Mayhem in a PillChapter 58 Hiccups are Unexpected
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“Damn, man,” Frank Robinson fumed as he slammed his right hand and forearm on the roof of the Ford Explorer. “Why the fuck did you do that, man?” Tim was about to slide into the passenger seat but stopped himself and stood back up to look at the driver and captain of the defensive side of the school’s varsity football team. “What are you talking about? I got a map to the real party right here,” Tim answered, a bit confused by his friends’ change in attitude. “Dude, never. Never. Never....
I woke up to a pair of black eyes staring into mine only centimeters away. "I must be in heaven," I whispered. "Well," Leanne replied with a slight grin on her lips. "Ah will say of all the first words ya could have when returning from the dead those certainly saved yer arse a stern talking to." "I love you," I whispered again. "I wanted to say that before they..." "Enough," she said placing a finger lightly over my lips. "We know and that's enough." Her fingers moved up to...
The congratulatory pats on the back and raucous shaking from the freshman football team still in the locker room were easily heard outside the locker room where many parents and fans were waiting for the player-of-the-game to come out. Tim finished transferring his stuff from the freshman locker area into the JV locker room. Johnnie and the rest of Tim’s friends were sitting around waiting for him so they could make an appearance at the Sombrero Rosa’s across the street where many of the...
-Brad & Patricia- "Well there you are," Pat said happily when she opened the door. "We were wondering when you'd show up. You're a day late and we started worrying." "Sorry," Brad said looking embarrassed. "One of my other families was having a little problem and it took me longer than I expected. Hopefully you haven't run out of anything because of my screw-up." "It wasn't a screw-up if you were helping someone," Pat admonished. "We have plenty; we just worried about...
“So, you didn’t see anyone when you got out of the restroom?” Raymond asked his son while the two were in the front yard doing a final rinse of all the paint splashed on the family car. “No, sir. I opened the door and looked both ways, but no one was there, and a few minutes later, when I left the locker room, I also didn’t see anyone,” Tim answered but paused before continuing. “Now that I think about it, Dad. I didn’t even see the guys leave the restroom. I didn’t hear any rumors about...
The coin flip at the start of the game was interesting. The Churchill Chargers sent their entire offensive line to the fifty-yard line to meet the captains for the Roosevelt Rough Riders. The five young men were not precisely marching, but it looked as if they walked in perfect step with each other. It wasn’t with the same timing as a military march, but the center would take action, then the guards on either side would step, followed by the tackles on the outside. It was almost...
There was something different in the locker room the following Monday morning before practice. Tim could almost feel it in the air as he entered. The normal early birds were already getting ready for first-period practice and, as usual, Tim was the first freshman to arrive. He was not alone for long, though. Others would begin arriving in a few minutes. After gathering his locker basket and changing into his workout shirt and shorts, Tim heard the main door to the locker room slam against...
-Daniel- Waking up in a hospital isn't exactly new to me unfortunately but waking up in one with a dark-haired angel curled up by my side sure was. If you have to wake up in a place like that I heartily recommend it. I was flat on my stomach with Sumalee snuggled in next to me. They must have given me some pain meds because I didn't feel anything but if they'd laid me face down there was probably a reason so I wasn't about to roll over. However the fact that they let someone in here with...
Monday morning, the change in the emotions of the student body was palpable. While the student body usually disregarded the results of the football team’s accomplishments, school pride was evident this day. Not only was their happiness of the win over Judson wafting strongly through the halls, but the following weekend was also Homecoming. This year, the Roosevelt Rough Riders were facing the Robert E. Lee Volunteers. The student body was already making plans for celebrating the next win over...
Interlude: Pat and Brad The doorbell chimed its warning and Patricia slowly made her way to the front of the house to answer it. Fucking debt collectors, she thought tiredly. Haven't they figured out you can't get blood from a stone? We already live in government housing. What the hell else do they think they can take away from us? One more month, Harold, just one more God-damned month! Patricia's husband had died almost eight years before in the last month of the war leaving behind his...
