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Monday, June 04, 2007
1.
This place stinks. Not the normal bad smell of tiny local bars, the spilled beer and smoke stench, but something stale. It smells old, stagnant. Almost like museums smell, but more depressing. The people themselves are here on display every night much like exhibits. Townsfolk either too worn-down or too apathetic to care that this has become their fate. Stuck in a dying town, attending the same job each day and the only bar each night. Most of them are here alone, the only ones here with someone are an elderly couple sitting at one of the few, under-sanitized tables, and two young girls. The television is on, but no one watches, not even the bartender who spends more time emptying ash trays than at the tap.
I say the couple is elderly as a polite way of saying they are too old to still be coming here regularly, though as I know too well, age is a matter of relativity. The girls must be younger than twenty-five. Probably work at the same job and out together as sounding boards for the same complaints about life they make every night. They’re learning that life isn’t fairy tales and happy endings, they must have been quite naïve for this realization not to have set in long before they came to this.
I finish my smoke, and light another, must keep up appearances. Wouldn’t want someone here to notice I’m not a townie and decide to pump me for information about anything more interesting than what happens in the ten-mile radius of this pit. I normally have no problem with socializing while enjoying a few drinks but just the thought of carrying on a conversation with someone from this place is depressing enough. Tomorrow’s journey to anywhere but here is already on my mind as I quietly pay my tab. Yes, anywhere but here will be fine.
Still though, my mind keeps wondering back to the two young girls, especially the red-head with the large breasts. I’ve been staring over in her direction for some time now wondering. What would she have been like if she had been born anywhere else in the world, someplace where a face like hers might have gotten her farther than a dead-end job? I wonder what she’d look like if she smiled. The smile she might have worn has long since been driven off. This place is a cancer on the mind and spirit. Yes, anywhere but here tomorrow.
As I’m heading back to what is considered a hotel here, surprised that with the town's location and shabby appearance that there is a hotel, I take a minute to enjoy the only thing remarkable about the town, the air. It rarely smells this good anywhere else, but a town with no industry lying this close to the mountains has an abundance of clean air. It leaves you wondering why the townspeople are so drawn to the museum odor of the bar when they could be anywhere else smelling air like this. Nostalgia grips me and I catch myself reminiscing of my past. Winters in northern Italy. I should go back there soon, see if anything is left of the place I grew up. I left without really taking it all in as I should have.
Now I’ve depressed myself again but at least this kind of sadness has meaning and focus. This kind of sorrow gives life direction. My mind’s made up now and I’ll be able to sleep well tonight. Yes, the red-head with the big tits. I'll kill her tonight. Nolan busted a cap on 3:31 AM ..::// \\::..
Thursday, January 08, 2004
ok, not sure where to go with this one. Lil' help please:
He knew something wasn’t quite right when he walked into the parking garage with her hand in his. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something felt wrong. As they neared the back of the line of cars where his truck waited for them, five men stepped out from hiding behind a van, and immediately he knew what he had sensed. A thousand scenarios ran through his head in milliseconds. He thought of running but knew she wasn’t fast enough and that he couldn’t carry her far before they would catch up. He had his decision made before she could utter a startled gasp or they could complete their arrogant grins. He whirled toward her and in a single motion, opened his pocketknife kept in his jacket pocket and handed it to her saying, “Take this, stay behind me, there are a lot of them and one might get by me!” She saw something in his eyes that scared her, a dark look of grim purpose and determination; his eyes were the color of coal. She had never seen his face look that hard.
All of this happened before she could think her way through what was happening. He spun away from her caught the fist of the first attacker, breaking the man’s arm at the elbow with a quick thrust of his forearm. The man cried out as a kick shattered his knee. The other four looked on first with shock then with wild expressions. Two of them rushed him and he met the first head on. He blocked a barrage of punches on his arms before finding the opportunity to land a jab to the sternum and a knee to the face on the first. The second tried to get away but was now out of his league. A quick kick to the man’s inner thigh dropped him to the ground, where a stomp that broke several ribs stopped the man’s pained scream in a struggled for breathe. As the other two closed in and started to exchange blows with him, he heard a scream behind him. He spun to see what was happening and saw her wildly swinging the knife attempting to ward off a sixth man who had come seemingly from nowhere. His rage exploded. The two men facing him were both incapacitated before the first had finished falling to the ground unconscious. The last man had grabbed hold of her wrist as she tried to fight him off and was turning to see if his friends had finished beating the guy, so they could take the girl off for some fun. The man was met by a fist that lifted him off his feet and propelled back through the air onto a car, where he lay groaning.
