"Awakenings" Chapter 2
"Arose"
Saturday
Like most Saturdays, this one found Tino Tonitini at the breakfast table around 8:30 AM. With a ratio of five schooldays to only two and a third weekend days, he had to get in early start if he was going to cram in as much weekend as possible.
"Rough night?" his mother asked as she slid a bowl of. . .something in front of her son. "You look a little bleary-eyed."
"Something like that." Tino responded. "Hey, is this curds and whey?"
"If I told you, you probably wouldn't eat it."
"Are you positive this stuff is safe?"
"Mostly."
"Mostly?"
"It's best not to dwell on such minutia. So, I hear you're going to the museum today."
"Interactive outer space? I wouldn't miss it for the world! Plus they've got Astronaut food! Soup in a tube, mom. It doesn't get any better than this."
"Let me know if you still feel the same in five years."
"Count on it." Tino shoveled the contents of the bowl into his mouth in as few bites as humanly possible. The less he concentrated on his mother's concoctions, the better. I'm gonna snag some cartoons before I go out."
11 AM found Tino on the couch, he had dozed off somewhere around 9:30,visions of Chug-A-Freezes were now dancing in his head. Somewhere between lime and grape, he felt a soft handing brushing across his hair rapidly. "Mom?" Tino inquired as his eyes slowly opened.
"Do I really look that old?" Tish recoiled, running her hands over her face and feeling for wrinkles.
"Tish? What are you doing here?"
"Well, we're all going to the museum soon, I think. I was going to go check up on Carver but I wanted to see you first."
"You did?"
"Yeah, I've got something for you. Tino looked down to see a circular object in Tish's right hand. It resembled a Christmas wreath, complete with leaves, but no bells. It looked as though there were scraps of paper on it, as well as fabric and splotches of paint. "Stand up."
Tino yawned as he rose to his feet, and Tish took a step backwards. She then bent down and placed the wreath at Tino's feet. "Um, Tish? Scaring me here. You're not trying to get me to join a cult or anything, are you?"
"No silly!" she laughed. "It's a tradition of my people. When a girl wishes to declare she seeks a personal relationship with a boy, it's custom to make a wreath that represents her, and to lay it at the boy's feet. I took a redundant copy of Hamlet I've got and put some of the pages on here. I also cut up and old dress I grew out of, and the paint is supposed to represent my artistic side."
Tino didn't know what to say. "Um. . .that's. . .very nice Tish. I'm. . .sorry, I just don't know what to say or do. No one's ever done anything like this for me before."
"The boy then decides whether or not to accept the girl's companionship. He accepts by picking up the wreath." She smiled.
"And if he says no?"
Tish did her best to retain her composure, but she still looked and felt deeply hurt. He rejects it by looking up into the sky, away from it."
Tino hesitated for only a moment before quickly bending over to pick up the wreath. "I accept."
Elated, Tish threw her arms around Tino. "Thank you Tino! Oh mom will be so happy! Wait until I tell her we're getting married!"
"Wh-what?!" Tino felt his blood run cold. "You never said anything about getting married!"
"Oh, did I forget to mention that?"
"I'll say you forgot to mention it! I. . .I. . . . . . . .I…………………." Tino felt woozy all of a sudden. He began to fall. Tish tried to steady him, but within seconds, he was half-sprawled across the couch, unconscious.
Tino awoke to the sound of laughter. He opened his eyes, rubbing the sleep out of them with the palms of his hands. What had happened? He shifted his weight to the side and quickly fell unceremoniously onto his backside. Oh, right the couch. Something had happened. "Mom?" Tino called. Abruptly the laughing stopped. "Hey, Mom, where are you."
"Kitchen." A familiar voice responded.
Tino lifted himself off the floor, smoothed his shirt, and followed the source of his mother's voice. He found her sitting at the kitchen table, across from a familiar red-headed girl. Both were drinking something hot, and wearing mischievous grins on their faces.
"Ugh, what time is it?" Tino asked. "And why do you two look so. . .creepy?"
"Oh, hi Tino. 12:40" His mother said. "Tish here was just telling me the good news. I'm happy for you."