-Tampa- "Whatever are you fretting about, Bradley?" Grace Duev asked from under her big pink floppy hat. She had pulled her sunshades down and was peering at him over the rims with her gray eyes. "Nothing, Grace," he responded while moving again in his lounger putting the lie to his answer. "Bullshit," Patricia added and Brad's eyes swerved to look at her. "You're squirming like a slug on a hot rock. What put a burr up your shorts?" "Maybe it's too hot for him," Samantha...
-The VBS Widows Auxiliary, Chapter 1, First Meeting- Patricia's heels clicked on the floor as she hurried into the café. She was a little bit late but it took longer to settle her youngest, Patty, down than she had expected. There were a few tables occupied but most were singles and just a few couples. Then she spotted a table with two women and one man all of them looking at her expectedly. She moved purposefully towards them until she stood behind one of the two empty chairs. "Grace?"...
-Daniel- "God-damn it good to see you, you old fart!" Antigua sighed when we finally came up for air. Or at least she did; I'm not so sure I had any say in the matter whatsoever. "It's good to see you again too, squirt," I chuckled. "I guess you want me to give him back now, don't you?" she asked somebody over my shoulder. "Sooner or later," I heard Alee laugh. "Down girl! Behave yourself," I said smacking her bottom lightly. "Well, that isn't going to do it," she...
“Hey, Hunk! How’s your day going so far?” Cindy Diefendorf, the buxom blonde ‘Queen of the School,’ asked while Tim switched books for his next classes. Because of Tim’s popularity, the many different websites devoted to Tim were continually looking for new information about their subject. Therefore, Cindy knew that, after his math class and before his English class, Tim went to his locker to exchange his math book for the bulkier English textbook. Cindy Diefendorf was leaning against the...
The mood in the locker room was euphoric. A true party atmosphere. The coaches usually spent a few minutes outside of the locker room during halftime of a game, to give the team leaders time to go over the play of their teammates. Then the coaches would come in and tell them what they saw during the first half, and then together, they would try to correct problems and plan for what to do in the second half. These were all severe concentration and serious work times for the game, even if the...
Monday morning. Tim could feel something in the air was ‘off’ as soon as he walked into the locker room. It was deathly quiet. Tim expected the spirits of his fellow football players to be high after the last weekend of Roosevelt football success. The JV and Freshman teams easily won their games against MacArthur, and the elation of the varsity win was still riding high if the number of requests for interviews in his email were to serve as a barometer. Tim quickly learned, though, that the...
“I can’t believe it. Still, no luck.” Alicia Martinez, a young reporter with KSAT-TV in San Antonio, got an early jump on the story of the year: an apparent riot broke out at a high-end, popular downtown restaurant. According to her sources, the riot was not a simple fight getting out of hand but also involved international star singer/songwriter/model/actress Olivia King and her boyfriend, YungBalla69. He was an Internet billionaire and notorious “traveling sideshow” of bad boy behavior. To...
“Murphy!” yelled Big John Fontana. The Theodore Roosevelt High School’s head coach and athletic director had just blown the final whistle for Monday morning practice. “Give me a second, son.” Tim Murphy finished his conversation with his friends before turning back toward the coaches. He and the other players were returning to the locker room for showers before beginning their regular school day. “Yeah, Coach?” Tim replied with his helmet under one arm. “I got a call from my old friend...
Tim’s father Raymond considered the chance to go with his son to his first football game something of a bonding opportunity. Going to the first varsity football game with his son and his son’s new best friends was like chocolate sprinkles on the desert. So Raymond and Tim with Johnnie Boynes, Mark Mazzurana, Jeff Green and Tony Parker were cruising toward Northside Stadium, home field for the Warren Warriors. Everyone was excited because they were all going to get a small taste of their first...
