Awakening: Second Stage
Chapter Eight
"Surprises"
Saturday
The city of Venice stretched out in the afternoon sun, its blocks of buildings standing proudly. Many had been outfitted with makeshift decorations. Cheese Bonkies dotted the roofs of some buildings, while their chocolate counterparts made do for others. Bridges spanned across a few of the currently empty canals, carefully supported and structured to withstand the flow of water. The fabled Venetian canals were dry at the moment, the final piece of the puzzle being saved for last. A rather deep hold, filled to capacity with water that had taken the two teens nearly an hour to fetch, bucket by bucket, loomed over the city, ready to flood the streets and render the imitation complete.
The architects themselves were in the lake beyond, splashing happily through its waters, darting to and fro as water often invited young people to. A figure gracefully broke the surface of the water, long hair trailing behind her head, falling limply around her in clumps as the proper effects of gravity were restored.
"I knew I should've tied my hair up!" exclaimed Tish as she peeled her strands of her hair off he face."
"I don't know, I kind of like it this way." Tino offered. "You look too severe when it's pulled back too tight."
"Severe?!" She looked shocked at Tino's statement.
"Yes, you heard me. Severe."
Tish planted her feet on the floor of the lake, water coming up to the area between her neck and chest, arms crossed over her breasts in defiance. "I can't believe you just said I look severe!"
"Only when your hair is tied back really tight!" Tino tried to relent. "C'mon, Tish, you know I love your hair."
"Says the boy who just referred to it as severe. Or should I just be grateful that there's something about me you love?" Tish cocked an eyebrow at her significant other, Tino felt as though she were standing in judgment over him. Perhaps she was. Tino didn't think he'd ever understand women. Carver got them, Dixon always knew what to say, but Tino knew he was clueless.
"Oh come on, don't look at me like that. You know perfectly well how I meant it!"
"Maybe so, but it still wasn't easy to hear. You really think I look severe sometimes?"
"Tish, your hair looks great when you just let it flow. Don't try to restrain it. It's a part of who you are. And I think we both know you're a free spirit. I've seen your art, I've seen you perform, I've seen some of the things you've written for English class. You do things your own way. You don't inhibit yourself, you go the distance."
"So you're saying you like it when I leave my hair down?"
"Very much so."
"Is this a request?"
"Just a suggestion."
She leaned towards the boy, smiling. "What if I put it in braids?"
"Can I tug on them?"
"Nope."
"You're no fun."
"First you say I'm severe, and now that I'm not any fun! Keep it up and this will be our first and last anniversary!"
"Oh, this isn't fair! You set me up!"
"Did I?" She asked teasingly, splashing water in his direction.
"Okay, what's with the strange mood?"
"I don't know. I guess you just bring out the best in me." She laughed.
Tino laughed. "You really are a piece of work."
"Who, me?" Tish mocked ignorance.
"Yes, you, Pedratishkovna Katsufrakis!"
"Oooh, it's been awhile since you've called me that."
"You make me absolutely crazy sometimes!" Tino stamped a foot into the dirt, a cloud of it spreading around the water immediately surrounding it.
"If I didn't, we'd never have these wonderful little moments, now would we?"
"Okay, that's it. You're up to something, aren't you?"
"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you? But suffice to say that you're not the only one with a surprise this weekend."
"Oh yeah, check this one out!" Lor hollered at Carver. She strutted out of the dressing room. Carver looked Lor up and down as she modeled her prospective outfit.
"What kind of look are you going for?"
"Carver, don't you think I'd look great as one of the UCONN women?"
"Ah, Lor McQuarrie, basketball sensation, eh?"
"I don't find it much of a stretch."
"Yeah, I think that's a part you'd fit into nicely."
"I haven't decided if I'd want to go all out for basketball yet, though. I mean, there's other sports I like to play. Maybe I should join a soccer team when we get into high school next year."
"What about me, do you think I should go out for anything?"
