Wake me up Love

The stillness of the morning air was welcoming. The front porch on the one hundred year old house was where Marge and Edison sat and had their morning dose of coffee. This was their tradition for the last forty years.

“Isn’t that bad today. Maybe you should go into business for yourself.” Edison said as he slowly rocked back and forth on the homemade chair he made for his own kids when they were young.

“Oh, it took you this long to like my coffee, eh?” She replied with dim smile.

Child like friends, and full time lovers, Edison and Marge had been through just about everything: war, children, the changing times, everything. They were simple people, sticking to an old Ford pick-up that Edison had since his working days before the war and staying in the house they got married in. No need for a Hummer, or surround sound high tech gadgets, they lived peacefully. They were happy as is.

They morning dew saw on the grass like the elderly couple sat on the chair. Marge just looked down at her cup of coffee. Edison just looked off, nearly dazing off.

“Edison.”

“Yes, dear?”

“I went to Doc Coopers yesterday.” Marge said.

“Edison suddenly woke up not because of the coffee, but of the comment.

“I’m sick.”

“How sick?”

Marge just held Edison’s hand as tears went down his face.

“Your coffee was good today, Marge. Honest.” Edison just held his wife’s hand and her crappy cup of coffee.

Warning: If you are a fan of the Disney version of Snow White, this might not be for you. For this particular (extremely short) story, I put the Seven Dwarves and the Seven Samurai together. Needless to say, there is no happy ending to it.

Ride High Seven Dwarves

There were only seven of us then, enough for a decent stand, enough for any fool to think highly of himself. I thought the whole idea was ridiculous, but it was the Prince who helped us out. After the wedding, before the honeymoon, he told us that one of the small villages on the outskirts of his land were under attack. Being the kind hearted dwarves that we were; we accepted this task with joy, hoping to stay in his good favor. Besides, it certainly beats trying to clean up the house. Without Snow White, it quickly grew into a mess. Worse than before, actually. If only we knew what was going to happen.

Of course Grumpy bitched and moaned about it the whole time. He actually punched Happy in the throat for even suggesting a song. The rest of us laughed, and thought about sending Grumpy to anger management. At least I did, as the leader of this motley gang of bearded dwarves. So we armed ourselves, mostly with axes, and shields, loaded up the horses with food and made our way to the village. Not a single song was sung on that trip.

“And I thought our place was a mess.” Sneezy said as we made our way into the small town, lit by a few torches and only having a few old buildings. As sarcastic as he was between sneeze fits, he was right. This poor town had it bad, and all the villagers had been dirty for several days. It seemed that showers came as sparingly as hope around this place. I said nothing, knowing that being high and wise would probably go unanswered. I was the damn Doc of course. I had to prepare for myself, to lead the way.

After talking to some of the locals, we found out that there had been some kind of band of bandits lurking around the area, causing chaos in the surrounding area. Any men worthy of defending the town were all gone, died defending the small piece of land they had. I thought we would have been made fun of by this point, being the small and hairy people that we were. It seemed that any help was going to be good help for them. So we prepared ourselves. We waited for them on the first night, sticking in pairs, with Dopey joining Bashful and Sneezy. It took a few hours before the actual battle happened, but when it did, it seemed like forever. That’s all I remember.

At the end of it all, it was me and Bashful who survived the whole damn thing. Sleepy was picked off during his guard duty, kind of ironic actually. Dopey was killed defending the little kids from the village, we found him with a single arrow in him. While these deaths touched me deeply, it was the finding of Grumpy and Happy, back to back, that made me grow cold. Surrounded by motionless enemies, they slumped there quietly. But their actions spoke volumes.

Happy went toe to toe with the bandit leader and was his equal when he was injured; Grumpy screamed his battle cry and rushed to his side, holding back endless waves of enemies. I was patching up Bashful when I heard his last cry. Between the two of them, they had at least twenty or so dead enemies around them, including the leader of them. A tragic loss none the less.

It took us a few days to clean up the mess and help the villagers, who hid in their houses the entire time; get back into the shape of things. We were nearly there when the Prince’s Royal Guard showed up to tell us to go home. Our job was done. Silently, we went on our way.

“Again we are defeated.” Bashful said, much to my astonishment as we left the town. We rode home, side by side, and started to sing in memory of the friends we lost. We might have won the day, but at the greatest cost.

