Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 00:59:20 EST
From: DefJamMariah85@aol.com
Subject: When Souls Fly Free chpt 6

*note to readers* "~~~~~~~~~~~~" represents a change in time and place
in the story

Morning crept into Marcus's room as the sweet smell of honeysuckle drifted
through the air and awoke his senses. He lifted himself out of bed and
yawned, stretching his arms as wide as he could. He quickly remembered the
events of last night and felt a rush of freshness run through him, but then
it stopped when the reality of the situation of Terells' mother set in. The
sound of a banjo playing downstairs caught his attention. He threw on a
shirt and jean shorts and trotted downstairs. He caught the sight of his
father on the living room couch playing an old familiar country song he'd
played for the family often.

"Mornin dad" he said as he made his way over to the couch and
sat next to his dad.

"Good morning son...u remember this ole thing right?" his father
asked with that warm smile.

"I sure do, you used to play that thing all the time
when I was a kid" Marcus said laughing as his father
continued to pluck the strings, he had always been
a banjo player as young man and carried his love for it
on to his family and provided many nights of entertainment
for the Grenier household. He listened intently for a few
moments remembering old times. Then he listened to the
growling of his stomach telling him it was time for breakfast
and headed towards the kitchen.

"Where's mom this morning?" Marcus asked.

"Where else?...in the garden" Mr. Grenier replied.

"I should've known" Marcus said giggling to himself as
he sat down at the kitchen table and made himself a bowl of cereal.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Grenier eagerly worked away in her rose garden, she stood
up for a moment to stretch her back and happen to see Mrs. Jackson
stepping out of her car about to unload groceries, she grabbed a few
bags, shut the car door and turned around to head for her front door
while noticing Mrs. Grenier glancing at her. Mrs. Grenier waved at her
with pruning shears still in her left hand.

"Good morning Mrs. Jackson!"

A shot of mixed feelings hit Mrs. Jackson for a split second.
She waved back but not a word of greeting came from her mouth.
She opened the front door with bags in hand and set them on
the kitchen table. A feeling of slight guilt crossed her mind,
Mrs. Grenier still greeted her with respect even after the way
she had no cause to speak to her the way she did. Mrs. Jackson
paused for a moment, then turned around and headed outside.
Mrs. Grenier stopped and looked up as she heard Mrs. Jackson's
footsteps.

"Mrs. Grenier?" asked Mrs. Jackson

"Yes?...can I help you?"

Mrs. Jackson paused for a moment again wringing her hands a bit
as she stuggled with words she wanted to say.

"I just wanted to come over and..uh apologize for the way I
spoke to you the other day..but I still have my views..". Mrs Jackson sheepishly stated. Before Mrs. Grenier could reply, the side screen door
that opened to the garden opened with Marcus jogging over to greet his
mother hello, the smile on his face half faded when he caught the
sight of Mrs. Jackson standing by his mother.

"Good morning mama!... morning Mrs. Jackson" Marcus said as he looked
on somewhat disappointingly at their neighbor.

"Mornin sweetie" Mrs. Grenier replied kissing Marcus on the
cheek and a bit bewildered at the confusion of the three of them
awkwardly meeting in these circumstances.

"Well, I think all of us have a few things to straighten out"
Mrs. Jackson said.

"I think you owe an apology to my son" said Mrs. Grenier
Assertively.

".........Yes I do..."Mrs. Jackson reluctantly replied she couldn't
believe what she was about to say next." Marcus, I'd like to
apologize for the way I acted to you the other day, it was
extremely hurtful and I am sorry". Mrs. Jackson stood there
frozen

Marcus thought about this for a few seconds pondering.
"I just want to hang out with Terell that's all". He said being
careful to pepper the truth about him and Terell "And I didn't
appreciate the comments you made one bit but I'm willing to
forgive". A look of relief/guilt came over Mrs. Jacksons face.

"Yes, let's start over if that's alright with you all" Mrs. Jackson
said hesitantly while her stubborn old "views" invisibly hammered her
in the back of her head silently telling her to go the opposite way.
"Marcus, you are welcome over at our house any time".

"Well..as you can see I've got a lot of work to do" Mrs. Grenier quickly
interjected, ending the situation as fast as possible.

"Oh, yes..forgive me...I'll let you get back to what you were
doing, I've got some work as well, I ummm..well..have a good day"
Mrs. Jackson stammered as she waved and headed for her car.

"Well, at least she apologized" Marcus said.

"I suppose she's alright I guess, but there's still something
missing about her there....I dunno, oh well back to mah roses". Mrs Grenier
bent over to reach a dead rose bud that remained at the bottom of the bush.
she almost removed the dead flower when suddenly her eyes noticed a small
white sack that was slightly transparent revealing the faint outlines
of butterfly wings...it was a cocoon.

"Marcus!, come down here and look at this!" Mrs. Grenier shouted

"What is it?" he asked as he joined his mother on the ground.

"Does that look like a butterfly cocoon to you?!" Mrs. Grenier exclaimed
with  delight.

"It sure does...wow..that's strange..you usually don't see these on
rosebushes right?" Marcus curiously asked.

"Nope, sure don't" Mrs. Grenier replied..baffled with magic in her
eyes, her old wonder of nature captivating her. " I guess sometimes
mother nature decides to change her mind every once in a while" she said
with a grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*At the Johnson household later that night*

Terell was comfortably sitting on the living room couch with
Michelle playing a game of monopoly.

"Sugar and spice and everything, now it's your turn to
roll the dice!" Michelle happily said pointing at Terell.

