"What is it that you've done this time, dumbell?"
"Darrell? that is not a good way of greeting an old friend
"Well how about you try fry because Drek you're no longer an old friend of mine"
"You wound me, Darrell, you just wound me ya know."
"Now that feels good to know."
"Why nosey Darrell?"
"Mostly because a friend wouldn't have left me waiting that long outside the coffee shop"
why even ask me, "come help me to win Nina's heart", just to sit me outdoors in your girl's father's shop?
"One which you obliged not, Darrell".
"One which I obliged not only after meeting a rolling mantis"
"Darrell is it a rolling or boxing mantis'
"Well Drek, I don't remember mixing words,
I am telling you that today my eyes saw a Mantis roll, like an r-o-double el, roll
and even more, happened afterwards".
"Look, Darrell, I have had a tiring day, but then, how about you hold one edge of this basket, and help me lift it, please?"
"Not again you this selfish friend of mine."
"Common girl, this way too, we get to finish up in time, visit our oak friendship tree, and proceed to tell each other our today's eventful stories."
Drek tells Darrell. However, Darrell has this to say.
"It does sound like a good deal, Drek. However, you're still the world's most selfish friend.
And now, I can't help but wonder what my Nana even saw in you to have had her awed like that, it's just a yuk from me"
"Your grandmother? now, what did I do?"
"forget it already you this old fox, it can only help your head to swell
"Just hold the end of this basket already less I change my mind from helping you lift the damn bin."
"Whatever so say, Nosey Darrell"
Responded Drek. While these two got busy getting their fingernails dirty, their subjective encounters today have helped them to grow.
****
"So you go first"
'Why do I have to go first? and what happened to "ladies first?"
"Drek, trust me, you might wanna go first."
"Fine…but only because you asked nicely. Anyways, after asking you to wait right outside the doors,
Well, I had strolled in confidently as any good son-in-law would do."
(taking a reflective stance, Drek continues)
"Excuse me lady, but have you seen the love of my life today?"
"Mr, I may not know this love of your life, but our tree tea is the best in oaks-shore."
"Huh?"
"Excuse me though, the lady had said to me before moving past me."
"Drek you don't go about asking people after the love of your life."
"Well, excuse me nosey Darrell, but do you want to hear this story or not?"
(Darrell stretches her hands out as if to say;)
"Very well then, continue with the story"
"Only if you quit with the attitude, but anyways, after not sighting Nina inside the shop,
"I had myself pull up one of their shop's chairs."
"One of their chairs? Drek I was right outside waiting, shouldn't you have popped out to tell me to chill further?"
"Well, you can chill alright, because your dang's waiting paid off, or at least half of it anyway."
"Half of what?"
"I met Nina alright, but I may have also ordered an expensive wine while waiting to stand and talk to her."
"You what?"
"Yup,"
"No, you don't."
"Oh yes, baby I did, damn she was so hot and her buttocks rounded firmly"
"Aww Darrell, now that smack hurts"
It would've even hurt some more if I had been there to knock some sense into you Drek.
"Now I am not telling you past these lines."
"Oh, you will finish, of course, I need to hear all that transpired between Drek the lover and the girl named Nina."
"Your name should very well be registered as nosey Darrell.
But then, what is even there to tell?"
"Avoiding the part you must have gotten embarrassed I see"
"Hey, there is nothing wrong with sweeping and mopping your father-in-law's coffee floors."
"Very well Drek, I am just glad you're in one piece.
But then, I truly can't say the same for myself."
****
"Why?"
what happened
and lastly, what makes you say that?"
Drek asks Darrell, or should I rather say, scale?
"I don't even know where to start."
"How about you start from the top?"
"What does that even mean Drek?"
"It's a movie thing, like when an artist is asked to retake the lines of their characters from the beginning."
"Oh."
"Yep"
And so it got to Darrell's turn to swap stories
"Well, I had gotten tired from standing there waiting for you though,
When my feet could no longer carry my weight,
I moved to sit by the deck of your girl's family shop,
Swinging my legs just above the water's surface".
"Wait wait"
"Huh?"
"How about you cut to the main story Darrell"
"Oh, I thought it would be a movie thing"
"It still is, I am just eager to hear it all."
"Okay. How about I show you instead of telling you?"
"Well, that would be great."
"Yeah?"
"Yup."
"Alright, let's jump down and head straight over there."
"Wait"
"Drek I am tired of you always scaring me off with your constant halt, wait, stop"
"Well, it's not my fault your clothes caught a branch.
"Really?"
"Do I lie?"
"Silly maybe but not a liar."
"If I am the silly one, then what are you?"
"Dragon face? Ah well, I don't even want to think about it."
"Yeah me too so just hang in there while I jump down to untangle you."
Drek jumps down to help his childhood friend work out a part of her clothes that is caught in a branch.
Once free, Darrell jumps down and finds herself lying face down on the ground floor, very much absorbing the shock of falling from a tree branch.
"Aww, now that must hurt."
"Drek are you crazy?"
"me? But what did I do?"
"ahh.. .just forget it."
And when Drek moves to help her, she shrugs his help away.
Standing up to her feet, Darrell as usual dusted her skirt of its dirt
Once down to the ground, the two commence down the road towards the deeper woods of the oak-shore community