He was still spinning around looking for more men to come out from hiding behind the cars, when he felt a gentle touch on his shoulder. He spun a came to an abrupt stop when he realized it was her. The feral look faded from his eyes, replaced with deep concern. “Are you ok? Did they hurt you?”
“No…but…I…what…how did you do that?” she asked in an amazed voice. “I’ve never seen anything like what you did”
His shoulders slumped in relief and his voice came out in a sad, tired whisper. “Let’s go home. I’ll try…I’ll explain everything.” Nolan busted a cap on 10:11 PM ..::// \\::..
Red lines form three oh oh
Room’s covered in a smothering gray
Lies alone staring at walls
He’d never felt anything before
Won’t ever be like that again
Ev’ry thing outside is greener
Stars have never shone so bright
These things just don’t make sense
This wasn’t s’pose to happen to him
Man, this poor kid’s lost
Never felt something so intense
Can’t stop these thoughts anymore
(Never said a thing)
Images floating through his head
(Never gave him a kiss)
He lies awake thinking of her
(Didn’t even matter)
Hasn’t slept in a few days
(In his mind)
Exhausted, finally goes to bed
(She was already his)
Now the dreams are so sweet
There was this look in her eyes
This electricity in his head
Held her through the night
Watched her sleep till 9
Didn’t want to let go
Now for the first time
Nothing in this boy’s life
No, nothing is for show
He’s alone in his apartment
Man, this boy’s head is achin’
He’s never felt this alive
Can’t stop these thoughts anymore
(Never said a thing)
Images floating through his head
(Never gave him a kiss)
He lies awake thinking of her
(Didn’t even matter)
Hasn’t slept in a few days
(Cause in his mind)
Exhausted, finally goes to bed
(She was already his)
Now the dreams are so sweet
Nolan busted a cap on 7:59 PM ..::// \\::..
Sunday, January 04, 2004
Austin writes! Here's a fiction work i did for CRW, take a peek if you've got some free time. I feel its decent, but lemme know what you think.
113
"Tell me a story Grandpa"
The older man sat in a rocking chair alongside the bed, a small boy of 11 or 12 curled up in blankets, surrounded by stuffed animals. The older man settled up in the chair.
"Ok, so what do you want to hear?" he asked as he turned and looked towards the bookshelf. "How about-"
The child cut him off, "How about you tell me one with some exciting stuff in it! I'm tired of those same nursery rhymes, I’ve heard everyone of them, like, a million times!"
The old man chuckled, "My, that's a lot of times. I'm surprised that you can count that high."
"Shhhhhhhh, you know what I mean, now come on, tell me a good one."
The grandfather leaned back in his chair and rubbed his face for a moment. "Lemme think," he half muttered to himself. "Ok, I got one. I haven't told this story in a long time." His voice had gone somber and serious.
The boy shifted in his bed, leaning up against the pillows and listened.
"Alright, once, years ago, there was a man by the name of John Kruger..." And as the sun slowly set in the clouds, the sound of thunder was heard rumbling through the mountains.
~~~~~
"ROBERT! ROBERT? Son of a Bi-, Steve, find Robert and you tell him to shut down that drilling in tunnel 4 now before it caves in and kills us all. Do it now! And then tell him to come find me after he's had a bite to eat and a shower."
"Will do." Steve turned and jogged up the mine, and John Kruger watched him go. He slid his glove back to check his watch. 7:45. 15 minutes till another day finished. The sun would be going down soon, at least topside, it was always a perpetual midnight down here. He pulled his gloves off, dropping them to the ground, and rubbed his face with the inside of his bicep. Streaked dirt covered his face, but his gray eyes shown out like they were on fire. He contemplated putting his gloves back on and working another 10 minutes, but he was beat.
"This mine will be the end of me," he muttered under his breath.
He picked up his gloves, checked the readings on the air gauge, saw they were satisfactory, and headed out of the mine.
Thirty minutes later he was topside: clean, and full. He poured himself a cup of coffee, black, and lit a cigarette. His hands were calloused and scared, and they dwarfed the coffee cup. He had just sat down in his chair when there was a knock at the door. Robert entered without waiting for a reply.
