A dancing monkey, p.2
A Dancing Monkey, page 2
We dig right into the cheese covered spaghetti. The meal came complete with garlic bread and garden salad. It even had some tiramisu for dessert. I became hungrier and hungrier with each bite.
Demi and I spend the meal joking around about work. He teases me about how busy I had always let myself get as marketing director, and I tease him about how he’d be in trouble if he ignores me for work.
My mind isn’t in a storm of panic and sorrow anymore. Demi being home is all I need...well my favorite food is helping too.
We finish and clean up as we wrap up the surprising number of leftovers. Even with my voracious appetite, the portion size was still more than we could take on. After stuffing what was left into the refrigerator, we retreat into the living room. Every night after dinner, we would watch Demi’s movie of the day. Demi puts on the newest action film featuring an all-star cast with loads of CGI. We finally settle in next to each other on our black leather couch, where we usually end up falling asleep on. The studio logo showcases itself-
And of course...someone’s cell phone goes off.
“This time it’s you, babe.” I declare as I turn towards Demi with a smirk.
“What the hell is going on?” Demi looks at his cell phone as he checks the caller i.d. “It’s my boss. I hope nothing is wrong.”
Demi seems worried as he answers the call. I can barely hear muffled voices from where I am. They sound a little panicked. I can tell something is
up.
Demi stands up quickly and hurries into the bedroom. I hear him opening his desk drawer. I get up and follow the sounds of Demi’s voice as he repeats information that’s given to him. I peer into the bedroom as soon as I get there. He’s frantically writing something down on paper. After a little while, he stops writing and drops the pen on the desk as he covers his eyes. Demi sighs, “Alright. Alright, that’s fine. I’ll do what I can. Just make sure nothing major happens until I get there. Bye.”
“Demi? What’s going on? Did something happen? Is everything okay?” I ask as I watch him while he looks over his notes.
He turns to me with the most anguished look. “Something terrible has happened: there was a fire.”
-Chapter 3-
“Oh my god!” With both hands over my mouth, eyes wide, I slowly step into the bedroom, watching as Demi turns to grab his stack of clothes. “At your office?!”
“No, at one of the properties I’m in charge of.” Demi replies frantically as he searches for his socks. “I have to go out there to see exactly how bad the damage is and go over all the insurance claims. Thankfully, no one was hurt.”
I sigh in relief. “Well, that’s good. But I can’t believe this happened on your first day.” I walk over to the closet to retrieve a suitcase for Demi’s belongings. “I’m so sorry about this, babe.” I look at Demi empathetically, making eye contact with him, as he takes the suitcase out of my hands.
“They’ve booked the next flight out for me and my boss. Unfortunately, it’s the red-eye leaving in 2 hours. And...I have no idea how long they’ll need me out there in Smith County. I’ll have to leave you here, Mel.” Demi looks at me with sad eyes as he explains, while he stuffs his luggage.
I put my hand on his back, rubbing it affectionately, “I’ll be fine. I’m supposed to hang out with Liz sometime soon anyway.”
After zipping his luggage up, he turns around as he grabs my hips and pulls me in close for a hug, as he whispers, “I’m so sorry, Mel.”
I squeeze back as I whisper in return, “It’s okay, this is your job now.”
“I know. But I still feel horrible… just leaving you right after what happened to you today.” he replies as he glances down, looking over the both of us “Hey. We’re still both wearing our work clothes.” We both smile as we look down at our appearance.
I really want him to do his best. This is his big opportunity to show how much he deserves this new position. I don’t even want to think about how bad it would be if he lost his new position, especially now that I’m out of work.
“I want you to get some rest, okay? I’ll probably be passed out on the flight there.” Demi says softly as he moves his right hand on my cheek next to my lips. I look deep into his eyes as I move my hand to his neck, pulling him in for a kiss on his lips.
