The List 21-25

Vacation, Mother Nature, Cat, No Time, Trouble Lurking

#21 Vacation

            The phone in the apartment rang. Pausing the movie, Rachel reached over and picked it up.

                “Hello?”

                “Hey Rachel.”

                “Hey Robbie. What’s going on little bro?”

                “Not much.” Robbie answered.

                “So tell me. What’s Vegas like?” she asked.

                Robbie paused for a moment.

                “Well, it’s a lot bigger than I had expected. And bright, everything is very bright here. The food’s amazing though.”

                “So the vacation’s going well then?”

                Again, Robbie paused, this time longer. Rachel suddenly felt uneasy.

                “That depends on your definition of well.”

                There was a long pause.

                “Rachel?” he asked, just to check if she had hung up on him.

                “What did you do!?” Rachel yelled.

                Robbie jumped back a bit.

                “I didn’t do anything.” He squeaked.

                “Don’t tell me that Robbie-“

                “But I didn’t-“

                “Then why are you calling me saying that it’s not going well-“

                “I never said it wasn’t-“

                “Robbie, you’re in Vegas-“

                “I realize I’m in Vegas-“

                “What did you do!?”

                “If you’d let me explain-“

                “Fine then!”

                “Fine!”

                Silence.

                “Explain.”

                “Things didn’t go as well as I had planned and-“

                “What happened?” Rachel snapped.

                “I could tell you id you’d quit interrupting me.”

                Rachel heard a new voice over the phone as if someone was standing next to her brother.

                “Come on kid, you have to hurry it up a little bit.”

                “Who is that?” Rachel asked. “What is that?”

                “That… that would be the cop.”

                “Cop?” she snapped. “What cop?”

                “The one that arrested me.”

                Rachel paused, taking several deep breaths.

                “How much did you lose?”

                “All of it.”

                “And the car?”

                “Gone.”

                Rachel sighed.

                “Why did you get arrested?”

                Robbie did not answer. He turned to face the cop and spoke softer.

                “What did I get arrested for?”

                “You don’t know?” Rachel asked.

                Robbie gave a nervous laugh.

                “I don’t remember.”

                Looking back, Robbie would always say that that time in Vegas was the greatest vacation ever.

 

 

#22 Mother Nature

            I was standing and facing the east, that I remember distinctly. Leaning on the set of swings we all had built, I was looking down the hill. The hill wasn’t exactly a hill; it was more of a slope that was next to the highway.

            Below, cars were racing along the dark asphalt. Sometimes I would hope they were all going somewhere of the utmost importance and that’s why they all drove so fast. As the years went by though, I realized it was silly to hope such things.

            On that particular evening, I was alone. When we were younger, we would all climb the slope together and swing. In the summers, we would sometimes play hide-and-seek in the trees. As we got older, we would have water gun and paintball fights up there too. But by that night, the rest of them were all gone. Two had made it to college and moved on; one had wound himself up in jail; the other left one day and never came back. So it was just me; me and the kid growing in my belly. I remember thinking how we had fallen apart; how it had come to this.

            Only about two stars were out by the time I was conscious to the sound of the rushing cars. I placed my hand on my stomach and felt my b*****d kick. We used to say that out swings was the dividing line between two worlds. One was the highway; the real world. But beyond those swings was a completely different world. We built out swings just on the edge of the slope. Our swings were also on the edge of a large wooded area with large trees, a small puddle-pond, and the occasional little fury creature running about.

            In front of me, I could hear the cars and their horns. From behind me, I could vaguely hear a frog at the puddle-pond and branches swaying in the breeze. We were right about the two different worlds. Down the slope and across the highway were places where we’d seen her for the last time before she left; where he had gotten arrested; where he told me he was leaving after I got pregnant.

            But beyond the swings, that was our escape. It was where we played; where we imagined; where we fell in love; where we were free.

            Turning around, I sat on one of the swings facing our sanctuary. The sun was setting behind the trees. I stayed there for most of the night trying to bring back the memory of our laughter.

 

 

#23 Cat

            “Tikki! Come here! Quickly!”

            Tikki ran down the stairs and found Asuka at the front door.

            “What? What’s the matter?”

            Asuka smiled. “I brought home a surprise.” She giggled.

            Tikki looked a bit annoyed, having had expected that something was wrong.

            Her smile growing, Asuka raised a kitten into Tikki’s face.

            “You have to be kidding me.”

            “Nope! Can I keep him?”

            “Sure.” Tikki said, smiling.

            “Really!?”

            “No.” Tikki’s smile vanished.

            Asuka began pouting as if she was going to cry.

            “But why!?” she cried loudly, still holding the small cat.

            “I don’t do cats.”

            “But-!”

            “My house, my rules.”

            Asuka started producing a considerable amount of crocodile tears. She brought the kitten closer to her and rubbed her cheek against its fur. Still pouting, she batted her eyes several times.

            “Don’t.” Tikki warned her.

            Asuka did not stop.

            “Asuka, seriously, don’t pull that cute thing with me.”

