Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2002 22:29:47 -0400 From: Jeff Wilson Subject: W.A.R. Chapter 9 Your word of warning: Many people who read this story have been known to randomly try to run over small rodents after reading it. If this has happened to you, please contact your phsyician immediately! Also, the author claims no responsibility if a lizard tries to attack you. Enjoy. W.A.R. Part One: Black Summer Chapter Nine -- One Minute by Jeff Wilson The alarm clock is not my friend. I hate to wake up early, especially in the summer. So when that alarm clock went off at 7:00 in the morning, I was not happy. Unfortunately, I didn't have a choice in the matter. My mom would be going on a trip at 8:30. If I didn't get over to my grandma's house, she would come to get my lazy butt out of bed. The last time she did that started one of the worst days of my life. I kicked off my covers and sat there on my bed for a while. It stunk that I could only sleep on my back. I usually slept on my side. But with my cracked orbital bone, I couldn't do that. It was uncomfortable to sleep that way. I turned off the alarm clock and sat up on my bed. I stretched my arms and yawned. I scratched my bare chest and pulled myself up off the bed. I walked to my dresser and pulled out some shorts, a shirt for the day, and some clean socks and undies. I carried them with me to the bathroom. Once there, I stripped off my shorts, used the toilet, then took a shower. After the shower, I felt a lot better. I looked at myself in the mirror as I dried off. My face was not swelled at all anymore, but my black eye wasn't any better. I had really bashed it good when I fell a week ago. I got dressed and walked across the street. My grandma's house was nice and cool. The air conditioning kept the humidity of the outside from coming in. My mom gave me some last minute instructions before heading out the door. My grandma was dressed and ready for the day. A nurse would come during the day to change her and bathe her. I would give her lunch and dinner. Mom would be back at around 7:00. Mom left and it was just grandma and me. We watched tv for a while. I managed to find some cartoons so we watched them for a while. Soon, I had to go to the bathroom. So I left grandma to watch cartoons while I went to took care of business. I sat there for a while, then decided to take care of some other business as well, if you know what I mean. After all, it had been a while since I'd done it. Soon I was working up a sweat. It was amazing that I hadn't figured out how to do this sooner. It just seemed so obvious now. Anyway, as I was jacking away I heard a knock at the door. Darn, I would have to finish later. I opened the door and yelled to wait a minute and I'd be there. I stumbled down the hallway, pulling clothes on along the way. So by the time I made it back to the living room, I had managed to pull my shorts on. I slipped on my shirt and answered the door. It was Brett and his mom. I invited them in and we sat and talked in the living room for a while. Brett went to the bathroom and was grinning slyly when he came back. He was up to something. We ate lunch then Brett's mom left for a meeting. Bret got to stay with me and grandma. Then Brett pulled out a pair of underwear from his pocket. "Are you missing something?" "Yeah, thanks. I knew you were up to something." "Ha! So what were these doing in the hallway?" "I was in the bathroom when you got here." "What were you doing that your underwear ended up in the hall?" "I was getting dressed." "In the hall?" "Yeah, so?" "You mean the same hallway that your grandma can see all the way to the end?" "Yeah, I... Oh my god!" "Ha ha!! Boy you sure have a way with the women in your life! First your mom and now your grandma! Who's next? My mom?" "Shut up Brett!" Brett ribbed me about it for the rest of the day. I hadn't even thought about it when I did it, but I had given my grandma quite the show as I fumbled my way to the door. Oh well, nothing she hadn't seen before! After the nurse came to check on her and take care of her, Brett and I played cards with grandma. We played War. Grandma won twice, Bret won once, I think they both cheated! Then we watched a movie on the tv. Grandma even laughed at some of the funny parts. You know what? I think she's getting better. She recognizes people again. She flipped the cards over by herself during the game, and now she laughs at movies again. She's going to be walking and talking again in no time! I can feel it. After a while, my eye started to hurt a little. I went to the kitchen and found my medicine for it. They finally gave me some liquid medicine. I hate taking pills. The drugs were for pain only, they did nothing to heal up my eye. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. Yep, still bruised. The worst thing about having the black eye is always having to tell people how I got it. All that did was remind me of a really bad day. And people also noticed that my eyes are green when they checked out the eye. They always talk about them. "Oh, I've never seen a boy with your color eyes before." They always say that! It gets annoying. After the movie, Brett and I made macaroni and cheese and hotdogs for dinner. I was becoming a pretty good cook. I can boil water without burning down the house! We ate and grandma fed herself without any help. After dinner, we pushed her into the living room. Then Brett and I did the dishes. My mom came in while we were working. "Do my eyes deceive me? Is that my son actually doing dishes?" Brett responded, "Yeah, Our little Billy is growing up!" I told Brett to shut up and we all laughed. We finished the dishes and mom put grandma to bed. Then she came out to the living room. "Billy, is this your sock that I found in the bathroom?" Brett laughed. "That's nothing Mrs. Roberts! You should have seen what I found in the hallway!" This time I didn't wait to give Brett a hard punch on his arm. "Ow!! Oh I see how it is now!!" Mom sent us outside before we started wrecking the house. We played around out there for a while. Then Brett's mom came to pick him up. This day went pretty well. In fact, things were really starting to turn around for me. I had thought that my summer was over after the black eye incident, but things were turning out okay afterall! That'll wrap up Chapter Nine. This was kind of a quiet chapter after the big events of Chapter Eight. Chapter Ten: Then the Next... will be on the way soon. So, what do you think? Like it? Hate it? How am I supposed to know? You have to tell me! Send your comments to: vicioussquirrel@hotmail.com Thanks so much to everyone who's written to me. I really appreciate it! You guys are the best!