His phone goes off again as it’s sitting on the desk. We both pull away from our kiss as he leans over to answer his phone. “Alright, I’ll be ready by the time you get here. Bye.” Demi hangs up as he rushes off into the bedroom to finish packing “He’s almost here.”
“Be sure to get me a souvenir while you’re out there, okay?” I say facetiously as I watch him zip up his suitcase.
Demi glances at his cell phone as he slips it into his pants pocket. He picks up his suitcase and walks past me as he quickly leans over and pecks me on my cheek, “Mel, for you, the world.”
I smile, watching him pass me as he walks into the living room. Cookie rushes up to him, excited as ever.
“Okay, girl. Daddy’s got to go for a little bit. You stay here and take care of mommy, alright?” Demi says as he closes his laptop and puts it in its carrying case. His cell phone goes off with a text message.
“That’s probably him now, I gotta go.” Demi says as he rushes to the door and puts on his shoes.
I walk out into the living room as Cookie runs over to my feet and looks up at me while I watch everything happening.
Demi finally makes it to the front door. I follow him as he makes his way outside towards the parked car, sitting next to the curb. It's a silver higher-end luxury sedan with an older bald man in the driver seat waving at me. I wave back, assuming he is Demi’s new boss.
Demi turns around when he opens the passenger door, “I’ll call you as soon as I get there! I love you!”
“I love you too!” I shout back waving as he gets into the car.
The night air is cold around me as I watch the glowing tail lights disappear around the block. I get a shiver all throughout my body as I make my way back into the house.
Again, it’s just Cookie and me. I decide to skip our evening walk and take a long hot shower. Afterwards, I change into my normal sleep attire: a pair of sweats and one of Demi’s large-sized tees.
I feel bored and anxious as I patrol through the house turning off all the lights in the kitchen and living room. Ignoring the paused movie, I turn off the television and retire to the bedroom with Cookie following at my heels. After switching on the small light on my nightstand, I turn off the light on the ceiling fan.
Throwing back the covers on the bed, I climb in as Cookie climbs up on Demi’s side. I lay on my side pointing my attention to Cookie laying in a similar position looking back at me.
“What do you want to do tomorrow, Cookie?”
Cookie responds by batting her brows at me, making me giggle. “I guess that means you don’t care, huh?”
Shifting to lay on my back, my eyes wander around the oak ceiling fan above us.
Liz thinks I should be taking care of myself. But I’m not sure where or how to begin.
A few minutes go by with my eyes in a daze. The ceiling was beginning to blur until I come up with anything to alleviate my fear of boredom.
I know. I still have my novel that was never finished. Rise of the Virus!
I reach my arm out to the cabinet door on the lower half of my nightstand. Inside contains a stack of novels I’ve read and never finished. Everything is there: mystery, drama, horror, adventure, fantasy, and even some erotica. The books I have managed to finish are organized on the bookshelf in the living room.
As soon as I see the fully illustrated cover of the paperback, I quickly remember the cliffhanger at the end of the last chapter: the main character had just activated the bomb to clear the whole city of the flesh-eating mutations that used to be human. She was climbing to the top of a radio tower to be picked up via her love interest in his helicopter. Pretty exciting stuff.
I’m always excited to start new stories. If a story hooks my interest enough, I tend to stick with it all the way through to the end. Looking at the stack of books I’ve left unfinished, I consider them to be what I could be doing now that I have all this free time. They are all great books but work always managed to tear me away. And then I’d find something on the “new releases” table at the marketplace. So, I’d become fickle and leave the story to continue on a later date.
No matter how busy life became with Demi and my job, reading always was my go-to for unwinding entertainment. He’s the movie buff, and often we’d argue which was the better version of a story; the book or movie.
I pull the novel I’m searching for out from the stack and swing the small cabinet door shut. Resting it on my stomach, I scoot myself up against the headboard behind me.
“Alright, let’s continue where we left off.” I murmur to myself leafing through the pages towards my bookmark.
