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 Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2006 7:23 pm
Sid fails to take note of Andy's reaction to his words as once he's done talking his eyes begin wandering the station, taking in the sights, the signs, the boxom young women unaccompanied by men. If not for Andy taking his hand he would have likely keep going, but once she has a seat he follows suit and puts a few modest feet between them. Much as he keeps trying to think all the wrong things about the girl, Andy is already stuck in his mind as a quirky niece.
With all that rattling around in his mind it takes him a little while longer to register what she asked. 'Mister' hits him first.
"C'mon, Sid's fine. Only people that call me mister are bill collectors." He reaches up and pushes a few loose strands of gray hair out of his face, buying more time to think of how to respond.
"I had a bad experience with the beach when I was a kid. That was... god, I can't remember where it was, but I think I was eight, or around that age. Found out first hand how rip tides worked... thought for sure I was gonna drown. Worst part of all was the old man."
One hand slides out along his leg, allowing his fingers to absentmindedly pick at the frayed threads at his knee. Sid continues with, "b*****d just sat there staring at me when I staggered back out, looked at me shaking and hacking up water and said, 'Now you know'... Man was real big on the 'try it and see what happens' school of instruction, you see." He smirks. "And that's why I know exactly what happens when you put a penny in a light socket."
The smile dies away in stages, and he looks away long enough to watch a small family pass. It never occurs to him that he said too much, just that he never addressed the other statement of hers.
"Now, seagulls... I never had a problem with seagulls."
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:10 pm
As if she were a first grade student on her first day of school, and Sid was the teacher calmly explaining the rules, Andy listened to the man's tale of near-drowning, and the lack of concern from his father after the whole ordeal. Andy probably would have filled in for Sid's father, probably would have said something like, "well, now you're okay!" and pat him on the shoulder, but that would make things awkward. Probably. And the last thing Andy wanted was an awkward moment with this dude. ********, she liked him, kind of like the father that she'll never have again, and Andy would be damned if she was going to spoil that.
No, instead, she frowned and swiped an arm under her nose. "Oh," she said after a time, then put her hands, palm-down, on the bench, fingers splayed and dripping over the edge, feet clacking together in a muted rubbery sound. She paused, thinking, and added: "I think eagles're pretty. Like, yanno, big wings'n s**t like that. They can see little mice scurryin all ov'r the forest floor. Or prairie floor, whatev'r."
She dropped off into another silence, this time tucking her feet under herself and tapping her fingers against the patched denim of her jeans. Andy glanced up to see a man behind a cart selling peanuts (not an odd sight in a train station, Andy thought, although she had never really been out of New Jersey so she would never know). "Want some nuts? They're big'n hot'n tasty!" She grinned a little, and would have jumped off the bench to buy some big, hot, tasty nuts, but only if Sid wanted some.
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:00 pm
"I've never been partial to big, hot, tasty nuts, sorry," he says, somehow managing to keep a straight face. "But if you want, I'll just sit here and watch."
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 2:10 pm
[Sorry about the wait. I've been suuuuper busy this past week. x__x;]
Andy grinned, jumped to her feet, and raced across the tiny hallway to the nearest nut vendor, who was less than ten feet away. The racing did not last long, obviously. She stopped in front of the befuddled old man's cart, arms crossed against her chest in deep thought, which isn't very deep at all, if you happen to be Andy Doyle.
"I like honey-roasted nuts, Vendor Man," she muttered absently to Vendor Man, who only rolled his eyes in return. "But then again...those salted nuts're real good, too." A few more moments of intense concentration later, and Andrea made her purchase: one bag of extra salty nuts and a pretzel.
She slid back to the bench and plopped back down next to Sid, already picking through her bag of nuts. "I gotcha pretzel," Andy explained, popping a nut into her mouth, "in case you get hungry or somethin on the way there. It's a long-a** ride, yanno." Well, not really long. It was more like an hour or so, but to Andy, Queen of Short Attention Spans, an hour was a lifetime. Patiently, she held the pretzel in mid-air for Sid to take, using her other hand to continue shifting through the nuts.
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Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 10:59 pm
((No problem. And now... further attempts to stick with past tense!))
Sid took the pretzel and, with the utmost dignity and restraint, pinched a piece off of it. However, after swallowing the first bite the fact he'd consumed nothing but coffee and cigarettes all day hit him. The rest of the pretzel disappeared as if by magic... magic that involved very large bites and noisy chewing.
"Mmph," he said, forgetting to swallow the last bite before attempting speak. When that was accomplished he tried again. "Thanks."