Juanita didn’t exactly know what to do to get Tim ready for his first game. Her initial feelings were to make a good solid breakfast, for him to have enough energy for the game. Raymond came in for his cup of coffee and was able to confirm what she was thinking, but she was making too much food. “Honey, what are you doing? Pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, cinnamon rolls. Good God, dear, we’ll never be able to finish all this off,” Raymond was rubbing her shoulders from...
-Brian- It had taken awhile to get Allison calmed down and it wasn't easy, let me tell ya. Christ, the poor girl was completely overwhelmed and totally shell-shocked. If I'd had my med-kit with me I'd of tranked her (For those of you not lucky enough to have needed the services of a field medic it means I'd slip her an shot of Don't-give-a-shit juice and tranquilize her.) but I didn't and as my daddy always said, "Wish in one hand, and shit in the other and guess which one fills up...
-Tampa- Brad glided into the parking area outside Grace's apartment complex and thumbed off the power. As much as he loved his bike it wasn't the first time he regretted not having one of the older IC-powered two-wheelers. His baby was a blast to ride but the almost silent hydrogen-fueled power cell just wasn't the same as one of the older piston-banging throbbers. He'd heard rumors that someone was going to introduce a replica of the old Harley-Davidson line using a...
His smile was wide as he made his way down the hall to his room. He heard his mother showering and going through her processes for bed. His dad just gave a halfhearted hello as he walked past their bedroom door. His dad was busy watching TV. Tim turned on the overhead light as he entered his room and immediately closed and locked the door. He quickly blew a kiss to Cindy on the wall, sat down at the desk, and was taking off his shoes when his mom knocked. Tim unlocked the door. “Hey, I...
I didn't stay long at the party ― it was their party, not mine ― and hiked back up to the flying bridge. I sat there for a while and burned one while thoughts flew through my head. What had I gotten myself in for? Was it more than a little flirting? (Okay, I knew it was more than just flirting, but how much more?) The only thing I knew for sure was that I didn't want it to stop no matter where it led. The weather guessers were right about the front coming in, for once. By 0100 it was...
Top came back a little over an hour later grinning like a mad fiend at the same time Weird surfaced from his daze. "The East Bay warehouses," Top announced triumphantly. "That checks," Weird nodded. "The first tracker on her limo stopped transmitting about midnight, just about the time she was supposed to have left the party. The second one didn't stop until they got right here." He placed his finger on a map of the Bay area. It was an area just west of East Bay. At one time there...
We couldn't tell how closely they had been watching Tink's house or even if they were so we didn't head straight there. I'm sure it would have been safe enough but I didn't want to take even the small chance of getting into a firefight. Besides I had no desire to see Cynthia right then and Tink didn't want to go back home just yet. Tink did call her to briefly say she was okay and would be home soon. Luckily I had to only hear half of that conversation. "I'm fine, Mom," Tink said...
- Daniel- Okay, I knew the Xanadu was big but until you look down at it from a few thousand meters you can't really know just how fucking big it really is! Sure I know the specs and you can look them up yourself if you want to: 1,450 meters in length, 524 meters wide, displaces about 180,000 tonnes and carries up to 20,000 passengers with a crew of almost 3,000. That's not a ship, it's a small floating island! We got a good look at it as we flew out to meet it on the shuttle. Of course...
-Sumalee- I was happier than I probably should have been when Daniel walked into my lounge again the next day and sat down at the bar. I could not tell you exactly why I was happy he had returned but I was. I mean ... looking at him through unbiased eyes he is not particularly handsome, other than in an everyman, rugged sort of way. But he was nice and listened, laughed at my silly jokes and seemed to be enjoying talking to me for a reason other than just a ploy to separate me from my...
