Chapter Eleven

"Wakey wakey!" I awoke to the sound of my Dan. "C'mon, breakfast is over in thirty minutes!" We rushed me, reluctantly, I got up, for his sake only. We went down to the college's lunch room. "Hmmmm. . . . waffles!" Dand cheered happily. "I love waffles, except for that one time, when I was 8, and my mom made the waffles from scratch, she made the best waffles, but this time, she forgot the flour. . . . so, yeah. . . " I cracked a smile, he was always so perky and happy. He was a good influnce. I can't wait for Jen and John to get here! "My goodness, shut up!" Dan said, I was confused, I hadn't said a word since I woke up. "You really must have woke up on the wrong bed, you can't even take sarcasim this morning!" He chuckled next to me. "See, it's funny cause I told you to be quiet when you weren't saying anything, so what I really meant was, your silence is killing me." The way he said 'It's funny cause'. He meant that to happen, hard to explain kinda thing. "Uh-huh." was my response. We ate out waffles, which for being made in a school lunch room, were actually kinda good. He talked I listened, after that we went on a mile and a half jog, which woke me up, and then, when we got back to the dorm, I saw a very familiar car, and a very familiar couple in it.

"Jen! John! You're here, you're here, you're here!" I yowled with excitment.

"Hey honey! I'm was so happy when I read that letter you sent! Wow, you have really matured!"

Jennifer said nicely.

"Omigosh! Come see the dorm, oh and this is Brandon Hope, I just call him Dan." I told them, sqawked!

"How do you do?" Dan said very sweetly. He made me melt, the way his eyes twinkled, and the way the wind blew his hair just right, there could have been angels and harps, and he wouldn't have looked any more charming.

"Well, it's all about how he acts when there isn't spectators around." John said jokingly.

"No, this is his usuall behavior, except, he is a bit more fun." I poked him laughed and goofed off some more as we made our way to the dorm. "This is what you guys put me through!" I said accusingly as I opened the door to the dorm.

"Wow, you really made this place nice! And the whole putting you throught this, you mean a good thing, right?" Jen asked with a nervous look on her face.

"Yes!" I joked.

"Good." We all chuckled. "You picked a very nice college in a very nice town, and a very nice roomate." Jen told me. "I can't wait to explore this cute town. How long do you want us to stay? Till tomorrow? Next week? Next year?" She asked.

"Haha. How ever long you would like, but anywere over a month might be little to much. . . " I noted.

"Yes, well, we will need to return to work in a little over a week." John said warningly, clearly directing it to wife.

"Well, yes, I do suppose. . Oooh, look over there!" She gasped. I followed her gaze out the window to cute little park right across the street. There was a professional artist drawing people's faces or bodies for donation. "C'mon!" She urged. We quickly made our way down three sets of stairs. Man, I was going to get my daily excercise just going to lunch! We made our way to the artist. There was no line, he was just finishing up a little girl's portrait.

"Thanks Mr. Doodles! I'll be back next week!" The girl thanked him as she ran to what must have been her house.

"Goodbye Joan! See you soon. Hello there! What can I do for you?" Mr. "Doodles" asked.

"We are visiting our daughter, she just moved into her dorm last night. We would like some pictures of us for her dorm and our house, please." Jen asked politely.

"Always nice to see a new face from time to time, escpecially young one." He shifted his gaze to me and Dan. "Good to see them interested in art. I am here everyday. . .and. . . night. . ." He softly said "night" It was then I realized he was homeless. "Anyway, how many pictures would you like?" He asked.

"One with me and John, one with John, Abbs, and myself, and one with us all, please." She told the man. She wanted one with Dan. I guess she must really like him after all.

"Well, huddle up and smile, we'll start with you two." He pointed to Jen and John. They got together and sat on a small seat, cleary very used and old. They smiled a perfect smile and Mr. Doodles began his work. After ten minutes of not twitching and smiling, he said he was gone. I couldn't imagine how they were going to keep there teeth showing for another hour. His hand was probably tired, too.

"Very nice, I imagine your hand is very tired, I know my cheeks are. How about we get a bite to eat, and come back. Oh, and here is you tip." She shuffled around in her purple purase that still had it's tag on it. $150. Go figure. After a short puase she pulled out two hundred doller bills and a fifty. He looked very shocked, John had on a very normal face on, this did not surprise. What is $250 to them?

"Are you sure, most people only give me $5-$20."

"Yes. It is fine, would you like to eat with us? We can bring your things and leave them in the car so you don't have to worry anout losing them to someone else." Jen offered kindly.

"Why, that is far to kind. I. . .I. . I don't deserve anything that special. . . I just. . . draw . . . and. . . and. . .do nothing. . . " He stuttered, clearly confused.

"Oh, it is fine, really. Come, let's go, Abby, Brandon, can you help take his things up to the room?"

"Yes, Abby, I'll get it, just go with Jennifer and John. I'll catch up." Dan said, I know he wasn't doing it to make Jen and John like him more, he tried to whisper it, so they wouldn't hear it, but they did.

"No way, I'll help, here take this."

We went to a nice chinease place. Mr. Doodles, whose real name was Joseph Fairmore, didn't hardly eat at first, even though it was buffet, he still wanted to be reasonable, so we all went to get, and like planned, he followed. We all stacked our plates high, and ate it all. Even Joseph. After we ate, we did a little shopping. I got some wavy, striped, blue and green curtains along with a mathing rug. My parents got a few suits and ties. Dan only got a pair of socks, a cheap tee-shirt, and a rootbeer. We all pitched in and got Joe a ten-pack of socks, four assorted shirts, some nice pants, some everyday pants, a tie, a very nice and a not-to-shabby pair of shoes, a hat, a pair of sunglasses, a belt, bread, peanut butter, jelly, cereal, snacl foods, toilet paper, a arrangement of different things. He didn't disagree with us buying him things this time, he couldn't risk losing everything we had got him. He needed them. We knew how greatful he was. After that, we got the other portraits done, and it was getting late, so my parents went to go find a nice hotel and crash for the night. We went to our dorm and did the same.