A fresh start
Chapter 26: a day of Clementine: part 2
Hey, what's up, everyone? As fortune would have it, I was able to get ya'll the next chapter delivered with the help of my co-writer of course. Nothing much to say on this author's note, other than enjoy.
Once Clementine left Sarah's house and arrived home, Ed was there to greet her.
"Hey Clementine." Ed greeted whist he was working on his engine to his car.
"Hey Dad." Clementine returned the greeting and made her way into the home.
Once inside, she noticed Diana slipping on her doctor's coat, meaning that she was probably heading to work soon.
"Hey, hon. You had a good time with your friend?" she inquired with a smile.
"Yeah, we had fun." Clementine answered as she took off her shoes and placed them near the front door. "We played a game together on Sarah's computer."
"Sounds great," Diana gave her daughter a smile, and kissed her on the forehead. "I have to go to work now. I'll be back by ten-thirty at the latest, okay? I love you."
Clementine nodded and watched as her mother exited the house.
Clementine went to go and join her father by his car and decided to help out. "Need any help, Dad?"
Ed looked up, wiping sweat from his brow. "Sure, Clem. If you can go get me my toolbox from the garage, I'd appreciate it."
Clementine nodded and proceeded into the garage and searched for her father's tool box. She found it resting on the floor and picked it up, taking it back to him. "Here Dad."
"Thank you," Ed gave his daughter a smile before opening the box and getting out what he needed.
"So, is there anything wrong with the car?" Clementine inquired, merely watching at the moment.
"Just need to fix the engine," Ed responded. "Oh yeah, if you could please get into the car and start it up for me, that would be great. It would make my job a lot easier, and tell me if the problem is fixed."
"Okay." Clementine got into Ed's cars and turned the keys in the ignition, but the engine only rattled.
"Damn it," Ed sighed. He dug around in his toolbox again.
"What happened to the engine anyway?" Clementine asked as she leaned out of the car.
"The engine load may have increased," Ed responded. "May have to look at the manual transmission."
"Think you will need to replace it?" Clementine inquired.
"Maybe," Ed answered. "I'll head to the store tomorrow to get what I need."
"Okay." Clementine nodded.
For now, Ed pushed his car inside the garage and he and Clementine proceeded back into their home for the day.
The two of them sat on the couch and watched television for a while. Not much was on tonight, so Ed decided to flip it to some comedy channel, where people sent in their videos.
"Lee told me Omid got a video on this show." Clementine spoke up. "He recorded his cat and fell over when Whiskers knocked the camera."
"I would have loved to see that," Ed told her with a small laugh. "I'm going to get a drink from the kitchen. Want anything, Clem?"
"Just some orange juice, please?" Clementine requested.
"Sure," Ed replied, walking into the kitchen. Clementine watched a couple of home videos on the TV that were pretty funny until her father came back with her juice. He had gotten an iced tea for himself.
"So, how was work?" Clementine inquired when the show had gone onto a commercial for a couple of minutes.
"It was pretty well, we're discussing a prototype of a new wheel," Ed responded with a smile. "I think we'll begin our work on it within a few days or so. Your mom told me you went to see Sarah?"
"Yep." Clementine nodded. "We both played The Sims 3 on Sarah's new computer, it was fun."
"Good to hear it," Ed commented as he took a sip of tea.
"Mom says we should invite Sarah around our house sometime." Clementine added after taking a sip of orange juice.
"We should, we've known her family for a long time," Ed agreed. "Before you were born, even."
Clementine smiled slightly and paid her attention to the TV.
"Astrid had to go to work today." Clementine spoke up. "Some emergency meeting I think."
"In summer?" Ed inquired with a frown. He shrugged. "Oh well. I guess it was pretty important."
"Must be." Clementine agreed.
Outside, the two could hear thunder, meaning that it would rain soon if it wasn't already. But Clementine found it relaxing; she was inside with her dad, who she didn't spend much time alone with since he usually worked later in the day, watching the television.
Since they were alone and obviously could not go outside, Clementine decided to continue making conversation. "Remember all those Mario games we use to play on the Wii?"
"Yeah, it's been awhile, hasn't it?" Ed responded with a smile. He was probably reminiscing the older days when he could spend more time with his family. But since his recent promotion a couple months back, he had had to work more often.
