3

William dreamed about the two girls he had seen in the diner. In the dream, they had gone over to him and had rubbed up against his body, smiling down at him in a peculiar way. He had reached up to touch the breasts of the brunette, and instead of staring at him, she had done nothing. William had continued on, but just as he was about to close his hands over the girl's breast, he had woken up.

Blinking his eyes wearily, he noticed that it was still 3:00 AM. He almost groaned, but then felt a stickyness on his leg.

Cursing to himself he changed his boxers. He hated when this happened. It was as though he could not control it. It didn't happen that often anymore. In fact, the last time had been a month ago, but still, it shouldn't happen, should it?

William lay back in bed, relieved that there was no stain on his sheets. He planned to throw away the old boxer. He felt mortified enough when he kept it to himself.

Still, he had enjoyed the dream. He wondered what it would be like to actually lie with a woman and be intimate. What would it be like to kiss a woman as you unclipped her bra? Usually William kept these thoughts lodged in the back of his mind, but he longed for it anyway at times.

He tried to go to sleep, but he could not get the image of that brunette out of his mind.

"" "" " "" """ "" "" " "" "" "" ""

The next morning, William got out of bed to make breakfast. On weekends, he always made breakfast for the two of them: she was always looking forward to a long rest on Saturday and Sunday mornings. He didn't mind making breakfast: it was part of his routine.

Laying out strips of bacon in the pan, William flicked on the radio to his favourite station. An old Dire Straits song was playing, and William began singing along as he minded the sizzling bacon. With his other hand he pretended to play guitar with the song

And a crowd of young boys they're fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They dont give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It aint what they call rock and roll
And the sultans... Yeah the sultans, they play creole!

William mimicked Mark Knopfler's drawl as he called out a second 'creole', letting his voice die off slowly as Knopfler's did. He grinned to himself as he avoided sparks of fat flying from the pan as he slapped down another strip. He loved bacon in the morning, it went great next to his toast.

Speaking of toast... William took out some bread from the cupboard and set two pieces into the toaster. He liked his toast a golden brown, while his mother preferred it almost black on one side. He couldn't understand what her taste buds were like, just that his were entirely different.

Alice got out of bed at around the same time that William finished scouring the frying pan of grease. William always preferred cleaning up the kitchen before eating. It was like an obsession at times, but he didn't care.

The pan cleaned, William sat down at the small table, laying down the plates of bacon, toast, and some scrambled eggs that his mother always added to the mix.

"I'm heading over to the rental store today to get a film with Alex." William asked through a mouthful of bacon.

"Good." Alice said, and poured herself a glass of orange juice.

William could tell that Alice was in a bad mood. He left it at that and went to go get Alex.

Milo Airngrav had his store an hour away from where they lived, but it was by far the best video store they'd ever been to. Besides, they liked taking the bus across New York City.

William and Alex eventually got there, blinking in the sunlight as they crossed the distance from the bus stop to the video store.

Milo grinned as they came in, "What's it going to be then, eh?" Milo was always stealing the words from the mouths of others and throwing them out to see whether his theft was recognized by the listeners.

Alex got the reference today, "Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange."

Milo scratched his ear as he spoke to them in his thick accent, "So, what's gotten you boys to come down here today? What movies this time?"

William knew this store like it had been made for him. Prowling down the 'drama' section, he made a quick turn into the 'comedy' section, "I was thinking we could get Dr. Strangelove, Alex."

Alex was already in the 'action' section, "Oh for God's sake, Will. Let's get Apocalypse Now."

Milo chuckled, "Ach, you're both far too Americanized. Expand your minds for once!"

"We don't all come from Eastern Europe, Milo,' Alex retorted, 'I don't see you sitting through It's a Wonderful Life."

Milo snorted, prompting Alex to laugh at the old man's hypocrisy.

