#Someone got hit at my local train station today it’s crazy

[bloobydabloob]

your dirk makes me feel less uncomfortable with my scars, just wanted to say, i *adore* your art

Glad to hear it love you his scars are very important to me too. I have been still so very busy lately it’s annoying

[girlactionfigure]

MEORAV YERUSHALMI

LEE KERN

A few weeks back I met a girl and we got on famously and it was about as fine a mental dance as it’s possible to have as we grew hooked on each others minds. But because life is life - and life is always complicated - things didn’t pan out for reasons that wouldn’t stand out in the history of why things don’t work out for people that meet. So I was feeling mopey and also burned out from the war. 

I’m by no means at the epicentre of suffering in this war but fighting for nine months - using my mind and emotions as my weapons - and having to be emotionally unguarded in order to be a good writer - takes its toll and I’ve been slowing down. It’s hard to shovel out the shit at the pace it goes in and there’s a huge backlog of sludge and slime. And who even has the time to deal with their shit when there’s a war on? I keep going because, even after nine months, there aren’t many people on the substitute bench. There’s only a handful of us doing this on instinct - without any support - and some have already dropped out. 

So I was feeling burned out and mopey. For my own health I’d already pivoted my advocacy away from the bleakest stuff as I couldn’t breathe that atmosphere all the time. But I’d been asked to fly to London to help raise money for the rehabilitation of Kibbutz Be’eri which was among the worst hit on October 7th. On the train platform going to the event I felt my head and heart clogging up with that familiar sodden feel and I pulled my hat low as the moist eyed bullshit started and images of dead babies popped in. And walking to the theatre I was so down over the girl and had images of a person’s flesh burned off their head and the baked case of their skull exposed and white. And the bonhomie of those at the theatre and the excited performers happy to see me and calling me a “legend” jarred with my private feelings of wanting to be alone and cry with my melancholy. And that ain’t good. When you got emotions denser than gravity that pull you to the floor it’s time to break free of that bullshit and get off your arse. Move your body and hopefully your brain and heart will catch up. So when I landed back in Israel I decided to go to Jerusalem the following day for no more than to get a meorav yerushalmi. That was it. That was my mission. To eat my favourite meal consisting of chicken hearts, liver and spleen. Admittedly there’s not a very crowded marketplace of dishes consisting of chicken hearts, liver and spleen - but inasmuch as there is - it’s meorav yerushalmi for me.

So I walked to Hagana station. Last time I did this walk I was dropping off a friend at night. The streets that night were menacing and full of piss. But now, in the daytime, the streets were quiet and the urine smells had gone. It seems urine is nocturnal? The odours prowl at night. In the day the sun blitzes them invisible. A crazy man with beer shouted at me in Hebrew. I didn’t understand but gave him a military salute and he saluted me back and smiled. I managed to get on my train with the ease of someone becoming a local, as opposed to the first time I used public transport. Today’s mission to get a meorav yerushalmi was the beginning of a broader decision to try and have two weeks “holiday” away from war stuff so I could recharge and shovel out big chunks of crap. I was tired of being hijacked by sadness and tired of feeling like shit when well meaning people told me I had helped them and made them laugh. The juxtaposition of what others apparently got from me and what I was feeling inside was tough. I needed to help myself. I needed to laugh. And man, I’m so desperate for a laugh. True, holy laughter where your soul is cleansed in the total abandonment of all self.

I arrived at Jerusalem-Yitzhak Navon Station and a frummer was playing piano by the escalator. It was appropriately melancholy and sentimental. I left the station and there was immediate bustle. People were selling grapes and berries and a guy in tefillin was playing rock music. I got a coffee and sat on Jaffa street. A man was playing saxophone. There is music everywhere here. Even in the silences.

I walked to a place I’ve been before and got my meorav yerushalmi. The purpose of the trip. It was really average. But I never expected it to be an epiphany. Life hasn’t signed any contract with our dreams. Magic isn’t summoned on command. It comes when it wants to come.

I happened to meet a police officer whose job is to monitor incitement in the Arab sector. Those who do engage in incitement - like antisemites across the world - have learned how to code their racism and murderous intent so that it camouflages itself as being on the right side of the law. It’s an ongoing challenge. I can’t remember how but she brought up the guy who had his head cut off and which terrorists tried to sell in Gaza. His head was eventually recovered and buried with his body. My holiday was so far going great. Seriously for a moment…this is an insane world we are living in. We are modern people surrounded by mediaeval barbarians. 

I then thought I’d pop into the Kotel that Jews have fought and suffered and striven to see for thousands of years - and which I can now casually stroll to in my shorts whilst sipping a coke.

I went through Jaffa Gate.

In the Jewish Quarter I saw a dead lizard on the floor whilst walking through the alleys towards the wall. It was belly up. Its stomach glittered with aquamarine beauty. Like dragon skin and sapphire-emeralds undersea. There were gloopy blue shades and peacock-coloured depths and shallows of light on its tiny, implausibly intricate body. Its belly was a disco ball of sky coloured mirrors and its tiny legs were open to the universe.

The sun was baking.

I got to the Kotel plaza. A man asked me to put on tefillin but I declined. I went to a spot on the wall and rested my head against it. But no feeling came. I was sterile and blank. I just stayed in that position. With my eyes shaded by stone. It was ok to be in darkness. Then music penetrated the emptiness and entered my ears. There was a bamitzvah close by. And when they sang a happy song I got emotional. Everything has been so far from happy for so long. Joy feels like a foreign land. It’s nice to hear a message from this distant country. It feels foreign, but happiness was a country where we once lived. It was our home. And that’s why I cried to hear. I’m so sad how far we are from home. Hearing my mother tongue, reminding me of the language of the old country, made me homesick. We can’t be refugees exiled from happiness forever. We have to remember the language. The map back home is inside us. The more we remind each other the more we remember.

The sun was baking.

I went and sat in the catacombs by the wall, writing these words as men davened around me. I don’t know how to live sometimes, but I know how to write. So I wrote. The dirge of voices mumbling in prayer becomes a hypnotic din. It’s quite relaxing. Maybe that’s what heaven sounds like. A womb like pulse of prayer you lose your self in. 

I popped out of the moment and gathered my stuff to go. When you know it’s time to leave you know it’s time to leave.

I walked back to the Jerusalem Light Railway. Checking my phone I saw a message inviting me to a gig tonight which I declined. Also a voicemail from a number I don’t know asking me if I’m in the market for a shidduch. I didn’t answer. I wasn’t looking for these things today. I got on the train at Jerusalem-Yitzhak Navon Station. A group of older women were noshing on something and speaking in Hebrew. I don’t know what they were saying but they started laughing and it made me laugh.

Then a Muslim lady got on and asked me in Hebrew if it was the train to Tel Aviv. I told her I didn’t know and that my Hebrew was shit and she laughed. Then she and I made eye contact and laughed privately with each other across the aisle as the train filled up with tired, harassed and angry people having a balagan with each other. One young girl absolutely horrified that people wouldn’t move further down the carriage. Then two young soldier girls came on and they were laughing hysterically with each other about something and that made me laugh. Me and the muslim girl laughed again when we made eye contact. It wasn’t the Golden Laugh that cures all. But every laugh is a jewel that heals something, I guess, and I found them because I went in search of meorav yerushalmi when feeling gloomy.

Feeling gloomy over girls and massacres! How many times have we heard that story??!! 

We’ve all been there!

And then we moved and My God the hills as the train pulled out. Once again those bloody hills.

Jerusalem don’t ever stop.

Some people call you crazy?

Then you are the perfect city for life - because life is crazy.

As the train glided past Ben Gurion I felt a bit better.

Today I visited the Temple where God is closest to earth. When I got back to Tel Aviv I bought some fabric conditioner so I could put a wash on when I got back home.

And that is a good day.

LEE KERN

JUL 5

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch23 Poppy’s Day Out

"Last stop Express Town. Thank you for choosing PenCo Metro for all your space travels. We at PenCo value your time as customers and hope to see your lovely faces again soon. And hope you enjoyed your space traveling experiences with us." The few penguins that were on the metro along with Poppy, Cookie, and the girls excited the space train as it sat still in the giant tower like structure funnel that would take it back upwards to the moon. Passing a few other penguins and maybe an owl or two heading back towards it. "Attention boarding passengers. The Evening Express back to the moon will leaving within fifthteen minutes. Please be sure to have your luggage in hand when you board."

"Does he always have to say the same thing every time we use it?," Mu asked earning a slight frown from Cookie.

"That's his JOB. It's what he's supposed to do. Don't complain about him doing his job correctly."

Whelp. Here they were. Down on the planet finally and had real dirt under her feet.....Or sand. Really, REALLY hot sand. Blue eyes gazed around her at the scorching desert surroundings and the decently sized town of owls walking around. It looked as if she just walked into a western movie and stopped. There must've been at least a hundred and twenty different buildings if she was estimating it good enough from their spot on the hill. It was a decent sized town all right. Not too big. Not too small. But absolutely hot with the afternoon sun beating down on them and such. One gigantic building stood in the dead center of the town and it had a decent sized parking lot too. She was certainly more at ease and comforted at least. Express Town certainly looked more her time than the flashy neon lights of Moon City that's for sure. Smiling she followed along Cookie as the girls ran ahead of them a few feet giggling and playfully shoving at one another kicking up sand.

"This place looks pretty rustic," Poppy commented smiling. From the hill she could also see a set of train tracks leading into and away from the town and beside that was a train station. Everything just looked as it was in a western like town in her day. Not that she's ever been to one, but she did have relitives who did.

Cookie nodded in front of her watching the girls with a smile. "That there big building is the Dead Bird Studios. Most of the owls who live here work there or in the small shops around town. You see Conductor may be a little.....loud but he loves supportin' local shops here. He gets all his costumes from the famous clothing store nearby, and his coffee from Jukebox Cafe'. They have a delicious bird seed chocolate cappuccino...If you don't mind birdseed that is. My own little resturaunt is right across the street from the studios. I always wanted one, and thanks to the directors' generosity I finally did."

".....I think I actually saw one of this Mr. Grooves's picture shows now that I think about it." Her memory went to two night before while cleaning the attic and kitchen. She still couldn't sleep after a while and stayed up a bit watching something she couldn't remember fully on the television the girls left on.

"Oh really? Well Mr. Grooves certainly has a more flashier taste than Conductor but his are just as nice if you ask me," Cookie replied unbiased before looking over her shoulder at her. "The first place we'll stop by is Hawk's Eye Pawn shop."

".....Pawn shop?"

"It's kinda like a trading post. You trade things there for pons or bye somethin' they have on the store shelves."

Oh. So a trading post. She knew what those were alright, had one on the edge of the town she lived in. Where she got most of her furniture and goods actually. Following Cookie, they all went into the town of owls. And she got a good look at everyday life in a town of owls and birds. As soon they stepped foot in there she could see that everything was made a little taller thank goodness, she didn't feel like crawling through any more doorways and tunnels feeling awkward and big and clumsy. Funnily enough most of the houses they passed seemed to be nothing more than homes, if the stores didn't have open signs or display cases in their windows, she would've thought all of these were just more homes for these owls. And speaking of the owls, most were just walking around minding their own business, walking in or out of buildings, and Poppy even saw a few elderly owls in the comfy seats of rocking chairs on shady porches watching the world go by. The girls giggled and ran past them in a game of tag with Bow reaching her hand out trying to catch Hattie or Mu. And some of the old birds smiled at the energetic children. Poppy would admit they were definately a cute bunch as well. Still following the cat, Poppy lifted her arm up to wipe at her long bangs and forehead. It sure was hot, not surprising since it was a desert, but she hoped they'd get to this 'pawn shop' soon. And hoped it was cooler inside. The girls never got too far from them as they ran around kicking up dust and sand in their game as Poppy switched between watching them and looking around fanning herself. Where did they all get that energy? It was too hot to play in her opinion, and the weight of the gold in her apron was starting to hurt her neck and shoulders a bit. That was soon all solved when Cookie turned in front of an all brown wooden building and started up the steps leading into it. Of course Poppy and the girls following behind and running in. A small bell above the door rang out as the door was opened and Poppy sighed at the wave of cool air hitting them as they waltzed in. But was surprised at the stuff she saw. Calm guitar music played from a small radio in the corner as an owl held his head in his wing looking boredly at them from the desk, to his right was a register. All around the place was cluttered items jammed everywhere. From beds, to pots and pans lining the walls, to random objects she'd never seen before.

With a sigh the owl spoke. "Welcome to Hawk's Eye Pawn Shop, where we have a hawk's eye view for priceless and useful objects. Feel free to ask if you need any help.....or not, " he said in a flat tone. Giving Poppy the feeling of slight annoyance in her as she raised a brow. Luckily Cookie stepped in before anyone else could as the girls ran around looking at things like normal children their age did. Walking right up to the desk as the owl followed along lazily with his eyes as he stared at Cookie before rolling his eyes. "Hello, Ma'am. How may I assist you this fine evening?"

"Glad you asked." Cookie pointed over at Poppy. "My friend here has a lot of gold she'd like to trade in today."

"..Gold?" Immediately the owl's interest peeked as he chuckled and finally smiled at them, "Oh w-well this IS a surprise! Please come, come! You've come to the right place, Miss." He gestured for Poppy to come over and reluctantly she did as the owl rubbed his hands-....uh..Wings together and smiled widely at her. "Just allow me to measure it a-and we can get you your pons, Ma'am."

"Uh...Ok." She reached down to the larger pocket of the two and pulled out the heavy gold cheese wheel, it must've been fifteen pounds at least. She set it with a small thump on the table and the owl hooted in surprise at the large item she placed down. Blinking and gawking in surprise at the large thing. ....Which was followed by the trophy, and the potion bottle out of her large pocket. And then the Mafia statue, pencil, candle, gear, and cheese slice. The owl gawking at all the things laid out before him in pure gold glory. "There ya go. That's the lot of it."

The owl sputtered blinking at them all....Before reaching up to pull out a small magnifying device out of his breast pocket and picked up the golden candle. "T-T-This is!...INCREDIBLE!! I've never seen such fine craftsmanship in my life! AND IN PURE GOLD!! It's unmistakable! Pure. Solid. Twenty four carrot GOLD!!" He could almost FEEL the heat radiating off the candle, it almost looked like it could've been real at one point. He looked back at Poppy unbelieving. "W-Where did you ever aquire such beautiful items?!"

"Oh...I- Uh..." She had to think fast. She wasn't about to tell some stranger some magic alien potion turned these things into gold by some king roach. They'd think she was crazy. So why not tell the truth but a different truth. "My g-great granddaddy on my mama's side was a blacksmith. He worked with metal's all the time." Which was true. Her Great Granddaddy Silver Copper-field on her mother's side was a blacksmith.

"But we found them in the attic," Bow innocently chimed in tilting her head confused.

Mild panick flashed on Poppy's face. "Uh...W-Well people find all sorts of old things in their attics all t-the time!"

Which was another truth. But the owl seemed too enchanted by the items he rolled over his his hold to care about her nervous tone at all. "Well he must've been a fine crafter in his day. I've NEVER seen such beauty." He snapped up to her suddenly slamming his hands on the counter and leaning over making her jump in surprise and lean back. "I MUST have them! Won't you part with them! It'll make me the talk of the town for once besides those ratty directors!! I'll be the only bird in the world to have them!!"

Now Poppy could sense pretty well when some one was gonna fight being raised around a bunch of rowdy country folk that often fought over land and territory. And BOY! The way the two little girls and Cookie bristled at the comment the owl made sure did look like they were about to argue, but that was NOT what she came here to do. She wanted to get out and have a relaxing day seeing this new place, so thinking quickly she got between them and the owl smiling more than a greedy pirate. "Deal. But on the condition ya give me what I'm owed for it all, and the promise ya won't say a word about where ya got it from." She didn't need someone asking around in case.

He quickly agreed grabbed the gold one by one. "Oh I promise. I very, very promise. Hmhmhmhmhm!! Not one word out of me. After all I don't want anyone else to have one but me."

Poppy sighed and watched as with great difficulty the owl man just gathered up all the gold in his arms teetering and wobbling about as he went towards the left side of the counter. They all watched as he wobbled his way towards a large scale against the wall that reminded Poppy of the large scale the local banker used to have to measure her pons in whenever she went to put her savings in the bank, only much bigger. A few large clanging noises rang out as he dumped the gold into it and watched as the red arrow of the scale tipped until it measured-

"F-F-Fifty two pounds!," the owl gawked at the scales before giving a thoughtful look. "Let's see. Minus tax on gold fifty two equals up too about....." His eyes widened and he suddenly let out a hoot gripping the feathers on his head. "F-F-Five thousand pons!!"

"Oh....Do you not have that m-many pons?"

"Uh..." The owl nervously looked between her and the statues. "N-No. J-Just a little over half of it. B-B-BUT I-I C-CAN OFFER A TRADE!!" He quickly pointed around the cluttered place, as if nervous to lose the precious gold he so desperately wanted. "I-I can pay half and trade for the other! W-Whatcha say?"

Poppy stopped for a minute. Looking around the cluttered place with a raised brow, and gazing over everything slowly. That wasn't a bad idea actually. Since she could use some knew things once she gets settled on her own again and didn't need anymore help. And getting stuff for free? Now they were talking! Maybe this was the universe paying her back for all her troubles and hard work finally! Smiling she happily agreed to the deal much to the Owl's delight and he quickly scrambled about to grab all the pons he needed for the trade from a giant vault in the back and they began searching. Well, the girls found lots of little knickknacks like small toys and for Bow a large sunhat with a pretty blue bow on it and how could Poppy say no to that? Well, the red head wasn't going for any random fancy stuff like antique clocks or any other fancy thing right now. But considering $2600) was a lot of pons to trade for, she could spare them to choose a bunch of things for themselves. But looking among some used exercize bikes she found a few things she was really looking forward to see again. What else but some good old fashioned farming tools? A rake, gardon hoe, pitchfork, shovel combo! She hit the giant jackpot!! Smiling as she dragged the old things out of the dusty corner and examined them. They looked to be in good condition. Rusty and dusty, but a mighty fine condition if ya asked her.

"Uh. Ma'am, are you sure you want those?," the owl said leaning back over the counter staring, "T-Those are antique farming tools that were just dumped in the corner. No one would want them.

"I sure do!," She said smiling back at his confused face, "They're just what I needed.

"Well...Y-Yes, t-t-they're in great condition for three hundred year old tools. That's why they're here, they could run in the thousands. Are you sure you want to waste your time with them?"

"Yep!" She Heaved all of them over one of her shoulders with a smile. "I got a plan for these babies. You just keep counting the pons."

"Ok. If that's what you want. It'll be nice to get them out at least," he mumbled to himself ducking back behind the counter.

Continuing looking around a little bit, Poppy managed to find a gold club bag along with her search and stuck her new tools into it, slinging it over herself and able to carry about her new beauties easier. Turns out those tools and the old antique stove Cookie kept looking at. Poppy saw the way she kept longingly staring at it every few minutes of looking around and gladly said she'd take that for her friend here. Cookie insisted she didn't have to but Poppy's mind was already made up anyways, as stated she didn't need that much pons leftover to trade back here again anyways. And she deserved it for all the kindness she had shown Poppy a complete and utter stranger. Well it turns out the knick knacks Hattie stuffed in her hat, (just random things like a few teddy bears, jewelry, a grappling hook, and anything else a girl like her would enjoy) combined with the old stove and it's set, along with those old tools were just enough to cover the other half but she did have to fork over another 100 pons to cover the extra 100 pons the tax came out to be. The bag she was handed wasn't really big, about maybe a small decent sized pumpkin and weighed about as much as a large house cat did. And that went into her large apron pocket for safe keeping while slipping the gold back of farming tools over her. She still had $2,500 to spend. And that was quite a lot of pons especially. Luckily the things weren't as expensive as made out to be. But that did leave another question, what were they supposed to do now? Luckily Cookie had a fantastic idea after seeing the way the uh....tacky dress Poppy was wearing and had the idea for them to stop by the local clothing store much to the children's protest about how boring it was going to be. So they once again found themselves leaving the greedy owl to fond over his new prized possesions and left back out into the hot sun. Resuming their routine of Poppy following behind Cookie as she lead them down the street to wards the far side of the town as the kids ran around again chasing one another. The only difference was Bow was using one hand to keep that giant sun hat on her head now as she went around running after the first two. Poppy still couldn't figure out how Hattie kept all those things in her hat. Alien magic?

"You'll adore this lil shoppe," Cookie happily told her giving a bright grin, "They're real experts at fancy sewing. You see they make most of the costumes for the studio and the directors' movies."

"It sounds like this whole town thrives on that place huh?," Poppy stated giving a look around the old buildings and many owls walking by.

"Oh, this town has been here for quite a long time with the studios," Cookie corrected, "It's only until recently that business really thrived for lacol birds. In the less hotter winter seasons, people come from all over to get a glimpse at the two kooky canaries running those studios. Means Conductor gets some extra business running his train too, he likes to say more budget for his movies come from it."

"Wow. Really?" So this place was some kind of famous spot because of this Mr. Grooves and Conductor, whoever they might be. From what she's heard of them so far, they seemed really nice supporting local business and bringing in so many customers. And she had no reason to not trust Cookie so far. A smile graced her face when he spotted the girls run a little ways ahead of them and caught an earful of their giggles. That was until one fell over. It was just a small rock hidden in the sand that she didn't see, but that didn't stop Bow from tripping over it and faceplanting the sand, knocking up some sand in her crash. Poppy and Cookie both gave a small gasp of surprise and Poppy instantly ran over to her, metal tools clanking together on her back. Hattie and Mu had stopped hearing the thump in the sand from behind them at Bow's faceplant and watched as the curly haired girl pushed herself up. Bow laid there unmoving for a few seconds but by the time Poppy got over there to kneel next to her, she had pushed herself up crying a bit with her eyes shut and spitting out more sand from her mouth. Sun hat falling off her head as she did. Two hands grabbed her and turned her around to face the worried face of the red head as she looked her over. "What happened? Are you alright, Sweetheart?"

"My eyes burn!," Bow cried reaching her balled fists up to wipe at her face but was stopped by Poppy pulling them away.

She sighed. "Well don't rub them, you probably just got some dirt in your eyes needin' ta be flushed out." Looking around she spotted an outside water pump fountain like the one her old home hand and without another thought picked up the tiny girl and stood back up. Bow still crying at the stinging and wrapping herself around Poppy's shoulder as she walked. "Oh hush now. All you need is to rinse it out with a lil water and you'll be right as rain!" She carried Bow over to the small pump across the street and pried her off to set the small gal down in front of the Nozzle. "Now I'm going to pump some water out, and I want you to start rinsing out those eyes and mouth of yers. Ok?" Bow sniffed still crying small tears down her face and Poppy grabbed a hold of the pump handle. Pushing n pulling it up and down to summon the water underneath. A garbling sound came from the pipe's inside and with a pop sound, cold water burst out from the pipe and sprayed the small child in the face. Bow jumped in surprise at the sudden cold water on her but sputtered and swiped at her face and the stream of water hitting her. After a few more seconds of it, Poppy stopped and allowed the strong stream to trickle slowly before stopping completely. She watched as Bow turned her cheek the other way and spat out a mouthful of water, coughing and wiping at her face. Now all soaking wet. She rubbed at her eyes for a moment before blinking her eyes open and looking up with red eyes. There we go. Now that she could see, her eyes would be irritated for a lil bit, but it wouldn't be worse than just someone suffering from a bit of hay fever. "There we go. All better."

....Bow sniffed and blinked. Wiping one eye with her hand and looking down at herself, her other hand grabbing her white jacket. "Now I'm all soaked and cold."

"Uh...Yeah." Poppy rubbed her head. "Kinda figured the sun would dry ya out, but I guess I can buy ya a new dress while we're at this here clothin' store.''

"...*sniff* Really?"