"I don't know. Do they have a shoe club?"
"Probably not, but that's a great idea, Lor! I could start up my own club just for shoe fanciers like me!"
"Great. Then you can team up with Tino. He can start up a Captain Dreadnought club and together you'd have two members."
"Ha, ha, very funny."
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking when I came up with it." Lor looked down at her once again, nodding at the #11 on her back that she could see in the mirror on the door. "I don't know. I think I look good in this, but jerseys aren't really my thing when I'm not on the court. Besides, I don't want to get too involved. I want to compete in the Scottish Games someday. Oh, I've got to get Dixon to give me some training, I still can't believe he's actually been in them. How cool is that?"
"Oh. Yeah. It's cool." Carver responded unenthusiastically. "But it's not as cool as having designed shoes for Tommy Hugo. Now that makes the man a true idol."
"What? Don't make me laugh! Competing in the Scottish Games is way harder than designing some footwear. Where's the brute physical strength? The months of training? The crowds chanting your name as you hurl a log the size of a telephone pole several feet."
"Oh, c'mon, you can see Arnold Schwarzenegger do that in a movie. Sure you might get some applause, but that's not going to last. When you design a truly exquisite pair of shoes, it's something that people will remember forever. Something they'll wear and pride, and they'll think about you every time they put those babies on."
"Carver, there are times I just don't get you." Lor's arms dropped to the sides.
"Back at you. But we're still friends. Maybe that's what friendship is all about." He smirked.
"And here I thought it was about buying each other chili fries and Chug-A-Freezes. Speaking of which, it's your turn, I believe."
"What? No way! I bought you a Chug-A-Freeze last night! It's your turn."
"That doesn't count. We were settling a bet. Bets don't count as standard buys. It's your turn."
"Somehow I feel like I'm getting hosed."
"Dude, it's not like it's money out of your own pocket anyway. Just take it from the bank of Tish and Tino. Or Laird." Lor shrugged. "Doesn't really matter which one."
"I guess that's true. You gonna buy that outfit?"
"Nah. Not today anyway. I do like how it looks, but I don't know if I'll wear it enough."
Okay. I'll pick up the snacks and grab a seat in the food court, you meet me out there after you change back."
"Gotcha." Carver turned and walked off down the aisle towards the front of the store, while Lor turned on her heel and retreated back into the ladies' dressing room. Once inside, she realized she was alone with the mirror again. She stuck her tongue out at it in defiance, gripping her more familiar attire tightly. Nothing could touch her if she didn't let it.
Dixon scurried up the rough incline, hoisting himself up over one of the larger rocks that lay in his path, digging from foothold to foothold. He kept his walking stick ready to dig into the next patch of free ground. Satisfied, with his progress and his position, he turned around to help Miss Tonitini up the rock as well.
"Maybe I'm not in quite as good shape as I thought." She admitted as she gladly took Dixon's proffered hand and scrambled up the rock. "Either that, or is this trail is just a heck of a lot tougher than it looks."
"Nonsense." Dixon laughed. "We both know you're in wondrous shape. I think it's just a case of our older bodies trying to keep up with our younger spirits."
"And failing miserably."
"Speak for yourself." Dixon smirked. "Honestly though, are you enjoying yourself?"
"Immensely. I was just telling Tish last night that I don't get out of the city enough. This is just the kind of change I needed."
"Good, because I thought maybe we could stay up here and watch the sunset."
"What about the kids?"
"I think they can take care of themselves."
Miss Tonitini laughed. "Obviously you haven't spent that much time around my son."
Dixon grimaced. "Okay, then Tish can take care of both of them."
"Mmm, yeah, that sounds about right. That girl is remarkably mature for her age."
"And very well-versed. I've thought about asking her to join Great Books, at least during the summer. I think she can really benefit from it. I'd talk to her about it now, but I don't want to interrupt her education. After the school year is finished. That is, if her parents say it's okay."