Meanwhile, William had found his film and had headed up to the counter. Alex made the usual bothersome argument about wanting to watch something else. William would go back to argue with him properly, and Milo would ofter pitch in by hollering his opinion in random outbursts from his watchful position in front of the store. That crazy old koot would hear one word from Alex or William, and it didn't matter if he had a huge line-up at the cashier, he'd yell his opinion out as loud as he could.

There were few active customers that morning (most were returning movies rather than renting them) and so it was up to the three of them to decide what would be rented. William and Alex were so used to this that they didn't even notice if they made the same argument every days. They might as well have been tying their shoes for how naturally they behaved.

As always, William muscled in two movies that Alex would spew anger about until he saw them (thereby grudgingly giving them a passable grade) and Alex himself would take a movie he swore was a masterpiece, which William would often consider hardly worth the time. There were variations, granted, but this was the most common situation born from these expeditions.

William took Alex' half of the money, and walked over to stand next to the cashier while Milo ran the movies through while giving his own judgements on the three films.

Suddenly, William stopped dead, and he raised his head, as though smelling something.

Milo noticed William standing there, and chuckled as he held up a freshly baked loaf of bread in an open paper bag, "You smelling the bread?"

William looked at Milo, "Yeah, I am. That bakery sure makes good stuff whever it is."

Milo jerked his head towards the right, "Well, if you want to get some from there, you can go over there down the street. It's a good place, old and respectable. It's been there since the sixties, and it still makes good business."

William looked at Alex, both of them hungry after a morning on the bus and in the movie store. They thanked Milo for the directions and they headed out of the store. Before they left, Milo threw another interesting line at their retreating backs, "Cleverness is good, patience is better."

Alex paused, wondering where the passage was from, "Damnit, I can't think of where the hell that's from."

William shrugged, "Let's just head over to the bakery."

The two of them found it easily enough. The street outside was cloaked in a smell of bread, cookies, and other delights. William could have stood out there all day and inhaled that smell. Be that as it may, he was very eager to get inside and buy something to eat.

An older woman stood behind the counter. She looked to be in her late fifties, with a wrinkled face and steel-grey hair. She had a smile on her face as she spoke with a pair of customers. William and Alex waited in line, until their turn arrived and the other customers walked out.

The lady turned to look at her next customers, and her smile suddenly faded. She paused, for the longest time, frowning at the two young men in front of her. She seemed to be reminded of someone in her past, but her scrutiny was disturbing in its own way. The two youths realized that she was staring at William.

William felt cold as the lady continued to stare silently. She made no noise, and her face was screwed up in concentration as she looked at William's face. It made the room's atmosphere very awkward, as though they had stumbled upon the scene of a crime.

Alex cleared his throat and spoke, "Er, can we get any help here?"

The lady suddenly snapped out of it, looking incredibly flustered, "Oh dear, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that,' she suddenly frowned, 'It's just I could have sworn that I've seen you before, young man."

William was even more puzzled: he had never been here before. He said as much to the lady.

The lady sighed, "Well never mind. I'm sure it must be a mistake. Now what would you like, dears?"

Alex looked at the various treats that were on display, his eyes shining with longing, "Well, let's see here..." He pored over the glass, first looking at the treats, then at the back wall where the freshly baked bread was sitting, waiting to be purchased.

William followed Alex' gaze, "Can we have a loaf of that bread over there?" He pointed at the loaf he wanted.

The lady was still looking puzzled as she took the loaf and accepted the payment that Alex gave her. She was clearly obsessed with this chance that William represented someone from her past. William and Alex exchanged a look when she had turned away, but said nothing about it as they thanked her for the bread.

They were just about to head out of the store, when another customer burst into the store. The man was big and burly, and in his haste, he accidentally knocked over the broom that was balanced precariously on the wall.

Out of instinct, William bent down to pick it up. Standing up, he held the broom in both hands, facing Alex, the customer, and the lady. Awkwardly putting it back, he followed Alex out of the store.

Had he been slower, he would have noticed the look of shocked realization on the lady's face before he had walked out.