Monday

He woke up to a ray of sunshine. Where he lived, Gary always had sunshine outside his window. It was part of the area, many old timers joked. The “rookies” as Peter called them, had much to learn about their new home. Still in shock from his removal from his last place of residence, Gary quickly got out of bed. It had been a near sleepless night for him, as the last few had been. But he suddenly woke up, knowing that he had to make it to work.

Being the newcomer that he was, he took his job very cautiously. The older guys, Iggy, Sebastian and Jude would sit there and joke around about other people as they watched on. They were experienced, being here for years, and weren’t as strict as many others Gary met during his first few days here. Gary was only now getting the hang of it, and it had taken him a few days to realize what exactly he must do. Jude had told him to do his best, and nobody would get mad if he messed up. Sometimes, you couldn’t save them all, he once said. Gary listened to this elderly veteran, he should know, he knew a lost cause when he saw it.

“Don’t worry Gary, how much trouble could someone get into on a Monday morning?”

Elsewhere, Susan was late to work. Her dog had left a lovely surprise in the bathroom again, and forced Susan to clean it up immediately. Frantically looking for cleaning supplies, she hastily took an old sweater from an old boyfriend and put it on.

“He won’t need this anymore.” She managed to smile to her dog and laugh. Looking at her watch, she dropped everything.

“Take care of the house. Be home soon hunny.” She said to the dog, noting to herself that she was probably going crazy. It wouldn’t be the first time she had thought that though. Life had been frantic up to this point, running from place to place. Trying to pay rent. Trying to keep the dog fit. Trying to make it by.

Running out of the building, she saw the local bus pull away. Putting her hands up in mock anger, she sighed to herself and started the long walk to work. It was only Monday. It was going to take about fifteen minutes, enough time to figure out a good lie to tell her boss. Thinking about her dog, her job, and what fabulous lie she was going to come up with, Susan crossed the street, trying to figure out what block to cross at next.

“Watch out!” A man yelled as Susan turned around and saw a speeding taxi coming straight at her. Suddenly, she felt something hit her, causing her to get out of the way of the bus, which missed her by mere inches.

“Show time.” Gary said to himself. It was only his second time going down since he started, and it still was a scary feeling. It felt like his stomach was up in his throat. It felt like he was on a roller coaster for twenty minutes. A normal feeling, Jude said. It would happen over the next few times. Eventually it would go away. Gary sighed when he heard that. Eventually meant a long time coming. It still hadn’t hit him that he was going to be doing this for the rest of his life. But on the bright side, he thought, it was a job people only imagined of talking about.

“Boy, you must have some kind of guardian angel or something.” The man who helped Susan said, dropping his newspaper in the process. Most people had resumed to their daily routines. The man picked her up with both hands, got his own newspaper and continued to walk down the street. And life went on. Susan continued to take deep breathes and look up at the sky.

Gary smiled to himself. It had been a good day’s work and it was only 9 o’clock.

The Home Wrecked

She knew that he had been with another girl simply by his smell when he walked into the door. A mix of his Old Spice cologne and a mix of something fruity and fresh, something she would not wear. Every day she would find its scent when he came in to give her a kiss after a long day of work. But she hid it well, much like he hid his own secrets. Or so he thought. It was not by scent alone that put this horrible idea into her head. She had been busy at work, busy writing for her next novel, and he was busy too. His company had been putting him on overtime almost every week. Or so he told her. Who knew, maybe he had concocted this entire thing up after a quickie session with his new love. Maybe this new one gave him the idea. If there was any sign of disgust, it wasn’t shown.

“Hunny, I’m home.” He said as he came in. He seemed less tired these days, he must have been with her today. She dreaded thinking about her. Not wanting to measure herself up to this mysterious third party, she chose to think elsewhere. Needless to say, less writing occurred and more cleaning around the house. In fact, she had organized all the books in her study, first by year written, then year published, and finally alphabetical.

When he finally came into view, she faked a smile, a smile that didn’t faze him one bit. He would put his bag down in the kitchen, as he always did, sneak up behind her and catch her off guard for a short yet romantic peck on the cheek. It was things like this that had her won over to him. He was everything that she ever dreamed of and more. At the time, he did everything right. She loved him for what he was, and what he wanted to do. But it was his smile that got him. The smile of hope and deceit at the same time. Her friends loved him, and always asked for him. Her mother told her that he was the one for her, she knew it. Everything seemed so right.