The newest chapter starts with a bang, but the rest is just a bunch of character development, some back story and exposition dialogue, which slowly bleeds together making me lose interest fast. As I read further in, my eyelids become heavier. Eventually, I give in and place the book on the nightstand next to me.
My vision fades out as I fall fast asleep. Throughout the night I have several small dreams, which turn into nightmares that abruptly end, making no sense. I’m usually a heavy sleeper. I would think that going through the emotional stress of something like losing my career, would help my sleep like a log.
Before my eyes can open, I hear an alarm. My 5:00 a.m. wake up call. A healthy routine is said to keep stress down and maintain focus during chaotic periods in one’s life. And right now, a little structure is comforting to me.
Just like every morning before, my alarm is a rude awakening to a vivid dream...but after 5 minutes of waking up, the dream is forgotten.
I slowly open my eyes to see fur only an inch away from my face. During the night I must’ve needed a cuddle buddy and Cookie was a good enough substitute.
“Mmh.” I complain as I slowly shove back Cookie, turning my head away.
With the whole length of my arm, I stretch out to my left reaching for my phone. I grab it from my nightstand and bring the bright screen to my face. With one eye barely open, I dismiss the alarm and return it to the nightstand. After stretching out, I finally decide to slide off the bed, yawning and rubbing my eyes.
I make my way into the bathroom and brush my teeth. After drying my face off and returning to the nightstand, I notice my phone having a text message. It’s from Demi at 3:30 a.m. “We just got here to the hotel. I sure hope we get a mini bar with the room.”
Smiling, I know exactly how to reply: “Hey. It’s a work trip, so it’s all expenses paid, right? You’d better bring me home some mini tequila bottles! Lol.” I hit send and connect my headphones to the bluetooth of the phone. It’s time for my morning run.
I quickly change into my red and black track shorts and matching sports bra. After slipping my red sneakers on, putting on my upbeat electronic music, I’m out the door.
My run was the same path every morning. We lived in a community of townhouses that were designed almost the same throughout. The roofing was modern styled shingles with bright shades of sandy color. The walls were an eggshell white with stucco texturing. Each home had rocks in the yard rather than grassy turf that had color matching the roof tiles.
The sun’s barely glowing on the horizon, so the street lamps are still illuminating the narrow streets. What I loved the most about this neighborhood was the tall beautiful trees hanging over the roads. Their leaves changed with each rotating season. Right now, it’s autumn, causing the golden leaves to fall and crunch under my running sneakers.
The narrow streets eventually lead me out of my residential area and onto the town’s commercial district. This commercial district was riddled with advertisements and shops of nearly every kind.
I pass by ice cream parlors, fashion boutiques, furniture showcasing, office spaces, and the classic theater to list a few. Around the corner of the diner I come to a beautiful park complete with fishing ponds, picnic tables, grills, and playgrounds. It had a decent exercise trail for me, of course. I know this park like the back of hand since I’ve been here almost every weekday morning for the last 5 years.
I’m always the very first person here. Even before the older retired folks can get their power-walks.
By the time I reach the cobblestone bridge, it’s 6:00; I’m on schedule. When I go around the large walnut tree, 6:10. As soon as I reach the picnic Ramada, 6:20, on the dot like every morning. The next landmark is the blue park bench where my time will be an expected 6:30, as usual.
As I huff pass the bench, something in the corner of my eyes catches my attention.
Wait a minute, there’s something different! Something I’ve never seen before!
I quickly turn my head to see what was strange about the bench today: There’s an item left on it!
This stops me dead in my tracks.
My music instantly becomes a nuisance in my head, so I reach for my phone and turn it off.
The park’s policy on littering and soliciting is very diligent for keeping this place clean. The most I’ve ever noticed around this park was discarded cups and fliers.
Maybe the owner is still close by. Glancing around to check my surroundings, I see the park is tranquil. There’s not a person in sight, just a stray black kitten, a couple of chattering squirrels, and a few birds pecking at the grass.