"Absolutely." Walking back over, Poppy bent down and repicked Bow up into her arms letting the little girl grab onto her. "We'll get ya a nice pretty dress that'll make you look like a darlin' lil princess!...Well more of a princess than you are already."

Bow smiled again sniffing and Poppy smiled at her...But paused when she heard someone else awing at them from behind and when she turned around there was a pair of old birds on a shady porch right behind them. The old birds were smiling at them from their rocking chairs like what they were seeing was the most precious thing in the world. "It's so nice to see such a responsible and caring young mother these days," one of them spoke smiling widely, "Your daughter looks like a darling little one."

......Poppy blinked. "Mother? Who me?" She pointed at herself with her free hand before shaking her head. "O-Oh! No, no! I'm not her mother! I'm just watching her for someone I know!"

"Oh, that's too bad. You would make a lovely mother for the dear."

Poppy chuckled nervously but Bow seemed to be looking at her with a strange look. "My...Mother?"

Giving a small thanks Poppy quickly excused herself from the watching eyes of the old birds and back over to Cookie who was waiting for them with the other two children. Wiping dust from the pretty sunhat and looking up at the soaked child in her arms. "Well. I can see we'll be needing to take care of that while we're in there too."

Poppy gave another nervous chuckle but grabbed the sun hat, handing it back to Bow who gladly plopped it back onto her head. Well, guess they weren't going to wait on getting this lil gal some dry clothing. Following Cookie the rest of the way there, they all came across possibly the girliest lookin' store Poppy had ever seen. It was all painted pink and white and had flowers in window pots. Well seeing those cute lil things made her smile at least, she always loved flowers. Above a sign was nailed above the door reading Mrs. Talon's Fabric Shoppe. Guess they were going in when Cookie walked right on up without a second thought so naturally Poppy and the children followed suit. A bell above the door rang like before and thank PECK it was another building big enough she didn't have to crawl through to get there. Upon entering it was the same pink and white themed as the outside. Along the walls was shelves upon shelves of fabric, balls of yarn and threads of all colors, sewing machines for sail along with smaller kits, and anything else one would need for making clothes. Such as buttons, sequins, patches, and books of patterns or techniques. Poppy noticed there was also a giant pink curtain in the back and next to that was a rack of already made dresses with a sign that said 'discount bin half off'. In the very front of the store was a white counter, and a lady owl wearing a floral dress with glasses that made her eyes look too big for her face, but unlike the first owl this cashier welcomed them all with a smile and friendly voice.

"Good Evening, Customers! Welcome to Mrs. Talons! Here we tailor to creatures large and small," she replied in a high pitched tone, "How may I-...I-I..." Her impossibly large eyes went wide seeing the crew of five girls waltz in as Poppy closed the door shut with her foot. "I-....I DON'T BELEIVE IT!!" She suddenly squealed startling the red head woman into almost dropping Bow and blinking at the pig like squeal before the owl lady leaned over the counter looking at Cookie. "I DON'T PECKING BELIEVE IT!! THE COOKING CAT IS IN MY BOSS'S STORE!! M-Ma'am I'm your b-biggest fans! My owlets love your deep fried worm and rice recipe!" Cookie didn't even seem fazed as she chuckled and waved. Making the more owl all the more nervous at having the cat celebity in her store. "H-How may I help you, Ms. Cat?"

"Please. Call me Cookie." Cookie pointed at Poppy still holding Bow in her arms. "We got a youngin' who's in need of some dry clothes and a fashion emergency if I say so myself."

The owl looked up at the two humans adjusting her glasses and frowning at Bow's soaked clothes and the absolutely ghastly amount of tacky lace and fake rubies studded to the collar of Poppy's dark blue dress. Not a good mix, it looked like she was a desperate rich lady trying to play the part of princess. "Oh...I certainly see why. Well, unfortunately with my boss away currently working on a large order for Mr. Grooves, I can't offer anything except for the designs left out from last year's tourism season." She gestured a wing over towards the bargain bin and Cookie slightly frowned at the limited suppy.

"Are you sure you can't make one?"

The owl shook her head. "Sorry, Ma'am. For you I would in a heartbeat, but I'm just the cashier. I ring people out and offer assistance if the customer has questions. The only tailors are my boss and her assistant and they're already away on a giant order call. But if you're interested we do provide everything you need to sew yourself."

"That won't be needed," Poppy cut in slowly lowering Bow to the ground and standing back up and walking to the bargain rack, "I ain't the kind of picky prissy gal a lot of folks I knew was." Walking up right to the rack she skimmed through the options of dresses available and to be honest most were plain day to day dresses without any patterns, but that suited her just fine. She wasn't real picky when it came to clothing as long as it fit ok and it didn't look like the ghastly thing she was wearing so she just grabbed a few random dresses off the bargain pile that was the same size she was wearing. A plain all pink and green one. One that was all white with purple flowers all over it. Another green one with a picture of a kitty cat in the middle of it. And just a purple one with some kind of black vine pattern. Looking back up, she noticed Cookie writing on a piece of paper as the owl excitedly watched, and she gave another small squeal when Cookie handed whatever it was over to her. How strange. Two of the girls were boredly bouncing some yarn balls...Where was- She got her answer when Bow pushed past her and reached up to rummage of her own accord, after a moment pulling out the only thing they seemed to have in a child's size. A bright orange dress with a single daisy on it's front. Her cringe made Poppy chuckle a bit and reach down to pat her head. "Hey. May not be the most pretty, but it's just til we get back an' then you can wear anything ya want. Alright?"

She didn't look happy but relented. "Fine."

"That's my girl!" She gave bow a smile as the little girl blinked and gave Poppy a confused look as she walked to the counter dresses in her arms.

"Your girl?"

Well, the clothes were bought. Which equaled up to about fourty six pons for all of the dresses including Bow's which she changed into behind the curtain. She was dry now but she didn't look like it stomping out and staring at her clothes in disgust. Well with two more bags in hand, one for her new dresses and one for Bow's, they excited the store and the girls were glad to not be coped up in there anymore except for Bow who followed the first two with crossed arms as the adults followed out.

"Come back anytime! Thank you for your purchase!," the cashier called out behind them and Cookie waved back.

"Ya seem to be well known, Huh?," Poppy asked the cat and Cookie shrugged.

"Lots of folks enjoy my work. Who am I to complain?"

"Touche." Poppy sucked in a deep breath and looked out into the world around them with a smile. "Man it's good to see ground that ain't littered with ghosts! But I wish it wasn't so hot!"

"Well this is a desert." Cookie smiled at Hattie chasing Mu around the two using Bow in the middle as a barrier from each other. "But they don't seem to have a problem with playin' anyhwere."

Poppy shrugged. "Doesn't surprise me with what I've seen. But I am surprised they aren't thirsty."

Cookie turned to her. "Why? Are you?"

"Well. A lil bit. When's the next ride back to the moon again?"

"Uh...Well I believe it's just a lil bit past noon, ya'll have to wait for the night train at ten o' clock."

Poppy snapped her head to her with a surprised face. "Wha- THAT LATE?"

"Well it IS the night train for a reason Sugar. But tell ya what, I'll treat ya'll to some real good food at the Jukebox cafe while ya wait." She started stepping towards somewhere else and Poppy slowly followed after.

"Oh no. You don't have to. It's alright."

"And let you eat nothing but a cheese wheel and apples?," Cookie shook her head, "Oh no, no. That wouldn't do at all."

"Ain't there a market or tradin' post with food in these here parts?," Poppy asked back making Cookie chuckle nervously.

"Well....Yes. B-But since everyone in town are actually birds, they don't really sell food catering to humans or many other species except for coffee and what's served in the cafe's since those places get to see more of a diversity especially when tourism comes a callin'. Otherwise it's bird seed, worms, insects, some fruit, and anything else birds eat. Most of what else they get is ordered from the city a couple miles away or mafia town. "

"Oh great. Guess it's cheese and apples for supper tonight then." Her stomach growled and she placed a hand to it shyly making Cookie chuckle.

"Don't worry. I'll send ya'll home with some left overs from mah kitchen set at the-...." Poppy suddenly stopped mid step body completely frozen as if she was paused in the middle of a movie and Poppy almost stepped on her tail stopping just in time. Cookie suddenly grabbed her fuzzy cheeks with a frown. "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"I left my handbag at my set in the studios! My bird passport and wallet's in there, it let's me get free supplies from the cafe with the reward points."

"So...That means?"

"We're going to have to make a pit stop at the studios before anyone eats."

[matrixaffiliate]

Ojalá - Propinquity

Day six of Blackinnon Week 2020!

Story Update! FFN and AO3

July 18th Prompt: First time being sick/injured/vulnerable around the other.

I've already written this story, Balm - chapter 23 of Saudade. So, I'm writing a new story for today, and if you'd like you can hop over to Saudade and read Balm. I’ll reblog it and tag it for blackinnonweek2020. :) 

Prompt for this story comes from the wonderful @dropkickwritersblock

                   Write a piece about people playing phone tag.

Propinquity

Marlene sat in one of the few seats left on the tube watching people get on and off at each station. She liked to watch the controlled chaos of moving hundreds of commuters across the city. Today specifically, as she watched a group of four men who seemed to find everything funny. Their laughter was loud and a bit ridiculous, but Marlene kept finding herself drawn to them, trying to eavesdrop on what was so funny.

But then the men reached their stop and as she watched them exit the train, one of them dropped their wallet.

Marlene groaned as she realized that no one else noticed which meant she really should call out and try and stop them. But as she called out and went to fetch the wallet, the train lurched unexpectedly and the doors shut. A frazzled voice came over the intercom apologizing as the doors opened again but it was too late, the group of men that the wallet had fallen from was long gone.

Marlene groaned and went back to her seat with the wallet in hand. She shouldn't look through it. She should give it to security when she left her station and tell them what station the men got off. She looked down at the wallet and ran her hands over the worn black leather. She wondered if it belonged to the man that had worn the black leather jacket. It wouldn't be hard to find out, but she really shouldn't. Marlene looked around at the other passengers and bit her lip. She was pretty sure no one had taken interest in her holding someone else's wallet. Maybe just a quick look to see which of the four men had dropped their wallet, then she'd close it and put the wallet into her purse and not snoop anymore. Yes, that sounded alright.

Carefully Marlene opened the wallet and looked at the man's driver's license. It was the man in the black leather jacket, which made her smile.

"Sirius Black," she murmured as she read the name, "Maybe I'll just mail it back to him."

Then she saw the debit card and shook her head. Mailing it was a bad idea. She noticed a business card and decided that she'd already invaded Mr. Black's privacy this far, she might as well keep going. She pulled out the card and sighed in relief. It was his own, and more importantly, it had his phone number on it.

Before she could talk herself out of it, Marlene dialed his number as the train pulled into the next station and waited as the call rang through.

"You've reached Sirius Black. Leave a message."

Marlene froze and almost hung up, but the tone sounded and she felt compelled to say something.

"Hello, er, my name is Marlene and I, er, I found your wallet on the tube. I was thinking I could leave it at security unless you need me to do something else. So, er, I guess, call me back."

She hung up and went back to the wallet. He looked alright in his license picture, not quite as good looking as he'd been on the train, and he was only a bit older than herself. His business card said he was a translator for a local agency, and Marlene blinked at the list of languages on the back. Clearly this man was brilliant, there were six languages listed that apparently, he was capable of translating in and out of.

Marlene went to search for the agency but her phone freaked out and froze up, so she restarted it. By the time it was done with its cycle, she had a voicemail.

"Hey, this is Sirius. I'm trying to reach Marlene; she has my wallet. Er, I'd rather it didn't get left at security, so if you could call me back, we could figure something else out if that's alright."

Of course, she'd miss his call. She saved his number in her phone and then gathered her things and got off at her stop.

Marlene hit the call button as she came out of the station.

"You've reached Sirius Black. Leave a message."

Marlene groaned. Of course, he'd miss her return call.

"Hi Sirius, it's Marlene. Sorry I missed your call earlier. I didn't leave your wallet with security so I still have it. I'm off the tube now, so I shouldn't miss any more calls. Er, I guess call me and we'll figure this out."

Marlene got to the turn for her flat and stopped. Maybe she should find a coffee shop or a cafe or something close to the station for when he called back. That way she would be able to get it back to him quickly.

She looked like a crazy person as she turned around and started back towards the station. There was a coffee place the next street over that she'd been to a couple of times, and it seemed like as good a place as any to wait for what would hopefully be a quick return.

Her phone lit up as she walked into the shop and Marlene sighed in relief.

"Hello, Sirius?"

"Hello? Hello?"

Crap. He couldn't hear her. Marlene stepped back outside.

"Hello, can you hear me now?"

"Hello? Hello? I'm trying to reach Marlene."

Marlene moved closer to the curb. "Sirius, this Marlene, can you hear me?"

"Bloody phone," Sirius muttered.

Then the call disconnected.

Marlene immediately called him back. And it went to voicemail.

"Sirius, it's Marlene. I could hear you when you called just now, but you couldn't hear me. I'll try calling again."

And she did. This time it went straight to voicemail.

Marlene growled. This was so frustrating! Why wasn't there an easier option?

Then she felt like an idiot.

Marlene opened up Sirius' contact card and started a text message.

Marlene: This looks like it might be a better way to contact each other.

She sent the text and then walked back into the coffee shop and ordered a tea.

Sirius: See why didn't we do this in the first place?

Marlene laughed.

Marlene: Because we're both coming off of a full week of work?

The kid behind the counter called her name and Marlene retrieved her tea and found a place to sit down.

Sirius: That's probably it. Now, where can I meet you to grab my wallet?

Marlene dropped a GPS pin into her next text.

Marlene: I figured this would be a good place.

Sirius: Coffee shop, slightly better than a dark alleyway as far as boosting my confidence that you aren't going to murder me. :)

Marlene grinned.

Marlene: I can't have you suspecting my motives, can I?

His response came almost immediately.

Sirius: I just got back on the tube, I'm committed now, whatever your motives.

Marlene bit her lip and looked back at Sirius' driver's license. She wondered if he was one of those guys that were attractive from afar but not so much up close. She hoped not.

Marlene: I'm at the table in the southwest corner.

Sirius didn't respond, and Marlene figured that he didn't have cell service. But after him not responding for fifteen minutes Marlene started to wonder if he really was coming to get his wallet.

"I honestly didn't expect the woman who found my wallet to be considerate and beautiful."

Marlene looked up from her phone and froze for a moment. Driver's license pictures were notorious for being awful, but Marlene thought that the inaccuracy of Sirius' would be worthy of a citation. His gray eyes were penetrating and his features were sharp like they were chiseled from marble. His black hair lay perfectly but didn't look styled at all, it looked like he woke up that way.

Sirius looked unsure for a moment.

"You are Marlene, right?"

Marlene blinked.

"Yeah, er yes, I'm Marlene McKinnon. I'm glad you made it." She pulled his wallet from her purse. "Here's your wallet, everything intact.

"Thanks," Sirius took it from her and put it in his back pocket. He looked at her for a moment and then sat down across from her.

"Would you think it too forward if I thanked you by taking you to dinner?"

Marlene smiled. "Would you think me insane if I said yes?"

He smirked at her, "No I would think you were a bright woman who knew never to turn down a free meal."

"Well, I do happen to be a bright woman, so I guess that means I have to accept."

Sirius stood and gestured toward the door. "I know a place just a block away. We could walk."

"That sounds great." Marlene followed him out the door. "And while we walk you can tell me what it's like to speak every major language."

Sirius laughed, "Things to know about Marlene McKinnon, she will snoop through your wallet."

"Only when you're daft enough to drop it on the tube." Marlene grinned up at him.

"Was it really so daft if I get to have dinner with the most beautiful woman that was on the tube today."

"You can't expect me to believe that you noticed me." Marlene rolled her eyes as her heart tried to flutter out of her chest.

"Anyone who didn't notice you is blind," Sirius shrugged.

Marlene couldn't help the smile that pulled on her lips.

"Maybe after you take me to dinner, I could take you for a drink."

Sirius opened the door to the restaurant and smirked.

"I'm a pretty bright bloke, Marlene, I never turn down a free drink."

And when he placed his hand on the small of her back as they waited for the hostess to seat them, Marlene thought that picking up Sirius' wallet might end up being one of the brightest things she'd ever done.

[saveyourblood]

Stolen Dance | Part 8

Summary: “Maybe this was a pipe dream, a delusion you’d soon awake from or a phase you’d outgrow. You didn’t really care. For a brief moment in time, you were in love. That’s what you chose to care about. That what you made matter.”

The one where you’re a paramedic, he’s an FBI agent, and the time you spend together is borrowed.

Word Count: 4.8k

Song: Moving On - Kodaline

Warnings: a few parts of this chapter (mostly, a single scene) are pretty disturbing. It's nothing worse than what is mentioned in Criminal Minds, but it's graphic. If it gets to be too much for you, skip to this: *** (the scene will also start with this symbol if you want to skip it altogether). Take care of yourself <3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

_____________________

Syria, 2014

“Are all girls from Colorado this rough, or is it just you?”

“Shut up, Austin.”

Austin laughed.

It was weird — soldiers buzzed around you like bees in a hive, but whenever you and Austin got the chance to talk, it was like you and him were the only people in the room. You just wished you could talk to him under better circumstances.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Austin continued. “The last guy you treated walked out of here looking like Frankenstein.”

“Without me, he would’ve been rolled out,” you retorted. You pulled at the sutures tightly, causing him to wince.

“Alright, alright,” he ceded with a chuckle, “I get it. But if you mess up my face, my mama will come after you.”

“I would never mess up a handsome face like yours,” you said sweetly as you worked at the cut on his cheekbone. “Why would I ruin a man’s only asset?”

“You wound me, Y/N,” Austin said, setting a hand over his heart. “You wound me to my core.” 

You snorted, laying a bandage over the sutures. You patted his shoulder. “You’re good to go, soldier.” 

Austin stood up from the gurney, grabbing his button-down digital camo shirt. He draped it over his arm, which you swore was the width of your head. As if that wasn’t enough, he towered over you: he was at least 6’4, and built like a tank. You once said he was the Army’s wet dream. You got a good laugh out of that remark.

Austin bowed slightly and tipped an imaginary hat. “Thank you, m’lady,” he said, accentuating his preexisting southern drawl. 

You shoved his shoulder with a smile. “Get out of here, Crow.”

He smiled, his white teeth contrasting his dark hair. “See you around, Y/L/N.”

“Hopefully not too soon,” you replied. 

“What, you don’t want to look at this pretty face?” He asked, fluttering his eyelashes.

“Not really, no,” you laughed. You cleared your throat. “Seriously, Austin: Don’t be a hero.” 

He nodded, respecting your change of tone. “Yes ma’am,” he agreed, before walking out of the triage tent and right back into danger.

You sighed, picking up and putting away your equipment.

Some days, you wished more than anything else that the two of you met under different circumstances. You wished he moved to Colorado with his family when he was a teenager, or that the two of you met in a small cafe in a big city. Hell, you’d even be okay if you met during Basic Training, the two of you fell in love, and he worked on a local reserve while you persued a different career. Really, you just wished you hadn’t met while serving in Syria, because no matter how you spinned it, it just wasn’t appropriate. 

Austin was a Staff Sergeant, which technically meant he ranked higher than you. However, the two of you worked in different areas; Austin was a combat soldier, while you were a medic. He fought on the frontline, you mostly worked triage. You took care of men like him. So, even though the Army may not forbid an affair between the two of you, that didn’t mean you thought it was okay. It felt like… corruption, like you were breaking the trust between you and your brothers. You didn’t want anyone for a single second to feel like they were less important to you.

So, you pushed your feelings aside. You savored the moments you spent with Austin, but you didn’t push it. You didn’t seek him out, you didn’t play favorites. You enjoyed the time you spent with him, but said time was brief, as it should be. 

You sighed again. He was a charming Texas boy with a heart of gold. How could a person not fall in love with him? 

“The longer this goes on, the worse it gets.”

You and Austin watched a new batch of soldiers go through training. They were already deemed fit for combat, so the next few weeks would be spent teaching them the ins-and-outs of living and serving in an active warzone. Today’s lesson? IEDs. 

“I know,” you agreed, voices low as to not distract. “It started as peaceful protests against a President, and now more than half a million people are dead.”

“70 airstrikes later,” Austin said with a sigh. “Sometimes… nevermind.”

“What?” you asked. When he didn’t respond, you nudged his shoulder. “Sing your annoying song, Crow.”

He smirked, but didn’t quite laugh; the sound he made was that of a scoff. “Sometimes I wonder what the hell I’m even doing here.” 

“Me too,” you said softly. 

_____________________

The two of you found some downtime; Austin wouldn’t be heading out with his team until later in the afternoon, and after a busy morning, your tent was hitting a lull. The two of you decided to eat lunch together in an empty triage tent lined with gurneys. 

You sat on the ground beside each other, boots sunken into the mix of dirt and sand that made up the ground. Austin sat cross legged, and his knee brushed against your calf as you bounced your foot up and down.

“You gonna use that cheese?” He asked, referring to a silver packet you set on the ground.

“No,” you said, dumping your chicken fajita mix into your cooked rice packet. “Shit’s disgusting.”

Austin picked up the packet and tore it open with his teeth. He spread the fake, overly yellow ‘cheese’ spread onto a weird, fake pork sandwich he was making. The bread looked more like play-doh than bread, and the barbecue sauce he used was almost black. MREs: the epitome of luxury dining.

“That is nasty,” you remarked.

“Sometimes, you gotta take what you can get,” Austin said. He picked up a packet of clam chowder that had been heating up in its bag for awhile. He opened it and stirred it around before taking a spoonful and plopping it right on over the cheese spread. He finally closed the sandwich and took a massive bite.

“I’m gonna gag,” you stated bluntly. 

He frowned. “Why?” he asked through a mouthful of food.

“That is vile, Austin,” you said. “You just put clam chowder on a sandwich! With barbecue sauce and cheese! That’s so gross!”

He offered you the sandwich. “Wanna bite?” 

You tucked your chin against your chest and leaned back, shaking your head. “Get that away from me.” 

_____________________

To say the night was busy would be more than an understatement; 4 men from the same troop were rushed to triage, all with similar injuries caused by IEDs. One of the men ultimately ended up a double amputee, one leg blown off above the kneecap and the other being so damaged that most of the calf had to be removed. Somehow, a man from the same troop ended up with only minor lacerations. War was strange that way; you step on an IED the ‘right’ way, and it’s something you can walk away from. If you don’t, you could die.

“Alright everyone, we have 6 more soldiers coming in!” Your Lieutenant Colonel shouted. “All non-emergent patients should be transferred. Let’s hope for the best, prepare for the worst.”

You helped ‘reset’ a few stations, making sure they were clean and ready. When the men still hadn’t arrived, you approached Colonel Todd.

“Colonel,” you asked, catching her attention. “What else do you know?”

“Best guess? Task Force 221,” she replied, signing a few papers when someone handed her a clipboard. “Crow and his boys were out patrolling, Folks don’t take too kindly to soldiers around here.”

Your heart sank.

The men from Task Force 221 came in at the same time, and they were loaded out of the truck and onto gurneys one by one. You got assigned to the first person, which happened to be Austin himself.

“Go, help them,” Austin protested, already trying to get off the gurney. “I’m okay, just help my boys!”

You pushed him down by his chest as you and two other people rolled him inside. 

“Can I get a dose of Lidocaine, please?” you instructed, cutting away Austin’s already torn pants. So far, you saw two GSWs: one to the left lower leg, and one to the right calf. You adjusted the light above you to get a better look. “Make it two doses.” 

“I’m fine,” Austin pushed, once again trying to stand up.

“Austin Crow, I swear to god, I will tie you down if I have to,” you threatened. “You’re not fine — you’ve been shot. Sometimes, to take care of your team, you have to take care of yourself first.”

