| Sunday, May 20, 2006 Pulling the Pieces Apart The Gathering---"Home" MoTW---"Jarhead" As I walked away mumbling every expletive I could think of, my brother opened his window again and called me back over. "Do you really want to come in? It would suck that you'd have to stay outside." I was suddenly on the verge of tears at my brother's newfound kindness. "Yes," I said as meekly as possible. "You'll let me keep the monkey? You'll never mention the monkey again? You'll pretend as if the monkey never existed? "Yes." "Say it. Say 'you can keep the monkey which has never existed'. Say it!" "You can keep the monkey which has never existed, oh grand exalted brother of mine," I said, throwing in the last part just for good measure. "You're sure now?" "Yes." He held up a mini-recorder. "You can't renege on that monkey thing now since I have it on tape." That confuses me now since I don't know what he could have used the tape for. Who would have cared that I denied the existence of a monkey? However, back then it was a big deal for some reason and I was impressed by his bargaining skills and his ability, once again, to score one for his side. "That's fine. The monkey's yours. Don't know why I wanted a stupid monkey anyway." "Excellent. You've made a wise choice." "Great, You win, I lose. Now let me in!" "And risk the wrath on mom and dad? Are you crazy?" "But you said you would!" "Yeah sure, but you better leave or I'll have to call the cops, say there's a prowler or something. Gotta go, my monkey's calling for me." The window was again closed and I was left stranded. Feeling tired, I went to the backyard and found a cozy place to lay down near the compost pile. Soon I fell asleep as the bugs marched my way to have their day and way with me. I woke up some hours later covered with beetles, ants, spiders, worms and salamanders but felt good since the sun was out and I would probably be allowed access to the house. After I brushed off as many of the critters as possible, I went to the front of the house, saw the garage was open, put my bike in its proper place and entered the house. When I got to the kitchen, I saw my daily bowl of Special K waiting for me. No welcome home meal, just a bowl of tasteless cereal which I sat down and ate since I was a bit hungry. When I was done I went up to my room and found the doorknob had been reversed with the lock now on the outside of the door, an obvious message from my parents. COMING NEXT: What the message was |
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