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Davey Word Hunter Captain
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Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2012 4:23 pm
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"Sure, I'll drive!" Debra said in delight as she took the keys and sat in the driver's seat. Needless to say, she wasn't about to pass on the chance to drive a Mercedes. She spent a few moments caressing the steering wheel with her hands before she started the engine, checked her blind spots, and then carefully backed out of the parking spot. To tell the truth, Debra was still an inexperienced driver, but she knew how to be careful, and she didn't want to risk damaging her friend's car in any way. Debra succeeded in driving to Sophia's apartment and parked the car without incident. As she and Sofia were heading to the apartment, she firmly stated, "Now you're going straight to bed, and I'm not going to take 'no' as an answer. I'll take care of everything that needs to be done, such as feeding Bo and fixing supper for you. Just tell me what you want me to fix. Um... nothing too difficult, though."
Alex showed up for football practice that afternoon, although for obvious reasons, he hadn't suited up. Nate and the offense started out with passing drills, with Alex standing on the sideline and giving Nate pieces of advice on things like how Nate should set his feet before passing and that Nate should avoid staring down his intended receiver, which was a good way for him to tip of the other team's defense as to who he was going to throw the ball to. During a break, curiosity got the best of Alex, and he asked Nate, "How's it going with Brandy?" Guessing the intent of the question, Nate replied, "If you're wondering if she's pregnant, the answer is no, she isn't." "Are you sure about that?" Alex prodded. "I heard about it from another friend before she got to me yesterday," Nate explain, "And when she did, she was begging me to believe her. In fact, she was in tears! I didn't know that she was capable of crying! Anyway, she was so earnest and sounded so sincere that it was difficult to not believe her, and it seemed to be very important to her that I did believe her. She went so far as to offer to do one of those home pregnancy tests just for me to prove it, and that's what we did today during lunch. We went to my home because my father would be at work, my mother would be playing bridge someplace, and my brothers and sister would be in school. She did the test in front of me, and it was negative. She was so relieved that I was convinced that she wanted to celebrate. We weren't in a rush to get back to school, and so I gave her a tour of my bedroom." "With a heavy emphasis on the bed," Alex interjected. Nate acknowledged that with a nod and said, "Right. Just as we got to the big finish, though, my dad walked in on us! You should have seen how quickly Brandy moved to cover herself with my pillow, and man, did her face get red! Instead of blowing his top, like other fathers might, my father just smiled and asked, 'Who's your girlfriend?' and I said, 'Dad, this is Brandy, and Brandy, this is my Dad'. He shook her hand and said 'Pleased to meet you, Brandy' and then he walked out as if nothing had been going on. He even closed my door. Brandy was so freaked out that we decided to come back to school right away. I still haven't figured out why Dad was home from work." Nate and Brandy had been in such a rush to return to school that they hadn't noticed that Nate's father had locked himself in his bedroom, and the extra car parked across the street might have suggested that Brandy hadn't been the only person who had been getting a bedroom tour in Nate's home.
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Davey Word Hunter Captain
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Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2012 11:28 am
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"No problem," Debra said in return. When she returned to the living room, she found Bo waiting by the door. Obviously he knew that he was going for a walk. Debra found the leash, and then she and Bo were on their way. Just as they were leaving the apartment complex, they encountered another German shepherd. The other dog was wearing a collar and dog tag, which indicated that the dog wasn't a stray. Bo went up to the other dog and they exchanged the usual dog greetings by sniffing each other's backsides. The two dogs seemed to like each other. All of a sudden, the other dog took off running. Bo set off in pursuit so unexpectedly that the leash was pulled from Debra's hand before she could get a firm grip. "Bo! Get back here at once!" Debra called after him, but he didn't listen, forcing Debra to chase after him. It wasn't long before she was gasping for breath. At least she had been able to keep up enough to see the other dog run into a park, with Bo close behind. When Debra entered the park, she saw that her challenge had gotten bigger because the park was filled with all kinds of bushes and shrubbery that a dog can hide behind. Nevertheless, it was her task to see to it that Bo got home again. After several minutes of searching and calling out Bo's name, Debra began to fear that she would have to go back to Sofia's apartment and explain to Sofia about how she had lost Bo.