He laid back with a sigh.

Three hours passed before you could properly speak to Austin. After pulling the bullets from both his legs, you ran around trying to help people wherever and however you could. Eventually, you found the sweet spot where no one was critical but everyone was still busy. You managed to slip away and pull the curtains around Austin’s bed.

“What the hell were you thinking?!” you hissed under your breath.

“...What?”

“I heard what you did,” you said. “Your lieutenants were more than happy to tell me exactly how you got shot.” 

“By doing my job?” Austin asked. 

“You put yourself in the line of fire!” you argued. “You ran right into danger!”

“To help someone,” he explained calmly. “No man gets left behind, Y/N. You know that.” 

“You could have died!” you said between clenched teeth. You were trying to keep your voice down, but his apathy was driving you crazy. “God, what is it with you? The same day I take out your stitches, you come in with two gunshot wounds. What’s next, Austin? You want me to plan your funeral? Write to your parents, tell them how you died a hero?” 

“Why are you so pissed at me?” Austin asked. He seemed more confused than angry.

The words fell out before you could stop them. “Because I love you!” 

He didn’t say anything, just stared at you. You laughed bitterly. 

“There,” you said, pinching the bridge of your nose. “Cat’s out of the bag.” You sighed, setting your hand down and looking him in the eye. “I think… I’m in  love with you, and I don’t want to see you dead.”

Silence fell. Austin looked away, looked back to you, looked away again, and clenched his jaw. You crossed your arms in self-defense, heart pounding as you waited for him to say something, anything.

Austin scooted over, then patted the space beside him. “Come here.”

You approached the bed, slowly and carefully sliding next to him. It was almost too small for Austin by himself, let alone with another person, so your weight ended up mostly on him. He didn’t seem to mind, though.

Austin’s arms wrapped around you, pulling you closer to his body. He buried his face in your hair, taking a long breath. “I’m sorry, Y/N. I’ll do better. I promise.” 

_____________________

This wasn’t supposed to happen. 

You were only covering for someone, a temporary replacement until a new combat medic was hired. Austin was hesitant; he wasn’t sure if you were cut out for the job. You assured him you’d be fine, that you went through the same training everyone else did, and that it wasn’t permanent.

You were an amazing combat medic. You tied every tourniquet tight, you took care of men until they could be shipped off the triage. The Colonel in charge of Task Force 221 commended you, said you could be a real fit for the field. 

Austin didn’t agree. The two of you had been secretly dating for about a month, and it was the first real fight the you got into. You said you were seriously considering accepting a job as a combat medic, and Austin disagreed. You could tell this fight wouldn’t be like the last one — you weren’t about to kiss him and tell him everything would be alright.

“What, only you get to do the dirty work?” you asked. “Only you get make some real change?”

“This isn’t about glory, Y/N,” Austin sighed, running a hand through his cropped hair. “It’s about keeping you alive.”

“Now you know how I feel!” you argued, laughing at the irony. “It’s scary, isn’t it, Austin?! You want more than anything to pull me off of the battlefield, put me somewhere in this godforsaken country were I can be at least somewhat safe?!”

He clenched his jaw and looked away.

“I’m gonna take that job,” you stated, “and I’m only quitting when you do.” 

Now, you were here, in a place you didn’t know, but you knew you didn’t like.

“Y/N?” you heard someone call weakly.

“Austin?!” you said, trying your hardest not to burst into tears. You couldn’t see anything, so hearing his voice was a massive relief. 

Your memory came back in pieces: you saw Austin walk ahead to secure the area, but he ended up stepping on and IED. Without even thinking, you ran ahead, despite the yells and other protests of the men beside you. 

“Hey, baby,” you said gently, looking him up and down.  It took everything in you not to gag or faint.

He stepped right on the edge of the IED, meaning his left leg was blown off to right below the kneecap.  The exposed muscle was shredded, and his bone stuck out like a morbid fence post.

“You’re gonna be fine,” you promised, taking out your tourniquet. Just like you had been instructed what felt like decades ago, you pulled it as tight as you physically could to stop any more blood loss. 

Austin moaned in pain and mumbled a few words you couldn’t understand. When you looked up to call for help, the butt of a gun connected with the back of your head, effectively knocking you out. 

You woke up here.

“It was a trap,” Austin said, voice rough and quiet. 

“We’re gonna get out of here, okay?” you promised. “Half of the fucking Army is probably looking for us right now.”

After what felt like hours, someone came in to remove your blindfold. You could finally get a good look at Austin, and it made your heart pound in your ears. He didn’t look good. Things would get ugly if he didn’t get proper medical attention soon. 

“Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you,” you said immediately. “Just let me help him.”

A man dressed in all black began to yell at you in Arabic. You could only make out a few words — work, plan, and money. He paused, most likely to give you time to answer. When you didn’t, he punched you across the face.

“No,” Austin said weakly. “Stop it.”

You spat some blood onto the floor, your entire head throbbing. “Don’t worry,” you said, then looked to your attack. “I can take it.” 

_____________________

Present Day

“They didn’t get anything out of me by punching,” you said, staring at the light above your bed. You sounded detached, like you were talking about a movie you watched rather than recalling the worst day of your life. You supposed that’s how you coped with it — you pretended it wasn’t real, that it never really happened. “Even when they brought in someone who spoke English, I didn’t talk.”

You sighed, running a hand through your hair. You adjusted the bed to a sitting position awhile ago, but you still felt vulnerable.

“You can stop,” Spencer offered, gently taking your hand. It was taped up and gloved, as it was the hand they put an IV in, so his touch was more delicate than usual. 

You shook your head. “I want to tell you everything,” you promised. “It’s just hard to think about. It’s hard to remember.” You took in a breath. “When the punching didn’t work, they moved on to whipping. And when that didn’t work…”

_____________________

***

Syria, 2014

Your back stung and your head throbbed. You hoped that eventually, you’d pass out, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Either your pain tolerance was too high, or the breaks they took between the methods of torturing were enough to keep you conscious.

“Get her on the ground,” one man growled. 

You groggily put together that there were three men in the room, all of them equally pissed. They probably thought you’d be easy to crack. 

The fresh wounds on your back hurt even more when they connected with the dirt; you could practically feel the infection in your skin forming. You gritted your teeth, barely able to refrain from making noise. You didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. 

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, someone began to pull down your pants. In that very moment, you prayed for a heart attack, for your body to give out completely. This, on top of everything else? You wouldn’t be able to take it.

“That’s enough!” Austin shouted, so loud that it practically shook the walls. “I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just get the hell away from her.” 

Austin gave up the location of the base, as well as other details they wanted, like what patrols and other missions had been scheduled. Apparently, all they wanted was to get the upper hand, strike before Austin or anyone else’s task force could. It made you wonder what they did when information was time-sensitive.

They slammed the heavy door behind them, and immediately, you burst into tears. You rolled onto your side and curled into a ball, shirt in shreds from the whipping. You stayed in that position for so long that your arm and legs fell asleep, but you didn’t really care. You wanted to feel nothing right about now.

“Y/N,” Austin called, for what was probably the millionth time. You tuned out everything around you, only the sound of static filling your ears.

You sat up lifelessly, a blank stare on your face.

“Come here,” he said.

You crawled over to Austin, your concern for him trumping both the physical and mental pain you were in. It had only been a few hours at most, but he already looked worse. His face was pale, lips dry, and despite the tourniquet, he seemed to have lost quite a bit of blood. 

“What do you need?” you asked. 

“Can you take off my shirt?” He asked.

It was a weird request, but you obliged. You lifted up the hem of his shirt, and carefully, you pulled it above his head. You managed to get it off without having to lift his arms too high.

“Put it on,” Austin instructed.

You smiled through a few new tears. 

It was damp with sweat, meaning it was entirely sanitary, but more than anything, you appreciated the sentiment. You slid it over your head, slipping your arms through each hole. Unsurprisingly, it was massive on you — the sleeves were technically short, but they almost hit your elbow. 

“Sit by me,” he said, tilting his head to the empty space beside him. 

You did as you were told, careful not to lean back and inflict more pain.

“Closer.”

You laughed, wiping your nose as tears streamed down your face. You scooted closer to him, lifting one of his arms and slinging it around your shoulders. You curled into his chest, and despite the sweltering heat, you found comfort in his warmth. 

“Hey, Y/N?” Austin asked, voice raspy.

You looked up. “Yeah?”

“I’m in love with you too.”

It didn’t occur to you, but ‘love’ hadn’t come out of either of your mouths since the night you first admitted it. You spent countless hours in each other’s presence, but it hadn’t come up. You didn’t Austin to say a word in order to prove how much he cared about you — he showed it. It was implied.

And now, it was over.

_____________________

***

Present Day

“It took them 18 hours to find us,” you said. A few tears made their way down your cheek. You wiped them and continued on. “I think Austin died halfway through it.” 

The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; you thought Spencer was afraid to even breathe. 

“I stayed by his body until someone found us,” you said. “I managed to fall asleep a few times, and every time I woke up, mice were eating his skin. As if his leg being blown off wasn’t bad enough.” you paused. “I think his blood started to spoil. Is that possible? I don’t know. I think the heat was cooking him, though. It didn’t take long for his skin to start rotting.”

Your face contorted, and you stifled a sob. “I wanted to save him, Spencer,” you cried, clutching his hand. “I really did. They just wouldn’t let me.” 

Almost immediately, Spencer joined you on the bed. He pulled you against him, arms tight around you like a barricade. You gripped his shoulders as you cried into his chest.

“None of this is your fault, you hear me?” Spencer said. “None of it is your fault.” 

You weren’t sure how long the two of you stayed like that. Eventually, you stopped sobbing, but the occasional tear still rolled down your cheek. Spencer held you throughout it all.

Eventually, you felt Spencer lift his head from the pillow. You looked up to see the team standing at the nurses’ station. Any other day, you would have pushed him aside and invited them in. Today, though, you just sniffed and moved closer to him. 

Spencer kissed your hair and continued to hold you close. They’d get the memo.

_____________________

The hospital kept you overnight for observation, but by daylight, you were discharged with a clean bill of health. Sometime during the night, Emily and JJ swung by to drop you off a change of clothes, which you were eternally grateful for. 

Spencer didn’t leave your side the entire night. He waited outside the bathroom when you changed, he held your hand as you took the elevator ride down to the lobby, and he sat in the middle of the backseat on the cab ride home. You stared out the window the entire time, but you kept a hand on his knee. 

As you stared at the multi-colored, almost bare trees, you realized something: life goes on. People were waking up and heading to their 9-5, and their biggest concern was what to make for dinner later that day. Some of them had a violent or traumatic past, just like you did, but that wasn’t how they lived their life. You and everyone else alive did the same thing: you woke up, and you tried your best. Sometimes, that’s all anyone can do. And that’s enough. 

“The rest of the team is going over to Rossi’s tonight; he’s making spaghetti,” Spencer said as the two of you entered the apartment. “We can go, if you want. Or we can stay here all day. We shouldn’t have a case until tomorrow. Even so, I’m sure Hotch would understand if you took some time off.”

“Spencer?” you asked.

“Yeah?”

“I’m okay,” you promised. “Everything I told you is something I’ve been reliving for the past 2 years. Talking about it didn’t dredge anything up. Actually, if anything, it helped. It’s like… I don’t know, a weight was lifted off of me. I feel like I can start to move on, finally.” 

He smiled faintly. “Good,” he nodded, “I’m glad.” 

You set your arms on his shoulders. “I’d love to go to Rossi’s for dinner,” you said. “But first, I need your help with something.” 

“Anything.” 

You played with your hands. “Ever since I got back, I’ve been thinking of visiting Austin’s family. It took me 6 months to go back to work after what happened — I can’t imagine what it was like for them to lose a child. I thought they needed some time before I brought everything back up. I think I’m ready now. At least, I’m ready if they are.”

“And that’s what you need my help with,” Spencer concluded.

You nodded. “I don’t know how to get in contact with them. Honestly, I was just gonna start by googling them.” 

“Over 45 million members of Generation X use Facebook,” Spencer said. “I think we should start there.” 

_____________________

“I swear, I am never letting you go,” Garcia said as she hugged you. For someone who was normally so soft, in that moment, she could crush all of your bones. 

“Come on, baby girl,” Derek chuckled, “we all get a turn. And Y/N needs to breathe.”

With a pout, Garcia let go of you. JJ, who was standing next to her, extended her arms. You pulled her into a short but sweet hug. Spencer wasn’t joking: this team was a family. 

“We didn’t get to see you in the hospital!” Emily exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around you. 

“I wasn’t there for long,” you said, pulling away. “Besides, I wasn’t really in the mood for visitors. No offense.” 

“None taken.” 

Derek hugged you next. His massive arms wrapped around you, and as you briefly relaxed into his chest, his chin rested on top of your head. A small, warm smile crossed your face. He was like the older brother you never had. 

“Hey, can I talk to you?” He asked as the two of you parted. 

Though surprised, you nodded. “Yeah, of course. You wanna step outside for a sec?” 

Derek nodded. 

“Don’t be too long!” Rossi called from the kitchen. “The show’s about to begin!”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” you promised. 

As you followed Derek onto the porch, you noticed Spencer talking to Hotch. You gave him a small wave, which he returned with a look of confusion. You raised your index finger, a silent way of telling him you’d be just a second.

“What’s up, Derek?” you asked, closing the door behind you.

“Are you okay?” He asked. “And I mean really okay, not the ‘okay’ that gets you out of a conversation.” 

You took a few steps, resting your arms on the porch railing. “I think I am,” you said, looking over your shoulder. “Why do you ask?”

Derek moved to stand beside you. He pressed his palms to the smooth wood. “Maybe you didn’t see us at the hospital, but we saw you,” he said. “I’ve never seen someone who was so sad to be alive.” 

“It wasn’t that,” you promised. “I mean, it was for awhile, but not anymore.”

“What’s going on?” Derek pressed, bumping you shoulder with his. “Something’s eating at you. I can tell.” 

“I lost a friend,” you said simply, “when I was in Syria. I watched him die.”

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, setting a hand over yours. “That’s awful.”

“It was,” you agreed, “and ever since I got back, I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m alive and he isn’t. He had a set of happily married parents and two beautiful sisters to come home to. I’m an only child, and my father was six feet under. He had so many people that cared about him — the only person who would have really missed me was my mom. It didn’t seem fair, ya know?”

He nodded. “I know. Believe me, I know.” 

Derek shifted his footing. You nudged his shoulder.

“Something’s eating at you: I can tell,” you joked.

He chuckled softly. “Fair enough.” He paused. “I watched my dad die. One day, he picked me up early from school. I asked him if we could go to the convenience store. When we got inside, there was a woman being robbed.  My dad was a cop, so he stepped in,  hoping he could diffuse the situation. The robber shot him.”

“I’m sorry,” you whispered, squeezing his hand. “How old were you?”

“10,” Derek answered. “It took me a long time to move on; I was lost without my father. I thought if  I had toughed it out until the bell rang, maybe my dad would still be alive. The older I got, though, the more I realized that it didn’t matter. What matters is what I do about it. So, I shaped up. I started solving problems instead of creating them. Maybe I’m biased, but I like to think I did an okay job.”

“You did an amazing job,” you said with a smile. “You’re a good man, Derek Morgan. Your father would be proud of you.”

“So would yours,” Derek returned. He slung an arm over your shoulders, pulling you close to kiss the top of your head. 

_____________________

Tags: @blueskies-whitehighs​​ @geeksareunique​​​ @jodibullock1​

Want to be tagged in future parts? Shoot me an ask!

Like what you read? Let me know! Feedback seriously keeps me inspired to write <3

[dontshootmespence]

Supernatural AU: Episode 7 - Memories Remain

Part 1

Under the mesmerizing whirr of the ceiling fan, he rolled his eyes and groaned, the constant ringing on the other side of the phone driving him crazy. “Baby, come on! Pick up,” he breathed.

Again it went to voice mail. In anger, he spun around and threw the phone onto the bed and watched it bounce into the pillows and onto the floor before picking it up to call her back. “Beka…baby.” Now he was getting frustrated. A talk about picking up his phone calls would need to happen. He shouldn’t have to keep calling like this just to get his girlfriend to answer.

Just as he was about to disconnect the call again, he heard the unmistakable lightness in her voice. Why did she sound so calm? He’d been calling for 20 minutes.

“Baby, what’s wrong?” She sighed, frustration lacing her tone. 

“I’ve been calling you for 20 minutes. Why haven’t you picked up?” He felt anger roiling through his body with each word. “What if it had been an emergency?”

“But it’s not,” she replied. “ It never is. I have a big chem test tomorrow, remember? I’m studying.”

Pushing up with his free hand, he got up and kicked his dresser. His Beka was the smartest girl he’d ever known; she’d be fine. “Baby, you’ll be fine. The Velgard party’s tonight. You said you’d go with me.” All he had to do was sound a little pouty and she’d cave. She always gave in.

In her own home, she curled into her desk, desperate to get him to let it go so she could study and not fail this test. Her fucking professor was making it 35 percent of her grade, so if she failed this she was screwed. “I can’t. I need to study.”

“No you don’t,” he snapped, pacing his dorm as he spoke. “You study constantly. You’re going to pass and you know it. Is it me? You’ve been wanting to go to this party for ages and now you don’t wanna go.”

The two of them went around and around, the pencil breaking in Rebekah’s hand before she gave him what he wanted. She had studied. Not a lot, but some. So she’d probably be fine. “Okay, okay. Let me get changed and I’ll be over in 30 minutes.”

“Finally, yes, I gotta have my girl on my arm.”

When she hung up the phone, he pulled his packet of cigarettes out and lit the tip, embers flaring up red before the smoke hit his lungs. He wasn’t exactly a member of the in-crowd, but Beka was a school-wide beauty. Everyone wanted her. But he had her. He’d look like an idiot if he didn’t show up with her after talking up how they’d just celebrated their three-month anniversary.

After chain-smoking three cigarettes in a row, he pulled on the bracelet Beka had given him for their anniversary, a gift her mother had given to her father more than a decade ago, and checked in the closet for something to wear. Although he’d prefer going in his boxers (the freedom was really something else) it probably wouldn’t be appropriate, so jeans and a t-shirt it was. The first one that caught his eye was the one that Beka hated; she said it was “douchey.” But why should he care? He liked it and that should be all that mattered right?

As he dipped his head into the closet to pick up the shirt that had fallen on the floor, he felt a breeze flash by his foot, sending his hair on edge. He spun around and saw nothing before something else ran behind him again, sending him spinning and falling into the closet door.

“What the fu-?”

Eyes wide and frozen in fear, he stared up to see someone he thought he’d never see again. “You can’t be here,” he breathed, his heart racing faster than it ever had before. “The last time I saw you, you-“

Cutting him off, the middle-aged woman with the stringy brown hair clasped the glass in her hand and shoved it forward, the sound of squelching blood and gargled breaths somehow eerily loud in the midst of the empty dorm room. He reached for his throat, desperate to stop the blood flow, but it slipped through his fingertips - skin growing cold as the smile on her face grew wide.

                                                         --------

Tossing and turning on the couch hadn’t been doing her any good, so instead of thrashing about in futility, Bobbie got up and went for a run to clear her head. She should’ve fought harder to get their father to come with them. No matter what he said, no matter how scared he was of putting his children in harm’s way, it didn’t matter. He didn’t wanna watch them get hurt? Well, fuck it, she didn’t want to watch him get hurt either, or worse, have him get hurt and knowing there wasn’t anything she could’ve done about it because he’d pushed her away.

After sweating her ass off despite the chill in the air, she snuck back into the motel room, which really wasn’t necessary because she was pretty sure a bomb could go off and her brothers wouldn’t wake up. A fifteen-minute shower was all it took to make her feel like a whole new woman. Dean and Sam wouldn’t be as easy to get up and running. Breakfast sandwiches and coffee might work though.

“Oh you really do love me,” Dean said as the unmistakable, thick and mapley scent of bacon wafted into the room. “Bacon, egg and cheese?”

“With double bacon, and ketchup, salt and pepper.”

“Best big sister ever.”

He took an enormous bite and grinned as a piece of bacon fell out of his mouth and onto the crappy comforter. Although Sam was grateful for the sandwich, the coffee was what made a sleepy smile crawl across his face. “How long you been up?”

“Few hours. Went for a run. Took a shower. Then I figured food would get you two up and running. I think we might have a case.”

Sam took a swig of his coffee and hissed at the heat. “You never get up early. Nightmares?”

“Mmmm.” It was about all her brothers were gonna get, at least for now, and they knew it. “Wanna know what I found?”

Dean shot up from the bed, renewed by the rejuvenating power of bacon and came up to kiss her cheek. “Thanks for breakfast. Now gimme something to do.”

She ran her hand through his hair and pushed him and his bacon-y face out of the way. “Scott O’Reilly. 20 year old student at Kent State University died in his dorm room two nights ago from a stab wound to the neck. Thing is there is absolutely zero evidence that anyone was in the room other than him and his girlfriend and the she has a solid alibi for the time of death. Also, the stab wound is jagged, but the murder weapon can’t be found or even identified.”

“You think this could be our kind of thing?” Sam asked. It just seemed like a severe lack of evidence, not necessarily anything supernatural.

In her cursory look through the local papers to see if there was anything here to look into, she’d stumbled upon this story. She’d gotten used to passing judgment on the dead, for better or for worse, and something about Scott O’Reilly rubbed her the wrong way. “Nothing in particular. I just have a bad feeling and figured we’re passing through and have nowhere to be just yet so why not, you know?”

“Sounds good to me,” Dean replied, bacon crunching loudly in his mouth. “But since we have nowhere to go, how about we enjoy our bacon – at least let me enjoy mine because my God, do I love bacon.”

“Is it safe to say it’s your favorite thing in the world?” Sam asked, laughing after he finally took a bite of his own sandwich.

“Top three.”

“And the other two?” He could guess.

Bobbie cut in because Dean had his mouth full. “Whiskey and women. The three change depending on mood.”

With his mouth full, he gave them a thumbs up. “God, this is good.”

Chuckling, Bobbie took a sip of her coffee and fell back on the mattress. “Do you need a moment alone with the bacon?”

                                                        --------

Rain clouds followed them the entire time they drove to the station. All of them felt the threatening storm, but no one wanted to say it out loud. Just because their father was gone yet again didn’t mean that they weren’t thinking about him and the bigger picture that was looming even closer than the car in the side mirror.

They pulled up to the station with just enough time to get inside before the downpour came. “Can I please be the senior officer?” Dean whispered.

“So you want me to be your crony?” Bobbie whispered as they rounded the corner. Whenever they met with police, one of them claimed they were training the other two, considering it was rare that officers were partnered up in teams of more than two.

Bacon had put him in a really good mood this morning and she didn’t have the heart to pull the big sister card on him today. “Okay, fine. Just try not to milk it too much.”

“No guarantees.”

She bit back a retort when an officer asked what they needed help with. “Hi, my name’s Agent Jones, these are my subordinates, trainee agents Flynn and Lennon. We decided to pop in to see what you could tell us about the O’Reilly case.”

“Hi, nice to meet you,” the officer replied, shaking hands with Dean, his eyes quickly scanning the badges Sam and Bobbie held out for him. “I’m Officer Bales. Honestly though, I don’t know what I’m going to be able to tell you that you couldn’t already find out from the papers. O’Reilly died of a stab to the throat. We’ve got no murder weapon, no motive, nothing.”

“Do you think we could get any information you have on him?” Sam asked.

“I don’t see why not.” The officer walked them all toward a file room in the back of the station.

“What about his girlfriend?” Bobbie asked not realizing Dean had been about to ask the same question. “Her alibi checks out?”

“Yeah, she was in her dorm room studying for hours before he called her. Her two roommates vouched for her.”

They needed to check her out anyway. Just because she didn’t do it didn’t mean someone connected with her couldn’t have been involved. “We should go interview her anyway. She might be able to point us in the right direction,” Dean added.

