Knight Parade Second Chapter Meet the Cast

Chapter Two:

Meet the Cast

School is a buzz with the news of the computer and communications shut down, which makes students very difficult to control for the teachers. At two o'clock, those rooms equipped with TVs tune into what the President has to say about the crisis. But shortly after the "my fellow Americans" and "please remain calm and do not panic," the President's voice dies, along with the TV signal. Not to belittle the point but this does nothing for peoples' confidence, and calm is the last thing people want to remain. But as a result, the rest of the day at school goes by with distracted classes and pissed off teachers.

After school, the gang makes its' way to workout as they do about three days a week at the local gym. Paul is trying to teach himself judo to "defend himself" and is thus a self-proclaimed martial arts expert; he attempts to teach any of the rest of guys that will listen. As they work out, the prevalent topic of conversation is the technology shut down.

Tim blurts out betweens reps, "I heard that the gas stations are going to ration out gas to make sure it will last if communications are down too long."

Alex, whose father works for the local grocery, adds rather meekly, "My old man said that some people are starting to stock up on canned goods and water. He said the store may shut down so people don't panic and buy them out of stock."

Nick butts in as conversation allows. "Did you see that line at the bank when we drove by? It looks like a lot of people are going to be taking their money out of the bank and depositing it under their mattresses."

Pete laughs as he adds, "I'd like to deposit something else in my mattress."

Mike shoots back rather annoyed. "Shut the frig up cheese dick, I'll deposit you."

"Promises, promises," Pete responds arrogantly;

Mike, rolling his eyes, whispers," "Friger."

The gang finishes up their workout with more talk of the crisis situation and even more about the female members of the class. They all say their goodbyes, make their way to their vehicles, and then to their respective homes.

On the way home, Mike finishes up his smoke, throws the butt out the car window, and grabs a stick of gum to at least try and cover up the smoke breath. It's funny how smokers don't think that other people can tell that they smoke. Mike knows deep down that his parents know he smokes but he hides it. This, combined with his parents' denial, is a game that works for everyone involved. Pulling into the driveway, Mike gets out of the car and makes his way into the split-level, brown house and is greeted by his mother.

Mike's mom asks intrigued, "How was your day, sweetheart?"

Mike responds almost annoyed at his mother's interest. "Good, thanks Mom. How was yours?"

Mom answers, seemingly excited at the question. "Pretty good, no one got away or threw up on me. Always a plus."

Mike's mom, Deborah, works part-time as a teacher's aid for the elementary school, usually with troubled kids. She started working when Mike and his brothers began school; it allowed her to work during the day and be home when the kids got home. Mike has two younger brothers: Matt, fourteen, and Chris, twelve. They are, at least Mike believes, total hyper spaz balls. But what Mike does not remember is that he behaved in the exact same manner when he was their age. He still acts that way sometimes, according to his friends.

Mike, laughing at his usually reserved mother, says "That is always a plus Mom. What's for dinner?"

Deborah, turning to the kitchen, replies, "Goulash, it should be ready as soon as your father is home."

Mike really loves goulash. His friends think he's crazy because goulash is just some browned hamburger, noodles, tomatoes and cheese slopped together. He loves it almost as much as he loves Tim's mom's ground-beef flapjacks. We will get to those later.

Mike's dad, Larry, works for the city as an inspector, making sure houses and businesses are up to code and what not. Mike does not understand all of it, even though his father tries in vain to explain the finer points of his job to his children on a regular basis. Larry is one of those men that defines themselves through their job. He often works late, mainly because he likes his work so much, and always appreciates it if dinner is ready when he rolls home after six.

"Did you get that history paper done yet?" Deborah continues from the kitchen.

Mike rolls his eyes in annoyance at his mother. "Nah, I'll take care of it this weekend. I need to spend some time in the library anyway." Mike is notorious for putting off his homework till the last minute, and his mom always seems to know when he is putting something off.

"You know if you had done that last week you would not have to worry about it this weekend," Deborah states rather condescendingly.

"Oh Deborah, I know, but with the computers and pretty much everything else down the teacher may push it back or just cancel it," Mike comes back again, now really annoyed at his mother's persistence.

"I'm your mother. Call me Mom," Deborah answers, rather pissed off. Mike's mom is really anal about being called Deborah by her children. So Mike and his brothers make it a point to do so just to aggravate her. She returns the conversation to Mike's homework. "You know, you may just have to actually use the card index to find real books to do the work."

