Once again three words from HelenVanPattersonPatton. They are: socks, frog and eyedrops.

Word count: 1,385 (Fail)

Time of completion: 2hrs (more or less)

Writers Block

It was five a.m. on a Sunday morning and the light was on is his office. That wasn't
good. What she found in the kitchen made it even worse. Alexis hurried back upstairs
to wake her grandmother. She barged on into her room and roughly shook her shoulder.

"Gram, Gram, wake up!"

She received a groggy reply. "What is it?"

"It's dad. It's five o'clock and he's in his office."

She rolled onto her back to face her granddaughter. "What either of you are doing up at
five on a Sunday is beyond me."

"I heard a noise in the kitchen. Gram, he was in there yesterday morning and late last night
too. I don't think he's been to bed for the past two days."

"Are you sure you're not overreacting? He may just be up early with a new idea."

"I don't think so."

"What makes you think that?'

"When I went into the kitchen I found a soda can on the floor."

"And that tells you…?'

"It wasn't just any soda can, it was a can of Jolt Cola, and when I went to put it in the recycling
bin I found at least nine more already in there. You remember what happened the last time he
drank that stuff?"

"Oh dear lord! Not again." She was wide awake now. She threw off her covers, grabbed her
bathrobe and made a bee-line for his office with Alexis in tow.

Just remembering what happened the last time made her hesitate outside his office door. The last
time he drank those things had been almost four years ago when he had a bad case of writers block.
He said the extra caffeine would "stimulate the creative process". The only thing it wound up stimulating
was full blown case of hyperactive insanity. Hadn't he learned his lesson? He had been permanently
barred from using the buildings basement gym because of what had happened. She closed her eyes and
slowly turned the doorknob. She was worried about what she might find this time. She had a right to
be worried.

There were socks mounded on top of his desk, more were strewn across the floor and others were laid
out in nice uniform stacks that covered his couch.

"Good lord, Richard! What are you doing with all of these socks?"

His head shot up from behind his desk. He quickly bear hugged the mound of socks on his desk and pulled
them all off onto the floor.

"Geez mother! Can't you ever knock? I'm working."

"This is working? What's going on?" Now that the socks were off his desk she could see her small sewing kit
sitting on the corner.

"I'm working on a project; now would you please go so that I can finish?"

"If darning socks is your project, you know you can just buy yourself some new ones."

"I'm not darning socks!" He jumped up and began pacing back and forth behind his desk.

" I told you I'm working on a project. Oo…you wouldn't happen to have any buttons I could have? I've taken all
the ones from my clothes but most of them are too small. Do you have any old clothes you're not using anymore…
I bet the buttons on your clothes are bigger and..Oh,Oh..speaking of old clothes do you have anything that's black
or brown that you don't want. I need some pieces of fabric, I tried using some of my ties but the fabric is too shiny…
and green I need some green material, quick! I can't finish this project without green fabric for the frog. So go and
see what you can find, I'm almost finished with the others and I want to be finished by this afternoon. Damn! I still
have to write everyone's dialogue. Ok, maybe late this afternoon…no I still haven't practiced the voices yet…crap,
I haven't even gotten to the scenery and props either…where's Alexis? She can be in charge of props…Oh, and I
need you to get me some cardboard boxes. Shoeboxes will be ok for most things but I'm gonna need a large one,
about the size of a large microwave. Call Ralph with building maintenance, he can probably fix you up with one. You
got any paint?"

She wondered if her mouth had been hanging open for the entire monologue or if it fell open at the end.

"I'll…" She slowly backed out of the room. "…get right on that for you."

She shut the door and leaned against it.

"What's going on Gram?"

"I'm really not sure."

"Is he ok though"

"Other than an obsession with socks and the ability to talk a hundred miles an hour without blinking, he seems to be physically ok."

"Can I go in?"

"Sure, I think he said he wanted you to help him with his project."

"His project?"

"I haven't clue dear." She pushed off the door and headed towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to raid my collection of prescription sleeping pills. I'll spike his drink; you just keep him occupied till he falls asleep."

….

Alexis saw more than her did grandmother when she entered his office. She noticed the video camera that he had mounted
on a tripod, the sheet draped over his smart board and the collection of blood speckled tissues and multiple bottle of
eye-drops scattered across his desk. The one thing she didn't see was her dad.

"Dad?"

His head popped up again from behind his desk.

"You're here!"

"What's going on?"

"You're gonna love this!"

He rummaged around on the floor and began piling socks back onto his desk. He then pulled a few from the new pile
and held them up.

"Check them out!"

She walked over and took one of the socks from him. Only, they weren't socks anymore…they were sock puppets.

"Sock Puppets?"

'Cool huh?"

"Why are you making sock puppets?"

"Well, I've been so busy, you know…writing the last few days, so I took a break yesterday afternoon and that's
when I found it."

"Found what?"

"This!"

He spun his laptop around to face her and she saw that his computer was paused on a video on YouTube. He clicked
the arrow and the video began to play.

"Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Presents…"

She couldn't help but laugh hysterically at the rest of the video.

"Oh my god dad, that is so funny!"

"I know! It's what's inspired me. I've been working all night to make the puppets but I think I'm going to need you help with props."

"Sure, I'll be glad to help." She was glad to help distract him.

Martha took that moment to sweep back into the room. "I've brought both of you something to drink!"

"Mother! You're interrupting my project again."

"I was just bringing you another soda and Alexis some orange juice. It looks like you still have a lot of work ahead."

"Thank you mother, now would you go?"

"Fine, I'm outta' here." She floated back out of the room.

Alexis looked at the glass sitting on his desk. She needed to get him to drink it, and quick.

"How about we toast your project?"

"Sure." He grabbed the glass of soda.

"To success."

"Success."

She watched him drain his glass. She finished hers moments later and took his empty off the desk. She eyed the used
Kleenex sitting on the desk.

"What's with all the Kleenex?"

"Oh, I kept poking my fingertips with the needle. Sewing is harder than it looks. Have you ever tried to thread a needle?
This is one time I wish I needed reading glasses."

She picked up one of the empty bottles of eye-drops next to the Kleenex and shook it at him. "And the eye drops?"

"I don't know why, but my eyes have been really dry today. I've already used up two bottles. Which reminds me can you
run to the store and get me some more?"

Yeah, it was creepy. He hadn't blinked the whole time they'd spoken.

"Sure dad, so what were you saying abut props?"

She had to distract him for about fifteen minutes before he started yawning. Five minutes later he cleared his couch and
sat down. Five minutes after that…he passed out.

"Gram! He's out!"

"Finally!" She came back in to check on him.

"How many did you give him?"

She pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and covered him up. "The directions on the bottle said two, so I gave him four."

"Are you sure that's ok?"

"We'll just check on him every so often. As long as he's breathing, he'll be fine."

"Grams!"

"I'm just kidding."

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