“She has an alibi.”

“I know,” Dean replied. “But she may know if he had any enemies.”

“Scott was a good kid.”

“Look officer, as much as I can appreciate that that’s what you saw, it’s more likely that someone very close to him, like a girlfriend, would know things about him that you wouldn’t.”

Shrugging, the local townie handed over the files on Scott and gave them directions to his dorm and his girlfriend’s home. “We’ll keep you in the loop if we find anything,” Dean said, saluting Officer Bales with the files in hand.

“Alright, what do we have…Agent,” Bobbie said, smirking as she leaned over to take a glance at the files. “Your subordinates are dying to take part in the case.”

“I had to. I just had to and you know it.”

“Yea, yea,” Sam laughed, smacking Dean’s arm with the back of his hand. “Anything in there that might point us in the right direction?”

Dean shook his head disappointingly before Sam ripped the files from his grasp. “What the hell, man?”

“There is something.”

“Where?”

“There.” Bobbie glanced near Sam’s finger. There was nothing there. A blank space.

“Yes, it’s a blank space,” he said, reading their collective minds. “But there shouldn’t be. These types of papers are formatted. If there was nothing there, then there shouldn’t be a blank space. That means-“

Bobbie slipped into the car as she interrupted Sam’s train of thought. “There was something there and it’s been kept off the record.”

“Exactly,” he replied. “And it’s something the police are aware of.”

@remember-me-forever-silent-angel @gaylemonshark  @marveldivergentouatdctvfangirl @lalirang @averagekansan @addsomesalt @stusbunker @sebba-hiddles @fanfictionrecommendations-com @hoppy519 @thatwrestlingfan91 @extremeobsessions101 @spence-imagines @bettercallsabs @whaaatthefuuuuck @letsgetfuckingsuperwholocked @your-imagination-runs-wild @cryinglots @steggy01 @gigilame @sedulous-mind @a-unique-girls-heaven @just-antiyou @rmmalta @ties-n-suits @veroinnumera @original-criminal-fanfics @eurusholmmes @fanficienjoyedreading @astridstark13 @demonlover87 @kennybud @shittyafblogwnopoint @pleasantlyfadingpeace @bulldozed88 @a-gir1-has-n0-name 

[180abroad]

Day 153: To Vienna

Today marked the end of our brief but enjoyable stay in Eastern Europe (the merciless heat notwithstanding) and our return to the German speaking world, which we had briefly touched back in Lucerne, Switzerland. The day started out well--sleeping in and reveling in the luxury of not feeling delirious with heat and sleep deprivation. The rest of the day proved nearly as pleasant, apart from a bit of stress on the train.

We took an Uber--Prague's metro is fine, but it's a perfect city for ridesharing--and made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. Poking around, we saw a memorial to US president Woodrow Wilson, who played a significant role in the international recognition of Czechoslovakia as an independent country after WWI. I also found much less somber collection of "mapy" maps in the station's bookstore.

We didn’t have assigned seats for the ride and knew that the train was going to be crowded, so we made sure to find a spot on the platform where there wasn’t too many other people. Usually this works out for us. As the train pulled in, however, we realized that it was going to overshoot us completely.

Jogging through an increasingly dense crowd of other people who had been overshot, I managed to squeeze into the back coach of the train. We weren’t the first ones in, but we should at least be able to find some seats together. Right?

Well, no. Unlike most other trains we’d been on, this one had it’s first-class coach at the back. So we would have to move down to the next coach before even looking for seats. I thought about getting back out and walking down the platform, but the crowd was already oozing onto the train behind me and I didn't want to risk getting shut out.

We squeezed and shuffled my way to the next coach, which–of course–was more first-class seating and the dining area. I didn’t realize it, but at this point an attendant checked Jessica’s ticket and actually forced her to go back out the door and walk down to the second-class coaches. Apparently she didn’t want us riffraff even passing through first class.

The third coach was the beginning of second class, but it was already nearly full. I thought I had hit the jackpot with two empty seats right by the door. I had taken my backpack off and begun to wave at Jessica--who had caught back up with me--when I finally noticed the tiny electronic "reserved" indicator above the seats. Moving on…

The fourth coach's seats were unreserved but full up. The train had already started at this point, and we could barely move at all because of other people pushing in both directions to try to find seats as well.

After making our way through almost the entire train–and seeing plenty of duos coming the other way from the front–we gave up and settled for separate seats. So much for watching a movie along the way.

I took the fourth seat in a quartet occupied by a family of three Asian travelers. The mother gave me a polite smile, but I was certain that I was making them at least borderline uncomfortable. The nervous sweating certainly didn't help.

After about an hour of sitting as compactly and inconspicuously as I could manage, a seat opened up closer to where Jessica was sitting--one in a section of the coach where all of the seats faced the same way. I jumped on it. About an hour after that, my new partner detrained, and Jessica joined me. So at least we got to spend the last hour of the train together.

There wasn't any time for a movie at that point, but we were able to get some planning done. I also listened to a Rick Steves podcast about Viennese café etiquette.

Cafés are just as important in Vienna as they are in Paris or Rome, if not more so. Here, you enter into a space that's like a cross between a fancy restaurant and someone's living room, find a table, and sit down. Sooner or later, an extremely well-dressed and Germanically curt host will ask you what you want. If you want an espresso, you ask for a mocha. If you want a cappuccino, you as for a melange. If you want a latte, ask for a kaffee verkehrt (which literally means "coffee [made] wrong"). If you want something special, ask for an ice coffee, which is actually coffee with ice cream in it. For something a little zestier and more adult, a Maria Theresia is an espresso with a shot of orange liqueur and a topping of whipped cream.

Anyway, once we arrived in Vienna, things got easier. It was breezy, not too hot, and the train station was easy to get out of. We called an Uber and were at our flat about fifteen minutes after stepping off the train.

Our flat in Vienna wasn't the largest we stayed in, but it was a mansion compared to our place in Prague. For starters, the bed had its own room with a door separating it from the rest of the flat. Imagine that. And even with the sofa bed out, there was actually floor space left over for walking around.

Best of all, it had fans for both of us.

As I marveled, part of me wondered what it will feel like to be back in the States, where even my fairly modest bedroom is still bigger than some of the places Jessica and I have shared in Europe.

Our apartment building was nice, with a surprisingly modern elevator. It was elegant and ornate, but also slightly shabby--albeit in a mostly charming way. Which turned out to be a fairly fitting introduction to Vienna as a whole

The historic city center was about a 40-minute walk or 15-minute bus ride away from our flat. We had thought about going into town the first night--a great choice whenever time and energy allows it--but we decided to take it easy instead. We had a very busy week in Munich ahead of us, and we were still running on dangerously low batteries after the Great Krakow-Prague Heatwave.

Instead, we took a short walk down to a train station near our flat (not the one we'd arrived at earlier) and bought tickets for our next travel days. It was an automated kiosk, so on the one hand, we didn't have to worry about embarrassing ourselves in front of a local human. On the other hand, we didn't have a local human on hand to explain how the system worked. We figured it out quickly enough, though, and ended up buying tickets for the next two legs of our trip, which would take us to Munich. We actually could have booked our tickets within Germany too, but we wanted to do a bit more research first.

We walked back to our flat and picked up some groceries at the Billa literally right across the street from us. (Billa is an Austrian supermarket chain that we'd first run into in Prague.) Vienna is definitely a beer city and not a cider city. But luckily for me and Jessica, it is also a wine city. Apparently, it has the largest acreage of urban vineyards anywhere in Europe.

I grabbed a bottle of Grüner Veltliner–the main varietal grown in Austria. Neither of us had tried one before, but I had been curious about it for a long time. It turned out to be really good. It’s a light white wine, and ours had flavors of citrus and tart green apples.

Sipping Austrian wine in Vienna on a warm summer evening. How cool is that? After five months on the road, I sometimes needed to force myself to step back and appreciate just how amazing this trip really is.

After dinner, Jessica gave her brother Nic a call to wish him happy birthday. We would be meeting him in Amsterdam in less than a month. Which means that we would be heading home in just over a month. It was one thing to be halfway through the trip, or two-thirds through it. But to be five-sixths through was crazy. When we started, I didn’t know if I could do six months. Now, I wished I could keep doing this for another six months. Or at least three…

At the very least, I wouldn’t mind getting to sleep in my own bed and eating real California Mexican food. So there’s that. Oh yeah, and my friends and family. Them too, I guess.

Next Post: Vienna (The Habsburg Hustle)

Last Post: Prague Castle (and the Window that Sparked a War)

[randomvariablefactor]

Hey Q! It's 2017, not 1981!

Yeah, no shit! I hear it often. I realize that I'm 51 and not 15. My recent stay in the hospital taught me that for sure. I am not bulletproof. I am not invincible. That said, I am still The Q and that must count for something.

The 15 year old Q listened to Led Zeppelin and the first three Van Halen albums religiously. He still does at age 51. Van Halen and Van Halen II get regular rotation in Donna's Jeep. Most of my Zeppelin CDs are in my car. I have the Deluxe Editions at home in my personal library.

I often hear people ask the question of if you could talk to your teenage self, what would you say to him? There's a thousand things I would say to him. I'd probably slap him upside the head because the 15 year old me could be an ornery prick at times. I trusted nobody, was mad at the world, hated school, and hated where I lived. My original escape was through sports, though I was never any good at it. The escape route later came through music. My parents hated that idea.

A girl I dated in high school took me to a dance at St. Mary's in Lynn. There was a band onstage made up of kids from the school playing the classic rock covers of the day. My date totally lost my attention. Sorry Pam, and thank you. I was mesmerized by what I heard, not to mention what I saw in the crowd. There were girls dancing to the music. So what if a bunch of them dressed like their boyfriends in flannel shirts, Levi's, and work boots. Many of them sported the Farrah flip do from Logan's Run that I still like to this day. I started saving for an electric guitar the next day. 36 years later, I am still playing music. Why? Because I can? Sure! Because I want to? Yeah, that too. The correct answer is because I HAVE to. This thing is in my blood. Most guys take up music to meet girls. I was no exception. The only problem was my taste in music was undesirable to most of my local lady peers, meaning if I wanted to date, I had to listen to crappy music. I gave in and gave up often. My music always won.

But back to that mano a mano with Q51 vs Q15. In the back of my 15 year old head, I had a blind faith that things would get better, though I was also very cynical. I often associated myself with older people. I could not relate to my own age group that well, but give me some people 10 years older than me and it was a different ball game. I wanted to be like Larry on Three's Company at the Regal Beagle having drinks with an airline stewardess in a spaghetti strap or sleeveless summer dress with a flower in her hair. You know, like the girl on the cover of Bob Welch's French Kiss album. It wasn't happening.

Teen years are tough. Later I learned that we all had a hard time going through them. Let's face it, we are awkward and geeky. I was blessed with the Grand Slam Of Teenage Hell in junior high: skinny, glasses, braces, and freckles. Throw in a bad haircut and a Prince stache and you got it. People told me I'd get through it if I stuck to my guns. Would I have listened to the 51 year old me? Who knows? I'm betting no. Listening wasn't my forte unless it was, say, a Grand Funk or Alice Cooper 8 track.

Yeah, I had to learn a lot of things the hard way as a teen. My alcohol and drug problems in high school, college, and most of my 30 somethings. Even now, I found out I have Type 2 Diabetes and must watch my carbs. I wouldn't have listened then and I didn't until I got diagnosed. I honestly thought I was never going to make it to 25. I was surprised when I did. I was on a deathwish. Both of my parents had major health issues. We lived on red meat and starchy vegetables. Like The Mick once said: "If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself."

I think the discussion of Q51 and Q15 would be mind blowing to the young buck. Telling him that he'd move out of Southie and go to Dorchester for 13 years. Unthinkable during the Bosco years. Southie and Dot guys broke each other's balls. It was a time honored tradition. That he'd forgive people that screwed him over? I'm Scotch-Irish. We invented the grudge. Even when it was sister Pat off her meds blabbing more info than they needed to know to my classmates. How about people who I thought were my allies that weren't, be it a classmate, bandmate, coworker, girlfriend, or someone that had the misfortune of hitting my radar on a bad day. Life is too short to be angry all the time. It may feel good when you are 15, but not at 51. At 15, a good bout of anger was like drinking 3 cans of Jolt. It makes you wired. At 51, it makes you tired. No more Jolt for this kid. When I went to the clinic to get checked out for what I thought was just a bronchial issue, my blood sugar was 723. I should have been in a coma or worse. Today it was 101, which is good.

Telling the kid he would meet a beautiful woman and be with her for 11 years and counting? He wouldn't believe it. Telling him he had everything he needed except for a little self discipline and self confidence? He would have said that I sounded like all the other people that talked to him over the years. That he'd keep a steady job and not miss a paycheck for 35 years and counting? You gotta be kidding me. That eventually he would find some like minded music people to play with? That some of those people that asked him to play music with them played on records he had as a teenager? That the suggestion his sister Patty once made that he should buy a Fender bass would open up a whole new world? That same sister that he shrugged off that day for being crazy had a good idea for that 15 year old kid. It would take him almost another 15 years to buy a bass, but when he did, the light at the end of the tunnel was no longer an oncoming train. Being sought out to resurrect Alice Cooper and BOC tribute bands and honor the memory of a dear budzo who would enlighten him beyond belief and mean the world to him? The kid would think I was off my rocker.

How about telling him that he would embrace other forms of music like jazz, soul, early R&B, funk, electronica, and even the dreaded disco!

Q15 was a dog lover. He'd be shocked to find out he became the owner of two ginger kitties. Would he be shocked to find out that he'd move to the North Shore? Telling him about the advancement of electronics and the role they would play in his life. DVDs of Classic TV shows, the Compact Disc, the Internet, the cell phone. The things you could tell him.

Yeah, I could tell him all that, but I think what I'd say would be simple. Be yourself, stick to your guns, don't be an asshole, treat people the way you would like to be treated, and hold on tight. It's a bumpy ride. The things you dream about wanting to do, if you work hard, they will happen. If they don't, you'll find other stuff to take your mind off of it. Oh yeah, and someday South Boston will get cable and there will be a station called Telemundo that you will love because all the women are hot. The only problem is that the show is in Spanish and you're in your fourth year of French. Go get yourself a Latina girl, maybe a New Yorker. Make sure she can speak Spanish so she can translate for you. You'll do fine kid.

[ecotone99]

[RF] Fuzzy Little Specks

Illinois is the second flattest state in the country. You tell someone to guess which state is the flattest, odds are they’ll say Illinois, or Indiana, or maybe one of the Dakotas. A lot of people think Kansas. But they’re all wrong.

When you’re driving across Illinois, it’s hard to believe. You think, this has got to be flattest place on Earth. Have you ever been? It’s like a pancake with corn on top. I’m serious. I grew up in Oklahoma, and I thought that was flat. It’s part of the Great Plains and everything. But after driving across Illinois so many times, Oklahoma looks like hill country.

The day in question, the one everyone’s always asking about, I was making one of these drives. My girlfriend (at the time) lived in Bloomington-Normal, which is a weird little city right smack-dab in the middle of the state. They used to make cars and stuff there, but you know what happened with all of that. If you don’t, you ought to learn about how they’ve moved manufacturing all overseas or to Mexico. My dad will go on about it for hours when nobody even asked, he just brings it up. Anyway, now since they don’t build cars, the big industry in Bloomington-Normal (which is two towns that I guess they built too close together and now they’re just one place) is State Farm Insurance, which has all sorts of offices there. But actually, a lot of those jobs just recently got moved to Texas, I think. Anyway not long after we met, my girlfriend (at the time) told me Bloomington-Normal has the most restaurants per capita of anywhere in the United States. I looked it up once and it’s not true, but I didn’t tell her. Maybe it was true when she was a kid.

So that day I’m driving and I’ve been going for like ten hours because I left Virginia that morning and Bloomington-Normal is twelve hours away, maybe more that day because I remember I hit all this fucking construction. You know when they have all the cones set up and the highway is down to one lane so you’re going forty miles an hour, but nobody’s actually out working, not a single solitary soul? It infuriates me, I get so angry. Anyway, all that was in Indiana. Illinois was just soybean fields and corn fields and the biggest sky you’ll ever see anywhere. I hope I didn’t make it sound bad for being flat. It’s really pretty. It’s beautiful, actually.

Like I said, I’m driving and I’m passing a house, a farmhouse in a field, with a long dirt drive that hooks up with the highway. And out of the house come these two guys who are running fast and it really looks like they’re holding guns. I’m serious. But it was so quick. They were running to their car, and then they were gone, just fuzzy little specks in my rearview cause I’m going like seventy. So I shook it off, thought I must have imagined it. Life isn’t a Tarantino movie, you know? I hate to make that reference, because I really don’t like Tarantino that much (which I don’t like to admit, because I’m afraid it makes me sound like a snob or contrarian or just an all-around negative person, all of which I’ve been accused of being at one time or another). To be honest, I hate myself for referencing a filmmaker I don’t really like. I should have just used somebody else. Life isn’t a Guy Ritchie movie, so I must have imagined the guns.

–––

I get to my girlfriend’s house, which is her parents’ house, because the reason she moved back home from Virginia was so she could help take care of her mom, who has dementia. Sorry, it’s all very depressing and I won’t get into it. So after I get there, my girlfriend (at the time) and I don’t go out or anything. We just make tons and tons of popcorn and carry three big bowls of it down to the basement and watch The Emperor’s New Groove, which we’ve both seen a million times, but we love it and it’s only 78 minutes long. Popcorn always made her sick, but she would eat it anyway.

Now that I think about it, the next day is really the one you want to hear about. But it only made sense to start the story with my drive because that’s when I saw it happen, which is the reason for my involvement in all this, which is just a very unlikely incident of chance when you think about it. I mean, I know it’s not all that wild that someone would drive by and see what I saw, given that it is an interstate highway and everything. It’s just from my perspective it seems the odds of it being me were pretty low which makes it feel like it has some kind of meaning, in a way.

I won’t bug you with the details of the news reports or the murders themselves since you already know all about them, unless you live under a rock or in another country maybe. Family of four killed during dinner, man was a local hero, ran a charity for children with Leukemia. That’s what made it such big news. Well that and the kids’ guts all over the wallpaper of that yellow eat-in kitchen. You know it didn’t have to be so goddamn gruesome. It was sensational, it was supposed to be, you have to think. So it was a national story. Not that it made much of an impact on me at first, until I saw the photo of the house. You might think lots of farmhouses look similar, maybe it was a different one, but I never had any doubts. I knew the instant I saw it. That house.

So there I am, drinking coffee at the table with my girlfriend’s mom, who I can’t really talk to today (she has good days and bad days and today is a bad day), and I’ve just learned that I witnessed the tail end of a quadruple homicide. I don’t know if that’s the technical term, but that’s how I put it in my head, because it sounded very dramatic. If I’m being honest, that was my first thought. I was excited to be part of something so exciting. My second thought was total panic that I would forget anything useful I might have seen and be no help to anyone and lose my shot at helping the FBI or U.S. Marshalls break the case and receiving my award from the governor in a televised ceremony with my dad watching from his stupid little apartment in Tulsa and feeling very proud.

I scrambled for a notepad and pen, which I found by the fridge, and tore off the top sheet which was a grocery list with just two things on it anyway. I started scribbling like a madman.

Two men white males (I should try to sound intelligent)

Black sedan (Ugly)

Blue and white plate (I noticed it because it stood out from the black car)

Around 6 (I check the time constantly on road trips even though it makes it go by slower)

On my phone I found the name of the county where it happened, then looked up the non-emergency police number, which was actually a Sheriff’s office. Then I got in my car to go look for a payphone, which as you might’ve guessed is next to impossible to find these days, but I figured there had to be one somewhere. Every town on the planet has those little pockets and corners that haven’t caught up yet.

I guess this part requires some explanation. Basically, there was an incident a few years before at this CVS in Richmond, with my friends (at the time). We were wandering around, killing time before seeing a movie, I don’t even remember what movie, and I decided all on my own to shoplift some bags of Skittles for us to sneak into the theater. I thought it would be so great to do it and get away with it and I would be this legend among the guys, so for years after that, when we’d all get together someone would say, remember that time with the Skittles, what a legend, what a crazy, fun guy.

Anyway, I didn’t bungle it too badly or anything, really. Except that I had never stolen anything in my life, and I was so nervous and obvious, I guess the cashier was suspicious. Cause later they checked the cameras and got the license plate of my car, since I always had to drive my friends (at the time) around everywhere, and the car was in my mom’s name and the cops showed up at her house the next day. Now I know this sounds stupid, but I never got arrested or charged or anything, and I worry I’m still wanted in Richmond, and maybe Virginia in general. That’s why I always drive the speed limit, except sometimes I go five over on long trips. And when I looked up the Sheriff’s office, I thought, what if the computer systems are all connected? What if they plug in my name and my file comes up and next thing I know I’m spending a month in Nowheresville County Jail, or picking up fast food wrappers on the edge of a soy bean field. I know it sounds crazy, it sounds paranoid, but I worry about that kind of stuff.

So I drive around for an hour and a half looking for a payphone. I try some bus stops, and both Wal-Marts, and all around downtown, which is downtown Bloomington, and all around uptown, which is downtown Normal, and several restaurants that look like they haven’t been updated and aren’t very busy. Eventually I found one, at the Amtrak station, which is painful because I almost checked it right at the start, but they’ve done a lot of cosmetic work, so it’s all new and shiny and seemed like a long-shot. The payphone is in a corner by the restrooms, and it’s all clean and taken care of. It strikes me as pretty weird, I wouldn’t have expected that. It doesn’t look like an afterthought or a leftover.

Here’s the part where I just about lost it. I mean I really thought for a second I should just throw myself in front of one of those trains. I didn’t have any quarters. No coins, no cash at all. I had to leave and go find an ATM at a gas station, then have them break a dollar for me, which they wouldn’t do unless I bought something, so I bought Skittles, just as a little joke to myself, which actually just made me sad, thinking about my old friends and about my mom, who called on Wednesday and left a message, and then I came back to the Amtrak station and finally made the call.

–––

Here’s what they don’t tell you about anonymous tips: you feel like shit afterward. The guy I talked to after the woman patched me through to the right line told me I would be more effective as a source if I would reveal my identity. I’m serious, I felt like I was in a movie like Three Days of the Condor (which I haven’t seen but my dad has detailed for me the entire plot several times, it’s so irritating). I told the guy on the phone I’d think about it and get back to him. I’m not going to, but now I’m a nervous wreck, worrying about whether the information I gave them is any good, if they’ll be able to use it or if it won’t hold up in court as probable cause after they track down the ugly black sedan with the Illinois or Minnesota or Missouri license plates and find it parked in front of some ordinary looking house and kick in the front door. If the judge will be forced to dismiss the case, prompting a national conversation about the difficulties of policing in a free society, and resulting in pictures of the alleged killers with smug, evil smirks all over the news next to pictures of the yellow wallpaper covered in blood, and the victims’ closest relatives trying to hold it together in interviews and sometimes breaking down in tears, and I’ll know it’s all my fault.

–––

Florida is the flattest state in America, which is a pretty fun and surprising fact, in my opinion. Illinois is number two, like I said before. Kansas isn’t even in the top five (I guess the whole thing is tilted like a table with two bad legs). I learned all this the same day they announced the verdict and everything (one got four life sentences and the other one only got three, although I don’t remember why that was). I’ll be honest, it was a huge relief, just a tremendous weight off my back if you know what I mean. I gotta say, if you ever get the chance to be a part of something big and important, I advise against it, I really do.

submitted by /u/really__big__shrimp [link] [comments] via Blogger https://ift.tt/3lUCdkg

[becauseiamnotanelephant]

They said I was crazy. Definitely possible.

I got up at 5 today. That’s the earliest I have been up for this whole trip and the only day I got to chose the time to get out of bed. It’s going to be an Aviva sort of day.