Mike bites back smartly, "Yeah Mom, and you walked uphill both ways to the old, one-room school house with a coal burning furnace in it too. Right?"

Deborah, trying to calm the situation, softly says, "I am just saying, son. Now have a candy bar to tide you over until your father gets home."

You know, most mothers would have you wait. You know, save your appetite for supper. But not Deborah. She always has bars, or cookies, or any other sweets you can think of laying around. Mike finds it hard to believe that he and his brothers don't weigh three hundred pounds. So Mike takes the candy bar and goes into his room, throws his book bag on the floor, falls on the bed, looks up at the ceiling and closes his eyes. Mike likes to daydream and if he focuses hard enough, he feels like he is actually walking in his dreams. He focuses on Claire; they are walking hand-in-hand across a green pasture. He focuses harder and now he can feel the morning dew on his bare feet. It is so cooling and soothing, he almost wants to strip naked and roll around in it. Boy, that seems kind of extreme, wonder where that came from, anyway. As they walk, the air begins to chill and the sun begins to dim. He turns to look over his shoulder, and a black cloud is moving over the sun and a cold wind begins to bite at his face. Just then there is a knock at his door.

Deborah interrupts loudly, "Soup's on, come eat."

"Darn," Mike thinks, "Just when things were getting interesting." Mike shakes the cobwebs out of his head, gets up, and makes his way to the kitchen. His father and brothers are already sitting down and filling their plates.

Larry greets Mike with an overly cheery tone. "Well hecko, Tiger, how's it going?"

Mike responds still rather sleepy, "Good Dad, how was your day?"

Larry passes the goulash to Matt. "Same stuff different day. How was school? Get that history homework done?"

The prompting about his history paper pisses Mike off once again. "Good grief, do you and Mom practice this routine at night? No I don't have it done yet. I have to spend some time on it this weekend. Besides, school is so chaotic with all communication shutdown stuff going on. The teachers, the ones that are there and not running off to get their money out of bank, are having trouble controlling class anyway. We're not really learning a thing."

Larry interjects with a worried look on his face. "Well that's not going to work. Maybe we should call the school, Deborah."

Deborah answers while trying to pull the goulash away from Chris. "Don't really think it will do any good Daddy. It might just be a matter of time before...," and she quickly shuts up like she has just said too much.

Mike turns to his mother intrigued, "Matter of time before what, Deborah?"

Disappointed in herself, Deborah responds, "Well hon, your father and I have been talking. If things continue to deteriorate, we may be moving out to the farm with your grandparents."

This takes Mike back a second. He really likes the farm and his grandfather is one of his favorite people. But leaving town means leaving his friends and Claire. He is not ready to leave Claire, not until he has at least tried to make something happen. You only live once, right?

Matt interjects seemingly out of nowhere, "I think living on the farm would be fun!"

Chris says, nodding at his brother, "Yeah, the horses are cool, and we wouldn't have to go to school anymore, right?"

Mike looks over at his brothers shaking his head at there naivety and says, "Alright, I guess that does make the most sense. What about your jobs? What about school?" Mike questions with a concerned tone.

Larry responds almost condescendingly to his son, "Well son, you seem to have answered some of that yourself. Mom is not sure if the teachers, and herself, are going to keep getting paid. No one has any word from the state and if that keeps up, and no paychecks come out, teachers will be leaving. And for me, if there are no more building regulations, I won't have a job, so we will need to do something to feed ourselves. We feel it will be safer on the farm then here in town. But we are just kicking it around right now, nothing is in stone, and a lot of things will have to happen to get us to move. Okay?"

Mike, with a sense of relief in his voice, replies, "Alright, thanks Dad."

The family finishes supper mostly in silence as they digest what has just been said. After supper Mike, makes his way to his room and starts to look at his history paper. Quickly, Mike decides it isn't worth it and daydreams some more. Again, he concentrates on Claire, and again, the dark cloud comes across his mind and he falls into sleep. Again, Mike is screaming for Tim not to let him go but Mike falls, as always, and then he is awakened for another day.