John nodded to the pot of coffee, "Get yourself a cup."
Robert glanced that way, hesitated then poured his own.
"Have a seat Rob."
Rob sat across from John, John's big boots kicked up high on the table, trailing dust everywhere, his gray eyes burning into Robert's for a moment.
"Ok Rob, so what the hell was that all about today?"
"I don’t know Boss, I can just feel I’m close to something. I know that what we're after is down shaft 4."
"Well, that may be," John paused to pull a long drag off the cigarette, and continued. "But it could also hit that river that goes underground 15 miles up. And I for one don't feel like whole damn mine collapsing on top of me, not to mention the 75 men that are counting on me to make sure they can put a meal on their table and the tables of their families."
"But-"
Kruger cut him off, "But nothing, I’ve been doing this since I was 19 years old. You know that, how long have you been working under me?"
Robert half smirked, “Eight Years.”
“And have I let us down yet?”
“No sir.”
"Now trust me, we're gonna go looking in Shaft 4 soon enough, but we gotta make sure that this place stays safe first. You understand me?"
"Yes Sir."
"Go ahead and get some sleep, it'll be another long day tomorrow."
Robert stood to leave, and Kruger took another long puff of the cigarette.
"Hey Rob?"
"Yeah, John?"
"We'll get what we're after. You have my word."
Robert nodded and closed the door behind him.
Kruger took a long hit of his coffee and turned back to his desk, glancing over what was known. They'd been busting their ass down here for the past 3 years, and hadn't had much to show for it, but he knew their time would come. Everything pointed to a big find, and moral was up. But then again, around John Kruger, there wasn't much chance for it to get down.
~~~~~
The grandfather leaned back in the chair, stretching, before he continued.
“Now John never told anyone, but he was a smart one, had a college degree and everything. In Geology. But the lab work was just too much boredom to him, that’s why he went into the mines. At least he got to get his hands dirty.”
“Geology?” questioned the child.
“Yeah, it’s kinda like getting a degree in rocks, only its all technical, and they teach what they are made of, stuff like that.”
The boy nodded in agreement, although still looking confused, but the older man continued. “Now days had passed since John and Robert’s little head to head, and the mine was continuing to make slow headway. The mine’s investors were getting anxious, even though there was still two years left on the contract.
“Investors?”
“Yeah, people that pay for you to dig for them. And they were paying John to find Diamonds. And not just any diamond, seems John had thought to have discovered a new class of diamond. The investors had cut him a 6-year deal. They were 4 years though that deal and still had nothing but a few stones to show for it. And the investors were getting anxious.”
~~~~~
“John, you got a copy?”
John pulled his radio off his belt, “Go ahead.”
“You have a phone call, it’s the suits. It sounds important.”
“Can you tell them I’ll call them this afternoon?
“I don’t think so, I told them you’d call as soon as you got up here.”
“Alright, I’ll be up in 10.”
John paced in his office while listening to the irrational voice at the other end of the line. Five minutes later and without getting hardly a word in edgewise, John hung up.
“Damn.” John leaned back at his desk. Dirt covered the phone from where John was holding it.
He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands, and then picked up a radio.
“Robert, you gotta copy?” He relinquished the button, and waited a moment.
“Yeah, go ahead John.”
“How’s shaft 7 going, anything new?”
“Nah, same shit. It’s dark, it’s dirty, and there’s nothing of value in it.”
John’s eyes creased, “Yeah, that’s what I figured. When you guys call it quits for the night and get cleaned up, and stop by my office. Steve, you copy that as well?” The seriousness of his voice was picked up by both men, and duel “Yes Sirs” rang through.
John set the radio into its charger, walked to his fridge and popped open a beer. He took a swallow as he sat down and looked at the maps of his mine. He had some decisions to make before Robert and Steve arrived.
About an hour later Robert showed up. John was reclining in the small couch that took up a quarter of his office, looking over some notes he had scribbled down.
“Grab a beer, if you want one.” John said through a breath of cigarette smoke. Robert made his way to the fridge, cracked one open and pulled up a chair.
“So what do you think John?”
