Jake wakes up about four p.m., and walks downstairs in his Waffle Warrior pajamas. Yawning, he reaches the end of the stairs to find Winifred and another woman sitting in the living room. Winifred sets down the magazine she was browsing, and says, "Oh my God! It's the walking dead! Run for your life, Harriet!"
Jake, after deciding not to flee back upstairs since that would make him look like an even bigger dork than he does wearing Waffle Warrior pajamas (on them WW appears pouring syrup on various opponents interspersed with various phrases such as "Butter Battler"), plays along and assuming a stiff zombie stance, sticks his arms out and stumbles slowly towards his sister, groaning. She stands up and hugs him.
"Ugh, your breath stinks, Jake," she says, turning her face away.
"Nice to see you too, Sis," Jake says, dropping the zombie bit and trying to appear semi-normal for Winifred's guest.
"This is Harriet, the friend I was telling you about," Winifred says, gesturing to her friend, a young blonde woman with glasses.
"Uh huh," Jake says.
"The friend I was telling you about," Winifred says and elbows Jake.
"Oh! Yes," Jake says, and moves to shake her hand.
Harriet sets down the book she was reading, and gets up from the couch. Jake shakes her hand and says, "Pleased to meet you. I'll try not to breathe on you."
"Nice to meet you Jake. Winnie's told me a lot about you."
"Though I did neglect to tell her about the wrestling pajamas," Winifred says, rolling her eyes.
"Well, it may be tea time to you, but it's still morning to me," Jake says, then grasping at anything to make conversation about, "What, uh, book is that?"
Harriet looks at the book on the couch, a red paperback with the title The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus, "Oh, just something I picked up at the discount store."
"You know there was a wrestler once who had a gimmick of bringing an emu to the ring, but one time it got mad and kicked somebody in the front row in the head so they replaced it with a small kangaroo, what are those called?" Jake says, snapping his fingers.
"A wallaby?" Winifred says.
"Thank you. A wallaby."
"Oh, this isn't about emus. It's about a rock band. I just like reading about music," Harriet says.
"Harriet plays in a band," Winifred says, "They're called Coffee, Tea, or Melvin."
"That's cool," Jake says, "Um, what's melvin?"
Harriet patiently explains, "Melvin is supposed to be someone's name. It's a takeoff on the old stewardess joke 'Coffee, tea, or me'."
"Oh," Jake says, trying to salvage some cool, "That's clever. I like it."
"Um hum," Harriet says.
Winifred tries to restart the conversation after this awkward pause, "What did they do with the emu after it was replaced by the wallaby."
"I don't know exactly," Jake says, "But I think they ate it. Wrestlers are always real hungry."
The women look at him as the conversation grinds to a halt again.
"Well, speaking of food, I'm starving. I'm going to get washed and then get some breakfast. Nice meeting you, Harriet. Thanks for putting up with my sister," Jake says, excusing himself, and heading for the bathroom.
"Please call me Harry."
Jake stops, "You don't exactly match the image of a Harry."
"Oh, what do I match the image of then?"
"Um," Jake says, trying to think on his toes before giving up, "I'm sorry, I really have to use the restroom. I'll tell you when I come out."
After he leaves, Harriet says, "So that's your brother."
"That's my brother," Winifred says, and sits back down and hides underneath her magazine.
Blog Love Omega Glee is a novel by Wred Fright about two bloggers who fall in love while the world falls apart, which is being serialized on his blog. To start reading from the beginning or read another installment, please visit Blog Love Omega Glee Central on WredFright.Com. If you like what you've read, or you've read all of Blog Love Omega Glee and want more Fright, then please read his first novel, which is available in print and as an ebook.
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