All packed up, I checked my luggage at the front desk of the hotel, booked a cab for later tonight, made a stop at the ATM, and then walked to the metro station, about 20 minutes away. It’s definitely Monday; I was walking against the commuter crowds getting off the train. The metro here is great, easy to use, cheap, clean, and you get great views along the way, but the way in which people use it is a little wacky. At every station I have been at, no matter the time of day, there are tremendous queues of people waiting to buy a ticket. You have to imagine most people using the metro are locals who could buy weekly or monthly tickets, so this baffles me.

I waited in the queue with everyone else and then made my way to the Caribe station, where I transferred to the bus station. Similar in many ways to the Port Authority except I have no idea what anyone is saying. Luckily I had done some research beforehand so I knew which ticket window to use, and bought a ticket to Guatape. I am attempting this trip on my own, which costs about a fifth of the price of a guided tour but will be more than five times the adventure. 

I get on the bus at the noted location, and see two French guys on the bus, too, which is a good sign that I am in the right spot. Mind you, this is not NJ transit, this is a 20-person bus that locals take as a cheap way to get around the countryside and between towns up in the hills and the city. Chinatown bus-esque, but very different. A man brought 50 eggs on the bus with him to bring home, and three other guys got on with machetes. I asked the guy next to me if this bus was going to Guatape. No, he said, its the bus next to this one. This was strange, since the bus was in the slot I was directed to, but I was somewhat relieved to get off the bus with fellow passengers carrying machetes. 

I got off the bus and onto the other, asked if this was the bus to Guatape. No, they said, it’s the one I was just on.

And so it begins.

I get off the second bus and go back to the first bus and the driver says something I can’t pretend to understand, and then gets in the bus and backs out of the spot to leave. And then pulls into the spot adjacent to it. Fucker parked in the wrong spot. Of course I will get on the wrong bus. 

French boys have gotten off the bus at this point, and there is a third gringo watching and figuring things out, as well. Finally the correct bus pulls into the correct spot, we all get on, and are on our way. Just like most places, salsa and bachata music play the whole time. Like two hours, whole time.

I end up sitting next to the third gringo guy and after chatting a bit, he joins me for the climb up the 675 steps at the giant rock at El Penol, the walk to Guatape, and for lunch in the town before I head back to Medellin. I’d really rather spend the day on my own, but despite being Ukranian and living in Amsterdam, his Spanish is much better than mine and I don’t mind the navigational assistance. 

The rock we climbed towers over the surrounding landscape, and it’s amazing how they built the zig zag steps up to the top. And the views from the top of the man made lake, and therefore man made islands, are really incredible. Not much to do after taking in the view and grabbing a few shots, so then we made our way down. Getting from the rock to the adjacent small town was about a 40 min walk, and was worth it compared to the 10 min tuk tuk ride because there were some small little hiking sections with some more great views, plus a rickety suspension bridge I got to walk over across the highway.

The town of Guatape was very cute with lots of colorful little houses, each with its own plaques along its frontage, generally representing the industry or profession of those who live there. We walked around a bit, grabbed some food, and then he met up with some other friends and I got the bus back to Medellin. The sign at the entry of the town was my favorite; it listed facts about the town- elevation, population, and temperature. 22 degrees celcius, in print. It is that temperature so frequently that they added it as a fact about the place.

The bus ride back was less eventful than the one in the morning and I successfully made it back to the metro in less than two hours. From there, I transferred to a different tram line, to go explore Comuna 13, historically one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Medellin. It has transformed since then, but is still quite dangerous and tourists are not advised to travel alone. This, says the tourist traveling alone.

But first, I was distracted by the funicular, which is part of the metro system. It doesn’t really go to anywhere safe, but I felt it would be fine to take it to the end of the line and then turn around and come back, which was more than fine - it was the best part of the whole day. The funicular must have hundreds of little pods, each carrying 8 people. The system never stops - it just slows down at the stations for people to get on and off. The ride in each car is smooth and peaceful as you hover over some of the poorest communities, full of cobbled together houses made with cinder blocks and covered with corrugated metal roofs. The most amazing part of the system, however, to me at least, is that the funicular actually has multiple stops along the way - it’s not just taking you from point A to B, but has stations along the way. And it goes so far up into the hills, that it actually goes up and down over the ridges of the hills. It was so much fun that I went all the way to the end, went back to the beginning, and then did the ride all over again. On the way back to the starting point, one of the pods behind us got stuck leaving one of the stations. I was with seven other people, all of them speaking Spanish, and when the whole system stopped working, they started talking to each other and I didn’t have a clue what was really going on except that I did understand the word “pendulum”. Apparently when the pod spacing is off, it throws the whole system off, and everyone has to wait for things to get rebalanced at the next station. In the meantime, hanging in the sky by a cable and stopping abruptly results in all the pods swaying like a pendulum. So I did know what they were talking about. I also picked up a few words here in there about how they even think some of the neighborhoods up in the hills are dangerous. I definitely understood when they said something was dangerous, and when they started talking about cartels. It was kind of amazing that in such a dangerous place that you could get stuck in the air with seven other people but feel totally safe. 

I finally stopped riding the funicular and went via taxi to see the Comuna 13 area. If I wasn’t alone I’d feel safer overall, but the neighborhood between the station and the escalators to the heart of the Comuna 13 didn’t really appeal to me. A taxi was a good idea. I went up the escalators, saw many tourists up there, but still didn’t feel comfortable wandering around much, so made my way back down and got another taxi back to the station. I feel like I wimped out a little, but I feel like I am smart enough to know when I don’t feel safe. 

Back at the main station, I got a train back to the main metro route to go back to the area I was staying. On the train were about six really tall (over 6′) Australian guys that I had seen up by the escalators. They were probably 20 years old, if that, and just hanging out and goofing around on the train. The best part of them being there was that no one in Colombia is 6′ tall and the women sitting next to me were incredulous. I know how to say “grande” and pretended to have some small talk with these women, but after about two words I had to give up and tell them I didn’t speak Spanish. I was then adding to the excitement. One of the women was a girl about 17 years old and she was freaking out. She said “my name is Isabella” to me and I told her my name - the chance to speak English with someone seemed like it was the highlight of the year for her, and I told her the guys were Australian. She nearly fainted. This was way too much excitement for her. Six tremendously tall guys with blond hair and blue eyes  - she looked like she was in heaven. It was hilarious (and also interesting that her and the other women also noticed directly the color of everyone’s eyes - I don’t really think about seeing blue or green eyes as drastically different than brown - different yes, but not unusual). 

I transferred to the other train line and it was so packed and hot in the car that one woman fainted on the train just as I was getting on. It was incredible to watch how people dealt with the situation. Several other passengers picked her up and got her off the train within seconds, another passenger hit the emergency button on the train to alert the police, who came immediately, undid the emergency call, and went to tend to the woman, as the train doors closed and we left the station. No delay to the subway operations. It was amazing! I imagine in NY it would be a 30 minute delay, at a minimum. 

I walked back to the El Poblado neighborhood, bought some souvenirs, had dinner, went back to the hotel, and got my cab to the airport. We drove up the same road I biked on two days ago; I can’t even believe I biked up that hill. But the views were clear so I asked the driver to stop so I could see the views of the city all lit up at night, which he did, before continuing to the airport. 

It’s the beginning of the end. A red-eye flight home with a 9 AM meeting. Not much chance for adjusting to reality...

[abloomntime]

A Bloom In Time Ch 23

"Last stop Express Town. Thank you for choosing PenCo Metro for all your space travels. We at PenCo value your time as customers and hope to see your lovely faces again soon. And hope you enjoyed your space traveling experiences with us." The few penguins that were on the metro along with Poppy, Cookie, and the girls excited the space train as it sat still in the giant tower like structure funnel that would take it back upwards to the moon. Passing a few other penguins and maybe an owl or two heading back towards it. "Attention boarding passengers. The Evening Express back to the moon will leaving within fifthteen minutes. Please be sure to have your luggage in hand when you board."

"Does he always have to say the same thing every time we use it?," Mu asked earning a slight frown from Cookie.

"That's his JOB. It's what he's supposed to do. Don't complain about him doing his job correctly."

Whelp. Here they were. Down on the planet finally and had real dirt under her feet.....Or sand. Really, REALLY hot sand. Blue eyes gazed around her at the scorching desert surroundings and the decently sized town of owls walking around. It looked as if she just walked into a western movie and stopped. There must've been at least a hundred and twenty different buildings if she was estimating it good enough from their spot on the hill. It was a decent sized town all right. Not too big. Not too small. But absolutely hot with the afternoon sun beating down on them and such. One gigantic building stood in the dead center of the town and it had a decent sized parking lot too. She was certainly more at ease and comforted at least. Express Town certainly looked more her time than the flashy neon lights of Moon City that's for sure. Smiling she followed along Cookie as the girls ran ahead of them a few feet giggling and playfully shoving at one another kicking up sand.

"This place looks pretty rustic," Poppy commented smiling. From the hill she could also see a set of train tracks leading into and away from the town and beside that was a train station. Everything just looked as it was in a western like town in her day. Not that she's ever been to one, but she did have relitives who did.

Cookie nodded in front of her watching the girls with a smile. "That there big building is the Dead Bird Studios. Most of the owls who live here work there or in the small shops around town. You see Conductor may be a little.....loud but he loves supportin' local shops here. He gets all his costumes from the famous clothing store nearby, and his coffee from Jukebox Cafe'. They have a delicious bird seed chocolate cappuccino...If you don't mind birdseed that is. My own little resturaunt is right across the street from the studios. I always wanted one, and thanks to the directors' generosity I finally did."

".....I think I actually saw one of this Mr. Grooves's picture shows now that I think about it." Her memory went to two night before while cleaning the attic and kitchen. She still couldn't sleep after a while and stayed up a bit watching something she couldn't remember fully on the television the girls left on.

"Oh really? Well Mr. Grooves certainly has a more flashier taste than Conductor but his are just as nice if you ask me," Cookie replied unbiased before looking over her shoulder at her. "The first place we'll stop by is Hawk's Eye Pawn shop."

".....Pawn shop?"

"It's kinda like a trading post. You trade things there for pons or bye somethin' they have on the store shelves."

Oh. So a trading post. She knew what those were alright, had one on the edge of the town she lived in. Where she got most of her furniture and goods actually. Following Cookie, they all went into the town of owls. And she got a good look at everyday life in a town of owls and birds. As soon they stepped foot in there she could see that everything was made a little taller thank goodness, she didn't feel like crawling through any more doorways and tunnels feeling awkward and big and clumsy. Funnily enough most of the houses they passed seemed to be nothing more than homes, if the stores didn't have open signs or display cases in their windows, she would've thought all of these were just more homes for these owls. And speaking of the owls, most were just walking around minding their own business, walking in or out of buildings, and Poppy even saw a few elderly owls in the comfy seats of rocking chairs on shady porches watching the world go by. The girls giggled and ran past them in a game of tag with Bow reaching her hand out trying to catch Hattie or Mu. And some of the old birds smiled at the energetic children. Poppy would admit they were definately a cute bunch as well. Still following the cat, Poppy lifted her arm up to wipe at her long bangs and forehead. It sure was hot, not surprising since it was a desert, but she hoped they'd get to this 'pawn shop' soon. And hoped it was cooler inside. The girls never got too far from them as they ran around kicking up dust and sand in their game as Poppy switched between watching them and looking around fanning herself. Where did they all get that energy? It was too hot to play in her opinion, and the weight of the gold in her apron was starting to hurt her neck and shoulders a bit. That was soon all solved when Cookie turned in front of an all brown wooden building and started up the steps leading into it. Of course Poppy and the girls following behind and running in. A small bell above the door rang out as the door was opened and Poppy sighed at the wave of cool air hitting them as they waltzed in. But was surprised at the stuff she saw. Calm guitar music played from a small radio in the corner as an owl held his head in his wing looking boredly at them from the desk, to his right was a register. All around the place was cluttered items jammed everywhere. From beds, to pots and pans lining the walls, to random objects she'd never seen before.

With a sigh the owl spoke. "Welcome to Hawk's Eye Pawn Shop, where we have a hawk's eye view for priceless and useful objects. Feel free to ask if you need any help.....or not, " he said in a flat tone. Giving Poppy the feeling of slight annoyance in her as she raised a brow. Luckily Cookie stepped in before anyone else could as the girls ran around looking at things like normal children their age did. Walking right up to the desk as the owl followed along lazily with his eyes as he stared at Cookie before rolling his eyes. "Hello, Ma'am. How may I assist you this fine evening?"

"Glad you asked." Cookie pointed over at Poppy. "My friend here has a lot of gold she'd like to trade in today."

"..Gold?" Immediately the owl's interest peeked as he chuckled and finally smiled at them, "Oh w-well this IS a surprise! Please come, come! You've come to the right place, Miss." He gestured for Poppy to come over and reluctantly she did as the owl rubbed his hands-....uh..Wings together and smiled widely at her. "Just allow me to measure it a-and we can get you your pons, Ma'am."

"Uh...Ok." She reached down to the larger pocket of the two and pulled out the heavy gold cheese wheel, it must've been fifteen pounds at least. She set it with a small thump on the table and the owl hooted in surprise at the large item she placed down. Blinking and gawking in surprise at the large thing. ....Which was followed by the trophy, and the potion bottle out of her large pocket. And then the Mafia statue, pencil, candle, gear, and cheese slice. The owl gawking at all the things laid out before him in pure gold glory. "There ya go. That's the lot of it."

The owl sputtered blinking at them all....Before reaching up to pull out a small magnifying device out of his breast pocket and picked up the golden candle. "T-T-This is!...INCREDIBLE!! I've never seen such fine craftsmanship in my life! AND IN PURE GOLD!! It's unmistakable! Pure. Solid. Twenty four carrot GOLD!!" He could almost FEEL the heat radiating off the candle, it almost looked like it could've been real at one point. He looked back at Poppy unbelieving. "W-Where did you ever aquire such beautiful items?!"

"Oh...I- Uh..." She had to think fast. She wasn't about to tell some stranger some magic alien potion turned these things into gold by some king roach. They'd think she was crazy. So why not tell the truth but a different truth. "My g-great granddaddy on my mama's side was a blacksmith. He worked with metal's all the time." Which was true. Her Great Granddaddy Silver Copper-field on her mother's side was a blacksmith.

"But we found them in the attic," Bow innocently chimed in tilting her head confused.

Mild panick flashed on Poppy's face. "Uh...W-Well people find all sorts of old things in their attics all t-the time!"

Which was another truth. But the owl seemed too enchanted by the items he rolled over his his hold to care about her nervous tone at all. "Well he must've been a fine crafter in his day. I've NEVER seen such beauty." He snapped up to her suddenly slamming his hands on the counter and leaning over making her jump in surprise and lean back. "I MUST have them! Won't you part with them! It'll make me the talk of the town for once besides those ratty directors!! I'll be the only bird in the world to have them!!"

Now Poppy could sense pretty well when some one was gonna fight being raised around a bunch of rowdy country folk that often fought over land and territory. And BOY! The way the two little girls and Cookie bristled at the comment the owl made sure did look like they were about to argue, but that was NOT what she came here to do. She wanted to get out and have a relaxing day seeing this new place, so thinking quickly she got between them and the owl smiling more than a greedy pirate. "Deal. But on the condition ya give me what I'm owed for it all, and the promise ya won't say a word about where ya got it from." She didn't need someone asking around in case.

He quickly agreed grabbed the gold one by one. "Oh I promise. I very, very promise. Hmhmhmhmhm!! Not one word out of me. After all I don't want anyone else to have one but me."

Poppy sighed and watched as with great difficulty the owl man just gathered up all the gold in his arms teetering and wobbling about as he went towards the left side of the counter. They all watched as he wobbled his way towards a large scale against the wall that reminded Poppy of the large scale the local banker used to have to measure her pons in whenever she went to put her savings in the bank, only much bigger. A few large clanging noises rang out as he dumped the gold into it and watched as the red arrow of the scale tipped until it measured-

"F-F-Fifty two pounds!," the owl gawked at the scales before giving a thoughtful look. "Let's see. Minus tax on gold fifty two equals up too about....." His eyes widened and he suddenly let out a hoot gripping the feathers on his head. "F-F-Five thousand pons!!"

"Oh....Do you not have that m-many pons?"

"Uh..." The owl nervously looked between her and the statues. "N-No. J-Just a little over half of it. B-B-BUT I-I C-CAN OFFER A TRADE!!" He quickly pointed around the cluttered place, as if nervous to lose the precious gold he so desperately wanted. "I-I can pay half and trade for the other! W-Whatcha say?"

Poppy stopped for a minute. Looking around the cluttered place with a raised brow, and gazing over everything slowly. That wasn't a bad idea actually. Since she could use some knew things once she gets settled on her own again and didn't need anymore help. And getting stuff for free? Now they were talking! Maybe this was the universe paying her back for all her troubles and hard work finally! Smiling she happily agreed to the deal much to the Owl's delight and he quickly scrambled about to grab all the pons he needed for the trade from a giant vault in the back and they began searching. Well, the girls found lots of little knickknacks like small toys and for Bow a large sunhat with a pretty blue bow on it and how could Poppy say no to that? Well, the red head wasn't going for any random fancy stuff like antique clocks or any other fancy thing right now. But considering $2600) was a lot of pons to trade for, she could spare them to choose a bunch of things for themselves. But looking among some used exercize bikes she found a few things she was really looking forward to see again. What else but some good old fashioned farming tools? A rake, gardon hoe, pitchfork, shovel combo! She hit the giant jackpot!! Smiling as she dragged the old things out of the dusty corner and examined them. They looked to be in good condition. Rusty and dusty, but a mighty fine condition if ya asked her.

"Uh. Ma'am, are you sure you want those?," the owl said leaning back over the counter staring, "T-Those are antique farming tools that were just dumped in the corner. No one would want them.

"I sure do!," She said smiling back at his confused face, "They're just what I needed.

"Well...Y-Yes, t-t-they're in great condition for three hundred year old tools. That's why they're here, they could run in the thousands. Are you sure you want to waste your time with them?"

"Yep!" She Heaved all of them over one of her shoulders with a smile. "I got a plan for these babies. You just keep counting the pons."

"Ok. If that's what you want. It'll be nice to get them out at least," he mumbled to himself ducking back behind the counter.

Continuing looking around a little bit, Poppy managed to find a gold club bag along with her search and stuck her new tools into it, slinging it over herself and able to carry about her new beauties easier. Turns out those tools and the old antique stove Cookie kept looking at. Poppy saw the way she kept longingly staring at it every few minutes of looking around and gladly said she'd take that for her friend here. Cookie insisted she didn't have to but Poppy's mind was already made up anyways, as stated she didn't need that much pons leftover to trade back here again anyways. And she deserved it for all the kindness she had shown Poppy a complete and utter stranger. Well it turns out the knick knacks Hattie stuffed in her hat, (just random things like a few teddy bears, jewelry, a grappling hook, and anything else a girl like her would enjoy) combined with the old stove and it's set, along with those old tools were just enough to cover the other half but she did have to fork over another 100 pons to cover the extra 100 pons the tax came out to be. The bag she was handed wasn't really big, about maybe a small decent sized pumpkin and weighed about as much as a large house cat did. And that went into her large apron pocket for safe keeping while slipping the gold back of farming tools over her. She still had $2,500 to spend. And that was quite a lot of pons especially. Luckily the things weren't as expensive as made out to be. But that did leave another question, what were they supposed to do now? Luckily Cookie had a fantastic idea after seeing the way the uh....tacky dress Poppy was wearing and had the idea for them to stop by the local clothing store much to the children's protest about how boring it was going to be. So they once again found themselves leaving the greedy owl to fond over his new prized possesions and left back out into the hot sun. Resuming their routine of Poppy following behind Cookie as she lead them down the street to wards the far side of the town as the kids ran around again chasing one another. The only difference was Bow was using one hand to keep that giant sun hat on her head now as she went around running after the first two. Poppy still couldn't figure out how Hattie kept all those things in her hat. Alien magic?

"You'll adore this lil shoppe," Cookie happily told her giving a bright grin, "They're real experts at fancy sewing. You see they make most of the costumes for the studio and the directors' movies."

"It sounds like this whole town thrives on that place huh?," Poppy stated giving a look around the old buildings and many owls walking by.

"Oh, this town has been here for quite a long time with the studios," Cookie corrected, "It's only until recently that business really thrived for lacol birds. In the less hotter winter seasons, people come from all over to get a glimpse at the two kooky canaries running those studios. Means Conductor gets some extra business running his train too, he likes to say more budget for his movies come from it."

"Wow. Really?" So this place was some kind of famous spot because of this Mr. Grooves and Conductor, whoever they might be. From what she's heard of them so far, they seemed really nice supporting local business and bringing in so many customers. And she had no reason to not trust Cookie so far. A smile graced her face when he spotted the girls run a little ways ahead of them and caught an earful of their giggles. That was until one fell over. It was just a small rock hidden in the sand that she didn't see, but that didn't stop Bow from tripping over it and faceplanting the sand, knocking up some sand in her crash. Poppy and Cookie both gave a small gasp of surprise and Poppy instantly ran over to her, metal tools clanking together on her back. Hattie and Mu had stopped hearing the thump in the sand from behind them at Bow's faceplant and watched as the curly haired girl pushed herself up. Bow laid there unmoving for a few seconds but by the time Poppy got over there to kneel next to her, she had pushed herself up crying a bit with her eyes shut and spitting out more sand from her mouth. Sun hat falling off her head as she did. Two hands grabbed her and turned her around to face the worried face of the red head as she looked her over. "What happened? Are you alright, Sweetheart?"

"My eyes burn!," Bow cried reaching her balled fists up to wipe at her face but was stopped by Poppy pulling them away.

She sighed. "Well don't rub them, you probably just got some dirt in your eyes needin' ta be flushed out." Looking around she spotted an outside water pump fountain like the one her old home hand and without another thought picked up the tiny girl and stood back up. Bow still crying at the stinging and wrapping herself around Poppy's shoulder as she walked. "Oh hush now. All you need is to rinse it out with a lil water and you'll be right as rain!" She carried Bow over to the small pump across the street and pried her off to set the small gal down in front of the Nozzle. "Now I'm going to pump some water out, and I want you to start rinsing out those eyes and mouth of yers. Ok?" Bow sniffed still crying small tears down her face and Poppy grabbed a hold of the pump handle. Pushing n pulling it up and down to summon the water underneath. A garbling sound came from the pipe's inside and with a pop sound, cold water burst out from the pipe and sprayed the small child in the face. Bow jumped in surprise at the sudden cold water on her but sputtered and swiped at her face and the stream of water hitting her. After a few more seconds of it, Poppy stopped and allowed the strong stream to trickle slowly before stopping completely. She watched as Bow turned her cheek the other way and spat out a mouthful of water, coughing and wiping at her face. Now all soaking wet. She rubbed at her eyes for a moment before blinking her eyes open and looking up with red eyes. There we go. Now that she could see, her eyes would be irritated for a lil bit, but it wouldn't be worse than just someone suffering from a bit of hay fever. "There we go. All better."

....Bow sniffed and blinked. Wiping one eye with her hand and looking down at herself, her other hand grabbing her white jacket. "Now I'm all soaked and cold."

"Uh...Yeah." Poppy rubbed her head. "Kinda figured the sun would dry ya out, but I guess I can buy ya a new dress while we're at this here clothin' store.''

"...*sniff* Really?"

"Absolutely." Walking back over, Poppy bent down and repicked Bow up into her arms letting the little girl grab onto her. "We'll get ya a nice pretty dress that'll make you look like a darlin' lil princess!...Well more of a princess than you are already."