“Well, unfortunately, I don’t get to think in this one. I got these investors so far up my ass I might as well put a tie on.” He paused to take a drag of the cigarette, and continued. “They’re trying to pull the rug out from under us. They are giving us two months to hit something or they’re shutting us down.”
“Two months? That’s bullshit. This isn’t something where you just walk in and pull a rabbit out of a hat. This takes time.”
John nodded, “Yeah, you’re preaching to the choir but try telling them that. They don’t give a damn, they’ve forgotten what they signed up for, they can only see big dollar signs. That’s all that matters, and since we haven’t been filling their pockets, they’re gonna do something that will, and if that means canning us, then that’s what they’ll do.”
A knock on the door was answered with, “Come in.” And Steve entered. His large frame filled the small room, and he walked with a slight swagger, almost like he should have been a mafia hit man, and not someone that spent their life hundreds of feet under the earth.
“Mind if I grab one?” Steve asked, nodding towards the fridge.
“Nah, help yourself.”
Steve removed one from the fridge and slid a chair from the table, plopping down between the other men. “So what’s the deal, John?”
“Well, basically the investors have put us in the grinder and we have two months to show something for it.”
“Wait a sec, I thought we still had 2 years or so-“
“Well we did until about 2 hours ago. And then I got a call from LA, and I’m still trying to get the shoe leather out of my ass. But regardless of how we bitch about it now, something’s gonna have to get done.” John hesitated, flicking the ash off his cigarette and taking a hit off his beer. “What I called you guys in here for is thoughts about shaft 4.”
Robert dropped his head for a moment, then spoke. “You know my thoughts on shaft 4, I’ve wanted to go down there for weeks. But it’s not my call.”
John nodded, and turned towards Steve.
Steve paused, “I dunno, John. I got a bad feeling about it, seems like it’s the only shaft the heads north on that side of the mine, and we knew when we started here there was a chance that we could hit that river. We’ve yet to find it, and I don’t see it turning 90 degrees and us being that lucky. I figure we start down that shaft, we’re gonna hit the river, and its gonna shut us down.”
Robert interrupted, “Yeah, but what’s it matter now? We’re getting shut down in 2 months as it is, we’ve got nothing to show for it, so why not take a chance and see what we can do before we go home with our tails between our legs.”
Steve finished his beer and contemplated that for a moment, then nodded to himself. “True.” He shrugged. “Yeah, what the hell, I guess it’s worth a shot.” He glanced at John.
“What’cha think John?”
“Well, honestly, I don’t like it. Don’t like it a damn bit, but I don’t think we have too much choice. And as level-headed as I am, I couldn’t sleep at night if I left this damn place without checking what’s down that shaft.”
Robert nodded, “So it’s decided?”
John nodded, and Steve had quietly walked to the fridge, pulling out 3 beers. “To shaft 4.”
“To shaft 4,” echoed in the small room, but there didn’t seem to be too much excitement remaining in their voices.
~~~~~
The grandfather leaned back in his chair, stretching, before he continued the story, the child lying back in his bed, still awake and attentive.
“Now what Johnny hadn’t told anyone is he had this mine picked out for a reason. He had a desire to make a name for himself, and to do it; he had set his mind to find an element or a compound unknown to anyone, like gold or silver. Scientists told him his odds were nearly impossible down in that mine. All the new stuff was in labs anymore.” The old man leaned back, as if looking into some far off place. “But he didn’t buy that. He felt the world was to damn big and to damn complex for its secrets to be exhausted. O, excuse my French little man.”
He looked slightly ashamed at his outburst, but again, continued on. “He hadn’t told the people in the mine about that. They found out years later. It was something he kept as his own little secret, and it kept him motivated. His motivation was to find element 113.”
The boy nodded silently, although looking confused again and the elderly man continued.
“Three days the drilling went on without any excitement. Just dirty, dark, and monotonous.”
“What’s monotonous mean?”
The old man chuckled, “It means, doing the same boring thing over and over again.”
“O ok.”
“Finally, on the 4th day, they started getting somewhere.”
~~~~~
“Robert, shine that light up here.”
The light flashed across the end of the tunnel, and John leaned forward to get a closer look. A small hole formed at the edge of the tunnel, and water could be heard on the other side.
Steve broke the silence first. “Damn”
John didn’t say anything but slowly started knocking out the end of the wall. 5 minutes later, the end of the shaft was cleared out, and they could see a decent sized stream, 15 feet across slowly winding through its own small cave.
