Writers debate

Chapter 3: Practice makes perfect.I wake up, confused. What a weird dream...In the dream I was my son.... Hunter. Myself being in the hospital, and my wife being alive were also some oddities noticed in the dream. I sigh a pleasant breath of relief. I actually slept, for the first time in what seemed like ages. And had a good dream when I did. For the first time, when I slept, I actually didn't dream of death, sadness and bad memories. The dream was good. It almost seemed realistic....I look at my alarm clock. Oops. My dream must have been too good, because I had overslept about 2 hours, and was late for work.I quickly throw on a white Tee, and head off to work.I arrive in about 20 minutes. I walk on to the construction site, under the big banner that says "Coastal Construction Group".Bill the manager, is walking, yelling at everyone to get their work done faster as usual. He turns and sees me. Oh crap. He walks toward me shouting "PATRICK. Where in the hell were you!? You are 2 and a half hours late!" "Err, sorry sir, I overslept. It won't happen again I swear." I mumbled out the excuse. "I'll let you off the hook this time. Just because you have never been late before. Don't let it happen again, or I'll have to write you up. We have several different assignments today that we need to get finished before 5:00. I am putting you on Cosway construction since you were late. Get to it mate." The big man walked off to shout orders at others.I breathed a sigh of relief. That went better than I had planned.As I worked in the big tractor, piling dirt so we could smooth in out on the road, I started reminiscing on the previous day.Mandy looked up at me and smiled. "Patrick, what a lovely name!" She said with a hint of sarcasm.I smiled and laughed. "Is this more of the 'black coffee is sweet as Christmas' sarcasm from earlier?" She started laughing. "Oh so you did catch onto that then. I was worried you didn't get the joke for a second there."I hesitate for a second. Come on Patrick. Don't waste another opportunity. I have to urge myself to say it before there is too long of an awkward pause. "Hey, I know you don't know me very well, but I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch sometime?" I asked nervously. She doesn't answer for a second, and looks like she is thinking about it. Shoot, shoot! I shouldn't have asked. I just made a huge moron out of myself. Then, just like she had several times already, she surprised me."You know what, I would love to. In fact, I have work off tomorrow, at 7:00. Could we do it then?" Her big brown eyes stare up at me expectantly. I am utterly shocked at her answer."Yes, yes, that would work perfectly." I say still confused as to how to react. I had separated myself from emotion and human contact for the majority of 3 years. Though I've done this before, I had all but forgotten how to react in these type of situations.Then she pulled out a little note pad from her purse, and a pen. She started scribbling some thing on the paper for a second. Then when she was done, she handed me the slip of paper."I'm afraid I have to go to work now. But it was a pleasure meeting you Patrick, and I can't wait to see you tomorrow." She smiles, and reaches in her purse once more to pay for her coffee.I stop her, "No don't worry, I have got you covered!" I say, and pull out a 10$ from my wallet, and pay for her drink."Oh you are so sweet. Thankyou." She smiles one more time, then she leaves the Café.I snap back to reality, as I realize I almost lifted a load of dirt over the Cosway. Luckily, none of the other workers were paying much attention to me, as usual.Could it be that my meeting with Mandy yesterday, had caused me to sleep? Something that I have had ongoing trouble with for a continued time over the course of three years? Maybe. But I didn't want to risk not finding out. After meeting with Mandy that day, everything else seemed to pan out. The world seemed a little bit brighter, more lambent(1).I was actually happy. The thing I had strived for continuously for 3 years to achieve, all because of my meeting of one girl. It's not that I just wanted to see her again. It's that I needed to. Work ended, and I couldn't be more excited. I rushed home, showered, and dressed up nicely; something I haven't done in a long time. Specifically, since a company meeting a few months back.I unfolded the stick note that she gave me the previous day, which read: '1756 North Bayshore Drive, # 18Miami, (786) 295-4769. Pick me up at 7:00!'Her house was a pretty quick drive from mine, only being about 10 minutes away. I arrived at a nice looking apartment complex, called Bay Parc Plaza. I parked my vehicle, and went and knocked on her door. She opened it within a couple of seconds, as if she was waiting for me to show up. She looked absolutely beautiful. She was wearing a Striped Chambray 2-Fer dress. Her brown hair, that was curled the day before, was no straightened, and poured over her shoulders beautifully. The woman wore no make-up, but she didn't need to. Her face was the image of perfection, radiant(2).Her brown eyes matched splendidly with everything she wore, and she looked like she could almost be a model. She was very skinny, for and good looking for her age.She came out of her apartment, and locked her door."Hey you! You look... Geez, well, I am amazed, to say the least." I comment.She blushes."Thanks. You look Amazing too!" She said sarcastically, poking fun at my choice of words.Amazing definitely didn't describe me, though. When compared to her superfluous(3) beauty, I looked rather pale in correlation(4).We walked back to my car, and started driving to the restaurant. "Where are we going, if you don't mind my asking?" She asked inquisitively(5). "Just a place that I used to love years ago." I responded. The name of the Restaurant was "La Correta", a very fancy Mexican cuisine, that me and my wife used to go to on date nights.We pulled into the parking lot, and she said "Ooh, I've never been here before!""Good, then prepare to be astonished." I said truthfully.We were sat down at our tables and handed our menu's. Conversation came easily for us. We talked for an hour or so. I told her where I worked, and she told me where she worked. She was an artist, self employed. Surprisingly, she made quite a bit of money selling painting, statues, and other items that she had created and designed. Then she asked me the question I was so hoping wouldn't come up. "So, have you ever been married? Do you have kids?"I looked down solemnly. I try holding back tears, and put on my best approach at being strong, when I answer. I attempt to say the words, but they don't come out.She looks worried, as she sees a single tear escape out of my eye, and role down my cheek."I had a wife, and a son. They died 3 years ago." I said solemnly. Why was it so hard for me to say? It happened so long ago, but it still hurt so bad, as I was being punished by some force for simply saying the words."I am so sorry... I didn't mean to-" I cut her off."No don't. I'll be honest, you are the first person I have ever told that to."Her eyes looked appreciative, but she didn't know what to say.In order to avoid an awkward silence, I feel will come if I didn't act then and there, I picked up the conversation."How about you? Were you ever married?""No." She says, this time her looking solemn.I am generally surprised. "What? A pretty woman like yourself?" "I have a secret too. I was diagnosed with cancer 10 years ago. The doctors say that I will die in less than 8 months. That is why I have never been married." CHALLENGE: Patrick likes a girl who is set to die in less than a year. Can he face any more death in his life?(1) http://dictionary.reference.com...(2) http://www.thefreedictionary.com...(3) http://dictionary.reference.com...(4) http://dictionary.reference.com...(5) http://dictionary.reference.com...