Just then she found Bo and the other dog resting on a large patch of grass behind a particularly tall bush. Bo appeared to be rather pleased with himself. "There you are, Bo! You are in so much trouble, mister!" Debra scolded as she grabbed her end of the leash and began to lead Bo away from there. The other dog's ears perked up, and then Debra heard a girl call out, "Heidi! Where are you, Heidi?" The girl, who appeared to be about 10 or 11 years old, appeared, and when she saw Debra and Bo, she asked, "Excuse me, but have you seen another German shepherd?" "Is that the dog you're looking for?" Debra asked in return. The girl looked at the other dog, placed her hands on her hips and scolded, "There you are! Bad dog, Heidi! Bad dog! You know you're not allowed to leave the yard!" Heidi looked back at the girl as if to say, 'I can't help it! I'm a dog!' The girl grabbed Heidi by the collar and started to pull Heidi home, but she paused and asked Debra, "What's your dog's name?" "His name is Bo," Debra informed her. "He's a very pretty dog," the girl replied, and speaking to her dog again, she stated, "Time to go home." The fact that Heidi was a female soon led Debra to make a certain conclusion, which explained why Bo was so interested in chasing Heidi. After the girl had left, Debra scowled at Bo as she demanded, "Were you doing what I think you were doing? You men are all alike! Even when you're a dog!" Bo still looked rather pleased with himself. Deciding that Bo had gotten plenty of exercise, Debra led him back to Sofia's apartment, and Bo followed without any fuss. As they entered the apartment, Debra called out to Sofia, "We're back! Sorry it took so long. Bo made a new friend in the park."
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Posted: Sat Aug 04, 2012 6:47 pm
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Davey Word Hunter Captain
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Posted: Wed Aug 08, 2012 7:02 pm
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Generally speaking, the football practice that day had gone fairly well. Nate had proven to be an attentive student and took Alex's advice seriously, including Alex's suggestion to spend some time watching game films. By the time the practice had ended, their coach had arranged for the team's punter to give Alex a ride home, since he lived just down the block from Alex's apartment complex. When Alex walked into his apartment, he saw Bo relaxing in the living room, and he cheerfully called out. "Hi Bo! How are you doing?" A moment later Debra appeared from the kitchen and hissed at him in a near whisper, "Keep your voice down! Sofia is asleep and I don't want you to wake her up!" "Sorry!" Alex whispered back. Debra beckoned to him, and so Alex followed her into the kitchen and saw that Debra had dinner ready. He also noticed that she had not bothered to wait for him to get home before she had started eating. An oppressive silence filled the room as they ate, and to lighten the mood, Alex remarked in a low voice, "You know, if you keep on coming here every day, people will start to think that I'm one of those Mormons who have more than one wife." Debra gave him an unusually harsh glare and demanded, "Why do you say that?" Realizing that he had inadvertently touched upon a sensitive area of some kind for Debra, he apologetically replied, "No reason, actually. I was just trying to be funny." "Well, it's not! Stereotypes aren't funny!" Debra grumbled. When she was finished eating, she stood up and said, "Just so that you know. Sofia is loaning her car to me tonight. I'll bring it back in the morning to pick both of you up for school."
Alex guessed that she would probably want to go home now, and so he asked, "Can you do me a favor? I need my dose of pain pills, and Sofia has hidden them somewhere in the kitchen." "And you want me to find them for you," Debra concluded for him, "I will, but you have to wait in the living room." "Why?" Alex asked in return. "Because there's probably a very good reason for why she hid them, and so out you go!" Debra insisted. Alex could have argued the point, but he'd prefer to get the pain pills, and so he complied. After several minutes, Debra arrived with the pills, and she informed him, "I read the prescription label to make sure I gave you the right dose. Now is there anything else that you need?" In another attempt at being humorous, Alex said, "Well... ordinarily I take a shower now and Sofia helps me with getting undressed and dressed again, but..." "Oh no! I'm not doing that for you!" Debra interrupted. "I don't expect you to," Alex replied, "As I was about to say, I can probably get away with just a sponge bath tonight. I can do that by myself." "Good. I'll see you tomorrow morning," Debra stated, and then she left without another word, with Sofia's car keys in her hand. Once Debra had left, Alex went to the bathroom and gave himself a sponge bath, which left some water on the floor, but Alex guessed that the floor would be dry by morning. After that, he watched TV for a while before going to bed. He concluded that the medicine that Sofia must have taken was probably very strong because he jostled the bed a couple times while getting into it, but she slept through it all. Before Alex drifted off to sleep, he found himself hoping that Sofia wasn't contagious.