Robert shook his head, “I’ll be damned.”
John didn’t say anything, just slowly entered the hole, stepping carefully into the water.
Steve spoke, “Well I guess that does it for us, the moisture from this will shut us down.”
Robert nodded in agreement, “Yeah, but we were about done anyway. Two months is hardly enough time to do anything in this business.”
John finally spoke up, “Come on, lets a take a look.”
The 3 men stepped into the stream and started walking with the water, and away from the newly created entrance. Ten minutes later, John called out.
“Hey, shine a light over here would you?”
Steve and Robert’s flashlights gleamed towards John in the darkness. John was standing in a shallow pool with hardly an inch of water in it, the water being kept in be a small raised ring of dirt or rocks. But it that wasn’t he was staring at. Steve followed John’s gaze into the pool.
Almost in a whisper Steve muttered, “What the hell…”
In the small pool, thousands of strange rocks shone and glistened, their brilliance almost unnatural in the dank riverbed.
Robert, Steve and John had gathered in the pool, looking down in awe.
“Are-are these diamonds?”
“I don’t think so, at least none that I’ve ever seen before,” Robert added in hushed tones.
Steve bent over and picked up a smaller stone, turning it over in his hand. Rod shaped, about an inch long, but faceted, it looked as if someone had fashioned it, not that it had been sitting in the pool for thousands of years, unseen.
“Shine the light here, let me clean it up some.” Robert and John took a few steps back to give Steve some light while he leaned over and began drying it off with his coat. After it was dry he held it in his palm and smiled. His smile changed quickly when the small stone began heating up in his hand.
“What the hell.”
The stone quickly turned orange and with a slight “POP” exploded. Robert and Kruger were instantly lifted off their feet and launched against the back wall of the cave. Robert regained his composure first, shaking his head to clear the cobwebs.
“Steve? Steve!”
It was clear Steve was gone, blood leaking out his shirt, his face charred and burned.
~~~~~
“Whoa, Grandpa, what just happened?”
“Well, I’m not exactly sure. When Steve dried off the stone, something happened to it. Apparently when the stone was removed from water, it reacted somehow with the air and BOOM!. That was the end of Steve. He was a good man.”
~~~~~
John snapped out of it, “Hey Robert, we have to go. We have to go, right now.”
Robert followed John’s gaze and saw what he was talking about. The explosion that had killed their friend had also broken the reservoir, the small amount of water remaining in the pool flowing out, and that meant the thousands of stones in the pool were beginning to dry out.
Robert and John turned, sprinting up the streambed, John yelling as they ran, “I’ll sound the alarm, you just make sure that everyone is cleared out of the east corridor.”
“Yes sir.”
They both entered the hole they had made earlier and raced up the shaft. They split when the shaft forked, John heading to the center of the mine. He knew if one of those stones was enough to cause that much damage, the entire pool going up would cave in the whole damn mine. He turned the corner and found what he was after. Removing the safety, he triggered the alarm. The shrieking siren roared though the rock tunnels, hopefully telling everyone that it was time to leave right now.
He turned, and ran towards the elevators that lead to the surface. By the time he got there, it was already on its second load to the top, scared faces piling in, overloading the lift. John stood and helped the men get on, and sent it up.
“Where’s Steve at?” one of the men questioned. The look on John’s face was enough answer for all of them.
More men crowded at the elevator, waiting for it to return. It creaked and groaned, signaling it was on its way down. John glanced around, realizing the lift would be full as soon as it hit the bottom. As soon as the lift hit, John and his men piled on, pushing the elevator to the limit.
“WAIT! WAIT! We’re coming!”
Around the corner came Robert, half carrying a man that was unable to walk. His leg was bleeding from the knee and Robert was almost dragging him toward the lift. John turned and saw that there wouldn’t be room for all three of them, and when Robert and the injured man got to the lift, John weighed his options, and stepped off.
~~~~~
“And so, when I came around the corner carrying him, the lift was about to go up. John looked at me, saw there wasn’t enough room, and he stepped off the lift. There was no point in arguing with him. I could see it in his eyes. There never was point in arguing with him.”
The child sat in his bed, listening to everything his grandfather had said. He looked as if he wanted to speak, but seeing tears in his grandfather’s eyes, he remained mute.
