Instead of going to the house I walked the three blocks down to the mechanics workshop that Howard owns.
My part time job.
Howard is my sort of foster parent.
Although Jan probably does most of the 'looking after' that I need.
I met Howard when I was ten or eleven. He owned the servo down the road from the foster home I was living in at the time. I used to go down there on afternoons and weekends and he'd let me help him with whatever he was working on.
He bought his own workshop when I was thirteen, offered me an apprenticeship when I was fifteen and I moved into the upstairs room of his house.
Dream come true was shattered, or at least postponed, when, a week after school started up again, Jan comes in waving my school records and tells Howard I'm finishing year twelve and they both blow up at me for not telling them about my 'exceptionable ability' and that, despite my 'less than exemplary behaviour' I'm 'a bright young man' who could 'go far'.
I'd like to know how she got a hold of that. I'm pretty sure the teachers were as happy as I was when they discovered I was leaving.
On the plus side though, I get to hang out with my friends daily and I get to help out at the workshop whenever I want, as long as I've finished my homework. Which Jan, unfortunately, monitors more thoroughly than my parrot.
Jan's pretty alright though. She's married to Richard, one of the mechanics I work with. They live right next door and Jan cooks us meals from time to time.
Cleans the house too.
I started to think about the end of year formal again, and who I was going to go with.
I'd already established Hilde would say yes, but I didn't want to go with her.
Who else was there to ask though? Relena and Sally were most definitely out, other than that I'd be choosing a random person. I wasn't really that close to anybody else.
Well, unless you include the guys, but they're all taken as well.
I took a moment to think about what going to the dance with Heero would be like.
Both of us in suits, slow dancing in the middle of the floor.
That'd be pretty funny.
Reminds me of when we did folk dancing in year eight.
The PE Teacher dragged our class to the gym and tried to get us to pair up. Half the guys partnered guys just so they didn't have to dance with the girls.
Seriously, you'd think we'd be over girl germs by that age.
I had a lot of fun gallivanting around with Heero until Relena cut in and pinched him.
I was mildly peeved for all of about three seconds, when I noticed Heero scowling so fiercely it's a wonder Relena didn't combust.
I commandeered Hilde and we tangoed up and down the floor to the waltzing strains of
'Swing your partner by the arm, heel and toe, heel and toe...'
I had a great time afterwards trying to break Heero's stroppy mood as well.
That's always fun.
Hmm, I wonder what Heero'd say if I asked him to go with me.
'Now Heero, I've given this careful consideration, and I sincerely think it would be best if you went to the dance with me, girl germs, you know, could be fatal.'
'Hn, yes, girl germs.'
Too bad he's going with Relena.
Damn. Why does that plague my mind so.
I was about to force myself onto another topic, when all of a sudden felt really in the mood for torturing myself.
Instead of thinking about them being together I ran through some of the moments we'd had together instead. The ones that were making me kind of sad at the moment because he'd be wanting to spend his time with Relena now.
The ones that used to give me the warm fuzzies when I thought about them.
Like when Howard let me get Deathscythe Hell, I almost got a dog instead just because Heero looked so sweet playing with the puppies at the pet store. G, Heero's guardian (some relation I think), would never let Heero get a pet, hates all forms of wildlife. Made Heero animal proof their backyard just to keep out the neighbours guinea pigs.
All the times when Heero tried to teach my parrot to 'sit' and 'stay'. When he nearly knocked himself out on the mantle piece trying to see how fast it would walk along behind him.
Watching movies and fighting over the popcorn bowl. He has this thing for moving it just as I try to grab some, then acts as if nothings happened or gives this infuriating smirk. You'd think he liked being attacked.
G started cooking our popcorn for us and giving us separate bowls after it ended up on the floor one too many times.
I remember helping each other limp off the field from our short stint in learning to play rugby, we discovered we were just not built for that kind of thing. Man those guys are huge.
Heero going to sleep and leaving it up to me to make sure we stayed aloft when a wild pig imprisoned us up a tree one night on a camping trip. It was kinda nice waking up in his embrace the next morning, even if it was rather sudden, painful and more of a crumpled heap on the ground.
All these thoughts gave me that happy sad feeling, the one you always seem to want more of despite the pain it causes. Just cause your wishing for what makes you happy, what could be, but knowing your wish isn't someone else's.
The stories your head makes up, the mental interactions you create, the dreams that just, sort of, arrive.
Wishes.
I sighed.
And if wishes were fishes all men would cast nets, there'd be twice as many scuba divers and evolution would go backwards.
I don't understand myself. One minute I feel like sinking into a melancholy puddle, the next I'm evaporating it with artificial sunlight and a heavy duty dryer.
I start sinking then part of me turns around, laughs, and says
'I'm sorry, but your just so damned dramatic.'
And there we go, bad mood, sad mood, anything but happy mood, all nicely locked back in its box in the attic of my mind.
Hmm, less cobwebs up there than usual.
Oh well, at least I get to hang around with Heero tomorrow arvo.
Walking into the garage I find Howard and Richard removing the engine of a '78 Holden commodore, brown, definitely seen better days.
Deathscythe hell is doing a bad job of sorting all the old bolts.
Howard brings him down here most days, he has a bad habit of wrecking things when left at the house to his own devices.