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Tim makes it home after the workout with the guys and pulls his old Ford F150 onto the yard of a run down, gray, double-wide trailer home. Now it may be insensitive to call Tim and his family white trash, but if the shoe fits, right? Tim's family isn't really to blame though; they had gone through some rough years on the farm and lost it two years ago. Tim's dad was forced to get a job at the local meat packing plant. Yeah, I said meat packing. I know, you sickos. Anyway, they have a lot of debt and are renting this old trailer on the outskirts of town, but Tim makes the best of things.

Tim turns off the truck and takes a second to look around at the trailer and the yard when a sick feeling erupts in the pit of his stomach. As it always does when he thinks about where the family used to be and where they are now. Tim has no idea what he would do without his friends; they accept him and never judge him, money or not. He gets out of the truck and walks into the trailer.

Tim says in a slightly defeated tone as he enters the trailer, "Hey Mom, I'm home."

Tim's mom responds jollily from the back of the trailer, "Hecko sweetheart. How was school?"

Tim's mom, Sharon, is a very large woman. She is almost six feet tall and well, how do I say this? She has a healthy appetite. But in an interesting contrast, Tim's dad is just a small guy, not even five-five and the thought of his mom and dad screwing makes Tim shutter. As, I suppose, most young people shutter when they think about their parents together. Tim obviously gets his size from his mother.

"Timmy dear, can you stir dinner on the stove?" Sharon asks rather winded.

Happy to help his mother, Tim answers, "Sure mom," as he takes the lid off to stir the meal and beans mixture. But before he places the spoon in the frying pan, Tim yells in a rather sickened tone, "Grief mom, not ground-beef flapjacks again."

This is one of his mom's old standby meals. Basically, it is ground burger browned with beans, served on a substance of flour and oil mixed together that, when fried, resembles a crumby sort of pancake. To finish the delicacy off, his mother tops the meat with slices of processed cheese and lettuce. Real classy.

In reality, these are Sharon's tacos, but Tim insists on calling them ground-beef flapjacks. And they happed to be Mike's favorite when he comes to visit. Weather Mike is sincere in his compliments to Sharon when he joins them for dinner or not, Tim doesn't know. But quite frankly, he is just glad to have the company.

Sharon answers, almost apologetically for the tacos, "Timmy, things are tight, you know that. Just be glad there is food on the table. With these computer problems and such, work might slow down for your dad too, so we do the best we can." Just then a crash came ringing from the back of the house, and the laughter of young boys followed.

"Boys stop rough housing or you'll be sorry when your father gets home," Sharon yells in a very annoyed tone.

Tim has two little brothers: Nate, nine, and Eric, seven. Both of them are big like their mother and like to rough house. After scolding the younger boys, Sharon finally emerges from the back of the trailer and gives Tim a big hug, almost smothering him.

Tim squeaks out, almost embarrassed, "Alright mom, I get it, jeez."

"So how was school? How are the boys doing?" Sharon's loving face looks down on him as she continues to prepare the meal.

Tim answers with frustration in his voice, "It was fine, but all the news with the computer problems and shut down stuff took up most the day."

Sharon tries to empathize with him saying, "Yeah hon, things might get bad for awhile, but don't worry. It'll blow over; there are safeguards in place for things like this."

Tim tries to cover the disbelief in his voice. "I hope you are right, Mom."

Tim's dad, Ned, gets home from work a little later than he usually does tonight. The family can smell their father well before he even arrives at the front door. Tim's father always comes home immensely dirty and smelling like an old hog. Even after a shower and fresh clothes, the stench still lingers. When his father first started the job at the meat packing plan, the smell really made Tim sick. But it's funny how you get used to a thing, not matter how disgusting, over time. By the time the family sits down for dinner everyone is starving and the boys are getting fairly irritable. The family commences eating and the usual family conversation follows.

"So Timmy how was school?" Ned seems to ask grudgingly.

Tim answers vaguely, trying to slide under his dad's radar. "Good Dad, thanks."

Ned just blazes ahead almost inappropriately with his questioning, "So, you picked yourself out a girlfriend yet, Timmy?"

Tim, now very embarrassed, sheepishly answers, "Jeez dad, why do you always ask that? And no, I haven't."

Ned lifts an eyebrow at his son asking, "You do like girls, don't ya boy?."

"Ned!" Sharon shouts, shooting her husband a look that he does not acknowledge.

Tim stands up, his face blazing with anger as he yells at his father, "Jeez Dad. Yes I like girls. Why are you so worried about me liking girls?"