-Sumalee- It was still dark when I woke up that first night although I could see a little in the dimness from the small amount of moonlight shining in through the window. I rubbed my cheek on the warm surface I was sprawled on and smiled when I was rewarded by the scratchy roughness of Daniel's chest hairs. I hadn't moved a centimeter from where I had fallen asleep and neither had he. I was still face down on his chest as he lay on his back. He was not snoring but I could hear and feel the...
-Mr. Black- "Do you have the vest made up?" Black asked as Green frowned at him. "Yeah, sort of," Green replied. Before Black could ask the obvious question he continued. "The gel is setting up and will be ready at the same time everything else is. It'll go off; no problem. No, the problem is the detonator; actually the remote activator for the detonator. This wasn't exactly in the mission plans so we didn't bring that kind of equipment with us. I was able to adapt an old raghead...
-Sumalee- To say it had been an interesting evening would be an understatement. The relationship Daniel has with his team would make for a lifetime study by any clinical psychologist. We met two more of them that night: the brothers Stanley and Samuel. Their reaction to Lidia and myself was fascinating. It was almost like they had known us as long as Michelle, Brian and Nathan; almost like they had shared memories. As I said, fascinating, exciting and just a little intimidating. Not that...
A Man of Wealth and Taste Raymond Murphy had trouble keeping the smile off his face. His son Tim was going on and on about how cool it was being on the sidelines for the varsity football win against the Clark Cougars. The first half of football featured an unsure Roosevelt team going up against a Clark team who, though good, was not up to their usual standards and was going to have a down year. Roosevelt was not expected to make the playoffs. “I’m telling you, Dad, Frank Robinson looked...
Leonard Huffnagle was having a lot of trouble looking for dirt on Tim Murphy from San Antonio Roosevelt High School. The only tangible thing he was able to confirm was that Tim had gifted the Trojan iPad, given by Coach Andrew Thomas of IMG Academy, to his little sister, Carmen. IMG was known for recruiting the best high school football players from across the country and giving them highly specialized coaching to better prepare them for college football. Kids graduating from IMG often...
Rodney Valentine’s throat was sore from his screaming. His knuckles were scratched and bruised from pounding on that poor, unsuspecting asshole who didn’t know any better. Rodney was especially pissed because no one could figure out why he was so pissed off in the first place. Valentine and his posse of teammates arrived at the house party a little bit later than everyone else, as usual. It was an unwritten rule that the host of the party would have the game highlights from that weekend’s...
Tim, Troy, Rob, Frank, and Jeff were quiet most of the way on the drive to the address included with their multi-colored cards found in their lockers after the beating the Rough Riders had given to the Johnson Jaguars. The five young men crammed into Jeff’s GTO were mostly quiet, daydreaming about the story Troy had told them. “I think I know what this is. You guys feel like having an experience?” Troy asked with a strange, tilted smile. “My dad told me a story that he said I could never...
A Messy Situation Once Tim Murphy closed his bedroom door and turned on the bedroom lamp, he blew a quick kiss to his one-and-only Cindy, taped up on the wall, and collapsed on the bed with the biggest smile of his life. Tim was quietly reliving what had happened to him after the game. When he laughed to himself, he realized he didn’t even think about the game when the great time he had that night ran through his mind. The quiet knock on the bedroom door alerted him to the here and now. The...
Tim Murphy and the nanites in his body had already written the two reports – one for his English class and the other for his US History class. It was just a matter of typing and formatting the report in the proper sets. All in all, the two assignments only took a few minutes to type, save, and email to their respective teachers. When he sent his English paper, he had a flash of remembrance of his short relationship with his English teacher, Julianne Holmes, considered one of the hot teachers...
The week of practice started with a few announcements from Big John on Monday morning. Big John had canceled morning practice with a sign written on the giant dry erase board along the long wall in the locker room. He didn’t cancel all practice, but it would be just no helmets or pads. That meant a full hour of lifting weights rather than working out on the practice fields in full pads – a day off for sure. Before practice would have typically begun, the Roosevelt football teams met in the...