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Davey Word Hunter Captain
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 2:33 pm
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Alex woke up when the alarm clock went off. He waited for Sophia to get up, like always, but when he didn't feel the bed move, he shifted around to that he could look at her. It was clear that Sophia was still sick. Not wanting to disturb her, he carefully worked his way out of the bed and went about his usual morning routine. When he thought about breakfast, he remembered that there was a box of Ego waffles in the freezer. Debra arrived at the designated time, and when she saw that Sofia wasn't waiting in the living room with Alex, she asked, "Sofia's still sick?" Alex acknowledged that with a nod and replied, "There's no way that she's getting out of bed, let alone going to school today." Alex and Debra then left for school. He got in the front passenger seat as always, while Debra drove. The moment that she turned on the car, the CD player clicked on and Ramstein poured from the speakers at full blast. Instead of apologizing, Debra yelled above the noise, ""I'm driving, and so I choose the music!" "Whatever," Alex said in return. When they got to the school, instead of parking, Debra stopped in front of the school to let Alex out. "Aren't you going to class?" he asked while getting out of the car. "Someone needs to nurse Sofia back to health, and since you're clueless, it's up to me," Debra replied. "But you're missing class," Alex needlessly pointed out again. Debra shrugged and said in return, "So what? I used to skip class all of the time at my old school. I haven't done it here yet and I have a reputation to maintain." Seeing that it was pointless to argue with Debra, Alex went to class, and explained Sofia's absence to their teacher. Naturally enough, he didn't feel obligated to speak on Debra's behalf. Debra drove back to Sofia's apartment. Sofia's apartment key was on the same keychain as the car keys and so she was able to get in the apartment without any trouble. After taking a few moments to pat Bo on the head and fill Bo's food bowl, she peeked in the bedroom to see if Sofia was still asleep.
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Davey Word Hunter Captain
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Posted: Thu Aug 09, 2012 8:35 pm
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"Somebody needs to take care of you today, and I decided that between Alex and myself, I'm the better choice," Debra replied. Having announced her intentions, Debra walked over to Sofia, placed the back of her hand against Sofia's forehead, and stated, "Just as I thought. You still have a fever." Next she gently touched Sofia's throat with her fingertips in the same way that her mother used to do when checking to see if Debra had swollen glands. Since Debra really didn't know what she was supposed to be feeling, she merely nodded and said, "Um hmm. OK, stick out your tongue and say 'Aah'."
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Davey Word Hunter Captain
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Posted: Sat Aug 11, 2012 5:32 pm
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"Pleasant dreams!" Debra said in return. After she had left the bedroom, she decided that before anything else, she should choose something to cook for lunch. Taking Sofia's condition into consideration, she settled on fixing up a batch of chicken noodle soup. That's just what Debra's mother would have done if her mother was still alive and Debra was sick. A quick search of the kitchen revealed the fact that there wasn't any chicken noodle soup available, which required Debra to make a quick trip to the store. Not that Debra minded driving the Mercedes again. She remembered that Sofia had told her to not use the kitchen sink, and so she bought some bottled water while she was at it. When she got back from the store, she chose to watch some TV until it was time to fix lunch.
By the time that the lunch hour rolled around, Alex was feeling concerned about Sofia, and it wasn't helping that everyone who knew about Sofia's attendance record kept asking him about where she was that day. Of course they were asking more out of surprise than from concern on their part. It occurred to Alex that he didn't need to wait until he got home from football practice before he found out if Sofia was feeling better, thanks to the fact that Debra was at the apartment, or so Alex surmised. Alex took out his cell phone to call his apartment, and spent a few moments in remembering his apartment's phone number. After all, he wasn't in the habit of calling his own home. When he finally remembered it, he quickly dialed the number, and waited for an answer. The phone in his apartment rang a couple times, and he heard Debra say, "Sofia's place. Best friend Debra speaking." "Don't you mean Alex and Sofia's place?" Alex inquired tartly. "Oh! Right! I knew I was forgetting something!" Debra said in a snarky tone, and then she asked, "Why aren't you in class? Don't tell me that you are because they don't let you use cell phones during class time." "It's lunchtime, and so I'm not in class," Alex replied, and instead of waiting for Debra to ask, he continued, "I'm calling to see how Sofia is doing. Believe it or not, I am concerned about her. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to speak to my wife." "If you insist. I'll see if she is awake," Debra said in return, and he heard the faint thump of Debra setting the phone down.
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Davey Word Hunter Captain
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:05 pm
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"Hi, it's me," Alex said when he heard Sofia's voice, just in case Debra hadn't mentioned that he was the one calling, and he continued, "It's lunchtime, and I wanted to find out if you're starting to feel better. You know, I would have stayed home myself, but the last thing that you need is for me to be thumping around, tripping over things, and messing up my other knee." Of course it was likely that injured or not, it wouldn't have occurred to him to stay home to care for Sofia if Debra had not chosen to do so.
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