Ned stares at his son with a concerned look, but this concern is much more for himself and his reputation than having anything to do with his son. Ned answers very flatly, "Well, I just don't want no stinking gay for a son."

Tim's brothers just stare at their father in his rage. Even though they don't completely understand exactly what is going on, they can tell that Tim and their father are really pissed. They decided to remain quite, wanting no part of this confrontation.

"Jeez Dad," Tim says, as fury rises in his chest and stems out burning through his body as he storms off to his room.

Slamming his bedroom door behind him Tim begins to cry. Time thinks to himself, "Of course I frigin' like girls, I'm not freaking gay. Not that it should matter, Dad should love me regardless."

But unfortunately for Tim Ned always tries to be a man's man. He is a small dude, and all his life he's been made fun of for not being a man. So he has a tendency to over compensate for things. Tim is a big dude, just like Ned has wanted to be all his life but never has been. So he wants to live through Tim as many fathers, and mothers, want to live through their children.

Tim likes girls, very much, but he is big and awkward and never really knows the right thing to say or do around girls. On top of that, the guys always give him a hard time about not having a girlfriend, which makes him even more uncomfortable. But the guys don't mean anything by it, and if he asked, they would stop teasing him and even help Tim. But he is too embarrassed to ask, so he keeps quite. Tim spends the rest of the night in his room after he finishes crying and reads until he falls asleep.

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Paul tears into the driveway of his house, a baby-blue, ranch style home, as he usually does and tries to sneak into the house, hoping to avoid his parents. But he is not that lucky today.

When Paul's mom hears him come in the back door she yells at him in an irritated tone, "Do not fly into the driveway like that young man. This is not some drag race. Come here, I need you to carry these boxes into the garage for storage before you do anything in that room of yours."

An older woman with peppered gray hair turns into the hallway to meet Paul. Paul's mom, Judith, is in her early sixties and is not getting around as quickly as she used to. You see Paul, was an "oops." Both of his parents were in their mid-forties when they had him. It was a very hard pregnancy, as most are for women of that age. But it never even occurred to them to terminate the pregnancy. They may be older, but they love Paul as much as any of their other children. Paul has three siblings: two girls and a boy, all in their mid to late thirties, with families of their own. Because of the age difference, Paul's folks treat him more like a grandchild than a child of their own. They all have a very hard time understanding each other. So Paul is pretty resentful as he has to help his parents, who are near retirement, with things most kids his age did not have to think about.

"Grief Mom, I just got home. Can't I chill for a minute?" Paul whines.

"No you cannot 'chill' for a minute. I need this done before dinner and your father hurt his back again so, please, do this now," Judith demands, even more irritated than before.

"Yes, ma'am." Paul goes out and grabs the first of the boxes and moves it out to the garage where his father, Merle, is putzing with something on the workbench.

"'Bout time you got home, boy, where you been?" Merle says with an extremely annoyed tone.

Paul feigns the apology. "Sorry Dad, was just hanging with the guys."

"Well if you spent less time 'hanging with the guys' maybe you wouldn't have had to retake Physics," Merle retorts very matter-of-factly.

"So what am I supposed to do Dad, spend all my time in my room studying?" Paul asks defensively.

Merle, the red starting to burn in his face, says, "Would that be the worst thing in the world, you're young you have lots of time for falandering."

Paul, with red also entering his face, responds, "Jeez dad, I'm seventeen years old this is the time I am supposed to be doing some "falandering"

Merle, looking like he may have a heart attack, answers, "That attitude will get you no where in life young man, you need to grow up."

Paul doesn't answer. He is so tired of arguing with his folks that he finishes moving the boxes and spends the rest of the night in his room playing video games. He only emerges to grab dinner, which he takes back to his room. Paul finishes his dinner and lies back on his bed and grabs a black marble he keeps in his nightstand. The marble is highly polished and very smooth, it is one of the few happy memories he has of his father.