Bow smiled again sniffing and Poppy smiled at her...But paused when she heard someone else awing at them from behind and when she turned around there was a pair of old birds on a shady porch right behind them. The old birds were smiling at them from their rocking chairs like what they were seeing was the most precious thing in the world. "It's so nice to see such a responsible and caring young mother these days," one of them spoke smiling widely, "Your daughter looks like a darling little one."

......Poppy blinked. "Mother? Who me?" She pointed at herself with her free hand before shaking her head. "O-Oh! No, no! I'm not her mother! I'm just watching her for someone I know!"

"Oh, that's too bad. You would make a lovely mother for the dear."

Poppy chuckled nervously but Bow seemed to be looking at her with a strange look. "My...Mother?"

Giving a small thanks Poppy quickly excused herself from the watching eyes of the old birds and back over to Cookie who was waiting for them with the other two children. Wiping dust from the pretty sunhat and looking up at the soaked child in her arms. "Well. I can see we'll be needing to take care of that while we're in there too."

Poppy gave another nervous chuckle but grabbed the sun hat, handing it back to Bow who gladly plopped it back onto her head. Well, guess they weren't going to wait on getting this lil gal some dry clothing. Following Cookie the rest of the way there, they all came across possibly the girliest lookin' store Poppy had ever seen. It was all painted pink and white and had flowers in window pots. Well seeing those cute lil things made her smile at least, she always loved flowers. Above a sign was nailed above the door reading Mrs. Talon's Fabric Shoppe. Guess they were going in when Cookie walked right on up without a second thought so naturally Poppy and the children followed suit. A bell above the door rang like before and thank PECK it was another building big enough she didn't have to crawl through to get there. Upon entering it was the same pink and white themed as the outside. Along the walls was shelves upon shelves of fabric, balls of yarn and threads of all colors, sewing machines for sail along with smaller kits, and anything else one would need for making clothes. Such as buttons, sequins, patches, and books of patterns or techniques. Poppy noticed there was also a giant pink curtain in the back and next to that was a rack of already made dresses with a sign that said 'discount bin half off'. In the very front of the store was a white counter, and a lady owl wearing a floral dress with glasses that made her eyes look too big for her face, but unlike the first owl this cashier welcomed them all with a smile and friendly voice.

"Good Evening, Customers! Welcome to Mrs. Talons! Here we tailor to creatures large and small," she replied in a high pitched tone, "How may I-...I-I..." Her impossibly large eyes went wide seeing the crew of five girls waltz in as Poppy closed the door shut with her foot. "I-....I DON'T BELEIVE IT!!" She suddenly squealed startling the red head woman into almost dropping Bow and blinking at the pig like squeal before the owl lady leaned over the counter looking at Cookie. "I DON'T PECKING BELIEVE IT!! THE COOKING CAT IS IN MY BOSS'S STORE!! M-Ma'am I'm your b-biggest fans! My owlets love your deep fried worm and rice recipe!" Cookie didn't even seem fazed as she chuckled and waved. Making the more owl all the more nervous at having the cat celebity in her store. "H-How may I help you, Ms. Cat?"

"Please. Call me Cookie." Cookie pointed at Poppy still holding Bow in her arms. "We got a youngin' who's in need of some dry clothes and a fashion emergency if I say so myself."

The owl looked up at the two humans adjusting her glasses and frowning at Bow's soaked clothes and the absolutely ghastly amount of tacky lace and fake rubies studded to the collar of Poppy's dark blue dress. Not a good mix, it looked like she was a desperate rich lady trying to play the part of princess. "Oh...I certainly see why. Well, unfortunately with my boss away currently working on a large order for Mr. Grooves, I can't offer anything except for the designs left out from last year's tourism season." She gestured a wing over towards the bargain bin and Cookie slightly frowned at the limited suppy.

"Are you sure you can't make one?"

The owl shook her head. "Sorry, Ma'am. For you I would in a heartbeat, but I'm just the cashier. I ring people out and offer assistance if the customer has questions. The only tailors are my boss and her assistant and they're already away on a giant order call. But if you're interested we do provide everything you need to sew yourself."

"That won't be needed," Poppy cut in slowly lowering Bow to the ground and standing back up and walking to the bargain rack, "I ain't the kind of picky prissy gal a lot of folks I knew was." Walking up right to the rack she skimmed through the options of dresses available and to be honest most were plain day to day dresses without any patterns, but that suited her just fine. She wasn't real picky when it came to clothing as long as it fit ok and it didn't look like the ghastly thing she was wearing so she just grabbed a few random dresses off the bargain pile that was the same size she was wearing. A plain all pink and green one. One that was all white with purple flowers all over it. Another green one with a picture of a kitty cat in the middle of it. And just a purple one with some kind of black vine pattern. Looking back up, she noticed Cookie writing on a piece of paper as the owl excitedly watched, and she gave another small squeal when Cookie handed whatever it was over to her. How strange. Two of the girls were boredly bouncing some yarn balls...Where was- She got her answer when Bow pushed past her and reached up to rummage of her own accord, after a moment pulling out the only thing they seemed to have in a child's size. A bright orange dress with a single daisy on it's front. Her cringe made Poppy chuckle a bit and reach down to pat her head. "Hey. May not be the most pretty, but it's just til we get back an' then you can wear anything ya want. Alright?"

She didn't look happy but relented. "Fine."

"That's my girl!" She gave bow a smile as the little girl blinked and gave Poppy a confused look as she walked to the counter dresses in her arms.

"Your girl?"

Well, the clothes were bought. Which equaled up to about fourty six pons for all of the dresses including Bow's which she changed into behind the curtain. She was dry now but she didn't look like it stomping out and staring at her clothes in disgust. Well with two more bags in hand, one for her new dresses and one for Bow's, they excited the store and the girls were glad to not be coped up in there anymore except for Bow who followed the first two with crossed arms as the adults followed out.

"Come back anytime! Thank you for your purchase!," the cashier called out behind them and Cookie waved back.

"Ya seem to be well known, Huh?," Poppy asked the cat and Cookie shrugged.

"Lots of folks enjoy my work. Who am I to complain?"

"Touche." Poppy sucked in a deep breath and looked out into the world around them with a smile. "Man it's good to see ground that ain't littered with ghosts! But I wish it wasn't so hot!"

"Well this is a desert." Cookie smiled at Hattie chasing Mu around the two using Bow in the middle as a barrier from each other. "But they don't seem to have a problem with playin' anyhwere."

Poppy shrugged. "Doesn't surprise me with what I've seen. But I am surprised they aren't thirsty."

Cookie turned to her. "Why? Are you?"

"Well. A lil bit. When's the next ride back to the moon again?"

"Uh...Well I believe it's just a lil bit past noon, ya'll have to wait for the night train at ten o' clock."

Poppy snapped her head to her with a surprised face. "Wha- THAT LATE?"

"Well it IS the night train for a reason Sugar. But tell ya what, I'll treat ya'll to some real good food at the Jukebox cafe while ya wait." She started stepping towards somewhere else and Poppy slowly followed after.

"Oh no. You don't have to. It's alright."

"And let you eat nothing but a cheese wheel and apples?," Cookie shook her head, "Oh no, no. That wouldn't do at all."

"Ain't there a market or tradin' post with food in these here parts?," Poppy asked back making Cookie chuckle nervously.

"Well....Yes. B-But since everyone in town are actually birds, they don't really sell food catering to humans or many other species except for coffee and what's served in the cafe's since those places get to see more of a diversity especially when tourism comes a callin'. Otherwise it's bird seed, worms, insects, some fruit, and anything else birds eat. Most of what else they get is ordered from the city a couple miles away or mafia town. "

"Oh great. Guess it's cheese and apples for supper tonight then." Her stomach growled and she placed a hand to it shyly making Cookie chuckle.

"Don't worry. I'll send ya'll home with some left overs from mah kitchen set at the-...." Poppy suddenly stopped mid step body completely frozen as if she was paused in the middle of a movie and Poppy almost stepped on her tail stopping just in time. Cookie suddenly grabbed her fuzzy cheeks with a frown. "Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"I left my handbag at my set in the studios! My bird passport and wallet's in there, it let's me get free supplies from the cafe with the reward points."

"So...That means?"

"We're going to have to make a pit stop at the studios before anyone eats."

[blogeel]

Rome

My first week long trip was supposed to be to Croatia. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to enter the country because of the limited validity passport I was given in Amsterdam. It’s a long story, so if you want more details on that you can read all about it in my Passport & Visa Recovery blog. 

So, I spontaneously decided to fly to Rome to see Kyle, my boyfriend. I didn’t know how I could crash the other trips kids in my program were on that week, however I knew Kyle would be in Rome all week with his classes. 

It was so nice flying into a country where someone could give me advice on how to get around. Kyle gave me all the details on how to get to the city center from the airport. I took a train from FCO to Roma Termini. Kyle met me at the station and we walked to his apartment. It was so nice being able to put faces to names of his five roommates. I was also really grateful they accepted me into their apartment for the week; I was able to sleep on their couch and save money by not having to stay in a hostel. Saving money was much needed after I paid for two new passports, I missed out on my pre-paid Croatia trip, all the flights involved, a makeup flight for Paige after I couldn’t fly, a flight back to Prague, and a flight to Rome. 

After all the stress from the weekend (being stuck in Istanbul, being forced to make new week long plans, etc.), waking up in Rome the first morning was a breath of fresh air. The view outside of the apartment was beautiful. 

My first order of business in Rome was to go to the US Embassy. I had to get a new limited validity passport that had a longer time period on it so that I could travel to non-Schengen countries without issue. The employees at the embassy were so kind. The process went a lot more smoothly than before, they answered all of my questions, and they had a lot of compassion for me and my situation. 

After, I made the trip to Kyle’s school. He was in class so I made a lap around the school then went to the park across the street, Villa Sciarra, to walk around and relax. They had HUGE snake plants, I was set. 

After his class he brought me to this small café. It’s run by an American guy who makes delicious American food for all the study abroad kids in Rome. Apparently, he has his own guy who sells him bacon because it’s so hard to find American style bacon in Europe. The café had wi-fi too, so I decided to stay there and read a book while Kyle went back to his last class. 

When his classes for the day ended, we walked back to his apartment together. Kyle showed me the beauty around his school and on his walk home. I loved it. Rome was so green and warm during my time there it was like a true vacation. 

That night we walked around his neighborhood: Trastevere. We walked past all kinds of restaurants promoting pizza and pasta and enjoyed hearing the live music. We finally settled on Ristorante le Mani in Pasta where they were cutting fresh pasta in the entrance. Yum! I got the strozzapreti and Kyle ordered spaghetti carbonara. Strozzapreti has an interesting history that Kyle shared with me over our meal. Strozzapreti translates to “strangle the priests.” Back in the day when there was a lot of really bad corruption in the church, each day, the cardinals and priests in Rome would pick one household every evening. These houses they went to were basically told to feed the visitors. However, these homes were not wealthy and would dread being chosen each night. The wives would have to cook for their spontaneous visitors, often more than ten priests at a time. Meanwhile, the husbands would have to shine all the shoes of the priests. While the wives rolled the pasta, they would roll and roll and roll it to make the pasta extra fat, and every roll of their hands they would say “strozza preti, strozza preti, …” cursing the priests. 

After dinner, we got gelato and walked home along the River Tiber. 

The next morning I again could not help but sit in awe over the beautiful morning light sweeping across the apartment complex. 

I met with Julie, another girl apart of my Prague program, to do a free walking tour that morning. The tour took us to many places around Rome. To start we saw: Porta del Popolo, Piazza del Popolo, Fontana della Dea di Roma, Fontana del Nettuno, Santa Maria in Montesanto, and Santa Maria dei Miracoli. This is where visitors to Rome and groups that wanted to take over Rome would first encounter the city in the old days. The piazza is huge and beautifully decorated to show the power of Rome. We then walked down Via del Corso which was full of high end shopping stores. 

We made our way to Mausoleo di Augusto where our guide dove into the history of Augustus (both his name history as well as the rest of his life). 

After this, we went to Gelateria Della Palma, where they serve 150 flavors of gelato. I got raspberry and lemon. Yum! 

We walked to the Pantheon after and even had the chance to walk inside because there was no line. Crazy to think it was built nearly 2000 years ago. The dome remains one of the world’s largest unreinforced concrete domes today. Also, the height to the dome’s oculus is the same as the diameter of the interior circle. Inside the Pantheon is Raphael’s tomb, with the inscription: “Here lies Raphael, by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lives, and when he died, feared that she herself would die.” 

After, we went to the Piazza Navona where we saw the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi. The fountain represents the four rivers from the four continents in which papal authority had spread at that time. The rivers were the Nile representing Africa, the Danube representing Europe, the Ganges representing Asia, and the Rio de la Plata representing the Americas. 

Next, we crossed the Ponte Umberto I to see the Supreme Court building. Then we walked just a bit further to see the Vatican from far away. 

I enjoyed the tour and learned a lot. A few of us from the tour went back to a place the guide recommended to get food. It was so fun! There was a German, an Australia, two Israelis, and two Americans. It was probably the most interesting meal I had abroad, as I was able to see massive cultural differences among all of us. I also really enjoyed my pesto meal. 

When lunch ended I went back to Trastevere. Kyle and I met up at Giuffre Gelato up the street from his place and we ordered Gelato Brioche, which is Sicilian gelato that is placed in between two sweet buns. Yum! 

After, we bought groceries to use for dinner later on. Then we headed out to Kyle’s soccer practice. That’s right! He tried out for his neighborhood soccer team in Italy and MADE IT. Absolutely crazy. I had a lot of fun watching the dynamic of the team practice, as it was all in Italian, even though some of the boys were other study abroad kids. Thank goodness Kyle can speak Italian! 

For dinner, Kyle made me sciuè sciuè. It was quite a treat! 

The next day Kyle and I had brunch near his school at HomeBaked before we started our days. He had class and I planned to go to the Vatican. I waited at the bus stop for 25 minutes before I realized the bus was never coming. I decided to walk, until Google maps sent me down a road with no sidewalk and blind corners. I got scared I would get hit and tried to make my own route through a park, Villa Doria Pamphili, until I got lost and realized this route wasn’t toward the Vatican. At that point I gave up and just waited in the park until Kyle’s class let out. 

When he had a break between classes we grabbed coffee. After, I went to the Fontana dell’Acqua Paola and headed over to Terrazza del Gianicolo. I stumbled upon this view of Rome from the terrace that became one of my favorites! 

That night I went to another one of Kyle’s soccer practices. This time it was raining and a few of the boys during a drill told me to take shelter inside the field under the covered bench. I sorta waved them off because first I felt like it was an intrusion, and second I didn’t want to interrupt or get in the way of their drill. After the drill was over and the coach gave them a water break he came over and told me to sit on the bench with the rest of the team. It was quite the experience being up close and personal with everyone. I loved it. From this view I got the inside scoop on everything being said, despite not understanding most of it from my limited Italian language skills, it was still wonderful. 

The next day Kyle didn’t have any classes so we made a plan to hit a few major spots in Rome. First, we started with Pizza Boom, Kyle’s favorite local pizza place. We got our pizza and headed off to Piazza Venezia. We sat and enjoyed our pizza while admiring fellow tourists and locals roam and explore. Next, we walked past the Roman Forums on our way to the Colosseum. The Colosseum blew me away. It was HUGE. Despite it not being the intended sight, through years of wear and tear you can see all the rooms that had been built underneath the main floor. It was fascinating! 

The Colosseum was great and all, until it start monsooning. That’s when we ended up jumping on any random bus we could get because it was so bad and windy and wet. 

This really messed up the rest of our plans because after this we could not get a bus back in the direction we needed. 

We hoped on metro and did our best to get to the Vatican before they stopped allowing visitors. We got there with just enough time to explore St. Peter’s Basilica. It was massive, and absolutely beautiful. Inside we got to see the Tomb of the Apostle Peter. When they closed up and we had pushed our stay, we were able to enjoy the sun fully set behind Vatican City. It was a wonderful sight. 

That night we used TripAdvisor for food recommendations and settled on a dinner place that was the best in Municipio Rome 1, which covers about 1/5 of Rome. Crazy! It was beyond delicious. No pasta could ever beat it. 

After dinner, we got our hands on gelato again. We enjoyed it at the Trevi Fountain, and followed it up with throwing our coins in the fountain. When in Rome!

[dangerouscrusadefire-blog]

travel trailer insurance quote

"travel trailer insurance quote

travel trailer insurance quote

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://financeandcreditsolution.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

RELATED QUESTIONS: 

I missed my Insurance payment and my room mate wreck my Jeep do I have legal grounds to sue him?

I am a Marine Stationed at Camp Pendleton, California. About eight months ago I allowed my room mate to drive my Jeep while I was away attending pre-deployment training for Afghanistan. While there he rolled my Jeep literally down a mountain while under the influence of alcohol. Needless to say the Jeep was totalled and is Unrecoverable from the canyon were it now rests. I missed my Insurance payment by about a week because I was in the field training and didn't have access to a computer or phone. I understand that this is no excuse. Because I missed the payment my insurance company rightfully under California state law refused to pay for the totalled Jeep. Do I have legal Grounds to sue him for what I owed at that time, about 12,000.00. I have continued to make payment on the Jeep. The reason I have waited so long since the accident to purse legal action is because I was in Afghanistan on a 7 month deployment. If you have an Information please help. Thank you for your time.""

Car Accident Advice: Someone hit me and doesn't want to go thru insurance?

Someone recently hit my car while it was parked across the street from my house. I almost thought it was a hit and run till I found their business card on my windsheild. I called her and she said she'd rather not go through her insurance but pay me directly for the damage to my car. I have been in accidents where I was hit but usually the other person just gives me their insurance info and I call them and get my car fixed fast, no problems. So I was already a little hesitant about agreeing to this, but I figured as long as it gets fixed it should be alright. So I did like she said and got an estimate from a body shop, then called her with it. Right off she said, Oh thats really high,(almost a 1000) and I reminded her that the damage is pretty severe, she backed into my rear passenger door, now entirely dented and scratched up. I know the estimate is fair compared to other work I 've had in the past. So anyways, I thought she'd decide right there like she had told me before, if it was affordable for her she'd pay me if not she'll go through her insurance. So since she acted like that was so much money I asked well does that mean you want to just use your insurance? She still sounded unsure and said she needs to figure this out. So it's been another day since that, still waiting, she did call again and say she's running it by her insurance agent to see which way would be better for her, insurance or pay me off. So I am still waiting, it's only been a few days since the accident but I am getting anxious because I kind of wish she would just give me her insurance info and go through it, my car would probably be in the shop already and this would be taken care of. But instead I 'm waiting for her. She still has not given me her insurance info, I don't have her license plate # or even what her car looks like, just a business card. And its a big inconvenience because I know I will be without a car for a at least 2-3 days, and even if she pays me she sure didn't mention a rental car. So my question is am I being too nice by waiting for her to decide whats best for her... and even if she wants to pay me should I have gotten her insurance info, like is that my legal right. So how long should I wait for her to decide?? Any advice would be greatly appreciated as obviously I should act fast. Thanks""

How do you find out if a driver has insurance or not?

My car got hit and the driver took off. I have their name, address, and vin number but they did not provide an insurance company name either because they don't have it or there's a possibility that it was not provided at the time. Who can find this out for me, the police said they can't and my insurance company said they don't think they can either....""

How much would insurance be on a 2006 Dodge Charger SE?

im graduating next year and i was just curious about how much insurance would be for a 17 year old with a charger.

""Where do i get cheap car insurance after passing my test at 17yrs old, thanks?""

Where do i get cheap car insurance after passing my test at 17yrs old, thanks?""

Which company gives best insurance to young drivers?

I'm currently 17 and the cheapest quote i've got at the moment is 4000 on my own car as the main policy holder but with my dad as the main driver i've found a quote for 1500. but does anyone know which companies are good for young drivers?

What company has the very cheapest car insurance for Tennessee?

I just need the bare minimum insurance. Which is the cheapest?

How much would insurance be for a 16 year old in GA?

I'm 16, I own a 2005 Chevrolet Cavalier LS Sport- 2 door, live in Athens, GA, drive less than 7,000 miles annually, drive to and from work and school 5 days a week... haha. I just want to know how much it would be monthly for car insurance on any of the companies. Any help would be appreciated. :)""

What company offers a good affordable rate for car insurance in the state of Maryland?

I'm just moving out of Virginia into Maryland and I am very overwhelmed by the high premiums that I will have to pay oppose to the lower premiums that I was paying for 2 cars in Virginia. Does anyone know a good cheap car insurance company? Thanks!

I have insurance for a car I had for 6 days. The insurance co. says it's a total loss. They gave me a value?

Audatex is not kelly blue book they look at craigslist & not the dealer. Craigslist sometimes has cars where a mechanic might not catch it but is damaged. The price I paid is higher due to getting sick & credit went down so I had to go to a local dealer with higher interest. They want the insurance check plus $1700.00 & interest. So I will pay for this thing for over 1 1/2 years. I had it 6 days when some crazy driver almost hit me I turned & hit a wall. The insurance company says I loose my good driver discount. Since I will have to wait to pay off this car I can cancel my insurance once the dealer gets the check. Is there any California law that would say if this happens I would be able to pay off the car. It's worth more as a loss then to try to fix it. Please help. Thank You.

How much car insurance coverage do i need?

I'm buying car insurace and i need to know how much coverage to get. I want to get the lowest amount of coverage, without being unsafe. i have a clean driving record; im 18 yrs old, female, and i drive a 95 carolla, good condition. what do you feel is the minimal safe coverage?""

When does health insurance kick in when you start a job?

I've never had a job with insurance. I'm hoping that I finally receive my first full time job with a company (I'm a recent grad). I'm in desperate need of health insurance to take tests on my heart but it's so expensive! So if you start a job, usually how long does it take to be able to take advantage of having the health insurance?""

Can a cop pull you over for no insurance?

I am going on a 2 week road trip to go see my newborn nephew and my biological family. I was laid off 2 months ago ad just got a new job. My insurance was canceled due to this back in may. I am going with my girlfriend too but taking my car because it is more reliable.

What is the normal procedure for a car accident without insurance?

On Febuary 2012, I had a car accident and I hit the FWD Nissan, The car that I hit is still drivable condition, the only damage that I caused was a dense on the door. But My car was damaged badly, but it was fixed for $4000. Six months later, I receieved a bill from other car insurer asked me to pay $12k for the repair of the damage. HOwever, I did not recieve any phone call from the victims or the victim's insurance company at all. So is that a proper procedure for the insurer to call me and ask me about the accident? Because I did not know what I did to pay $12k, as in you could buy a new car for that....""

Speeding ticket.. insurance increase?

okay soo I just turned 18 last tuesday, and today, I got a speeding ticket. I was going 58 in 40, but I really didn't notice that. the cop went by me in the other direction and apparently his radar said I was going 58. I know I've sped on that road before, but this time I honestly don't think I was. it was my second speeding ticket.. I got one last year that didn't go on my record or something so the insurance company never found out. but this time, I can't imagine I'd be so lucky. I've been googling car insurance and how much it would go up, but I can't find it anywhere. I believe we're with arbella. my parents are going to kill me and I don't know what to do that will help this situation. so I guess I have two questions: one, how much will my family's insurance increase? and two, what to do I do to minimize the penalty, or whatever you want to call it. I'm perfectly willing to pay the fine..if I was speeding, I deserve that.""

Im 18 years old and just got a ford focus and i want to get liability insurance on it how much would it cost?

Im 18 years old and just got a ford focus and i want to get liability insurance on it how much would it cost?

""19, need affordable health insurance?""

I need to be more independent and get my own health insurance. I'm a full time student and my university offers a health insurance plan that costs a little under $2,000 per year but someone told me I should first look into plans available through the Affordable Care Act. How do I find an affordable plan right for me? I'm not even sure which professionals to ask about it..""

Car Registration and Insurance Company?