"They let you and I take her away for an entire weekend. Somehow, I doubt they'll have qualms about you taking her to a book club once a week. But you're right, you should ask."
"It's all part of being a gentleman. Although now that I think about it, maybe I should take Tino too. If you think he could keep up, that is."
"Keep up?"
"Would he be willing to read material every week?"
"Well, he's certainly capable. I think he would if he had incentive. Sweeping his girlfriend off into that would probably be enough. I think that as long as Tino has plenty of time to hang with his friends, he won't mind at all. I'll talk to him about it, but I think he would be interested. I must say, it's nice to see you take that kind of interest."
Dixon shrugged. "I like kids. Remember when we first went out? I spent an entire day with their whole group down at Helpers Helping The Helpless. I had something in common with each of them. And let me tell you, I really liked interacting with them. They're good kids. These days you hear too many horror stories about kids bringing guns to school, or getting into drugs, and even pregnancies among kids as young as Tino and the others. So when I see a group of young people that are so well-meaning, I want to do something for them.
"Okay, if you're trying to score extra points with me, you're batting 1.000 so far."
Dixon smiled. "I guess I just want to do my part to make the world a better place for our kids. I look at my daughter Moira and I'm proud of her. But at the same time, I want her to have a better life than me. Not that I'm complaining about my life. I'm pretty happy about how it's turned out. Maybe it's just something all we parents wish for."
"I know exactly what you mean."
Dixon sat down on the rock, legs dangling over the edge of it. He motioned for his companion to join him. "May I ask you a very personal question."
"You can ask." She smiled. "Maybe I'll even answer."
"When you think back on your marriage and divorce...if you had it to do all over again, would you still marry him? Even if you knew it wasn't going to work out."
"Wow, you really cut right to the chase."
"I don't mean to pry, really."
"No, it's alright. It's not that I'm afraid to tell you, just that it isn't easy to answer. My ex-husband and I....our divorce really wasn't all that bad. One night he and I just realized that we weren't in love with each other anymore. We didn't hate each other. He wasn't cheating on me or being abusive. We just didn't really feel the same anymore. When I think about him now, I get....it's a very weird feeling. Like I'm fond of him in some ways, but I don't want to have that kind of relationship with him again. I know I'm very lucky. Most divorces don't go so amiably. To be honest, I do wish we Tino saw more of his father. I do my best with him and he knows that. But there are some things that really require a good male role model, just like there's others that require a good female one. Someday he's going to have to learn how to shave, you know." She smiled.
"Oh, I can teach him that."
"You really are a good, positive role model for him."
"You flatter me. So if you could go back in time..."
Miss Tonitini nodded. "I would do it again, yes. Even though some things would be hard, when I look at my son, I always smile. And if it weren't for my ex-husband, I wouldn't have him. So, what about you? Would you change things?"
"You know, you make a very good point. My marriage wasn't all that easy. I loved my wife very much. A part of me still does. But you just can't make someone else love you, no matter how hard you try." Tino's mother nodded solemnly at Dixon's confession. He took her hand. "That's why I'm glad I met you. Maybe it's a second chance." He held up his free hand to stave off questions. "Relax, I'm not asking you to marry me. Right now, I'm kind of happy the way things are. But I won't lie, I maybe interested in the future."
She smiled coyly at him. "Well then, I guess you'll just have to take your chances when the time comes and find out whether or not I'll say yes."
"Don't I even get a hint?"
"Where would the surprise be in that?!"
"Ready?" Tino asked.
"Ready. On three."
Tino nodded, then he and Tish synchronized. "One.....two.....three!" They called in unison, scooping away the dam and unleashing the waters through their scale model of Venice. The water flowed rapidly through the intersecting canals, being directed and redirected around buildings as it splashed down the incline to rejoin the lake it had came from. Both of the teens nodded in satisfaction as the fruits of their labor were displayed. Not a building threatened to give way, they had coordinated their efforts to keep the impact of the water from eroding the foundations.