I dump my bag in the office, give the parrot a scratch and wander over to see if I can help.
My part time job.
Howard is my sort of foster parent.
Although Jan probably does most of the 'looking after' that I need.
I met Howard when I was ten or eleven. He owned the servo down the road from the foster home I was living in at the time. I used to go down there on afternoons and weekends and he'd let me help him with whatever he was working on.
He bought his own workshop when I was thirteen, offered me an apprenticeship when I was fifteen and I moved into the upstairs room of his house.
Dream come true was shattered, or at least postponed, when, a week after school started up again, Jan comes in waving my school records and tells Howard I'm finishing year twelve and they both blow up at me for not telling them about my 'exceptionable ability' and that, despite my 'less than exemplary behaviour' I'm 'a bright young man' who could 'go far'.
I'd like to know how she got a hold of that. I'm pretty sure the teachers were as happy as I was when they discovered I was leaving.
On the plus side though, I get to hang out with my friends daily and I get to help out at the workshop whenever I want, as long as I've finished my homework. Which Jan, unfortunately, monitors more thoroughly than my parrot.
Jan's pretty alright though. She's married to Richard, one of the mechanics I work with. They live right next door and Jan cooks us meals from time to time.
Cleans the house too.
I started to think about the end of year formal again, and who I was going to go with.
I'd already established Hilde would say yes, but I didn't want to go with her.
Who else was there to ask though? Relena and Sally were most definitely out, other than that I'd be choosing a random person. I wasn't really that close to anybody else.
Well, unless you include the guys, but they're all taken as well.
I took a moment to think about what going to the dance with Heero would be like.
Both of us in suits, slow dancing in the middle of the floor.
That'd be pretty funny.
Reminds me of when we did folk dancing in year eight.
The PE Teacher dragged our class to the gym and tried to get us to pair up. Half the guys partnered guys just so they didn't have to dance with the girls.
Seriously, you'd think we'd be over girl germs by that age.
I had a lot of fun gallivanting around with Heero until Relena cut in and pinched him.
I was mildly peeved for all of about three seconds, when I noticed Heero scowling so fiercely it's a wonder Relena didn't combust.
I commandeered Hilde and we tangoed up and down the floor to the waltzing strains of
'Swing your partner by the arm, heel and toe, heel and toe...'
I had a great time afterwards trying to break Heero's stroppy mood as well.
That's always fun.
Hmm, I wonder what Heero'd say if I asked him to go with me.
'Now Heero, I've given this careful consideration, and I sincerely think it would be best if you went to the dance with me, girl germs, you know, could be fatal.'
'Hn, yes, girl germs.'
Too bad he's going with Relena.
Damn. Why does that plague my mind so.
I was about to force myself onto another topic, when all of a sudden felt really in the mood for torturing myself.
Instead of thinking about them being together I ran through some of the moments we'd had together instead. The ones that were making me kind of sad at the moment because he'd be wanting to spend his time with Relena now.
The ones that used to give me the warm fuzzies when I thought about them.
Like when Howard let me get Deathscythe Hell, I almost got a dog instead just because Heero looked so sweet playing with the puppies at the pet store. G, Heero's guardian (some relation I think), would never let Heero get a pet, hates all forms of wildlife. Made Heero animal proof their backyard just to keep out the neighbours guinea pigs.
All the times when Heero tried to teach my parrot to 'sit' and 'stay'. When he nearly knocked himself out on the mantle piece trying to see how fast it would walk along behind him.
Watching movies and fighting over the popcorn bowl. He has this thing for moving it just as I try to grab some, then acts as if nothings happened or gives this infuriating smirk. You'd think he liked being attacked.
G started cooking our popcorn for us and giving us separate bowls after it ended up on the floor one too many times.
I remember helping each other limp off the field from our short stint in learning to play rugby, we discovered we were just not built for that kind of thing. Man those guys are huge.
Heero going to sleep and leaving it up to me to make sure we stayed aloft when a wild pig imprisoned us up a tree one night on a camping trip. It was kinda nice waking up in his embrace the next morning, even if it was rather sudden, painful and more of a crumpled heap on the ground.
All these thoughts gave me that happy sad feeling, the one you always seem to want more of despite the pain it causes. Just cause your wishing for what makes you happy, what could be, but knowing your wish isn't someone else's.
The stories your head makes up, the mental interactions you create, the dreams that just, sort of, arrive.
Wishes.
I sighed.
And if wishes were fishes all men would cast nets, there'd be twice as many scuba divers and evolution would go backwards.
I don't understand myself. One minute I feel like sinking into a melancholy puddle, the next I'm evaporating it with artificial sunlight and a heavy duty dryer.
I start sinking then part of me turns around, laughs, and says
'I'm sorry, but your just so damned dramatic.'
And there we go, bad mood, sad mood, anything but happy mood, all nicely locked back in its box in the attic of my mind.
Hmm, less cobwebs up there than usual.
Oh well, at least I get to hang around with Heero tomorrow arvo.
Walking into the garage I find Howard and Richard removing the engine of a '78 Holden commodore, brown, definitely seen better days.
Deathscythe hell is doing a bad job of sorting all the old bolts.
Howard brings him down here most days, he has a bad habit of wrecking things when left at the house to his own devices.
I dump my bag in the office, give the parrot a scratch and wander over to see if I can help.