So, here is my predicament. A person wrecked into my car (while it was parked) and her Insurance Company (State Farm) has already sent out a person to do estimates and told me it is a Total Loss, which is fine, they offered me a lot more then blue book says, BUT my issue at the moment is, they told me I need to get my registration up to date before they would deal with me anymore (Was expired by a month cause my lack of insurance). So I rode up to a Tag Agency and got a Black Tag (In Oklahoma, we have color coated Registration stickers that we put on our License Plate) A Black Tag means it is not being driven and is parked but is up to date on being registered. So they told me they would call me back when it shows in their system I have registered my tags to up-to-date, and I called them today, which was over 48 hours after getting registration and they are still telling me they haven't heard anything. So I'm curious, did I do something wrong or is the Tag Agency slow? Or Insurance Company slow? (I'm impatient cause I need a car ASAP for work.)""

How much do you pay for car insurance?

I am taking a survey. I need to know how much you pay for car insurance, how old you are, and what gender you are. Thanks.""

What is the cheapest and best health insurance out there for a single fella?

What is the company's name and what would I have to pay on a monthly basis? Thank you and good day!

How do I get my insurance licenses?

Do I have to work for an insurance company before?

What is the major advantage of term life insurance over whole life insurance?

What is the major advantage of term life insurance over whole life insurance?

How much will my car insurance go up???

i recently totaled my brand new 07 scion tc... i had put 11,000 miles on it and i was paying about 1000 dollars a year in insurance... i did not finance the car but bought it outright... about how much will my insurance company give me and how much will my insurance go up""

How high are my Insurance rates going to get up too?

I am 17 turning 18 and i am looking at getting a 2000 Pontiac trans am with 28,000 miles. how much do you think my monthly payments will be on that car at my age for full coverage? and i have been in a n accident in the winter i slid into a tree so how much do you think that will be? I have state farm. Thanks for any help you may have.""

What is the cheapest legal way to insure 2 cars - 1 with just me with full ncb the other with me and my son?

My son is 22 and wants to insure a vehicle, but finds it very expensive. What is the cheapest LEGAL way for me to help him. I have full ncb on my own car.""

travel trailer insurance quote

travel trailer insurance quote

""How can i get affordable health insurance, with a low income?""

I work part time,i am physically disabled ,my husb is unemployable,rejected from disability, i have very bad health condition and need health insurance to continue dr.care....How can i get affordable health insurance that won't cost me a fortune? I have gone to the DPA and i was rejected by them. I suffer with depression/(diagnosed bi-polar) ,,disc disease,IBS....i must obtain medical Insurance to continue treatment in order to continue working...how can i get help?""

Car Insurance?

If i put a body kit on my car, does my insurance go up? Im a male aged 17.""

About how much would the insurance cost on a 2010 Mercedes Benz C300?

BTW I'M 16 YEARS OLD. Big factor, I know. I know I don't deserv it, I'm too young, yeah, I know. But I don't want any of those answers. Just please answer my question with no complaining about how you didn't get a nice car when you were 16. I just want an estimate. Thanks!""

Can i get Renters insurance if i am?

Can I get rentersinsurance if i am living in one of my uncles home?

How many independent insurance agents are there in the US?

I am trying to find out how many independent insurance agents there are in the United States. Any data, links or information would be great.""

Is there anyway we can boycott all the 'LOOKING FOR CHEAPER CAR INSURANCE ADS'?!?!?

They are so annoying!!

How much it cost for normal birth delivery in california without insurance?

How much it cost for normal birth delivery in california without insurance?

Car Insurance On A 2005 Mustang For A Young Driver?

Hi, Does anyone know what the average car insurance for a 2005 mustang is. I am 19 and a new driver, been driving for 3 months""

""Home insurance costs in Slidell, LA?""

Does anybody have a rough idea of the average home insurance prices for home in Slidell, LA above Interstate 12?""

Can I put my partner on my health insurance?

Hi there, My girlfriend and I are going to be moving to New Jersey in May of next year. We are going to get a civil union. At this point will I be able to include her on my health insurance through work? I work in Philadelphia. Wasn't sure of this since PA doesn't recognize civil unions, but didn't know if there is a loop hole since we will be living in New Jersey?? Any help would be great. Thanks!""

""Help with cancelling my car insurance, and selling my car.?""

I have recently bought my first car and have decided that it is simply too expensive. Can someone give me advice on how to go about cancelling my insurance, taking it off the road and getting it sold. I realise that it's an offence to cancel the insurance and have the car on the road. I haven't yet received my new Registration Certificate as the registered keeper as I have had the car less than 4 weeks.""

How much do you pay for motorcycle insurance?

I'm trying to get an idea of how much I'll pay for motorcycle insurance. I'm 20, with a good driving record, who is looking to buy a honda rebel as a starter bike. So, if you could tell me your age, gender, insurance company, and how much you pay, it would be greatly appreciated. Please only serious answers. TIA""

Insurance question please?

hi i am a learner and but my partner has a car that is insured on his friends name. my question is my partner states he cannot teach me how to drive or put my name under the insurance because it would cost more and he might get into trouble with the police . i just want to know if this is true and if so like how much would it cost.

Who do you trust more? An Insurance company? or Obama?

The right wingers will chose blindly! But think about this! Prior to the Affordable Healthcare Act, how many times in a row, year after year, did your health insurance coverage go up. For me, it was every year for as long as I remember. Never did my insurance premium go down. But for some reason, everyone is up in arms because a few people, a small percentage have rate increases. But they also get more coverage, better policies, and some can get insurance for the first time.""

Will speeding tickets raise your insurance?

I just got a 2 point violation the other day, will this raise the cost of my insurance being that I am only 20?""

Question about full coverage insurance on car?

If you're car is worth about 7,000 dollars and it gets totaled how does the insurance company know it was worth about 7,000?""

Health Insurance plan with no pre-existing clause?

Does anyone know of any health insurance plans for the Chicago area that don't include a pre-existing clause? Or more specifically, ones that immediately pay for Remicade after switching insurance plans?""

NYS car insurance. NYS only please?

My insurance is due on the 18th of October. I cannot pay until the 1st of November. I will be 11 days without insurance. WILL I GET A SUSPENSION or PENALIZED for 11 days?

Collision claim - will your insurance go up?

I hit a pole the other day with the side of my truck. There were no other cars involved and there are just a few scratches and one big dent. If my insurance company (Allstate) pays to fix it under my collision coverage will my rates go up? I know I have to pay the deductable - just wondering if my monthly payments will be higher.

Car Accident Gap Insurance...HELP!?

I justgot in a car accident. My back of my car is smashed. It was completely NOT MY FAULT. I am unsure if i have Gap insurance or not. Whose Gap Insurance pays off your loan if the car is totalled ?

Average motorcycle insurance for a young married couple?

my fiance and i are thinking about getting a motorcycle in about a year. how much would insurance cost for an average bike? we will be 20.

Why do underage drivers have to pay more insurance?

I'll be eligible for a learner's permit as of next year after I turn 16. However, my parents refuse to get me a driver's license until I'm at least 20. They tell me that when you add an account of a driver under somewhere around 20 yrs old (can't remember the exact age) the insurance rates go up. I don't want to be taking public transit forever so someone help! Why do the insurance rates go up? How can I avoid making them go up?""

Cheap auto insurance in florida?

Cheap auto insurance in florida?

When you get a license do you need insurance? Or is that only when you own a car?

Hi, I live in New York State. When I turn 17, I plan on taking drivers. ed. and getting my license (i think it's normally 18 years old for licenses, but if you take classes you can get it at 17). Do my parents have to pay insurance for me once I get my license? Or is that only if I own a car? Thanks P.S. Extra question - what is the usual/average rates for 17 year old drivers with good grades (i just need a estimation no specific numbers necessary) thanks""

How much would insurance be for a 16 year old with a v8 truck?

I'm looking for a first car. I need to know the price of insurance for ford or Chevy truck with a v8 before I can go out and buy one

travel trailer insurance quote

travel trailer insurance quote

CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME?

I have been 18 for a few months now and I'm planning on moving intomy boyfriends parents place in about two weeks. The reason i am waiting is because my grandfather wont let me take my car until i switch the car into my name with my own insurance policy. He has allstate, and i am about to start working at a new job. I will be graduating in june from high school and i live in Virginia. My grandfathers wife (step-grandmother) treats me badly and i need to move away. I have waited 6 years for this since my mom passed away in 2003. I know that none of you will know exactly how much insurance will be but could you give me some insight or a range on how much a month ill pay on insurance and the best policys. I am driving a 2002 Dodge Intrepid, 4 door. I drive everyday about 15-20 miles each day. I am a female, 18 years of age. (19 in september). I did have one traffic light accident that was MY fault but plead no contest and got away with one days worth of driving school. ..if you could please help me that would be great. And much appreciated. Im not sure if you need anymore info, but thats all i can think of right now. AND PLEASE DONT ANSWER IF YOU AE GOING TO ASK how are we supposed to know? BECAUSE I UNDERSTAND THATU DONT KNOW ME AND THAT U HAVE NO WA OF KNOWING. I JUST WANT TO KNOW A PRICE RANGE PER MONTH AND HE BEST POLICYS?? thank you, amber.""

What would be the insurance of a teen driving a 2004 Toyota Camry?

My 16 year old daughter just got her lisence and i want to put her on insurance right away. I just need the range of about how much this would cost me.

Can you place insurance on a car that is not in your nam?

I drive a car that is in my aunt's name. She told me that I need to get my own insurance on the car, so that she can take it off of her policy. However I am not sure if I can place insurance on a car if my name is not on the title.""

Can your auto insurance company raise your rate without notifying you?

hello, I just started a auto insurance policy with Infinity insurance. the agreed monthly payment was $403 and that is what my first bill was. this month I noticed that they billed my checking account $563. I did call them and they said the price went up because they made an error with the policy. so what I want to know is it legal for a car insurance company to raise your rate and bill and charge your account without letting you know before hand? also what can I legally do? it really does not seem legal...if I would have been notified I most certainly would have canceled my policy. thanks""

What would insurance be on a 18 year old driving a 2005 nissan 350z?

well i got 1 speeding ticket but other than that nothing else how much would it cost me a month on average. i live in south carolina.

How much is Property Insurance? How much is Property Taxes?

Doing a paper for School Whats the average amount of property tax, for a statelike california? Say Los Angeles Is there an average on property insurance?""

""If you can't afford car insurance, then you can't legally drive. If you can't legally drive, you can't...?""

If you can't afford car insurance, then you can't legally drive. If you can't legally drive, you can't get to your job. If you can't get to your job, you lose your income. How is this fair????""

What are some good insurance companies?

I am 20 years old, working part-time, living on Connecticut and making around 800 a month. I was wondering if any one has some ideas of good but affordable health insurance I would be able to buy on my own?""

First car insurance help?

I am 17 year old male, I have spent months looking for a car that I can be insured on for at least a respectable price, I have have gotten quotes for all the typical first cars, KA, Corsa, Punto, Ibiza etc. and they have all been ridiculous like 5-6k?! Now I know you can get insurance as a new male driver cheaper I just don't know what car or how that is possible. I've heard rumors that Ford Puma's are actually very good on insurance for new male drivers even though they are 1.4l and up? is that true?""

Should I buy car insurance or not?

I am a teenage driver of 16. Insurance is very high for a teenager. My parents have Allstate Car Insurance for four of their cars including a Toyota Corolla which im going to be driving. The Corolla is covered by AllState insurance. I have a California Driver's License and live in California. About 6 months ago, my mom asked the insurance company whether the insurance would cover the car if she lent the car to someone and the insurance company said that they would cover the car as soon as the person who borrowed the car has a VALID DRIVERS LICENSE. I have a valid drivers license but I am under 18 (I am 16). The insurance person did not say anything about age. My question is whether it is necessary or not to buy insurance for myself. It will be very expensive and I do not want to pay for it but I will If i have to. Do I have to get my own insurance for the car or not? If I dont buy insurance and I drive the corolla and get pulled over, am I okay or will I have problems?""

""If I go under my parents car insurance, is it cheaper ?""

Hello. I'm 18 and recently got my provisional license. I would like to know if I go under my moms name for the insurance of the car, would it be significantly less expensive than if I were to get my own insurance, or is it the same price for insurance all around ?""

Is it true because of government changes my car insurance bill should be lower?

some lady @ work told me 0bama passed some kind of bill so i should change my insurance so it can be lower...its currently @ $400 a month i cant afford this anymore PLEASE HELP

Have a car but no insurance?

This is an answer I got about owning a car with no insurance and if my license would be suspended even if I turn in the tag and registration. It makes no sense as a lot of people have licenses for ID only and do not have a car (because they aren't allowed or can't drive): By law if you have a driver's license you are supposed to carry insurance whether you own a vehicle or not. It's usually called non-owner's liability coverage. Because of this law they would be able to suspend your license if your company cannot provide proof that you have coverage. This answer makes no sense. I won't say who provided it/they don't allow me to answer them though.

Which life insurance companies pay for death by suicide?

I'm 27 and live in New York.

Affordable studio apartments?

I lived in a great 1 bedroom apartment with my fiance a few years ago in Myrtle Beach for only $550 per month. It was very clean, very quiet, very safe and within walking distance from the ocean. We're looking for a studio basically anywhere in the United States but they're all running for around $600 as far as I can tell, which is ridiculous for something so much smaller than a 1 bedroom. Is there anywhere that has a studio apartment (kitchen, bathroom) which is not an efficiency, which is in a nice location? I'm looking for under $500 per month, I don't want to live in the ghetto. Any ideas?""

""How much does car insurance cost for 23 years old male, first driver/car?""

I am 23 years old and just got my driving license few weeks ago. I am planning to get volkswagen golf match 1.4, but don't know if i will get cheap car insurance for it.. If you know anything please help..does anyone know the exact monthly/yearly cost of the insurance? if it will be too expensive what will be a cheapest one...i don't mind vauxhall corsa but i prefer golf ,and reason is straight forward, we all know :) help would be much appreciated.""

Best insurance for a young additional driver?

Hi, I am in the process of buying a car, and have been for ages, and i am now trying to find the cheapest insurance like i have been for ages. My um will be the main driver, as she is selling her cr, and i walk to school everyday, so i will b the 17 year old male additional driver. Whats the best insurance quote i can get? Anyone got any recommendations? Im looking at getting a peugeot 207, which are 1.4 or 6, and many of them the sport edition. Dont bother telling me to get a different car as this is the one i like and have saved up for. Many Thanks for any help with my cheap insurance, Thanks""

How much trouble would I get into if I drove my car without any plates or insurance?

My other cars engine blew out and I was just going to put that cars plate onto my other one (which doesn't have any plates or insurance) I live in MI..Im pretty sure its not a felony, the other one was registered to me until i transfered the plates and insurance onto the car thats engine blew.""

""Cheapest method for car insurance for 17 year old male, UK?""

hy guys, im 16 at the moment, and 17 in november and desperate to pass my driving test ASAP, which is the cheapest way to go about car insurance? ive heard vans insurence is cheaper? or going on parents insurance? im looking to get my own car, not to share my parents. please help me out guys! thanks x""

How much does insurance go up with a teen getting his license?

the teen will get his license on march. dependig on insurance cost. he will be 16 and with be driving a 2003 to 2005 honda accord. auto. how much would insurance go up on the year policy. oh he also gets very good grades.

Double health insurance legality?

I provide health insurance through my employer for my 2 girls, however, my ex-wife continues to use California Medicaid for their hospital and doctor visits without letting them know they are insured already. Is this allowed? I feel like she is somehow swindling California out of money?""

Car insurance help needed ASAP thanks.?

Ok. My father has his own jeep insured in his own name.He has owned the jeep since 2005 and he still has it this day.He has a 9 year no claims bonus on it.He is insured with FBD insurance.His insurance is commercial. Now I have my own car which was only bought recently but I put my car in my fathers name.Now the reason been is because im trying to get my insurance cheaper.Now I dont want any comments saying that its insurance fraud because every one is broke now and trying to get things cheaper just like myself here.Now what I was thinking if I were to go with a differant car insurance company than his and if he were to go as main driver and me as named could he say that he uses the jeep for commercial use and the car for private use? If that works can he put his 9 year no claims bonus on my car which is in his name so ill just say he owns it for now one.So can he put his 9 year no claims bonus on my car aswel as his own jeep aswel.Because if that worked I would get mine really cheap?So if that would work,I know that if i were in an accident his no claims bonus would be gone but my father trusts me to be a carefull driver. I only want proper answers to my question and thanks very much for the help and it will be much appreciated for it.I live in Ireland aswel ok....Thanks very much.""

What type of insurance in Alabama covers the REVERSAL of a bilateral tubal ligation? what is the cost?

What type of insurance in Alabama covers the REVERSAL of a bilateral tubal ligation? what is the cost?

Can anyone recommend a motorcycle insurance company in the UK?

My son is 20 and trying to get reasonable quotes which don't cost more than the value of the bike is driving me nuts. I've tried all the comparison sites but what I want to know is which companies are worth bothering with. I've been on some review websites and looked up the companies which come up with the cheapest quotes and a lot of the reviews call them rip off merchants and say not to touch them. I want to hear from someone who's actually had to make a claim and been satisfied with the service.

Where to get the best price on event insurance?

Ive been throwing events for awhile now and just recently had a close call in damages to the property so i was wondering if anyone knew of something like a Event insurance company that covers Arizona events?

travel trailer insurance quote

travel trailer insurance quote

Is this car insurance thing true?

I heard online that in Texas if you drive less than 35 miles a day, you'll get a HUGE discount in your insurance. It this true? Or is this just a lie?""

Can I own my car and insure it on my dad's insurance? Please help!!!?

My dad currently own my car. I'm older now, and have been borrowing his car for college and work. I am planning on switching the car into my name. He wants this also. But I believe it would be cheaper for me to stay on his insurance and pay him for my portion. I did this for the past 6 months but he still owned the car. Is this legal in California? My boyfriend does it with his mom, owns his car and goes through his mom's insurance, but my dad doesn't believe me that it's legal and fine. I need some proof to convince him that this is the best way to do it and that it's legal. Please, someone help me!!! Thanks!""

Someone is try to commit car insurance fraud on my mom?

well my mom got in at fault accident she was the only one who was injured the guy who she knocked into was ok no sign of no injury, the guy is suing my moms insurance company (Geico) for possibly more then 10,000 in bodily injury which my mom only has 10,000/ 20,000 in bodily injury, let me say this again the guy is not injured AT ALL!!! The police that wrote up the report at scene will be super great witnesses to the scene the guy was ok, while my poor old mother had get stretched into a ambulance lucky her pip coverage covered her medical bills. Do you guys think he will win his claim with the type witness we have? Also there was a camera that caught the whole scene on video ( so another vital evidence) Is there anyway we can sue this guys for car insurance fraud or can geico do on out behalf?""

Question about car insurance?

ok so im wondering if i get a car will worth 5000 will the insurance be the same on all cars worth 5000 like a mustang worth 5 k or a civic worth 5 k is the insurance the same on them?

The average price of the Mazda RX8 insurance?

Ive been searching for cars, and Ive picked out the mazda rx8, it will be wrecked and im gonna fix it. Im 16 and I was wondering what the average price of insurance would be with AAA car insurance.""

Auto insurance raised cause of credit!?

I bought another used car 2005 and my insurance rates when up $500.00 a year. They told me because of my credit rating........what! I have a perfect driving record and have been driving for 36 years so tell me what does my credit have to do with my car insurance or driving record?!!!!! I am only behind on a couple credit cards so please someone tell me why this is?

Insurance quote?

hey, for school i have to know what an insurance quote is and none of the sights i go to will give me any information. so can you help me? what is an insurance quote and for what kind of insurance? all of them?""

Driving without insurance?

I can't afford insurance for the truck I got, it's registered in my dads name and is legal, but what happens if I get caught with out insurance?""

Insurance deductibles -- when to pay? (and other insurance questions)?

So I am no long part of an california HMO plan, so now I have to get insurance on my own. Problem is that I am making about $800 / month (part time work) while going to school full time. Both my parents are on government low-income plans, so I cant put them as primary policy holders while I get student rates. One question I have about deductibles is when to pay it? For example, a plan that has $1,500 deductible / $0 doctor visits, do I have to pay the full value of that office visit to the doctor? Or will I have to pay $1,500 straight out to the insurance company and then funds will be used accordingly? What about $1500 deductible / $30 co-pay doctor visits? If I pay $30 to the doctor, will this credit towards the deductible? Or will this plan only hit me with the deductible for $1500 when I go to the hospital? Or will the insurance company want it upfront? Final question is: for a 21 year old student that is about 5'7, 230 lbs, non smoker, rarely drinks, what do you think would be the correct rate? So far I am getting estimates of $60-300, depending how big of a deductible I want to put down. Actually, one quick question: opinions on Kaiser Permanente anyone? I know most people i've talked to complained about slow waits and etc, but i'm leaning towards it because of good coverage for the cost -- but is it really worth it? I know this is quite a lot to ask, so if you don't feel like answering, at least point me to an informative web site?""

What are my options regarding insurance?

My insurance coverage ended on Dec 9 and i forgot to pay for the renewal. According to the letter I received last week my insurance company will reinstate me if I paid by Dec 29th. So I paid today. However a guy hit a bunch of parked cars including my car in a parking lot and died on the spot. This happened last night. I will get the police report next week from our local police station. So now what should i do? Should i wait for the police report and file a claim against this guy's insurance company? Should I contact my insurance company and ask them to deal with it? Will they actually agree to handle this claim?

""No car insurance in Florida, what happens?""

If my husband has car insurance on our car and his father is the one who technically owns it, and i get in a car accident with no car insurance in our car...what happens?""

I just got a new car and was wondering what is the cheapest insurance?

I just got a new car and was wondering what is the cheapest insurance? I need some cheap Insurance that won't charge alot besides USAA is there anyone else out there that will give me a good price I am currently 20 years old and I need a good insurance company that wil not charge alot besides USAA I have a dodge stratus 2004 it's a V6 it's an SE it's a 4 door and 2.7 liters it's the biggest engine you can get with a stratus anyways if any of you could help me out that would be great thanks.

How much will it cost me to be insured on a 1.6 litre for an 17 year old?

im a female, I just passed my test and i have 5000 pounds to spend on a car. I want to buy a convertible ford street ka. How much would that be on insurance roughly? thanks""

Cheapest car insurance for teen that doesn't have good student discount..?

can't afford state farm insurance without good student discount anyone no one i can afford without good student discount

Insurance test?

Where can i find a test book and how can i become a insurance agent?

What is cheapest 33bhp bike to insure?

Hi , I'm 16 and 17 soon and thinking of taking my A2 bike test which will restrict me to 33bhp i know i can buy a big bike and get it restricted but not all insurance companies cover that and the one's that do are rip off's. so does anybody know the cheapest 33bhp bike to insure, i would like it to be a 250cc or over because 125cc are to slow for motorway or modified till the insurance don't mean nothing. Thank you .""

How much is car insurance in general?

I dont car about what it cost at a certain age, just want one solid answer""

Switching health insurance while pregnant--bad idea?

Hi, I am insured under a program called Healthy New York, which provides affordable health insurance for low income workers. I am pregnant and my OB GYN dropped my insurance. I am allowed to change provider and remain under the same program, and according to Healthy NY, pregnancy is not a preexisting condition if the insured is a sole proprietor , which I am. I also called Blue Cross Blue Shield, the new insurance, and they claim my pregnancy would be covered. Somehow I still am afraid there is some hidden problem. Any insights, personal experiences? Thank you, Anja""

Quote for a day car insurance????????????

how much does a 1 day car insurance cost? It is the first time I need to do it, so I don't have any idea. When I try to get a quote, I'm always ask to register to the website... I don't really want to do it before having a quote :P Anyway would you please recommend me an agency? thanks""

""2012, 17 Year Old Insurance?""