"Good. . .news?" Tino was confused. What news could Tish have for his mom? He wrestled with his brain, and slowly it began to cough up foggy images. . .Tish presenting him with something, his taking it. . .something about getting married."
"Ahhhh!" Tino screamed. "Now I remember! You can't be serious! You actually told her! This is madness!" Tish covered her mouth with her hand to suppress a flurry of chuckles.
"Oh, I can think of worse things that could befall you." Mom suggested.
"Mom! I'm too young to be married!" Tish couldn't help it. She exploded with laughter. "What? What's so funny? This isn't a laughing matter!"
"Yes it is!" Tish managed between laughs. "I made the whole thing up!"
"Huh?"
"You know, the wreath. The 'custom of my people.' All phony!" she giggled.
"Then, why did you-"
Tish sighed. "I just wanted a way to ask you out without coming right out and saying it. This was easier, in a roundabout sort of way.
"So we're not getting married?"
"Well, maybe someday, if we really want to, but I was thinking of something slightly less permanent than that at this point. I figured that by making you think we were getting married, the idea of us dating would suddenly seem like a much lesser step than it really is. Well, your Mom thought it was clever, anyway."
"Oh, good, because I was afraid to say no."
"You fainted."
"I'll, uh, have to remember that trick."
"I don't recommend it." Tino's mother added. "You know, Tino, have you ever thought about how much easier things would be on you if you would just tell me important things like this? You know I knew about your little. . .adventure. . .last night."
"How could you have?"
"There's no secret you can keep from me. It's a superpower given to us mothers."
"Any other advice, oh great and powerful mother?"
"Yes. Pay for her share of the pizza."
"That sounds fair." Tish grinned.
"C'mon." Tino said. "Let's get out of here before Mom ropes me into putting you through college."
"Well. . .I guess I could just go the scholarship route."
"Good."
"Bye Miss Tonitini."
"Goodbye Tish. See you later, Tino."
"Yeah. Seeya!"
Tino and Tish walked slowly in the direction of Lor's house, keeping rather quiet for the first block. "So. . ." Tish ventured, "Were you planning on telling Carver and Lor about, you know."
"I don't think we should tell them yet. Unless you look forward to hearing Carver and Lor make little kissing sounds and catcalls every ten seconds, that is."
"Mmm. Good point. Alright, we'll keep it our secret for now."
Lor was lying on the grass on her front lawn, tossing a soccer ball into the air when she finally saw two of her friends walking up. "Geez where have you guys been all this time? We're gonna miss the exhibit at this rate." Lor called anxiously.
"Oh, Tino just had a little fainting spell, that's all." Tish smiled, determined not to laugh.
"Dude, you fainted?! That is so…lame!" Lor laughed, jumping up and running to the others.
"Can we talk about something else?" Tino groaned, slapping his forehead with his wrist.
"So did he just like fall over?" Lor pressed.
"Something like that." Tish revealed.
"And so concludes the 'I'm so embarrassed I could die' portion of my afternoon, ladies. Now if we could just move on to the 'picking up Carver and going to the museum' part, it'll be a rewarding day."
"I'll tell you about it later." Tish grinned. "Is Carver still at his house?"
"He's probably still working on that paper." Lor suggested, drop kicking her soccer ball into the garage for emphasis. "Should we call him?"
"You really think he hasn't finished yet?" Tino inquired.
"Who knows. I got mine done."
"Was it a long night?" Tish asked.
"I thought it would be at first, but once the thought of being trapped here all Saturday with my brothers came into play, my fingers were flying like I was in some kind of writing marathon. I got two and a half full pages in!"
"Whoa, Lor, you really went the extra distance!" Tino was duly impressed.
"Yeah, well, when I get in the zone, I'm unstoppable. Now let's go get Carver before the Space Age catches up to us!"
Continued Next Time….
I'm certainly having a bit of fun with this, and writing this new chapter gave me some good ideas for my Tino/Lor fic, so it looks like everybody wins, to me. I'll be back soon with another installment, I hope. Keep your peppers peeled.
Lord Malachite
5/6/03
4:07 PM, EST
E-mail: ranger_writer@yahoo.com
AIM: Asukaphile26