"Someday I'd sure like to visit the real thing." Tish smiled as the water continued to pour forth from the giant well they had made at the top of the project.
"Want me to take you?"
"Don't tease!" Tish laughed.
"Who's teasing? If you want to go, I'll take you. Eventually. It should only take me, what, 20 years if I save my allowance for every week."
"Maybe only ten if I pitch mine in." She giggled.
"Or maybe I can get a job that lets me travel. Then I can go all over the world and bring you with me."
"Yeah, but you'd be so busy working I'd never get to see you."
"Right." Tino sighed. "There's got to be a way!"
"It's not that important, Tino. We can just put it on a list of things we want to do someday."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Trust me, I'd much rather live in the here and now."
"Tish, this weekend is going by entirely too fast."
"I know. They all do, don't they. Except maybe that time we were babysitting Todd. Or when we couldn't seem to have a good time no matter how we tried. And then there was that time..."
"Right, right."
Tino accepted. "But overall...."
"....They go by too fast. Days of our childhood gone by."
"We're 13, Tish. I woke up the other morning and realized that there are fewer days ahead to our childhood than there are behind."
"Our youth is what we make of it, Tino." Tish sighed. "Much like our lives. The greatest treasure is to be able to live in an individual moment and know that there's no place you'd rather be at that moment in time."
"Like now?" Tino smiled, back half turned to the girl as he watched the last of the water enter the city.
"Especially now." Tish threw her arms around his neck, running one of her bare feet over his own. She surveyed the city they had spent the afternoon together, reflecting on each trench they had dug, each block of buildings they had worked on, each bucket of water they had carried to make it complete. "We did it all with our own two hands, Tino."
"With a little assistance from my beach toys, that is." They laughed together. "That's why I wanted to do it. I knew you would like the idea of reconstructing a city, but I really wanted to build something together, just the two of us. Like that diorama we made last year."
"This was better. We did it because we wanted to."
"We did, didn't we?" One of her arms worked it's way down his back, drawing immense satisfaction from each of them. "What are you thinking right now?"
"About what you said. Knowing there's no place you'd rather be in a single moment."
"I couldn't agree more." Tish slowly pushed Tino down until he was sitting on the bath sheet. She brought herself around to his side and sat next to him. A soft breeze wafted in from the water, washing over them both.
"We'll have to get back soon."
Tish nodded slightly. "You know, a moment can be like a universe of its own, one that stretches out into its own eternity if you explore it to its fullest."
Tino stretched out along the sheet and settled in. "Then let's go exploring."
My schedule this week got all twisted around, and I even ended up doing writing for someone else instead of my own story. What you've just read was written entirely in one afternoon. I didn't think I had any hope of getting it all done in time. I assumed that you would all have to live through a depressingly short chapter this week. Instead, I ended up with a strikingly larger chapter. At least as far as the paging goes. It was almost entirely dialogue, which does pad the file a bit.
I touched on a lot of different things in this chapter, but I wouldn't call any segment of it more important than another. I especially wanted to do something with Dixon and Tino's mother by themselves, I really felt it was high time. I also tried to do something a little special with Tino and Tish here, show them at opposite ends of the spectrum, one very playful, the other markedly sweet and into one another. That's why I used them as bookends for the rest of the piece.
Anywho, enough on that, if you like hearing about that sort of thing, read the commentaries I create. If you enjoy this story and would like to discuss it with myself and other fans, please direct yourself to:
Here, Kaon has set up a forum to discuss my "Awakening", Harlequin's "Weekenders In High School," and a fic of his own he is currently working on. We'd all love to hear from you, so do drop by. In the mean time, read and review, and contact me directly if you feel so moved.
Lord Malachite
7/20/03
2:57 AM, EST
E-mail: ranger_writer@yahoo.com
AIM: Asukaphile26