From: scm3775@tamsun.tamu.edu (Sean Malloy)
Subject: CD's Early Thanksgiving Ramblings
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 17:36:58 GMT

The door opens on a particularly nasty, stormy night.  The 
weather is still warmish, so all the rain does is push the 
humidity from the upper-eighties to 100%.  Lightning strikes 
nearby as CD shakes the water from his jacket and runs a hand 
through his soaked hair.

He looks different...  Clean-shaven, or nearly so, a little 
thinner, and wearing a shirt that he probably found in a surf 
shop somewhere.  His hair is longish in back, but cut close on 
top.  He still looks tired, though...  Many notice that his 
eyes don't seem to quite focus on whatever he's looking at.

"Chivas, Mike." he mutters as he collapses into a seat at the 
bar, placing a crumpled dollar bill on the well-worn wood.

He doesn't say anything for a while, but throws back a couple 
shots of Scotch and makes an attempt to let the tension ease 
from his body.  It doesn't work, but the Scotch does, and his 
expression softens a notch.

He makes his way to the chalk and looks around the room, 
forcing himself to focus.  His right hand idly spins the empty 
shot glass as he gathers his thoughts.  Finally, he begins in a 
steady voice that seems out of place coming from one so 
obviously in need of sleep.

"I thought I'd make an early Thanksgiving toast, since I find 
myself with 10 minutes to spare right now, and that's likely 
not to be the case in a couple of weeks.

"I suppose I should say why I'm thankful...  but I will list 
the reasons why I'm not instead.

"The bad news started this semester when I learned of Arty's 
untimely passing.  It shook me a bit, I'll admit, but we were 
never that close.  That same week, a friend's pregnancy 
developed complicatons early in the sixth month, and she had to 
have an emergency C-section...  Two weeks later, the doctors 
removed life support from her son.  He didn't make it.

"Three weeks ago, I learned that a friend from high school 
finally lost his battle with cancer.  Dead at 21.  He and I 
hadn't been close in probably 7 years, but I read about his 
death in the newspaper... two days after the funeral."

CD chuckles softly and stares at his feet a moment.  "I started 
telling friends of mine to be careful, just in case it was some 
sort of divine retribution...

"Amy, a good friend of mine from high school that some of you 
may remember as having had the overly-possessive ex-boyfriend 
last year (that got solved when she had him arrested, by the 
way...  Even if the prosecutor did drop the charges 6 months 
later...).  Anyway, Amy's mother has been playing the 'just a 
few more tests' game at her local hospital.  Found a tumor on 
her leg and removed it.  Benign, so far, thank gods.  But I got 
to hear a fair amount of that, and it added to my increasingly 
pessimestic outlook.

"During the time that this was happening, I got word from my 
father that the company he works for, Shell Chemical, was 
starting cutbacks.  Luckily, a few days later he found out that 
he was safe... for now.  But he had to tell some of the people 
that worked for him that... uh... their services were no longer 
required.  This includes a friend of his that he's known for 
over 35 years.  This particular person celebrated 25 years with 
the company the same week he was let go.  Talk about a mindfuck...

"Add to this the standard problems: money, love-life, and 
school (ie, not enough of the first two, too much of the last 
one) and it's amazing I haven't taken a rifle to the top of a 
bell tower..."  CD grins evilly.  "Yet."

"Oh, and let's not even start on the fact that I'm probably 
going to have to finish school part-time and work full time, 
delaying graduation yet again.  With the economy being the way 
it is, and especially with the Houston Area seeing more and 
more computer professionals laid off every month, I'll be lucky 
to find a job operating an electronic cash register at 
McDonalds.  I've already asked if I can have my Senior ring 
read Class of 9X, but they wouldn't do it...

"So, I suppose that while everyone else is celebrating what's 
good in their lives, I'll be trapped in a room with my senile 
grandparents and IRS-agent uncle... waiting to see what happens 
next."

"Have a good Thanksgiving folks.  I will certainly try to..."

CD tosses the shot glass into the fire, grabs his coat, and 
heads back into the storm.

-cd

-- 
 
  Sean C. Malloy  -  Texas A&M University  -  scm@tamu.edu