Paul was no more than ten or eleven, camping with his father in Olympic National Park. Merle had worked as a National Park tour guide during his summers in college so he knows more about nature and camping than most of the given population. While they were camping he was telling Paul about Native American hunting practices and Paul found this marble on one of their hikes. His dad helped him polishes the stone and it always reminds him of that one good memory. Paul really wishes he could talk to his folks. He thinks they are so out of touch that he can't talk to them. They have nothing to offer him, or so he thinks, and he does his best to make his life decision as best he can on his own and with the help of his friends. His folks, on the other hand, just think he is a stubborn kid who just doesn't care to listen. Paul has a real need for validation from his folks but the lack of understanding and unwillingness to meet half way is seriously hindering this relationship. Paul's folks have a great deal to offer but the problem with communication is a burnt bridge that cannot be crossed.

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Alex parks his car on the street in front of his house and sees that both his folks are already home from work. He sits in his car for a minute looking at the house, an old, brown, ranch-style home covered with vine growth. Alex does not like to go home; that's why he insists on spending as much time as he can with the guys. The guys are his real family and his parents don't seem to care much for him.

Alex has an older and younger brother, both of which are smart, popular and successful. Alex does not fit that mold and his parents don't let him forget it: he is the forgotten middle child. Alex's dad, Scott, is an assistant manager at the local grocery store and his mom, Nancy, is an insurance secretary. Alex walks into the house and is greeted harshly by his mother. "You're late, we already ate dinner. If you're hungry, find something in the fridge."

"Thanks for waiting for me," Alex says quietly yet sarcastically.

Nancy, almost smiling, fells no remorse for the family's decision to start says, "Well, we were all home and on time. I'm not going to let good food go cold just because you can't show up on time."

Alex just hangs his head and opens the fridge to see what he can find for himself for dinner. While he is digging, his dad walks into the kitchen.

"Nice you could show up tonight." Scott says sharing his wife's annoyance about their middle son's persistent tardiness.

Alex, very quietly and slightly ashamed, tries to apologize. "Sorry I was late, Dad."

"Sorry nothing. If you're late again, I'll have your car keys."

"Oh, come on, Dad, I was a little late. It's not like I came home drunk or anything."

"Don't sass me boy, now get your food and go to your room and finish your home work, the rest of us are going to a movie." His father says turning to grab his coat and keys.

"Thanks for inviting me." Alex answers under his breath trying to force back the tears that are swelling in his eyes.

"Show up on time and maybe we would have."

"Doubtful," Alex thinks to himself. "Heck, if I didn't come home at all, they probably wouldn't have noticed."

Alex grabs some left over roast beef, cheese and bread and heads to his room. He hears the family car leave the driveway as he slaps the cold meat on the wheat bread and places some cheese on top. He then takes a single piece of cheese and eats it first, an impromptu appetizer, and finishes by putting a piece of bread on top of it all and commences eating. After he finishes his make-shift sandwich, he looks over at the phone, wondering if he can still get a connection. The phone service has been on and off all day. He picks it up: dead. He puts down the receiver and picks it up again. He hears the dial tone droning back at him. Surprised by his stroke of luck he dials *67 (to block the ID so the receiving line can't trace him) and his hand instinctively dials a number that it knows so well, he doesn't even have to think about it.

A girl's voice is heard on the other end. "Hecko," she says tentatively. Alex sits in silence his heart pounding as he recognizes the voice he cannot resist.

"Hecko? Is anyone there? Hey, if this is the same creep, quit calling here before I change my number again," comes blazing from the other end, and Alex can hear the girl slam the phone down in disgust.

Alex hangs up his end, and sits for a minute just remembering the sound of her voice. Brittney is a beautiful girl and Alex is absolutely infatuated with her. She has, in fact, changed her number three times in the last year because of his fear to talk to her. But Alex, weather it's through sheer persistence of just a desire to get a little, keeps getting her new number.

Now this seems pretty creepy, I know, and Alex can be a pretty weird guy sometimes. But he's really just one of those guys that is sincere, but he just comes off as awkward and sulky. Alex just doesn't know how to really socialize; he has trouble talking with the guys, let alone a girl.

Unfortunately, Alex has no emotional support from his family and, because of this he has a real hard time relating to girls. He has never been on a date, never had a girlfriend. But if Alex only had the nerve to ask, Brittney would go out with him. She isn't in love with him or anything like that, but she thinks he is cute and thoughtful, and she kind of feels sorry for him anyway.

