Parachutes carrying us through life
Always keeping us buoyed high,
Protecting us from strife
Yet they can not always help us fly
For one day our parachutes will be knifed over the sea
Dropping our wayward bodies, towards inevitability
Part 1
A bead of sweat dripped down from his forehead, stinging his eyes and causing him to snap the part he was attempting to fix clear in half.
"Damn!" yelled the man.
He set the part down on the table and stepped back. His whole body glistened with sweat, even with only a pair of brown cargo pants adorning his form. He grabbed a towel from the workbench and made an attempt to wipe down his bare head and muscular form.
Suddenly a small man popped out from behind one of the furnaces.
"Having I fun I take it?" he queried.
"Hell yes." Replied the bald man, equally as caustic.
"Those little sticks can be real bitches."
"Tell me about it. I don't even know what they do."
"We're not s'posed to, it's just one of those things."
"Sometimes I wonder why I do this, but then I tell myself 'man you don't know how to do anything else.' So I just live with it."
"Now that's a fact. So how's things goin' with Petra?" Asked the small man as he attempted to do a few chin-ups on the furnace pipe.
"Pretty good."
"You know man she's really into you." Said the small man as he failed to succeed with his chin-ups and dropped to the floor in anguish.
"I kinda figured as much."
The two men's conversation was interrupted as the ranking presence arrived.
"Hey! What're you all doin' sittin' around? Get back to work, this ain't no break!" yelled their supervisor.
Their super was short and stocky, but he had quite a mouth for such a little man.
"Well catch ya later Rude." Said the little man hurriedly as their boss approached.
Rude nodded and turned back to his workbench. As he tinkered with the troublesome little part his super came up behind him.
"Havin' a problem here?" asked his boss with a menacing tone.
"No sir."
"Don't give me that shit kid. Just cause your father own this company doesn't mean you can act all high and mighty like some king."
"Sir I never implied that I had any higher status…" but his sentence was cut off.
"I don't give a damn what you said. And stop usin' fancy words and talk in English damn it."
"Uh sir that was English."
"Look kid for the last time, if you give me any more shit you're gonna be out on the street beggin' to come back."
Rude knew that if that ever happened he could easily get this little man fired and have his job when he came back. But he didn't want to rely on his father's authority too much.
"I'm sorry sir, I'll get back to work now." Said Rude defeatedly.
His boss was a bit surprised; the boy had given up so soon? But that didn't matter right now because right now he was working and productivity meant money. So the supervisor waddled off and let the workers be.
Rude toyed with the part for another hour until he eventually gave up and the bell signaling that their shift was over rang. Rude killed the light over his workbench and wiped himself down once more. On his way out he grabbed his shirt, a light blue button up with the company's insignia on it.
It was a bit of a walk out of the furnaces but he talked with his little friend along the way.
"Hey man did you hear about the banquet tonight?" asked the small man tiredly.
"Banquet?" Rude had no idea what the other man was talking about.
"Yeah you know for the merger, between Pullman and us. I bet your parents are gonna make you go."
"Yeah probly. I totally forgot about the whole thing."
"Well it starts in an hour an' a half…"
"Shit! I'll catch you later Ronny." Said Rude hurriedly as he sprinted down the hall.
His apartment was only a block away from the factory but he still ran the whole way. His building wasn't very tall, only six floors or so. But his apartment was on the sixth floor so by the time he reached it he was a bit exerted.
When he entered he was startled to find his sister Lara, sitting on the couch.
"You really should clean this place up." She said disgustedly as she gingerly picked up a plate of old pizza.
His sister, unlike him, had long black hair and a trim figure. She was already dressed up for the banquet in a beautiful sapphire colored gown.
"What are you doing here?" asked Rude, a bit defensively.
"Mum and dad sent me. You know some people still make an attempt to co-exist with their parents." She said acidly.
"Yeah and some people actually work for a living, and don't just mooch off their parents." He stung back.
"You work at dad's company. I doubt that can be all that hard."
That went unanswered.
"Do I have to dress up for this? Asked Rude, already knowing the answer, yet still dreading it.
"No of course not. You can just go covered with sweat and your shirt open." She replied sarcastically.
"All right let's go then." He said with a smirk.
She threw a magazine at him.
"No come on stupid. Hurry up and take a shower."
"Can Petra come?" he shouted from the bathroom.
"Already on her way!"
Petra had been Rude's girlfriend for about eight months and in his mind she was absolutely perfect. In reality that wasn't too far from the truth.
As Rude showered, his sister flicked on the news but was soon interrupted by a knock.
"Come in." said Lara absentmindedly.
Petra walked in and even managed to draw Lara's eyes away from the news. She wore an emerald green dress and a beautiful diamond necklace that Rude had given her. Her blond hair was done up in plaited braids, and all together she looked stunning.
"Hello Petra." Said Lara pleasantly.
"Hi Lara, where's Rude?" asked Petra cheerily.
"In the shower, he just got home from the factory."
Petra cautiously treaded across the floor to the couch, managing to avoid some of the mess strewn across the floor.
"Quite a pig sty huh?" said Lara in disgust.
"It can get a bit messy." Laughed Petra.
As Petra cleared a spot to sit down Rude exited the bathroom.
"Hey babe. Wow you look great." He said charmingly.
"Thanks, and I like the towel, very handsome." Petra said with a giggle in reference to Rude's sole item of apparel, a white towel around his waist.
"All right wonder boy hurry up. This thing starts in an hour." Barked Lara.
A few minutes late Rude emerged from the bedroom in khakis and a blue sports jacket. Lara whistled.
"You look great." Said Petra smiling.
"Thanks, you wanna go now?"
"About time." Lara muttered to no one in particular.
"Oh shut up." Said Rude playfully.
Rude motioned towards the door as he opened it.
"Ladies first."
Lara hustled out and as Petra walked by she gave Rude a little kiss, causing him to blush slightly. With one last look around Rude killed the lights and shut the door behind him.
Author's note- The big banquet/party thing is coming up so keep reading. This is a different Rude than you may be used to but by Part 3 I assure you that he should be pretty close to Rude of the Turks, not Rude of the Furnaces. As for the poem in the beginning it has no format really so keep that in mind when you're thinking of it. And it should make more sense as the story goes on. So keep reading and please R&R