"Did I tell you when I was at Lee's we played Mario Kart 8?" Clementine asked as she thought back to that day.
"You didn't," Ed replied. He noticed her smile and added, "I take it you won overall?"
"Yep." Clementine nodded. "It was fun."
"That's good to hear," said Ed. "I'm sure glad Lee lives next door now. He's quite the improvement from the last neighbors who lived in his house. Remember, Clem?"
"Oh boy, they were bad." Clementine recalled. "They were worse than Larry."
Ed grumbled, remembering the quite-young couple who would yell at each other so loudly that they would wake the entire neighborhood on a ton of occasions. There were even rumors of domestic abuse from both of them to the other. Everyone was just glad they were gone now.
"I'm glad the neighborhoods peaceful again." Clementine expressed her gratitude with a smile.
"Me too, Clementine," Ed agreed.
"So, we should play Super Mario 3D World one of the days." Clementine suggested. It had been a long while since they last played a game together.
"I think the games are in the end table," Ed answered, getting up to check. He leaned down and opened the door, and sure enough there were a bunch of old Wii games in there.
Clementine opened the table and found all of their old games stocked up. Hopefully they could play some of them soon.
Other than Mario games, there was Wii Sports, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Legend of Zelda, and more. Ed picked up Wii Sports.
"What do you say, Clem?" he offered with a grin. "Bet I can beat you in some tennis."
"Only one way to find out." Clementine agreed, returning the small smile.
So Ed set up the game. The two had to put on the wrist straps to prevent the Wii remote flying somewhere and breaking something. Clementine got to be the one to serve first.
The game went quite well and they had a few laughs with both of them hitting the tennis ball towards each other. A few moments later, the score was at a draw. One more point for either side and one of them would win.
"I hope someone has a good catch when the ball passes you, honey," Ed announced humorously. It was his turn to serve.
The ball came her way and with one good swing, she knocked it back and Ed failed to hit it, declaring Clementine the winner.
Clementine let out a whoop and raised her fist, grinning widely at her father. Ed grumbled under his breath, but returned the smile. "Good game, Clem."
"So, who's the best now, Dad?" Clementine eased in a light-hearted tone.
Ed chuckled. "Yeah, yeah."
He stood up again and took Wii Sports out of the disc.
Next they decided to continue playing Super Mario 3D world with Ed playing as Mario and Clementine playing as Princes Peach. They were on space world. The world was called Honeycomb Starway. Ed and Clementine prepared to go for the first green star.
"This game feels like it never ends." Clementine spoke up as she made her character pick up the fire power up.
"I've always wondered why all the enemies turn into coins," Ed inquired out loud. Clementine just said that it was probably for game purposes.
"Lee told me to get to the final levels, you have to collect every star, every stamp, and you have to get gold flag on every level." Clementine added, and by the sounds of her tone, she was not looking forward to doing that.
"Seriously?" Ed questioned. "Must be a joy."
"Yep." Clementine nodded. "Let's just see if we can get past this level first."
So they began playing. Clementine had to show her father how to kill some of the enemies (such as the bees), but eventually Ed seemed to get the hang of it. He did occasionally forget that you weren't supposed to walk on the lava stones, though.
"Watch out!" Clementine tried to warn when one of those rolling rock enemies approached Ed's character, but it was too late and now he was dead on the game.
"Damn!" Ed cried out. He turned towards his daughter. "Guess it's up to you, Clementine."
Clementine nodded and quickly attempted to go through to the end once she found the last star. She made it to the flag and jumped on top in the nick of time when she was being chased.
"Good job," Ed praised with a small smile.
"Thanks." Clementine nodded. "I think we should enter that gold train, see if we can earn some lives back."
"Let's do it," Ed agreed, and led his character into the train.
The two of them collected plenty of coins that go them an extra twenty lives that would keep them going for a while.
They were still playing when Diana came home from work a little earlier than what the family had thought. How long were they playing their games for? Ed paused the game and went to greet his wife.
"Hi, honey." Ed greeted as he leaned forward and greeted her with a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey yourself," Diana returned the greeting. "They let me go early tonight, which is great."
"That's nice, I was about to start dinner." Ed replied as he sat back down on the couch and picked up the controller. "Clem and I are playing Mario together."
