Morning all. It seems like the sun has nice again come out. Hopefully it will dry up all the rain and this itsy bitsy spider can take to the walking trail again.I’ve noticed that not only does the fresh air do good things for me, but the short break really helps clear out my thought processes. It turns out on the days I take a short break to hit the walking trail I actually get more done than when I work straight through. And with the recent rains it will be nice to get back outside anyway. But before then, we have a writing prompt. Are you ready? Good. Me too.
I don’t think I;ve ever written the word marshmallows so many times in one sitting.
Thursday, May 13th: Inside was a bag of marshmallows.
Inside was a bag of marshmallows. I looked over to Kyle. “I thought you were only bringing the essentials?”
“I did,” he said. “All the essentials for a happy life.”
I looked into the bag, but the marshmallow bag remain. I lifted it from his duffle bag. “Jet puffed is the key to a happy life?” I asked.
His eyes fixed on the bag and his smile slipped. “What?”
“It’s your bag,” I reminded him. I tossed him the marshmallows. He caught them easily and stared at them befuddled. I stepped away as he moved to inspect his bag, chucking the marshmallows aside. He dove into the bag reaching in and pulling out items, only to toss them aside and return to the contents. I dodged a pair of rolled up socks and decided it might be better to escape to the other rom and leave Kyle to unpack on his own.
Something was clearly up. I can’t say I wasn’t surprised. I had known Kyle since kindergarten and something was always up with him. I couldn’t remember when he wasn’t playing an angle. He had however been a good friend and when his love life collapsed around him and his ex took possession of the apartment, I offered up my spare room.
Temporarily.
While Kyle and I were friends, we both knew there was a limit to how long we could stay close. He knew it as well as I did and it was one of the reasons that he never pushed his luck with me. I was his safety net. Others told me that once he moved in, I would have a hard time getting him out. However over the years, Kyle had stayed with me a number of times before. We established a time line and he was always very careful to leave when the time was up. This time we agreed on two weeks.
I was a little nervous that he had to think about the two week deadline a moment before committing. Usually if he had to think, he had some plot going that used a time element. When he nodded and told me two weeks would work, I at least had a time line on his plan. Just as he wouldn’t push his time staying with me, he also knew there were things I wouldn’t stand for in my home. He respected that and I knew he would be gone before whatever he was involved in thought on him.
Behind me I could hear him muttering to himself in increasingly angry tones. A part of me wanted to know the details, but the rest of me was smart enough to keep going towards the living room.
From what I picked up on this break up and subsequent temporary relocation, I could piece together a sequence of events that didn’t require I know any details.
Kyle had a plan. That plan didn’t include his current paramour. He tried to slip out before she noticed. She was smarter than he thought and noticed. I suspected that as the marshmallows looked like foreign objects to him, she replaced whatever he had secreted away in his bag with the marshmallows.
Even though I was certain it meant trouble on the horizon, I had to smile. Kyle had a history of dating those who could be blinded by his looks and charm. He dated them until his charm wore thin and then he left, finding someone else to temporarily dazzle. He also had a history of never looking beneath the surface of those he loved. I warned him that one day it would bite him
Ten til Midnight 