Going into downtown San Antonio for evening dinner was rare for the Murphy family. Of course, they went out to dinner occasionally but not very far from their neighborhood. Raymond had ordered the women in his life to a day of indulgence at their favorite beauty spa to get pampered and eventually have their makeup done. While the womenfolk were enjoying their day of pampering, the men folk went to fill a glaring hole in the younger Murphy man’s life: the lack of a nice suit. Tim had never...
As they did so often, the Murphy family sang along with the music on the radio. The Murphy parents both enjoyed all genres and encouraged their children to listen to all types of music. Juanita had her favorites and listened to them with the specialized music channels through the cable provider. She preferred the popular hits from the 1980s and 1990s, while Raymond also preferred that and rock music from the 1970s. The patriarch of the family steered into a parking lot nearby the...
The next day was moving day. I've heard how being out on tour with an entertainer can seem a little like riding a tornado without a safety belt but you couldn't tell that by me. I've heard how some tours play twenty cities in twenty days but that isn't how things are done in Ireland. Time seems less important and venues aren't always open when you want them to be. We were doing 25 shows in three months and that included a two-week break in the middle to "relax." Not exactly an arduous...
The next few weeks were just plain work. It probably seems like touring with a popular band would be great fun and endless adventure but mostly it was a lot like combat: endless hours of boredom interrupted by moments of shear terror. Well, terror is probably a bit of an overstatement, maybe agitation and concern would be more appropriate. Anytime the girls were heading into a large crowd there was a concern; happily we hadn't had anything like the clusterfuck we'd seen in Clonakilty but...
Don’t Celebrate in the Locker Room The morale of the students of Roosevelt was sky high. The football teams were winning, and the future of the teams looked bright. The football players were being treated like kings of the school whenever they walked the halls. A freshman football team player got a head nod of acknowledgment from the other guys in the hall, perhaps even a high-five or two while making their way down the hall. A Junior Varsity football player met with high-fives, slight...
A by product of time travel that no one knew about was the momentary blindness and nausea brought on from the rapid assault to your senses immediately after travel. But for some reason only on your return. When he re-materialized in the time travel chamber, Tim Murphy needed to shield his eyes from the suddenly ultra bright lights. He also needed to make a concerted effort to control his nausea. Nausea controlled and his sensitivity to light diminishing, Tim decided it was time to see how...
The drive to the hospital was uneventful and easy enough. Tim’s mother, Juanita, parked the family SUV in a General’s parking spot, right outside the front entrance to the emergency room. Tim’s father, Raymond, who was standing just inside the ER doors, knew from the frantic sound of his wife’s voice on the phone that she would not obey the parking rules and would take the first available space she found. Raymond quickly reached the SUV before Juanita could turn off the engine. He stuck his...
Summer two-a-day practices are a rite of passage for the Texas high school football player. The players arrived at their new high school, two weeks before the start of the new school year. Sure, they were only going to the football locker room, the football practice fields and also the weight room; but the psychological advantage of being able to GO to high school, earlier, was a definite positive feeling for the young soon to be high schooler. Freshmen did not have their own cars ... yet....
To say Tim was excited, would be a major understatement. “It was sooo cool, Mom,” Tim was almost jumping up and down in the front seat of the SUV while his mother was driving them home. “I was sitting there reading, and the librarian came up to me. I didn’t even hear her, as I was paying attention to what I was reading. She actually scared me when she touched my shoulder to get my attention. Standing with her was Coach Barrett, her husband. He’d come all the way to the library to just meet...
The lights turned on in the cell at half past six, every morning since Tim got back from his trip to the past. About a week after returning from the past, his nanites confirmed his hypothesis that no one he had met, yet, had any nanites of their own. Tim theorized to himself the interrogators did not have any nanite improvements since they constantly made mistakes in their questioning and also in their answers to his questions. Oh, they answered the questions as he believed they would but...