"Sounds like fun," Diana commented as she sat next in the armchair. "I'll just watch the two of you."
"Join in if you want, Mom." Clementine offered.
"I'm fine, hon, maybe later, okay?" Diana gave her a smile.
Clementine looked a little disappointed but understood.
"Okay." she nodded and continued playing her game.
"How was work?" Ed inquired.
"Work was the same as usual," Diana responded, folding her hands in her lap. "I see you and Clementine had fun."
"Yep." Ed nodded with confirmation. "Oh, and the car's acting funny again, I might have to buy a new engine."
"Great," Diana muttered. But she wasn't all that worried, the car acted up at least once a month for the past several.
After a few minutes, Ed shut off the Wii for now and went to prepare dinner. Meanwhile, Clementine and Diana just decided to watch the TV for a while. The only interesting show that watched as a couple of Simpsons episodes.
"I've watched this show since it debuted all that time ago," Diana commented. "Although I don't always get some of the things that happen."
"It's just one of those shows that don't make sense I guess." Clementine assumed with a slight shrug.
"You're right," Diana agreed with a nod.
About half an hour later, Ed called his wife and daughter for dinner, which was spaghetti and meatballs.
"This looks delicious, Dad." Clementine complimented as she took a seat at the table. Spaghetti was one of her favorite meals.
"Thanks Clem." Ed smiled, taking a seat into his own chair.
The family said grace and dug into their food. Ed was a pretty good cook, and did so whenever he got the chance.
"I have the day off tomorrow, if we can we should all do something together," Diana suggested.
"Like what?" Ed asked after taking a bite of a meatball.
"We could go to the city, go take a tour of a headquarters building or something," Diana replied as she took a drink of milk. "Atlanta IS a major city."
"No argument here." Ed agreed, raising his cup for a quick few seconds.
Clementine agreed that it was a good idea, as it had been awhile since they'd last taken a tour in a large building.
"It'll be good to do it again," Diana said.
"I agree." Ed agreed.
The family ate their dinner in silence for a while. It was actually pretty rare whenever they got to go into Atlanta (except for Diana, who worked at the hospital) since they were all usually so busy. After that, Ed went to go and work on the car again while Clem and Diana cleared the table.
"Should I dry and you wash?" Clementine offered as they finished placing the plates near the sink for cleaning.
"Sure, Clementine, thank you," her mother responded, and began to wash the first plate. The two could hear Nibbler the hamster running on his exercise wheel in his cage.
"Think he'll get out again when we're asleep?" Clementine wondered as she placed one clean plate aside and proceeded to dry another.
Diana glanced over at the cage and shook her head. "Hope not. Your dad locked it up pretty tightly last time. I still can't believe it happened."
"I still can't believe he hate a box of cookies." Clementine agreed. "How did he even get up there?"
"Who knows, Clem?" Diana asked with a lighthearted smile, and Clementine smiled as well. It was kind of funny since Nibbler had gained quite a bit of weight after that.
Before long, the dishes were cleaned and Ed had finished with the car just as nighttime arrived. Whilst Ed went to go and take a shower, Clementine and her mother decided to play on their Wii together, playing Tennis. Last time they played this, Ed had accidentally lost his grip that resulted in him breaking the screen.
This was why it was a "strict" rule in the house to wear the strap on your wrist at all times. Needless to say, Diana wasn't too happy at the cost of fixing the television.
"I think you serve first?" Diana inquired.
"Yep." Clementine nodded and made certain her strap was tightened before throwing the first serve.
Unlike her daughter and husband, Diana wasn't all good at video games, but she played them every once in a while for their sake. Ed eventually came downstairs after his shower, and laughed good-naturedly when Diana lost. The woman turned and gave her husband a playful glare.
"You never were the best at tennis, Diana." Ed teased in light-hearted tone.
"Ed..." Diana replied with a smirk, shaking her head. She turned to her daughter. "Good game, honey. I had fun."
"You'll get better and might even beat me next time." Clementine replied with a small smile.
Before long, the night took over the sky and it was time for bed. Clementine bid her parents goodbye and headed straight for her room, ready for a goodnight's sleep.
And that's the end of Clementine's day, ladies and gentlemen. Next chapter coming soon, should be here by Saturday. I'll see you all then.