            As much as she wanted to, Tikki could not avert her eyes from Asuka’s overwhelming cuteness. The young girl’s eyes widened and the cat softly meowed. Tikki groaned.

            “Fine.” Tikki moaned, crossing her arms. “You can keep the cat-”

            “Weeeeeeeee!!!!” Asuka squealed.

            Before Tikki noticed, Asuka pushed the cat into her hands and ran off up the stairs. As Asuka ran about upstairs talking loudly to herself, Tikki stood staring blankly at the kitten in her hands. The cat began to purr.

            “Asuka?” she shouted.

            Asuka was far too preoccupied with trying to find suitable bedding for the kitten as well as picking out a name for him.

            Taking a deep breath, Tikki lifted the cat up to eye level.

            “All right cat, here’s the deal: Scratch up, get fur all over, and/or pee on, especially pee on, anything that belongs to me, and I’ll chop you up into tiny pieces and feed you to the mice. Understand?”

            The cat licked Tikki’s nose.

            “Aww, he likes you.” Asuka said, standing at the bottom of the stairs.

            “Shut up.” She replied, handing the cat off to Asuka.

            “I love you Tikki.” Asuka giggled.

            “Yeah, yeah.”

 

 

#24 No Time

            Louie and a few of her men walked through the camp, laughing.

            "Gentlemen, gentlemen," she laughed, "listen to me. There is no gain without loss, no love without pain, and no life without... Jacob?"

            Troy stopped and gave his lieutenant a confused glance.

            "Jacob?"

            Without another word, Louie sprinted off away from her men. She did not slow until she reached the moving truck.

            "Jacob!"

            The soldiers in the back of the truck turned to her. One of them quickly stood up and rushed to the back of the truck. He nearly tripped over the others on his way back.

            "Louie!" he yelled, ecstatic to see his older sister after so long.

            "I thought you were stationed in Iran." Louie said, jogging to keep up with the truck.

            "They're moving us."

            Louie took her brother's hand. The last time she had heard of Jacob was that he had been drafted and was stationed in Iran. That was over nine months ago. She had had little news from home, and received even less information about those she knew who were in the armed forces when this war started or who had been drafted.

            He looked different.

            "Have you heard anything from home?" she asked.

            "Emma was sent home." he answered.

            "Is she all right?"

            The truck started moving faster.

            "She's fine."

            "What about-?"

            "Hey, get away from the truck!" the driver yelled.

            Speeding up again, Louie flashed her stars at him.

            "Stop the truck!" she shouted.

            "Sorry Lieutenant, I'm on strict orders!" he yelled back, embarrassed from yelling at a superior officer. "These men were supposed to be out of here a half an hour ago."

            "Oh, come on." Louie groaned, banging her fists against the truck.

            The truck reached the edge of the camp.

            "Where are they shipping you?"

            "They're not saying."

            Jacob lost hold of his sister's hand as the truck sped up faster and turned onto the main road. Louie stumbled, running a few feet behind the truck.

            "I love you Louie!" Jacob shouted.

            For a brief, agonizing moment, Louie got the feeling that that would be the last thing she would ever hear her younger brother say.

            "I love you too!" she yelled, coming to a stop. She cupped her hands around her mouth. "Jacob, I love you too!"

 

 

#25 Trouble Lurking

            Dunbar stood by the car as Dogan and the others loaded the barley on it. Looking away for a moment, the man spotted someone trying to hide behind a nearby stack of barrels. It was early, not many people were awake yet. It was quiet save for the sounds of Dogan and his friends loading up the cart.

            Looking over at the barrels again, Dunbar was sure that it was not just his imagination. There was someone there, watching them. Dunbar felt someone tap his shoulder. Dogan stood beside his father, keeping silent. Dogan pointed toward a small alley beside one of the shops. some was there was well.

            Dunbar motioned his son to return to loading the barley. Dogan did as he was told. Scanning the village quickly, Dunbar concluded that it was just the two. From one of the shops close to the barrels, Dunbar saw Kenny walk out carrying a sack of potatoes. It was not until he saw Kenny that it made sense. He smiled as Kenny began walking over to him.

            "Attack!"

            The two figures emerged from their hiding places. One ran at Dunbar and the other at Kenny, both waving about small wooden swords. The one near the cart was caught first. Dogan fell at the wooden sword, but Dunbar successfully captured the small girl. He held her gently by the upper arms, laughing. The young boy would up being held by his legs upside down by Kenny. Holding this squirming boy, he walked over to Dunbar.

            "We've been captured Hood." the young boy sighed.

            "Never fear Robin, we shall be avenged!" his sister replied.

            Dunbar, Dogan, and Kenny burst into laughter.

            "Rook. Taigh. What are you two doing awake this early?" Dunbar laughed.

            "We heard mommy get up for penance this morning." Taigh said.

            "And then we followed Uncle Kenny to the shop." Rook added, still hanging upside down in his uncle's arms.

            "Causing trouble this early in the morning, huh?" Dogan asked, getting up from the ground.

            The two children grinned.

            "What do you expect?" Kenny snickered. "We're talking about Tikki's kids."

            "This is true."