Annoyed with himself and afraid he might be offered more food, Sid decided his only course of action was to change to subject.
"So..." he said. "You in school?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:09 pm
Andy forced another shrug once Sid's question had been asked and she was sure all of the good-tasting nuts were eaten. Her glasses slid to the edge of her nose, but she made no indication of noticing, nor moving them back. "No," she answered, after a short while, "I was in school. I went to highschool. Graduated with almost straight D's, although I ain't bitter or anythin about it. I went to college, found it wasn't my cup of tea, and came back home. I've been workin in that ******** diner for four years, man. That's way too long for a pretty lil thang like me. Ya hurrd?"
She fell silent after that, grinning, to slide a misshapen nut into her mouth. Chewing thoughtfully, Andy would fail to mention that four years was also the same amount of time one would spend at a decent college. She had kept meaning to go back, maybe study something interesting like English literature, but money always won at the end. Making money was more important then continuing your education, by far. It was a stupid excuse, she thought, but it was better than admiting your poverty.
Andy finally tipped her head back, exposing her entire throat and seeing the most everything upside down. The giant window behind the bench was grimy and gross, definately in need of a good washing. "Are you in school?" she suddenly asked, cords straining on her neck with each word uttered. "You look like you'd have fun teachin or somethin. Like an art class." She ate another nut. "Or shop class."
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Posted: Sat Apr 29, 2006 10:56 pm
"Not my thing," Sid said simply. He brushed the salt from his jeans to keep from staring at Andy.
Once the salt was gone he fell back to picking at the frayed knee of his jeans before continuing.
"I put my four years in, got my slip of paper to prove it, and that was pretty much it." He doesn't say where he got that slip of paper, these days it just sounds pathetic and untrue when he does. He's not exactly Harvard's most valued alumni anymore, either.
"Besides, I'm pretty sure you need more than that to teach."
Hell, maybe he could have been a teacher if he'd given up on writing sooner. He could've been a lot of things. Godfather reference aside- and that made him chuckle- the thought only led him to slide towards brooding again.
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Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 11:16 am
Andy didn't move from her neck-streching position. Surely, she would be sore later on, probably get a stiff neck or something, but she didn't care. Not really. And anyway, Andy liked seeing things upside down. Made everything look surreal, sort of out of place. A little chaos and confusion was alright now and then, right? Right.
Andy puffed her lips to amuse herself while Sid talked about his education. "Oh yeah?" she said at the end. She suddenly shoved her bag of nuts into Sid's face. "I betcha this bag a nuts ere that the next time I see ya, you're gonna be a teacher. Or a drunk. The point is they're the same thing." Oh, Andy, you devilish tease, you!
"And I'll be a superhero of Trenton, or somethin. Fight crime, thwart wrong-doers. Probably I'll get good parkin at the movie theater." Indeed.
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Posted: Mon May 01, 2006 12:44 pm
"I'm too old to take that leap, sweetheart," Sid said, loath to admit such a thing, but it was true. He slid forward on the bench so that his legs stretched out and blocked the path of anyone who happened to be passing too close by. He doesn't mention that he's already got the drunk thing down pat... Because he's doing much better now, really. Coffee and cigarettes had been his only vices for a while, and in time he might even make steps to get off even those, truly live clean. Yeah, right.
"Those nuts will be long gone before we meet again, so just assume you win that bet. Hell, imagine any bright future for me that you want. Maybe involving me and some nice lady with low standards."
He dug out the pack of cigarettes and looked at them longingly. Damn people, always keeping the smokers down.
"And as for Trenton..." he said, putting the cigarettes away. "Well, I doubt any other superheroes would fight you for the honor of defending it, just go easy on the spandex." He could finish with 'you don't have the figure', but instead he opts for, "I think you still have my lighter, too."
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Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 9:48 am
Andy chose not to respond to all of Sid's answers, instead she folded both of her legs around each other and sat there, on the bench, neck bent back to see the world at a new angle and legs bent around to sit Indian-style. Eventually she took her bag of nuts back and popped a few into her mouth, but other than that, she remained did nothing.
From the over-head speakers positioned all over the train station's ceiling came a cracked, garbled voice of a young man: "Now boarding New Jersey Transit track two. Making stops in Edison, Elizabeth, Newark, New York City..." When the young man finished listing the rounds for Sid's train, Andy would snap her neck back and unfold her legs, leaping to her feet. She held out a friendly hand for Sid to help himself up with, all the while bobbing her head from side to side in a tune only she could hear.