Alex lies on the bed and fantasizes about dating Brittney, holding her hand, and kissing her. His thoughts stray and he thinks to himself, "I'm such a frigin' loser, Brittney would never go out with me. Heck, she is probably laughing at me right now. Witch." He finishes up his homework and sits down to his favorite fantasy role-playing game on the computer and losses himself in another world until, well after midnight, he falls asleep.

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Claire makes her way home from dance line practice accompanied by her friend Brittney. They talk about the usual stuff: class, that witch Erin, the self-proclaimed leader of the dance line team, and, of course, boys.

Brittney asks, teasingly, trying to get a rise out of Claire, "Hey, you know Mike is really cute, would you go out with him if he asked?"

Claire answers, knowing that Brittney is just trying to egg her on, "You're such a witch sometimes Brittney, frig! I don't know, he's cool but I don't think it would work out. But what about you and Alex, he seems to like you?"

Brittney shrugs, pauses in thought and then answers, "Alex is kinda weird, but he is pretty cute, like a little lost puppy."

Claire says with a serious, caring tone, "I think he's really a good guy and you deserve a good guy after all the jerks you have gone through."

Brittney looks at her best friend appreciatively and answers, "Thanks Claire, you know you can be a witch sometimes but you're a good friend."

Claire responds in an almost embarrassed tone, "Ya know, I try, so would you go out with Alex?"

Brittney says with a smile, "Yeah I think I would give him a chance, who knows right?"

"Yeah, who knows," Claire answers, lost in thought over what would happen if Mike did ask her out.

Brittney looks downs at her watch, huffs and says, "Crap, it's late I need to get home for supper. See ya tomorrow Claire."

Claire waves at Brittney as she walks away, "Yeah, see ya Brittney."

Claire arrives at her white, Victorian, almost mansion of a home. The house sits in the middle of the lot with two large Oak trees out front. She walks though the front door and into the empty house. Claire is an only child; her parents are very career driven and had only wanted one child as kind of a "check it off the to-do list" thing. Now, don't get me wrong, Claire's parents are not bad people. They provide well for Claire and care for her very much. They are always interested in her life and how she is coping with school and friends. But work is still their priority and that means most of the housework falls to Claire. Claire's mom, Susan, works for the local DA's office as a prosecutor and her dad, Kevin, works as a senior commercial VP at the local bank. Because of this lack of supervision, Claire does pretty much what she wants as long as the house is clean and dinner is ready when her folks get home.

Claire begins to prepare the chicken for supper and goes up to her room, where she tosses her bag onto the bed, and walks past her trophy "shrine." Claire is very athletic, which her parents strongly support almost to a fault. At a young age, she became interested in softball and basketball, but her real love was archery. This was something her parents were not thrilled about. She had watched Robin Hood as a young girl, even insisted on wearing her bow and arrows on her back at all times. She even started stealing valuables out of the family safe, and jewelry out of her mother's jewelry box. When caught storing this stuff under her bed, she confessed that she was going to give it to the poor. She kept this up until her parents signed her up for archery lessons.

At the age of fifteen, she took second place in her age group at the State Competition and had finished in the top ten at the National Championship. Although now, she has not picked up a bow in a while. When she got into high school, she was more preoccupied with her friends, dance line, and, of course, boys.

The chicken starts to sizzle and emits a faint aroma of lemon pepper seasoning. Claire starts some laundry and takes a minute to go out the back yard and pick some flowers and arranges them in her parents' office. This is Claire's way of saying she cares. She may have a rather rough exterior for a girl but she has a caring heart and wants those around her to be happy. She then finishes up fixing dinner.

Her folks arrive home at the usual time, and they engage in the usual banter at the dinner table.

"Claire is your next dance line competition this weekend or next?" Kevin asks with a real sense of interest.

"Next week, Dad." Claire is slightly annoyed by the subject matter as her parents push her athletics so hard.

"So are you girls ready? Going to take regions again?" Susan, almost overly interested, asks of her daughter.

Claire grudgingly answers while serving herself a chicken breast, "Team's looking good, Mom; they're pushing us hard." She sometimes resents her parent's focus on athletics, but it seems to be one of her parent's main routes to identifying with her. But Claire did her best to put up with it out of respect for her parents. At least they tried hard to be interested and involved in her life.

"That's good. So when are softball tryouts starting?" Claire's dad never believed that archery and dance were "true" sports, and still pushes Claire towards the more athletically-accepted sports.