Someone was here before me. And, they left something behind. I cautiously step closer towards the bench to get a better look as I whisper to myself. “What is that thing?”
-Chapter 4-
It looks like some kinda book!
But… it’s not like anything I’d see at the library or bookstore. This one has a leather cover with black lace sticking out from the spine… it looks like some kind of a spell book, maybe that’s why it’s catching my curiosity. The longer I look at it, the more fascinating it’s becoming.
I quickly blink my eyes a few times as I glance around me to see if the owner happens to be around, but no one is in sight.
Without any further hesitation, I reach down as I pick up the fascinating, spell looking book off the seat of the bench. As I look at it closer, it looks and feels pretty worn out. I quickly fan through the pages as I realize something: every page in this book has been handwritten.
I open to the very first page behind the cover. The paper looks and feels old, slightly yellowed with time. The handwriting is juvenile, no doubt the writing style of a middle school student. It’s written with black ink as it reads:
“Dear Diary,
This is my story. My mom thought it would be a good idea for me to write down my feelings and thoughts for you. I like writing. I just hope that you can put up with what I must share with you. And I hope that someday I won’t have to come back to you.
-Jon 10/1/20xx”
Holy shit! Is this some kid’s diary? Or was some kid’s diary? This book probably contains at least 200 pages! It seems to be filled out all the way to the end...and…
“What in the actual Hell am I even doing?” I ask myself as I slam the leather cover shut. This was someone’s life...their most private thought. I would have to be some sick creep to read this!
I bend down and carefully leave the book just as I remember it on the seat of the bench. I quickly turn around as I continue on my daily routine of running. This time, feeling more like I’m running from something instead of running for myself.
Why should I be concerned? If this Jon person really valued his stuff, he should be more careful as to not leave it lying around. He’s probably frantically searching for it right now. I’ll leave it alone. It would be awful and embarrassing if he were to catch me reading his personal writing material.
I make my way towards the playground, this time, I haven’t been considering my morning checkpoints, instead my mind is rippled with questions about the mysterious book that I just saw.
A diary left in plain sight, first thing in the morning, with no one around but me. Who was up this early in the morning with their diary...at the park?
Why would anyone even take their diary from their own private space and then forget about it out here...on a bench in the park?
I wonder what kind of secrets could someone write in their diary, anyways?
I’ve never kept a diary in my life. The closest thing was my daily planner. I normally share my thoughts with my friends or co-workers. My feelings were left for Demi to listen to. I kept very few secrets and I don’t have anything to hide...really.
My path takes me out of the park and back into the town square marketplace. The shops were beginning to open. The owners are wiping down the glass windows, daily special boards are being updated and supply trucks can be heard backing up. Retired folks are showing up almost out of nowhere to walk around. Kids are walking to school as housewives begin their day of shopping. Sounds of life are all around me, as I begin to notice the sun peeking over the town’s clock tower. The day is starting for everyone in town.
My pace of running slows down to a walk, joining the rest of the traffic on the sidewalks as questions are still hanging in the back of my mind. This isn’t what I should be thinking about.
The coffee shop is coming up soon. I think I’ll order a cafe latte at the window. Several cute little tables and chairs are set up just outside the shop where gossiping can be heard and laptops are being typed on.
I order my small cafe latte as I take a seat next to a student with headphones on as he watches cartoons on his cell phone. My shoulders relax along with my breathing as I begin to try and clear my mind, as I stare off into space. Eventually, my gaze is disrupted by the sight of a man browsing in the bookstore, which is next door to the coffee shop. Among the chatter from the group of old hens next to me, I can hear them mention how they can buy their stuff online now. Right away, it triggers a small bit of resentment since that’s what got me laid off from my job yesterday. I sit up in my seat, thinking that I really need to get outta here. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt to stop next door and look at the new releases, right? This way, I wouldn’t be invading anyone’s deepest thoughts or secrets.