Looking to pass my test in Feb. (3rd) And all threads and posts I have looked at are from 2010 or something. Just wondering what the best sort of car is for my age and insurance provider and any tips to lower my premium as the lowest I have come out with was with elephant.co.uk at 2900, third party fire and theft on a citroen ax. Which is above my budget... Any Clues Anyone ? Thanks""

Help finding a car insurance quote?

I'm doing a project for my economics class where I have to pretend to be a 22 year old living on my own and make a monthly budget for myself. I have to find a car insurance and health insurance quote, but everywhere I search asks for personal information and has to search through my records and credit to give me the right quote. I'm only 17 so they wouldn't find anything on me. I need it for a 22 year old making 27,000 a year. Please help me! 10 points to the best answer :)""

""Can anyone advise me on a good insurance company , young drivers?

im 17 and just got my pass plus certificate . i have a 1.2 litre 1999 fiat punto. i have been quoted 3500 on a tracker insurance policy and i think that's a ridiculous price ! has anyone got a good quote and want to tell what company they got it with

How much would insurance be a month for a 1988 ford mustang gt for a 16 year old driver in ny?

hi i want a 1988 ford mustang gt 5.0 and i am 16 years old. i was wondering how much the insurance would cost a month. im in new york and plz no answers like alot or anything like that just an estimate. pl answer and thankyou

Driving with an expired insurance in kentucky?

I got pulled over by police for speeding but my insurance were expired that time. What should I do? I just renewed my insurance after that. The police said that I need to go to court. Do I need to contact traffic attorney? and What about my license problem?

About health insurance....?

If u have 2 health insurances, whatever your primary doesn't cover, your secondary will? My primary insurance sucks, but then i have the Unions insurance as secondary.""

travel trailer insurance quote

travel trailer insurance quote

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-average-cost-roofing-insurance-indiana-michael-thomas-1/"

[manyshadesofold-blog]

The Wide and Wacky World of Sports

I like sports. My whole family does, save my daughter.  She’s the odd one.

When I was young, I loved to play tennis, volleyball, basketball or anything that involved cute guys crashing into me, at least the ones who were not related to me. The exception of course was tennis- that involved me crashing into the net and face planting on the concrete.

I was fairly athletic and had a wicked hook shot in basketball that’s made me a legend with my son and all my nephews.  But mostly in my own mind. I am only 5’3”, according to what I tell people. I could make my shot over people that were several heads taller, and from any distance and at any angle within twenty five feet of the net. I had extremely strong arms for a girl, probably from fighting with my sisters over clothes. Plus, I was too short to defend, especially against someone who wasn’t aware of my famous ability. In the business we call that ‘hustling’. I call it, one up on my brothers. The problem with my hook shot was, iit was my only whot.  It didn’t occur all that often and when it didn’t, I was……well, lousy.

I liked competition, and my sisters, brothers and myself used to compete for any number of things- dish duty, garbage duty, or just plain for the hell of it. Being the youngest of eight kids, I had to be athletic and fast, or else I’d probably not be alive today. Particularly when I did stupid things like play with my sisters’ makeup, or breaking my brothers’ model train set.

As I got older, we tried to emulate the Kennedy family and have family football or wiffle ball games. A wiffle ball, for those who don’t know, is a plastic ball full of holes. It is very lightweight, which is safer and much funnier to watch when there was large quantities of beer involved. Lots of beer.

I fondly recall some of these games. Watching someone swing a bat who has had a few too many is hysterical. Usually the enebriated individual, sometimes me included, would keep swinging a good two or three hours after they’d already struck out.

Bystanders had to be careful not to be in the path of the bat. Fortunately, we used plastic bats with no real weight to them. I know this from experience when one of my sisters chased me around trying to smack me with it after I’d laughed at them for a bone-headed play.

On the topic of sisters, there is nothing more amazing or more comical than watching a woman afraid of breaking her nails try to catch a football. My sister, Sandy was the quinessioncial girly girl. She never wore tennis shoes, always sandles to show off her latest pedicure.  When she played football, she would twist around, putting her body through contorsions that Hudini would have admired to try to catch the football with just her arms. Unfortunately, her face took the brunt of it more often than not. She shook it off, though. Girly girl or not, my sister was no wuss.

 I used to like motor sports when I was a wee one. Motorcycle racing was a blast, as was stock car racing. I would go to either and came home equally covered in mud. I had my favorite drivers and riders and would always try to get them to wave to me as they went by. When they did, I was thrilled. I would hang around with the motorcross riders after a race and enjoy the carnival like atmosphere. My whole family was usually there with me, and one of our close friends was a racer. I got addicted to it and used to off-road motorcycles for sport. This inevitably led to the time I got to kiss a cactus.  

I was in New Mexico with my brother-in-law, and we took the day to ride in a hilly, desert area outside of Roswell. We had the standard safety equipment with us- a helmet and a case of beer, which worked well for both courage and anesthesia.  I, unfamiliar with the course, was flying along up and down those hills when suddenly, down turned into droppin way, way down.

This was followed by very loud and inventive cursing unsuitable for a general audience.

I had driven off of a sheer, ten foot drop, straight into a cactus.  My brother-in-law started laughing is butt off. He said I had looked like a superhero flying through the air. The bike went one way and I went the other into the large and painful plant.

Fortunately, the damage was light. Thank God I only broke off a piece of the fender on the bike. Oh, and I had some bruises and a few broken ribs. I could have broken my entire body. I should have hit my head, it’s as hard as a rock. I had a helmet with a visor on, which kept my face from turning into soup.  Kids, the lesson here is to always wear safety equipment, sans the beer, and for God’s sake, don’t try this at home.

 Of course, when my family and I aren’t partaking in dangerous contact sports, we watch them. We routinely gather together in someone’s living room to yell at the TV and each other. It’s a great stress reliever. And if our team loses, it’s ok. We got to yell for three hours or so and end up too tired and hoarse to react to losing. And besides, there is always tomorrow, next week or next year for them to become victorious again.

I understand the basics of most sports. My personal favorites to watch are football, hockey and baseball. It used to be more fun, however, when the players were not paid the samemoney,  as the fiscal budget for the entire U.S. Government’s spending programs.

In football, hockey and boxing, the players give up their personal health to play the game. So I guess I can see a large salary there. It’s like the old gladiator games from the Roman era.  Although now, humans choose to beat each other senseless just to try and be a winner, and make mucho dollars.. And also, to try to be the strongest and the fastest and the meanest.

Those who don’t participate tend to enjoy watching those people beat each other senseless. They get their hunger for healthy competition and unhealthyviolence fulfilled without ever having to leave their easy chair, or seat in the stands.  

Women are now more involved with sports than ever. We are right next to the men shouting for our team’s victory. Men don’t mind because we bring food, and they think woman who are into sports are sexy. I once went to a women’s football game. There does happen to be a league for women, but they are not well advertised. You want to talk about viciousness and blood letting, and that was just during the National Anthem! But I’ll tell you, these women were every bit as skilled as the men, and had twice the passion with maybe a tenth of the pay. That holds true for most women’s professional sports, and almost every other job, too.

 Baseball is typically a gentler sport. They do beat each other senseless, but that’s outside the rules of the game. Being a Milwaukee native, I loved watching the Brewers play at the old County Stadium. Yelling and screaming with the fans, eating a hot dog meant for the guy down the aisle, and drinking an ice cold beer on a hot summer day.  Pure extacy, though nowadays the price for concessions are so inflated, you practically have to take a loan out to afford them.

Still, it does not cost as much to watch baseball as it does some other sports. And the players usually are gorgeous creatures with faces not broken and battered, or covered in a protective mask. Truthfully, that was always my main motivation to go to games. Sometimes it just doesn’t get much better than that.

I always wanted to catch a ball. My husband actually did once and gave it to our son when he was still just a little guy. He was five years old, and I remember looking down into his wide, blue eyes that were so excited and so happy, and decided right there that I would always love baseball, if only for this moment.

We got some players to sign it after the game.  That was even more thrilling for him.

My son was born the year the Brewers went to the World Series. He was one and a half months old, and we had the cutest little Brewers outfit for him, hat and all.  We still have a photo floating around here somewhere of him wearing it. He was born to love baseball.

 I remember going to a popular local sports bar in downtown Milwaukee one night after a Milwaukee Bucks game. There were players from our team in the bar, and I believe height-wise I came up to their shin. One accidentally stepped on me, and he felt so bad about it, he took a plastic souvenir cup from behind the bar and had his teammates sign it. Again, too cool.

But that was twenty five years ago. I wonder if today’s players would have the same respect for their fans?

 Speaking of fans, I am a huge one of the Green Bay Packers. I remember the years they went to the Super Bowl. All four of them, though the first two was when I was only seven and eight.

The last two required mass family gatherings every weekend they played from the last game of the regular season all the way through the playoffs.

The local media went crazy, and all the TV stations had round the clock coverage of our heros’ every move. The anticipation and hope built with each victory. And then then, at last, the final contest. The chance to be the best of the best.

When they won in ’97, tears flowed and so did the champagne. We got an early start the next day buying all the Superbowl winner t-shirts and hats we could find.  

I don’t recall many positive events to have ever drawn so much emotion and so much commotion as when one of our local teams make it to the big show. People become united in an endless well of team pride, and even non-sports fans get into the spirit. Fans scream, “we’re number one!” on sidewalks and porches. Cars honk their horn as they drive by. People stream into any public place that offer a chance to celebrate with their fellow fans.  For a while, we connect with our community a little more than usual, and we all become a little friendlier.  Nothing wrong with that.

 Nowadays, the only sport I play is trying to get to my chair before my cat does.  I am older and a lot slower now, so she usually wins. But when I turn on the television and see my favorite teams playing, it brings me back to my youth. To warm, sunny afternoons with a football or a wiffle ball game with my family.  To the weekends and the gatherings and the food, and the laughing and the shouting, and yes, sometimes the crying.  Whether you’re a player or a fan, sports bring people together in a way very unique from anything else.

[vintageeskimos]

Wow. What a time with wine, friends, and traveling.

A few months ago, in November, I traveled to Bologna and Florence, Italy with some of my closest friends from Philadelphia.

To make things easier to understand, I will explain each one of my friends in a short description so you can get an idea.

So there is….

Ashley– Ashley and i go wayyyy back. Out of all the girls, she is the one I have known the longest. She is the one who I studied abroad with then traveled to Sorrento for the summer afterwards which led me to meeting Luigi, my boyfriend, and the rest is history. Without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today. She is super sweet and incredibly friendly. She is literally so nice that she is able to always look for the good in people and become friends with practically anyone. Her laugh is so contagious. Straight out of Philly suburbs.

Rachel– Rachel is one of the three girls on this trip that I met through rooming at Temple University. We are known as the “Boobier bitches” long story short, it is a play off of the name of the street our house was on and the fact there was six of us girls living in this giant house during the time. Rachel is crazy in the funniest way. She brings out the weirdness in me and I love it. She also can be fairly organized so that was a huge help on this trip. She looks the most Italian out of all of us but she is actually Jewish. We have both pointed out that Israeli culture and Italian culture actually have a lot of similarities. New York born and raised.

Emily D.– Emily D. is the second girl I lived with at Temple University as part of the “Boobier bitches”. She is this funny sarcastic girl who just goes with the flow of things. From experience, I know she hates to clean things and can be very disorganized, but that is just what makes her so funny. Sometimes she will say the most wittiest comments and I have to give myself a second to wonder how the hell she comes up with them. She has never been to Europe before, but I can tell she wants to come back ASAP after this trip. From suburbs of Philly.

Emily Mac.- Emily Mac. is the final girl out of the 3 of the six that all lived in the “Boobier” house. She is this tiny little ball of energy who is down to do anything at any moment especially when it comes to spontaneous traveling. She is the one who got me to go on this trip. Originally Ashley wanted to surprise me (again), but it would have been too tough to organize it that way. She studied abroad through Temple University’s London campus while Ashley, Megan, and I were studying in Rome at the time. She is also the girl that traveled to Lisbon and Barcelona with us for our spring break. From suburbs of Philly like the most of us.

Mallory– I first met Mallory on this trip. She is a friend of a friend of Ashley’s from work. Ashley invited her to join us on this trip because she has never been to Europe before. She seemed a bit shy at first but she is very kind and understanding about our craziness. Although I have only known her for a short amount of time, she is really sweet. It is always hard to travel with a group of girls whom have known each other for so long, but it all worked out in the end. Originally from Lancaster, PA.

Megan– Megan is this tall beautiful blonde with bright, hypnotizing blue eyes. Everywhere we go Italian men are literally ALLL over her. But she is so sick and tired of it. Even though she is strikingly beautiful, she is a simple humble girl who doesn’t want to be drooled on. I met Megan through Ashley because they roomed together at Temple University’s Rome campus. She then actually fell in love with an Italian boy and transferred to John Cabot University in Rome. Unfortunately things didn’t work out with the boy but she fell in love with someone else: Rome. It is nice that I have a friend from home living in Italy with me and only an hour train ride away. Raised in the Philly suburbs.

This group of girls are some of my best friends and they all decided to plan a Europe adventure together. Their first stop was in London then onto Paris, and on the last leg of the tour, we all met up in Bologna and Florence, Italy (Except for Megan- since she lives in Rome, she planned to meet us in Florence).

Although the girls were in Europe for a week, we decided to spend two nights in Bologna, and two nights in Florence. So this is where I’m going to write about Bologna with my second article about my Florence experience. Enjoy!

Bologna, Italy:

In short, things I would recommend:

Impero (Caffe bar, pastries, aperitivo)

Trattoria da me (My favorite restaurant)

Via San Felice (street w/ Artisan/local shopping/authentic restaurants/bars)

Piazza Maggiore (Big central square with Churches/Palazzi/shops)

Basilica di San Petronio (Beautiful gothic church)

Via Pescherie Vecchie (street w/ local market/shops/bars)

Camera a Sud (super hipster/stylish bar/cafe)

Le Stanze (elegant classy bar great for date night)

Va Mo Là (amazing local food/atmosphere/service)

Bar L’una (nice pitstop bar with the coolest couple)

Most of us girls have never been to Bologna including myself. Bologna, Italy is a small city filled with an alternative-homey culture. From what I saw, it reminds me of a city where the habitants are a mix of college students, graduates, and young families. The reason behind that is that University of Bologna is located right on the outskirts of the city. Since us girls were only staying two nights and we had to catch a train to Florence afterwards, we decided to book an Airbnb located close to Bologna’s train station. I found an adorable apartment called MyG*flat with an even more adorable host, Monica. I arrived in Bologna in the early afternoon by train and Monica was right there waiting for me. She was extremely sweet and helpful when it came to the apartment and gave me tips where to buy food, and places to drink, eat, etc. The apartment itself was really cute.

The girls were flying into Bologna from Paris and they were planning to arrive pretty late that night so I wanted to cook them a nice meal. I headed to closest grocery store (which was literally right around the corner) and bought the ingredients I needed to make a classic dish from where I live in Campania: spaghetti alla Nerano (spaghetti with zucchini).

La ricetta (The recipe) includes:

Spaghetti (600g) -100g/person

4 or 5 zucchinis (you need to cut up the zucchini first and fry it)

Butter

Parmesan cheese

Sunflower oil

It was fairly easy to make. I love to cook, but my problem is that I am bad at it and I am a very impatient person sometimes. In other words, I ruined the spaghetti and turned it into gum.

But the girls ate it all anyway with the cheap wine I bought from a local alimentari.

For dessert, I bought a piccola pasticceria (a small assortment of pastries) from one of the best bars/pastry shops there is in Bologna: Impero.

(Photos provided by Google Images)

After we ate and drank everything in sight, we decided to head out into the center of the city and see what it had to offer. Keep in mind by the time the girls arrived and we finished eating and catching up it was about 2am on a cold November night. Most bars and places were closed due to the fact it was late, and also a Wednesday night. We began walking to the center of city and I stopped some young local Italians and asked them where we could find a drink at this hour. They recommend to keep walking straight to this street where a small bar and a late night to-go food place was still open and occupied with people. We grabbed some beers and cocktails and right next door some to-go pizza. There was nothing really happening that night, but it was just nice to catch up with everyone and absorb the fact that they are all in Italy with me. After stuffing our faces again, we began walking back home while scoping out some shops we could hit up the following day.

I woke up fairly early the next morning even though most of the girls were still sleeping. I really don’t blame them though because traveling is exhausting. By time everyone got up and ready it was already lunch time. I, of course being the leader/type of person I am, found a really cool restaurant called Trattoria da me with great reviews located on the other side of the city in this beautiful authentic hipster, but stylish, quarter of Bologna. The street of Via San Felice itself holds many unique spots to eat, window shop, and purchase a whole new wardrobe. I found a list of some great shops along this street:

But let’s talk about Trattoria da me. First of all their food was delicious and they gave us so much to eat- especially with the antipasto. For the second course most of us got the Spaghetti alla Bolognese which is a typical spaghetti meat dish from this region of Italy. The service was spectacular and treated us like family (all six of us).  I even stroke a conversation with the waiters about the US election and how we all despise Trump and can’t believe he won and is actually our president. They were really hospitable and I would definitely eat there again. The atmosphere was that of a homey-pastel hipster cottage with beautiful framed artwork hanging along the walls. I would live there if I could.

The interior decorations and table settings.

(From left to right: Ashley, Emily D., and Rachel)

(From left to Right: Emily Mac., Me, and Mallory)

We were so stuffed it took us so long to actually leave our seats. But I give trattoria da me a easy five-star rating.

(Left: Mixed Meats antipasto. Right: Panzerotti- fried dough)

(Left: Ashley enjoying our wine. Right: Spaghetti alla Bolognese)

( Left: pickled vegetables. Right: Mixed meat antipasto with amazing cheese)

The girls and I made our way down Via S. Felice checking out some shops here and there and stopping at this tiny bar that offered artisan homemade espresso. Continuing along this street we saw graffiti and artwork that reminded me a lot of Brooklyn, NY.

And of course we stopped at some cute clothing stores. Emily D. has recently been obsessing over faux fur jackets and she found a stellar faux fur vest that had these rocker red stars on it. We all said she had to get and the rest was history. Some of the shops we browsed were H&M, Zara, and local clothing stores. After we shopped until we dropped, the sun was nearly setting so we made our way back into the center. We arrived at Piazza Maggiore that holds beautiful buildings, towers, palazzi, and more. We entered the beautiful Basilica di San Petronio. It was huge and breath-taking as one can imagine a gothic cathedral to be with 22 chapels.

We were all in-awe of this church as we exited. You don’t see things like this in the States often. The girls and I continued through the piazza down one of the busiest streets in Bologna: Via Pescherie Vecchie. Along this street are local markets with produce, small bars, restaurants, shops, and a lively nightlife.

  (Me and Emily Mac. along Via Pescherie Vecchie)

Our shopping continued and I found a great place to have an aperitivo before our dinner: Camera a Sud.

(Photos NOT taken by me, but provided my Google Images)

Camera a Sud was the most hipster cafe I have seen since anything in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY. Although tiny, it was very charming and unfortunately I learned the hard way that I need to a reserve a table beforehand. It was packed with people (which I assume because it is a hotspot with locals) so in the end we decided to go somewhere else: Le Stanze.

(Photos NOT taken by me, but provided from their website, Le Stanze)

I found this place by searching on my phone and I saw costumers who posted photos of the interior that looked like a beautiful cathedral with massive tall ceilings. We were hooked and decided to grab a spritz there. But when we arrived, I was fairly disappointed to realize that the gorgeous beautiful interior architecture was only paint. The photos online were very deceiving. Le Stanze itself had a great atmosphere between class and elegance and date vibe. Their aperitivo buffet had great options although the prices can be a bit expensive.

After our deserved drink, all of us headed back to the apartment to rest our arms from all our shopping bags. I whipped out my phone and in search of a restaurant for dinner. I browsed through TripAdvisor and found a restaurant called Va Mo Là.

Inside Va Mo Là the atmosphere consisted of a rustic alternative wine bar library-type feel. We were sat downstairs in a nice quiet area. The food was marvelous, but something that stood out to me was their impeccable service. We had a bit of a problem because Mallory didn’t feel that well and she needed to go back to the apartment. We all understood so Ashley and Mallory left just before the antipasto arrived at the table. The girls said they would return as soon as they could and we told them not to worry. So Emily Mac., Emily D., Rachel, and I enjoyed our portions of the antipasto which included a nice mixed cheese plate. We made sure to put aside some for Ashley and Mallory. Both of the two girls ordered their main dish before they left, but I wanted to tell the server that there was an emergency so if they could hold off on preparing their food that would be amazing. Our server had no problem with that and all was good. Soon after, us four girls got our main dishes and enjoyed every bite. Once we finished, we realized it was getting late, and I tried to contact Ashley and Mallory to see if they were on their way back hoping they remembered which way to go.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to reach them. The server came to our table and politely asked if they could bring out their food because the chef had to leave. I felt so bad about holding them up, I just told them to box it to make it easier for the girls when they arrive so they can just eat it at the table. The server seemed kind of confused as to why not just eat it from the plate instead of the box at the table, but I didn’t know exactly when the two girls would arrive. I didn’t want their food to get cold either so I explained to him it would just be easier for you and us just to box it-no worries. Maybe he was right about presenting it- in Italy it is very strange to box food, and especially to eat boxed food at a restaurant. Since it was so late and everyone else in the restaurant had already eaten their meals and left, I thought the presentation wouldn’t matter. But with every question and request I asked (There were a lot) the server was so understanding and polite that I would have to give them 5 stars for hospitality. They were incredibly accommodating.

In relief, Ashley and Mallory finally made it back to the restaurant and ate their antipasto and main dishes. Once the girls finished, we paid the bill and made sure to tip our server (which I feel so bad that I can’t remember his name) a good percentage. We thanked everyone as we walked out the door and once we exited, we met these other Americans just out front whom we asked to take a photo of us girls in front of the restaurant.

After the lovely photo, we began to walk away, but we were stopped suddenly by the server rushing out the door calling us back. I was confused I thought maybe we forgot something at our table or underpaid (which I know for a fact we didn’t). But he kindly asked “Would you guys write a review for us, please?” It was so sweet and of course we said yes. I would highly recommend Va Mo Là if you are ever in Bologna.

The girls and I began walking back to our apartment and stopped at a local bar called Drogheria to grab a drink.

All the seating outside was full but the servers literally grabbed a table and chairs out of storage just for us. He even pulled the heater closer to us to stay warm. We each grabbed a drink, some cocktails, and some beer. The drinks arrived fairly quickly to our table except for mine. I waited a bit longer just to see that maybe they are still making my Moscow mule, but it never came. I asked another server to grab me one because the other guy must have forgotten. I waited again, and it still didn’t come. I was so confused. After a solid 20 minutes, I talked to my original server again-he apologized and finally brought me my cocktail. Thankfully, my drink was free and he discounted the other drinks as well on the bill. I would say their service in the end was nice although they made a mistake on my order. But that’s life, mistakes happen sometimes.

It was getting fairly late, and since we had to check out early the next morning from our Airbnb, we decided to call it a night in Bologna.

The next morning we woke up, packed our bags, and made it out the door. But in the morning, I am grumpy AF before I get my caffè (espresso). Luckily enough, there was a bar just below our apartment complex . I am pretty sure it was called Bar L’una. I am not 100% positive, but it is located on Via Antonio Gramsci just before the roundabout. Some of us got a caffè or a cappuccino and some small pastries. The older couple who own this bar served us and they were a riot. The woman would play this cute little singing toy and joke around with us. The man was exactly the same and you could tell this couple was a match made in heaven. They were the crazy aunt and uncle you actually wanted in your family-so humble, and welcoming. After saying grazie mille (Thank you very much), we made our way to the station and hopped on the next train to Florence…

Bologna Wow. What a time with wine, friends, and traveling. A few months ago, in November, I traveled to Bologna and Florence, Italy with some of my closest friends from Philadelphia.