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smackenzieThe weather wasn't too terrible - not that cold yet and even though there were some clouds it wasn't going to rain - so Laurie rode his Harley down to the clinic, the closer one on Magazine Street where you usually didn't have to wait too long if you showed up without an appointment. He liked the clinics - getting his blood taken in a hospital always made him a little nervous, although he couldn't tell you why. Maybe because the clinics were used to boys like him, gay boys who had indiscriminate sex like crazed wombats, even though he always, always used a condom. You could never be too sure. Besides, if he didn't go get tested on a regular basis Lea would have his head. Both heads.
He only had to wait about ten or fifteen minutes, which he passed by flipping through some of the magazines and watching the scruffy punker sitting opposite him. The kid couldn't have been more than twenty, if that, and he was holding a baby who alternated coughing, sneezing, and whining fretfully. Laurie felt bad for both of them, the boy and the baby, because the boy kept jiggling the baby and crooning to it and holding it and swearing he'd fix everything, just please stop crying, I'm gonna take care of you, baby girl, I mean it. The kid looked utterly distraught but oddly determined, and Laurie was relieved when someone in a lab coat came out to get them.
The lab tech who took his blood this time recognized his name - "Oh my god, you're Laurie Jude from Steerpike!" - and turned out to be a fan. She'd seen them a couple of times and had bought the CD at one of their shows, so the two of them talked about music and other local bands and where was a good place to see a live show versus where was a good place to PLAY a live show, and that distracted Laurie enough although he wasn't squeamish about having his blood drawn and this time the tech didn't hurt him. She was in fact very efficient. The last time he'd been here, a nurse had taken his blood and left him with a big-ass bruise inside his elbow for a week.
He went back home after that, dug out his copy of Jeff Buckley's album Grace, and spent a couple of hours making sure he really did know how to play "Hallelujah" for Gunther's funeral service. Damn. It was still a bit of a mind-fuck, not just that Gunther was dead but that he'd killed himself, and not just that he'd killed himself but that he'd done it because he was HIV positive. And not just that, but.... Laurie stopped himself right there. There were some things you just didn't have to think about.
The dinner shift at the restaurant went well, for once. The South African gentleman was seated in Laurie's section again, alone this time except for a pad of paper on which Laurie was pretty sure he was writing a letter. No one turned up in the break room necking with a customer. None of Laurie's diners hassled him, none of the other waiters pitched a drama fit in his path, and even the kitchen staff behaved itself. It was almost weird.
Well, there were the ninjas, that was the one strange thing. Laurie was up in front helping out one of the waitresses by carrying a tray of plates when he saw what he would swear were ninjas running down the sidewalk past the window. They were all dressed in black with black scarves tied around their faces and they streamed past the restaurant like a scene out of an action movie, or a Hong Kong chop-socky flick like the ones they showed on cable late at night.
"Did you see that?" he hissed at Michelle, the waitress.
"See what?" she hissed back, as she served main dishes and tried to avoid getting whacked by the very energetic gesturing older man sitting in the middle of that side of the table.
"Ninjas. Four of them. They just went running by." Michelle looked at him like she thought he was crazy. "I'm not crazy, I saw them." Her expression didn't change. "You didn't...?"
"No." She'd made her way around the table by now and served everyone at the table. She asked if anyone needed anything else, no one volunteered, and she pulled Laurie back towards the kitchen. "Are you ok?" she asked, once they'd gone beyond hearing range of the dining room.
"Yeah, why?"
"I heard about... your friend, the one who killed himself."
Laurie stared at her. Were there no secrets in this place? He hadn't told anyone here. How the hell did Michelle know about Gunther's suicide?
"Ok...."
"Just, if you need to talk, I'll listen." She seemed sincere and he almost believed her, but he wasn't a sharing-feelings kind of person, especially not when it meant sharing his feelings with a fellow coworker, and most especially when that coworker was another waiter.
"I'm fine, Michelle. I don't need to talk about it." And he brushed past her, went to get a water pitcher, and checked on his tables.
But other than that, and the fact that by the end of the night everyone seemed to think Laurie was losing his mind because he'd imagined ninjas running down the streets of Eden, everything was pretty much business as usual. Which was fine with Laurie - he could use a break.
He almost expected to get home to find another freaking-out message from Danny on his machine, but for once there was only Lea, reminding him to go to the clinic. Laurie wasn't surprised. He shed his clothes on the way to the bathroom, took a leak, brushed his teeth, and turned off all the lights before finally getting in bed. He was really fucking tired, he had to admit. What a couple of days. He didn't even have the energy to think about Parrish, which was something. He just dropped right off to sleep.
words: 1020
total words: 45,450
He only had to wait about ten or fifteen minutes, which he passed by flipping through some of the magazines and watching the scruffy punker sitting opposite him. The kid couldn't have been more than twenty, if that, and he was holding a baby who alternated coughing, sneezing, and whining fretfully. Laurie felt bad for both of them, the boy and the baby, because the boy kept jiggling the baby and crooning to it and holding it and swearing he'd fix everything, just please stop crying, I'm gonna take care of you, baby girl, I mean it. The kid looked utterly distraught but oddly determined, and Laurie was relieved when someone in a lab coat came out to get them.
