Gus

Inside the poorly lit cabin, a man sits by himself. The rain has recently stopped, and drops can still be heard from the large maple leaves outside. There is a fire in the fireplace in dire need of two more pieces of chopped alder, but the man isn't going to get up. Not because he doesn't want to, but because he isn't able. The man is old, and he is currently asleep. If the man had a family, he would just be "resting his eyes." Not in deep sleep, for he is only sleeping because he has nothing better to do.

The bottle of red wine beside the old man's chair is three-quarters full (or one-quarter empty, depending on the day). A year ago, he would have been drinking out of a glass, but last summer his last wine glass broke shortly after teetering on the railing of the cabin's back patio overlooking the creek. He thought about replacing the wine glass, but came to the conclusion that there was really no need. He didn't have much time left, and anyways, he had always preferred to drink straight from the bottle.

The fire grows dimmer and the time between rain drops lengthens, lulling the old man into a deeper sleep.

A mouse scurries across the floor along the opposite wall from the fireplace. It can smell both the old man's red wine and Ritz crackers, but it is far more interested in the block of cheese left unprotected. The mouse zips along the wall behind the old man's chair, closing in on its prize.

Unfortunately for the mouse, the old man has a cat. From the mouse's first step in the room, the old man's cat had one eye open and following the mouse's every move. When the mouse disappeared behind the old man's chair, the cat slinked its way down from its resting place in the chair opposite the old man, and the cat moved in behind the clueless mouse.

While close to falling deep asleep, the old man wasn't quite there yet. He sleeps with his eyes open a slit, and although his eyes now aren't sharp enough to detect a mouse across the room, he can detect a 22lb cat moving just a few feet in front of him, and although the cat's movements were quite stealthy for a 22lb cat, it is a difficult task for the cat to hide its excess.

The old man stirs.

"Hmm... Gus. What you after?"

The old man's voice panics the mouse, who tries to retreat, but the hefty cat has blocked his escape route. The panicked mouse races past the cheese, with 22lbs of cat in chase behind him.

"Gus! Git out from behin..."

The mouse darts out in front of the old man, while Gus the hefty cat crashes through the cheese, crackers, and most notably--the three-quarters full bottle of red wine. Gus remains in hot pursuit of the mouse, hardly noticing the objects he has knocked over, as the tiny rodent races out of sight towards the bathroom and eludes Gus in the safety of the cabin's insulated walls. The old man moves the quickest he has in years to save as much of the red wine still pouring out of his bottle.

"Dag gummit, Gus!!"

Only a quarter of the red wine remains, with half of the bottle freshly covering the light brown carpet around the old man's chair. Gus lays in wait by the hole in the wall where the mouse entered. Gus tunes out the shouts of the old man, instead staring intently at the hole, hoping to catch a glimpse of movement, anything, a mouse whisker, a tail... when suddenly, Gus is grabbed by his scruff and held five feet in the air, at eye-level with the old man.

"You cost me a bottle of wine! You're sleeping outside tonight!"

Writin' Time

I've wanted to write, and write more, for a long time now. The block has been huge for some reason, and although I've had ample time and space to write, I just have never gotten started. Hopefully that ends today. What usually ends up stopping me is myself, and editing every little thing along the way until writing is no longer fun. I'd like to be able to just write anything and let it land where it may, but I know it'll be a struggle.

"You really think you'll be something one day?" the man behind the bar asks.

"Definitely," the young musician answers.

The musician finishes coiling the cord around his amp and gives a quick look around the impromptu stage setup in the back of McNaulty's Pub & Eatery. The stage is large enough for him, his guitar, and his friend and accompanying violist, Tessa. If he wants to add anymore band members, he will need to find a new place to play.

"Yeah? Why's that?" asks the bartender.

The musician turns to the bartender, but doesn't answer.

"How come you think you'll hit it big?" says the bartender.

"Well now, Sid," responds the musician, "that isn't the same question you asked earlier. I don't know about hitting it big, I imagine that might happen as well, but to your prior question about 'being something', well, I reckon I'm something right now, and I plan on continuing my being into one day."

The bartender stops counting his tips and stares at the musician.

"You're full of shit," the bartender says.

The musician flashes a smile at the bartender as a car's horn is heard from the propped back door.

"Well," the musician says and he pushes away from the bar and retrieves his guitar and amp, "it sounds like Tessa is ready to go. Tonight was a pleasure, like always, Sid."

"Don't forget to wash that shit-eating grin, you no-talent hack. Now Tessa, that girl has some talent. You're a lucky sonofabitch!"

The musician waves the guitar case as he leaves McNaulty's, kicking the door stop back inside as he makes his exit.

---

"You were great tonight, baby!" the musician says as he hops into the passenger seat of Tessa's white 1995 Toyota Corolla station wagon.

"I'm tired," she says.

"Oh, I was going to ask if you wanted to grab a drink with Mike and Gabe, they invited us to come and join them over at the Wild Rover."

Tessa sighs.

"What?" the musician asks.

"You know I have work tomorrow morning."

"Just one drink?"

"One drink," Tessa says as she shakes her head sideways, "yeah, right."

"I promise."

"I'm tired, and I want to go home. I can drop you off on the way home," Tessa says.

Spark

Stumble into love
Love like blue flames

Embers still hot,
But the fire is out
With no fire, no life

Cold and dark,
Until a spark appears
Out of nowhere
To light a new fire