Claire answers rather annoyed, "Next month Dad, but I don't know if I'll have time to get ready with dance line, and school, and everything else on my plate." Claire's dad looks at his wife with a questioning face. He is very concerned that his daughter may be losing her focus on goals that he sees as important.

Susan asks sharing her husband's concern, "You mean you're not going to try out this year, Claire?"

"I don't know, Mom," Claire defensively shoots back at her mother.

Kevin is a very smart guy, he knows very well his daughter it almost at the age where he will be unable to help mold her life. Over the last year he has slowly come to grips with the fact that his daughter is now a young woman and she will be one her own soon. She will be making decisions on schools, careers, and most likely candidates for a husband. This realization is what has pushed Kevin to pressure his daughter in making positive choices, they may not be easy choices, but positive none-the-less.

Kevin places his hand on Claire's forearm and insists, "Well don't be silly hon, you're so good at it and the team almost took second last year. I think you girls really have a shot this year."

"I'll think about it, Dad."

"You sure will hon," Kevin says smiling at her.

Claire places her open hand on her father's hand and smiles at him. She wants to please her parents but also wants to change the topic of conversation and asks, "So how was work today, with the computer and phone problems and stuff?"

Again, Claire's folks look at each other. Susan tries to sound positive but it is clear from her uncomfortable posture that she is very worried about the shut down and its impact on her work. "Well hon, it really made it challenging at the office with all the case files in the database and online. We lost a lot of information, but it should just be temporary, so when things get back to normal it will be OK."

"Yeah same here," agrees Kevin, "just have to wait a couple days or so until things get straightened out." But even with their convincingly enthusiastic tone of voice, neither looks very confident about the issue, but Claire does not push the matter. Kevin in particular seems uncomfortable with this topic. He knows that things are going to be changing drastically and very soon. He is trying to process this and how he and his family will adapt.

They finish their meal and Claire's parents proceed downstairs to their adjoining, similarly furnished offices and back into their workday. Susan notices the fresh flowers in the office that her daughter left for them, she smiles to herself. She thinks, "Somehow we have raised an amazingly thoughtful child, maybe we are too hard on her sometimes." She takes a wiff of the flowers and sits down to some case files.

Claire cleans up what's left from dinner and goes to her room soon after to finish up her homework. Finally, after spending some time jotting thoughts down in her diary, she drifts off to sleep.

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Nick pulls into the driveway of his dark-blue, old farm house and quickly makes his way inside. The house sits just on the outskirts of town, it was one of those cases where the town grew up to it. So Nick's family does not farm, his folks bought the house because it was in their price range. It is a little run down, it could use a paint job, the lawn needs some attention, and the inside is not much better but it has the homey kind of feel to it. It's Thursday and that means Nick's mother, Linda, is bringing home fried rice, sweet and sour chicken and lo mein from the Chinese restaurant she works at. Nick loves Chinese, even though he has it at least once, if not more, a week.

You see, when the guys are poor, they go to the restaurant Linda works at to get free food. Nick is probably the unhealthiest guy you will ever meet. He eats out, yeah, I said eats out, get over it, almost every meal. This is not all Nick's fault, given his folks go or order out all the time too. Nick also likes to smoke, a lot, and drinks when he gets the chance. He never sleeps, except in class; he plays video games and watches movies until the wee hours of the morning. Nick does work out with the guys but it is more of a social function for Nick. He just goes through the working out motions, and hey there are sweaty chicks in tights there, always a plus for Nick. He is always on the can and always coughing up something nasty but he is one of those people that just doesn't give a frig and he is happy. I guess that's what matters.

Linda walks in the door, struggling to balance the bags from "King's Wok" in her arms as she weaves past the piles of shoes and garbage.

"So Nicky, how was school today? How are the guys?"

Nick takes his usual place on the video rocker in front of the TV with a gaming controller in his hands. He answers his mom in his blunt, yet honestly open manner.

"Same old crap, Mom. School was boring and we hung out after school as usual, went to McDonalds for lunch. Double quarter-pounders. It was tasty."

For a mother so loving and nurturing, you'd think she'd care more for her son's health, yet she heaps mounds of food onto his plate. As she brings the Chinese mound into the living room, she replies, "I bet it was. I almost went there for lunch, too, but Burger King had three double cheeseburgers for three bucks, you can't pass that up."

