"Fortune favors the brave"
"Fortune favors the young!"
Normally my alarm clock and I do not have the best of relationships. More like an abusive one. The small black device was covered with multiple dings, scratches and dents. Courtesy of being thrown, banged and generally just beaten up. Yet today I must admit I was grateful for the shrill beep. For the simple fact it would stop those aggravating words from echoing in my head. Those words could not be farther from the truth. Last I checked fortune did not favor the brave nor the young. It seemed more like stupidity and recklessness favored the young.
Sighing I got out of bed and glanced at the pictured at my bedside. It was of Mimi sitting at a bench in Central Park. It was the springtime after Mimi came back to life. She looked carefree in the picture, happy, little did we know it was going to be her last springtime. She too was buried on Halloween. We both knew since that Christmas her time would be short but it was still hard to let go. Bitting the inside of my cheek, I turned away from the picture. That was two years ago. Things had changed so much and not at all during those years. Mark and I were still roommates though not at the loft. After Today 4 You opened new doors for Mark as well as an increase in cash flow. His films had gathered local praise and awards. I wasn't doing to shabby myself either. I had steady music gigs up and around New York with a local fan base. Though it was not as crazy as in previous years it still had an aura of wild rock and roll.
I ambled into the kitchen were Mark as usual was already up and staring intently at the newspaper.
"Morning."
Mark looked up from his crossword puzzle, "This is so frustrating, I just need one more word and I'll have this stupid thing done."
"Well" I asked, "What's the clue?"
Mark raised his eyebrow at me. "Roger since when do you care about cross word puzzles? Besides it's not a music question"
"Ah, come on Mark, just give me the stupid hint"
"Fine, 'In Egyptian mythology who is the hawk god"
I answered even without thinking it just came out, "Horus"
"Hey it fits! Good job Rog, how did you know that anyway"
"Oh just from around." I answered matter-of-factly. Huh, Mark was right how, did I know that anyway? I remember learning about Egypt in school and finding it mildly interesting but not enough to have stuck with me all these years. Shrugging I made my way to the coffee pot.
"So what are your plans today? Wanna go catch a movie or something?" I ask. Again Mark looked up from his crossword puzzle.
"Uh, Roger remember that my flight leaves today? San Francisco, a film festival, being gone for two weeks any of this ringing a bell to you"
"Oh yeah. Hey wait two weeks? Man your gonna be gone for two weeks? How am I gonna keep myself entertained? You know the band is taking the month off to regroup"
Mark shrugged then something caught his eye at the newspaper. Grinning mischievously at me he pushed a section of the paper towards me.
"Well with your new sudden knowledge of Egypt you could always go to the MET and check out their new Egyptian exhibit"
I raised my eyebrows at Mark, "Yeah Mark and after that I'll be sure to stop by at the rec center and sign up for tango lessons." I replied sarcastically.
"Hey man you're the one who asked"
Two long boring days later I was about to go ahead and sign up for those tango lessons. I mean how bad can going to an art museum be? Sighing I got up and realized that I needed to change into something slightly more acceptable then a pair of smiley face boxers. As I opened the door to my closet I realized two things. One since Mark wasn't at home I had no one around to bug me about doing my laundry. Which lead to the second important thing. In my closet staring almost mockingly at me were a pair of khakis worn a total of zero times and a white button down shirt. Knowing I had no other option I pulled the offensive garments to me. As I walked out of the apartment ten minutes later I prayed that I would not run into anyone I knew today, but enough being caught going to a museum but even worse in some prep boy getup.