The lab tech who took his blood this time recognized his name - "Oh my god, you're Laurie Jude from Steerpike!" - and turned out to be a fan. She'd seen them a couple of times and had bought the CD at one of their shows, so the two of them talked about music and other local bands and where was a good place to see a live show versus where was a good place to PLAY a live show, and that distracted Laurie enough although he wasn't squeamish about having his blood drawn and this time the tech didn't hurt him. She was in fact very efficient. The last time he'd been here, a nurse had taken his blood and left him with a big-ass bruise inside his elbow for a week.
He went back home after that, dug out his copy of Jeff Buckley's album Grace, and spent a couple of hours making sure he really did know how to play "Hallelujah" for Gunther's funeral service. Damn. It was still a bit of a mind-fuck, not just that Gunther was dead but that he'd killed himself, and not just that he'd killed himself but that he'd done it because he was HIV positive. And not just that, but.... Laurie stopped himself right there. There were some things you just didn't have to think about.
The dinner shift at the restaurant went well, for once. The South African gentleman was seated in Laurie's section again, alone this time except for a pad of paper on which Laurie was pretty sure he was writing a letter. No one turned up in the break room necking with a customer. None of Laurie's diners hassled him, none of the other waiters pitched a drama fit in his path, and even the kitchen staff behaved itself. It was almost weird.
Well, there were the ninjas, that was the one strange thing. Laurie was up in front helping out one of the waitresses by carrying a tray of plates when he saw what he would swear were ninjas running down the sidewalk past the window. They were all dressed in black with black scarves tied around their faces and they streamed past the restaurant like a scene out of an action movie, or a Hong Kong chop-socky flick like the ones they showed on cable late at night.
"Did you see that?" he hissed at Michelle, the waitress.
"See what?" she hissed back, as she served main dishes and tried to avoid getting whacked by the very energetic gesturing older man sitting in the middle of that side of the table.
"Ninjas. Four of them. They just went running by." Michelle looked at him like she thought he was crazy. "I'm not crazy, I saw them." Her expression didn't change. "You didn't...?"
"No." She'd made her way around the table by now and served everyone at the table. She asked if anyone needed anything else, no one volunteered, and she pulled Laurie back towards the kitchen. "Are you ok?" she asked, once they'd gone beyond hearing range of the dining room.
"Yeah, why?"
"I heard about... your friend, the one who killed himself."
Laurie stared at her. Were there no secrets in this place? He hadn't told anyone here. How the hell did Michelle know about Gunther's suicide?
"Ok...."
"Just, if you need to talk, I'll listen." She seemed sincere and he almost believed her, but he wasn't a sharing-feelings kind of person, especially not when it meant sharing his feelings with a fellow coworker, and most especially when that coworker was another waiter.
"I'm fine, Michelle. I don't need to talk about it." And he brushed past her, went to get a water pitcher, and checked on his tables.
But other than that, and the fact that by the end of the night everyone seemed to think Laurie was losing his mind because he'd imagined ninjas running down the streets of Eden, everything was pretty much business as usual. Which was fine with Laurie - he could use a break.
He almost expected to get home to find another freaking-out message from Danny on his machine, but for once there was only Lea, reminding him to go to the clinic. Laurie wasn't surprised. He shed his clothes on the way to the bathroom, took a leak, brushed his teeth, and turned off all the lights before finally getting in bed. He was really fucking tired, he had to admit. What a couple of days. He didn't even have the energy to think about Parrish, which was something. He just dropped right off to sleep.
words: 1020
total words: 45,450
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-21 09:59 pm (UTC)um. ninjas? that's really random. laurie, you sure you're okay?
no subject
Date: 2003-11-21 10:49 pm (UTC)and you're very close to 50,000 -- yay!
no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 05:47 am (UTC)And Ninjas? o.O Okayyyyy....
no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 06:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-22 06:47 am (UTC)Uh, Ninjas? Heee!
/me tucks Laurie in.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 04:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 09:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 02:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:45 pm (UTC)But! TED & JAY!! *much squeeage*
*pant*
Alright, I'm ok, really... ;-)
no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:49 pm (UTC)laurie sez: i did so see ninjas! why doesn't anyone believe me? do you have any idea all the weird shit that happens in this city? ninjas are the least of it.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:54 pm (UTC)laurie sez: yes, ninjas! >.
no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-23 09:38 pm (UTC)::g:: Things like Ted and Jay? ^_~
no subject
Date: 2003-11-25 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-11-25 01:59 pm (UTC)jay: *beam*
ninjas: *sneaksneak* you didn't see us....