But that was years ago. Now everything changed. Now meaning the time since that love blossomed. Of course it had changed when she found out he was with another. It wasn’t so much this girl, although she did play a major part. More or less, it was about how he felt he could trick her. Like she wouldn’t notice his change in mood and such. How he started to care so much about how he looked when he went to work. How he would go far lengths to justify his story. Apparently, their definitions of love were different. They did the same things, but he wanted more. He wanted the side dish and the main meal. He, as she would think, got greedy and got caught. But this minor victory could do no justice. She knew the costs that such truth would create. He still loved her, made love to her, and cared. Drastically changed and at the same time, not at all.

She hid the feeling of defeat as she opened the wooden back door into their yard and signed before yelling. A small boy was hard at work fighting the imaginary goblins in his mind. He saw her and paused. The fantastical sword battle would have to wait another day. Dad was home.

“Come in Danny, time for dinner.”

Out of Business

When he was called into the office, Archie Mayes knew his job was done. He knew that he would have to eventually go home that night and tell Janet about it, and find a way to cover this month’s rent. Besides being late on the car payments, Archie would now have to find a job to last for a while until things improved. Janet would have to wait for that long awaited vacation in the Mediterranean. He would have to wait to buy those new ProSwing golf clubs to use in the family outing next spring. Thinking of all of this made his head spin, much like his first night out on the job. However, in spite of things, Archie expected this. In this recession, the tooth fairies should be happy for lasting as long as they did. More importantly, he now had to find a way to sneak his work wings out of the job place as there was no way those babies were leaving him.

“So…hunny, I have to tell you something. Too straight forward. Hey babe, want to eat out tonight. Too unexpected. Listen, we need to talk. That…just sounds awful. Janet, you know how you said you always wanted to spend more time together? That’s just bullshit.” Archie shook his head as he walked home.

“What are you going to do Archie?” He muttered to himself as he passed by an old lady walking the opposite way. His hands tightly gripped around the white convenience store bag. This was his out with a bang idea when he found out about the job cuts.

He found out from “Nickel Only” Nate, another veteran in the field. Apparently, one of the old cooks from one of the eastern Canadian sectors went on a rampage and flew up by the ceiling and started to pelt workers with teeth he had found. Archie found that funny until he realized that the story meant pay cuts, which were never good.

“Figures, we’ve been losing money for years ever since we went up to the dollar. Remember when it was just a nickel? Going up to the quarter seemed outrageous and almost started a war. I can’t believe this shit.” Nate said as he walked to corner bar by work where they used to hang out after the late shifts. They were half way in when they realized this might be the last time they walked in.

“I don’t think I can do it.”

“It will only be for one drink.”

“I mean, I can’t tell Janet about losing this. This is all I have.”

“Archie, sometimes there are things more to life than being the tooth fairy. We can always find another job.” Nate said reassuringly. Besides working with him for five years, Archie loved Nate for his laid back personality. He used to smoke on the job and said the experience made the job that much more exciting. Nate once said that it was almost like he was flying in mid air, and Archie responded with hitting him over the head with a half filled bag of baby teeth from his night of work.

“And do what? We fly into people’s houses, take something without them knowing and leave some change for their kids for crying out loud. What the hell can we do now?” Archie said as a couple of elderly women exited the bar, giving the two men dirty looks before leaving completely.

Nate paused.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” He gave a natural smirk as they went into the bar.

“What? –Nate, we’re not going to steal from people.” He whispered back. When they had signed the contract when they first got their job, all new hires were told you could not take items from the houses they would enter. Of course, rules were made to be broken and Archie had heard stories of what people took. Mostly small things, things that would go unnoticed until it was actually looked at. Things like picture frames, stuffed animals, food that was left out the night before. Personally, he never took a thing, as he was an honest man, a very honest tooth fairy. Besides, if Janet ever found out, she would kill him immediately.

“Why not? We’re good at it.” He was right. Being a tooth fairy wasn’t exactly an easy job, and if you ever got caught, you might as well just give up your wings because you would be fired the moment you stepped through the door. Suspense and mystery was part of the job after all.

