out to her and then swiftly drew his hand back.
"No.. I..I don't know.. know why I jumped. Please, forgive me." She stammered, eyes cast down twisting her foot on the cheap tile.
"Name my.. I mean my name..," he blushed a deep crimson, "My name is Raymond."
Alana lifted her head and stared this scared man in the eyes, the frankness of her gesture made him glance away.
"My name is Alana." her thick middle-eastern accent coated her words, "It's nice to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too," his words tumbled out of his mouth and he seemed to want to drag them back. Alana smiled and turned away, leaving Raymond slightly dumb-founded at his momentary extrovertedness.
Next Day:
The early morning sun poured into her small room as she lifed her sleep leaden eyes. She stretched her lithe body and arched her back like a cat. Alana rolled out of bed and let her brown bare feet rest on the frigid floor before she walked to her batheroom. Cold water splashed into the bottom of the shower. She stuck her hand in and then jerked it out, realizing she had not turned on the hot water. The handle squeaked as she turned it and the water tank began to whine.
She stepped out of the shower into the freezing bathroom and wrapped herself in a towel. She made a quick egg and then walked out of her apartment. The hall was deserted as it usually was at eight in the morning, but the foryer was bustling with people, if one would call four people bustling. The runners were up as always leaving or returning but never noticing anyone else, they were caught in their own world just as Alana was caught in hers. She breezed through part of the town without noticing anyone or anything. Everyone was a blur that suddenly slowed to a crawl when they passed her, all of them seemed to lock eyes with her, but it never made her uncomfortable or scared. She slipped into the community garden and closed the gate. Alana removed her shoes and her jacket and dropped them on the dark earth near the entrance. She skipped over to the swing and plopped herself down on it. This was the only truely enjoyable part of her day, swinging on the garden swing like she saw the children doing later in the afternoon. The wind whipped through her thick hair and wrapped itself around her skin. She swung high enough to see over the ivy covered fence, and for a brief second she saw the familiar frame of a man she felt she knew but had never talked to. Her heart faltered and a squeak leaped from her throat as her foot caught the ground and she was launched onto the ground. As she gathered herself, the door swung open and blue alarmed eyes stared at her.
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