"This is your train, amigo," she chirped, "don't wanna miss it or you'll be stuck in this s**t city for th' rest of your life. Your LIFE!" She paused, blinked, continued. "Or until the next one comes, which is about ev'ry half'n hour."
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Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 10:24 am
Sid waved away the offered hand and pushed himself to his feet, as ever determined to prove he was a long way from needing anybody's help... This when he was about to board a train to go beg for charity from friends.
He mostly supressed the grunt of exertion that seemed to go with every attempt at the feat these days, and while he stretched he looked back to Andy.
"So what about you?" he asked. "Gonna defend the city for the rest of your days?"
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Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 11:05 am
Hand sliding to rest at her side, Andy watched Sid stretch and relieve his joints with a quiet curiosity, completely mesmerized. His question didn't register untill someone hauling a heavy suitcase rushed past, bumping into Andy's shoulder and failing to apologize for doing so. "Asshat..." the young woman murmured, rubbing her shoulder and finally beginning the short journey from the upstairs waiting area to the downstairs tracks.
"Probably," Andy replied while the two descended the grimy, dirty stairs. "I mean...it's a small city, but it's kinda hard t' get away from home, yanno? I wouldn't be surprised if I ended up dyin ere." Such gloomy thoughts were expelled from her mind once Andy reached the bottom of the stairs and she got a good look of the surroundings.
The cement floor was caked with dirt and bird droppings and general yuck. There were two benches sitting back-to-back againt each other, and they, too, were dirty. The air was a mixture of nicotine smoke, train exhaust, and other disgusting things Andy didn't want to think about. For such a tiny city, Trenton had quite the hygiene problem. Coughing into her fist, Andy turned to Sid and held out her hands, as if advertising some shiny new product like the big-titt'd blonde ladies on TV.
"Can't wait to leave this b***h, huh?"
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Posted: Thu May 04, 2006 10:30 pm
"I've seen worse," he said truthfully, grinning at the display. And, much as he might be compelled to launch into a sordid tale, he somehow resisted temptation. He told himself it wasn't the time and tried to leave it at that.
And when they at last reach the train he stopped and turned back to face her. "Well..." he hesitated, combed through his memory, and as far as her name was concerned he came up blank. "-sweetheart, I sincerely appreciate having the honor of having wasted your time. And if you do die here... which I hope you don't, I'd say at least go out in an interesting way. Hell, was a time I told myself when I hit 50 I was just gonna swan dive off a tall building and go out before stuff really started to go. Then I hit 50 and the idea didn't seem so appealing. So I'm just wingin' it now... Thus why I ended up here."
Damn it, he told himself he wasn't going to launch into a tangent.
He cleared his throat in his own awkward apology for the sudden rush of words, he added,"That reminds me, though."
He dug into his pocket until he came up with a business card shaped piece of paper. Printed on it, via an honest-to-goodness typewriter was his name (Sidney Caleb Eisley) and the address of a PO Box in Seattle.
"I'm curious to know what a postcard from scenic Trenton looks like."
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Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 4:42 pm
Stuffing one hand into the pocket of her jeans, Andy gently swiped the card from Sid's hand. She studied it for a few moments, memorizing the name, PO Box, and how to correctly spell Seattle--two T's, not one. Must remember this. "Fifty's an awful big number," she pointed out, shuffling her feet and suddenly finding the situation awkward. It was obvious, although not dreadfully so, that Sid couldn't remember her name (the little pause tipped her off), but still, refusing to succumb to an uncomfortable moment, Andy chugged along, relentlessly chattering.
"I don't wanna die ere, not really. I wanna die with style...like, uh...I'm dipped in liquid gold and set atop a giant podium to dry and cast my eternal steely gaze upon the city-goers. Know what'm sayin? It'd be creative'n s**t. Real smooth."
The train conductor, leaning out from one of the many doors spotted along the train, blew his whistle, signaling for everyone to get on or get lost. Had he said "all aboard!", Andy probably would have giggled at the corniness of it all. Tipping two fingers off her forehead, Andy offered the older man a miniture salute.
"There goes your ride." Duh.
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Posted: Fri May 05, 2006 10:24 pm
"Just make sure they do that after you're dead," Sid said, walking backwards towards the train. "Otherwise you'd just ******** up the cool pose with all the screaming and flailing."
What a note to end a conversation on. He realized as much by the time he reached the door. "But nevermind that. You let me know how things work out, alright?"
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