"Why yes it is!" Terell said smiling as he picked up the dice
And rolled a 6, landing him on one of Michelle's properties, which
of she of course had about 3 houses on. "Sheesh miss thing, you're
gonna make me broke with all them houses you got!" Terell joked,
doing his best to entertain. Michelle laughed.

"Cough it up mister hee hee" she exclaimed.

Terell barely had enough fake Monopoly money to pay her, he handed her
the money as he heard the Johnson's grandfather clock hit 7:45pm.

"Ok, 15 more minutes and it's bedtime ok?" Terell said.

"Aww man!......well......mmmkay" Michelle said as she pocketed Terells'
rent money and rolled her turn. The fifteen minutes rolled by
and Terell managed to tuck Michelle into bed easily for once.
he waited and watched TV till the Johnsons came home from the
movies, they paid him and he wait some more for Marcus's friend
Jesse from the grocery store to give him a ride home. The sound of
her car came rolling up the sidewalk as Terell stood up and gathered
his things.

"Thanks, Terell and have a good night" Mrs. Johnson said.

"Goodnight Mrs. Johnson" Terell stepped out their front
door and saw Jesse's familiar figure in the drivers seat behind
the windshield along with someone else in the passenger seat.

"Who the hell is that?" Terell thought to himself
as he approached the car. He reached the back side door and slipped
into the backseat.

"Hey Terell!"

Terell was happily surprised to see that Marcus was the one
next to Jesse, not to mention the one saying hi to him. "Damn that boy is sneaky" Terell thought to himself. Jesse pulled the car away from the curb
and began to drive away.

"Jesse you didn't tell me Marcus was coming!" Terell said jokingly
as he winked at her.

"Yeah we'll this bum was practically begging me to let him
come for the ride" Jesse replied just as witty.

"I was not!!" Marcus rebutted poking Jesse's arm as all three of them
laughed on the way home. Marcus decided it was ok to break the news to him
about his mom apologizing earlier, Terell's jaw nearly dropping to the floor board of the car in disbelief in the process.
"Well...in light off all that...ya wanna come over to my house for a while
tonight?" Marcus asked hoping he'd say yes. Jesse..being Marcus's friend
since childhood...sensed what was going on but smiled to herself and decided
to lay it on Marcus later in her usual witty way.

"Sure" Terell said without missing a beat.

Jesse's car parked in front of the Grenier residence. Marcus and Terell
Hopped out of their seats and made their way around towards the driver window.

"Thanks, for the ride Jess" Marcus said leaning forward to
give Jesse a friendly kiss on the cheek.

"Yes, thank you I really appreciate it" Terell chimed. Jesse looked
at them with a "I know you guys are doing it" look.

"No prob, later guys" Jesse said as she turned and headed down the
street. Marcus invited Terell inside and introduced him to his parents.

"Well Terell it's nice to finally meet you" Mr Grenier said shaking his
hand.

"I'm so sorry about what happened the other day" Mrs. Grenier
Added.

"Oh it's alright, my mom doesn't know what she says sometimes but I'm
glad it all worked out" Terell said smiling while secretly running his
hand up the back of Marcus's back leg and pinching his ass playfully,
making Marcus jump and embarrassing him. His parents looking on
in confusion....

"Oooh..hehe..I think I caught a draft somewhere hehe..." Marcus
saved himself.

"Marcus, its summer time, how can you be cold?" Mr. Grenier
Asked on suspiciously." Oh well, must be a door open somewhere.."

"Well Terell and I are gonna go up stairs for a while"

"Alright then you boys have a good night then" Mrs. Grenier
said as her and Mr. Grenier headed for the front porch to enjoy
The warm summer night air.

Marcus showed Terell the way to his room as they headed upstairs.
Terell was excited to finally be there but his sentiment was cut short
by Marcus stopping and shooting  him a weird look.

"What?" Terell said..with a devilish grin.

"You KNOW what mister, what was pinching my ass down there
all about, you scared the crap out of me in front of my parents!"
Marcus exclaimed.

"Oh I dunno" Terell replied with the same sexy grin."Wow..these
all your photos?"

"Yup..ya like em?"

"Yeah man!" Terell said gazing at the gallery of professional
photos Marcus had taken, both in color and black and white. "It's like
they just come to life when you look at em". Marcus was really
flattered by Terell compliment.

"You're just sayin that.." Marcus replied with a wink.

"Naw man, I really mean it...you're talented" Terell said as he
continued to look at the photos. "All I do is play football, I'm
just a dumb jock.."

"Why do you say that?....you're not dumb, you like football
so why shouldn't you play it?" Marcus stated.

"Yeah...it's just that everyone automatically thinks I'm this
macho-meat head dumb guy cause I play football" Terell said
dejectedly" I'm so tired of it"

"Well, I don't believe a word of it and neither should you.."
Marcus exclaimed caringly.

"You're right babe, thanks" Terell said with a slight tear in his
eye.

"Well, just make yourself at home, kick off your shoes, my house is you're house ok?". Marcus said removing his shirt and tossing it into the
laundry hamper. Terell proceeded to remove his shoes and lie on Marcus's
bed, with Marcus joining him. They both layed together and talked for a while
enjoying the precious moments of being young.

"Ya know" Terell said "You really know how to capture someone's
spirit in your pics" gazing at his walls.

"Maybe I could capture yours........." Marcus lovingly said as he rolled on
top of Terell and began to passionately kiss him. Terell accepted Marcus's
outpour of affection and wrapped his arms around Marcus's porcelain
complexioned body for a few moments and then gently whispered into
his ear......

" You already have..."

***Ok guys, how was it?......hit me up at DefJamMariah85@aol.com!***