A good hundred or so young men full of testosterone and desperate to show they were not afraid, were indeed afraid. Afraid of not fitting in. Afraid of being shown they were not good enough to make it on the freshman football team. Afraid they were good enough to make it on the freshman football team. Afraid of the high school girls. Afraid of the high school guys. Afraid of the work their new teachers were preparing to pile on them. Afraid they would not be able to finish the work their new...
With the day’s drama complete after finishing with their equipment, they began leaving the locker area to try and enjoy their final day of relaxation before the two-a-days started. Tim and his friends crossed a very busy Walzem Road, right in front of the high school. Walzem Road’s three lanes headed northeast and three lanes going southwest were divided by a median island running the length of the high school. Once beyond the high school, the divider island changed into a turning lane....
The tacos were just great. Tim was still not doing anything to jeopardize the loss of the twice-a-week breakfast tacos treats. George was still bringing in the savory, artery-clogging breakfast tacos from everyone's favorite family restaurant. In fact, George was now adding an extra taco, since he understood the body's instant response once it smelled one of Yolanda's tacos. Whether breakfast tacos dripping in the grease of the Mexican sausage and fluffy egg combination, or the...
First day of school for both Murphy kids saw a return of a family tradition: Mom fixed a full breakfast for everyone. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, eggs, fruits and all kinds of baked goods. She generally cooks for the family, then the mothers from the neighborhood carpool come and enjoy a wonderful meal at their own pace. There were usually a few empty bottles of wine in the trash when the kids returned home from the first day of school. Rumor has it the same carpoolers also got together toward...
“Hey, Joe, what do you mean the freshmen offense knows fourteen plays already? I thought Big John only wanted the freshmen to concentrate on getting in shape, until at least the first scrimmage,” Kevin Krebsback, the JV and Varsity defensive backs coach asked, once the freshmen left the coaches office for second period. “It’s exactly what I said it was, Kevin,” Coach Alvarez said. As he sat back down at his desk, he saw he had everyone’s attention, including Coach Barrett. The freshman...
"I know you guys are keeping the pain receptors turned off during my questioning, but are there any problems with maintaining the status quo? I ask because I am starting to feel some of the pain," Tim whispered to himself while he held a pillow over his own face in a mock effort to fall asleep. "All efforts to minimize, and even counteract, the effects of the enhanced interrogation techniques are within their limits, and all nanites are performing at optimum levels. If you are, in fact,...
"So, how was the first day for you?" Tim's father, Raymond, was sitting on the desk chair while his son was finishing his first journal entry for his honors U.S. History class. "It was pretty good, Dad. You were right about the girls. Everywhere I went, I started seeing more and more girls looking at me and then looking away if I made eye contact with them. I'm not used to the attention, but so far it isn't bad." Raymond was practically bursting with pride. His son who, just a...
The newly-instituted procedure of sleep deprivation was annoying at worst because the nanites in his system could effectively turn off the pupils of Tim Murphy’s eyes and keep the lights from waking him. The same could be done for his hearing. The nanites would disable his hearing so any loud or annoying auditory stimuli would eventually be deemed ineffective. At the moment, Tim was quietly reveling in this private joke. The guards were pumping loud and annoying sounds, usually called music,...
Losing their first game of the season was bad. But when Head Varsity Coach John Fontana pulled his truck into his driveway, his wife was waiting outside for him. She had received several calls from various school officials, wanting to know what was Big John going to do about the brewing controversy. She told everyone her husband was not yet home, as he usually went to dinner with the other coaches after a big loss. When the teams won, he would tell his coaches to go home and be with their...
After informing the freshman football coaches of their opportunity to make changes to the football program, Roosevelt Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Big John Fontana decided to go watch the second half of the freshman football game. The freshmen were finishing the series against the Warren Warriors. The junior varsity started the losing streak 21-0 on Thursday evening. The varsity team followed up, getting soundly defeated, losing their game 48-0. In the coach’s eyes, though, the...