“John Kruger wouldn’t have let me stay down there if I had beat him with my own fists. He felt it was his mine, his call to go down that shaft, and it was his penance for the death of Steve to stay there. For years, I hated him for it. But I know now that’s how it was with him. It wouldn’t have been any different no matter how the cards fell.
The old man slowly shook his head, as if to shake the tremor out of his voice.
“John was one of the most driven men I ever knew. He knew what he wanted, knew how to get it, and he got things done. I worked with him for 8 years. 8 hard years. And I wouldn’t have traded them for anything.” Austin busted a cap on 10:36 AM ..::// \\::..
Tuesday, January 28, 2003
This one is for sure pulled from thin air. I haven't edited it or anything. I opened up the blog page and went to writing and this is what came out.
A heavy, metal door opens up to a frigid dawn and two men stroll out. The door is shut behind them just as soon as their feet hit the ground. Will, a man in his late sixties was wearing an all-blue jumper. He had lead a rough life, his skin was rough, his hands were worked bare and his face was grizzled from days of letting his shaving routine slide. None of that mattered anymore. Wayne, on the other hand, was a clean-cut gentlemen. His hair was combed back and always had a very wet look to it. He kept to himself, mostly. Nobody minded, that was just Wayne being Wayne.
"Cigarette?", Will said with an outstreched hand.
"Can't. You know that."
"Yeah, I sure do. Hey, Wayne, you know what I love about being up this early? Do ya? Guess."
"No clue."
"It's like being all alone with the world. Like, like God created it all for you and you're just standing here appreciating it before anyone else arrives to mess it up. It's gorgeous, Wayne, it really is."
Will looked over at his morning companion to notice him not even really paying attention, but that didn't bother Will. This was his morning, created for him. The two men stood in silence for awhile, Will watching his breath roll out in a miniature cloud in the cold morning air. He suddenly shuddered, partially because it was nearly ten degrees below zero and partly because, with a single breath he could see his own mortality.
"Looks like this morning's sunrise is going to be a good one. See how moist the air is? That's really gonna give us a show."
Wayne looks at Will and slowly looks away, "It sure looks that way."
Minutes pass and the sun wakes and spills it's rays upon the earth, flowing into Will. It warmed the air around him, making him shiver less, but his breath was still very evident in front of his face.
"God, Wayne, this is spectacular. I don't think I could've ever asked for anything more. Look how God's painted those rays. Look now, I'm not kidding. I don't want you missing out."
Wayne looked preoccupied. Will didn't mind, he understood why. This had to be a tough day for anyone.
Looking over at his clean-cut companion, "Look, you gotta get the damned guilty look off of your face and enjoy this with me. This is mine and I'm sharing it with you. Would you just look at the damned sunrise? I don't remember RSVP-ing to your pity party." Will chuckled at his own joke.
"Alright, Will, I'll look with ya. Pipe down." Wayne looked on at the sunrise, confused a bit by Will's words.
"I tell you what, this is beautiful. Can't you just feel the warmth on your face? Isn't it fantastic? All that warmth, just for you, nobody else is out here stealing our warmth and God has given it all to us. Hey, you got a cigarette I can bum?"
"No." He said frigidly, hating that word.
"Yeah, I understand."
"Look, it's getting kinda late and the sun has already risen. The guards are letting the other prisoners out now for their morning exercise in the yard and I've got to get over there. We're low on staff today, what with......",Wayne cut himself off.
"Yeah, my 'big day', so to speak. I tell ya Wayne, I won't ever hold this against you. You know it? When I get up to Heaven, ain't nothing you've ever done gonna make me mad. We're friends from here on out."
"That's real nice Will, I appreciate it."
Wayne grabs the chain of metal connecting Will's two wrists with his hand and moves him one hundred and eighty degrees around. He presses a buzzer on the door.
"Thanks for sharing my last sunset with me, Wayne. It was real nice."
Wayne looks away, ashamed and calls out "Death row inmate number 304832 coming in from solitary exercise. Clear the halls. Dead man walking.".He suddenly gets a panicked look upon his face.
"Ha, boy, you weren't suppose to say that until we take our other walk today. But hey, no hard feelings, we're friends, right?"
"Yeah, right, friends.". Josh McManaway busted a cap on 1:32 AM ..::// \\::..