“We just got laid off. I need some time to breathe.”

“Maybe there’s a way to get back at them.”

“How? I told you I’m not going to steal.” Archie complied. Being an honest man was one thing, but being an honest man with no money wasn’t going to win out at the end of the day. He knew Janet, and he knew that she would be with him regardless, but he wanted the best for her and he was going to stick to that promise.

“By stealing business of course.” Nate said, sipping down his now milk warm beer as they began to watch Monday night football. At least he would enjoy some entertainment before heading back to the real world. He didn’t care what teams were on, as long as he got through the night. He didn’t need much to get a smile on his face.

Archie sat there for a moment, now that he was unemployed; so many fun things came to mind. Employee of the Month twice in the last two years, he worked hard for his paycheck. He barely ever had time to really just hang out. He thought of all the things he could do with the free time and all the hours of sleeping in late, even until he finds another job. Finally, the idea hit him.

“I always wanted to build an actual castle of teeth before.”

Officer 119

For a lack of a better word, nemesis seemed perfect at the time to describe the law enforcement officer. The definition, one we had to look up during study hall one day, was an understatement for the infamous Officer 119. He had no real distinct features; the sign of the dark blue outfit he sported was enough for us to recognize him, that and the license plate numbered 119. We had gotten in trouble time and time again, and it seemed to no avail that he would show up, almost on cue.

“Ah shit, not him again.” The common response was, much similar to that of the pestering kid who tried to fit into an already established group of friends.

“Good evening gentlemen.” This was his introduction to the soon to be long night. We questioned the fact of being gentlemen. We, being Buck, James, Hughes and myself would come home early in the morning, chaperoned by the nice officer himself and explain to our parents what we were up to. Buck had it the worst, with that demon of a father always getting him hard. If Buck had any pride, he would have told Officer 119 of what happened behind closed doors and give him an actual purpose for being a man of the law. Instead of busting kids for underage drinking, or driving fast down Montauk Highway, perhaps he could actually be doing some good.

“I wonder if he realizes how much people don’t like him.” James once asked when we picked up a twelve pack of Pabs Blue Ribbon beer, courtesy of his older brother. The plan was to have another night filled with debauchery but it seemed that our plans had rarely gone as they were supposed to.

“Do you think he knows he has a stick up his ass too?” Buck responded. We all laughed, we laughed because it felt right. This adult ruined the good times, the good memories that we should have been having. Instead, we had to deal with our disappointed and upset parents, but I don’t think I can complain, at least I didn’t have it as bad as Buck did.

Hughes was the first to call when he found out. His mother was sitting watching the local news when she found out that there had been a hit and run involving a police officer. Of course, the persistence mother of our friend ordered him to watch it as something of a lesson about reckless driving. When she turned around to call for her husband, the screen showed the formal picture of the officer who had been killed and Hughes only caught the last few seconds of it being on. At first he thought his eyes tricked him; he thought it was a blur that it couldn’t have been. He called me as flabbergasted as I was when I called Buck. This tragic game of telephone didn’t seem to end well, with the result of us not knowing who it had been on the screen. The only truth we could use was the second blur that Hughes thought he saw. What it could have been.

We never saw Officer 119 again.

on the eve

When you breathe, you inhale and exhale,
but every single time you do that,
you're a little bit different than the one before.
WE'RE ALWAYS CHANGING.
and it's important to know that there are some changes
you can't control and there are others you can.
-- Taken from here.

one breath enters while another runs away,
screaming that it's not ready to fly.
can't you feel the impending revolution?
the drums beat from within your ivory cage.
marching, marching ... they are coming.

don't you feel the invasion?
it plunders and pillages on a molecular level.
organ by organ,
vein by vein.
until you have cavalries spilling from your teeth.

you canonot stop them;
you are no Fort Knox.

one breath enters while another runs away,
clinging to the battle cries of its predecessor.
"i am not ready!
you cannot make me go!"

they are here,
ready to overthrow the imaginary tyrant
you think you have become and always been.
but illusions no more.
your dream is well beyond its expiration date.
lay down your invisible sword and intangible shield.
they can no longer serve you
as you can no longer serve yourself.

don't you feel the invasion?