At the missed chance to save a buck, Nick drops his controller and coughs as the lit cigarette falls out of his mouth. "You're crapting me, Mom! Wow, gonna have to check that out tomorrow."

Linda asks laughing at her son, "So why aren't you watching Baywatch?"

Nick responds loudly trying to talk over the video game, "Darn TV's not working with communication shut down and crap. Didn't you hear about the computer problems today and stuff?"

Linda answers almost sarcastically as she takes her place on the plaid couch behind her son and pulls up her TV tray. "Yeah, but don't care much. Don't have a computer in the restaurant! Computer can't make General Zso's chicken, ya know. But some of the customers were talking about it. But let's dig in. Your father said he would be home late, problems with some machinery at work."

Nick's dad, Gerald, works at the local chicken butchery. He is in charge of dipping the chickens into the scalding water. Nick would be lucky to make it that far in the butchery by the time he reaches his father's age. But heck, he could have aspirations to make it big and reach the meat processing plant. After dinner, Nick and his mom both light up and enjoy an after-meal smoke.

"So everything's going OK for you sweetheart?" Linda asks her son.

Nick turns to his mother, rather surprised by the serious nature of this question, "Yeah Mom, fine. Why so worried?"

"Oh, it's really nothing. You've just seemed restless lately. Just want to make sure you are OK." If Nick is honest with himself, he really has been flitting from thing to thing, and is never quite satisfied with his booze and nicotine entertainment.

"Just seems like I am waiting for something to happen, Mom. Kind of anxious, ya know. But everything's cool."

"Good. Just so you know, you can always talk to your father and me."

Nick smiles at his mother appreciatively. "Thanks Mom, I know."

Nick has an older brother in the Marines, Sean, so Nick was their only child at home and his folks are pretty focused on him. They want to make sure he is happy and well-adjusted. Nick may have some very bad health habits, but he has a good home. Nick goes to his room after talking with his mother and throws in a movie. He drifts off to sleep about halfway through.

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Pete no sooner pulls into the gravel driveway in front of his parents white split-level house when his mother, Karen, comes storming out of the house toward his truck, her fists tight and her teeth clenched. His mother has one of her "I'm pissed as heck" faces on. Pete rolls down his window.

Pete says, trying to lighten the mood with some humor, "You look like someone just crapped on your favorite dream, Mom. What's going on?"

Karen answers in a rage, "Don't be smart young man and one guess what's wrong."

Pete shaking his head asks the obvious question, "Is he at the bar again?"

Karen dropping her head in frustration answers, "Yes, Chuck just called he's drunk at the bar, again."

Pete cussing his father on the inside, "Grief it's barely six, OK I'll go get him."

Karen responds appreciatively, "Thanks sweetheart."

Pete pulls back onto the road and drives down to the local bar. Pete's father, John, has a bad drinking problem. He's not a mean drunk, he has never hit his wife or any of his children. But he is always drinking, if not at the bar then at home and he is always in a stupor. Pete doesn't know if he has ever seen his father completely sober. He drinks when he gets up until he crawls into bed, if he can make it that far. Pete also does not know how the heck his mother puts up with it. How could they possible have any sort of relationship with the constant drinking? Pete has never really been able to talk to his father about anything serious. His father would either crack jokes or just not comprehend what Pete was saying. Pete pulls up in front of the old bar. It looks like a glorified double wide trailer with an old bison skull on the front of the building. The Bucking Bison Bar, or triple B as the townies call it.

"What a dump," Pete thinks as he walks in the front door. As he gets to the main bar area of the bar he hears, loud and clear as can be, his father bellowing, "There once was a man from Nantucket ..."

"Frig dad", Pete thinks to himself and then yells forcefully as he walks towards his father, "Hey, old man, it's time to come home, mom's pissed."

John swinging around to see who is making all the noise, "Hey is that my boy? Come here boy and have a drink with your old man."

Pete answers his father shamefully, "Dad, I'm not even eighteen and besides I think you have had more than enough for all of us." He takes his dad by the arm and tries to lead him out of the bar but his father shakes him off.

John swings back around to the bar, almost falling on his ass and declares, "I'm not ready to go home yet, another round for the bar Chuck, on me."

Chuck obviously has had enough of this drunken patron and says, "Go home John, you're son is here to get you. Don't make more of a scene than you already have."

John slurring badly says, "Who are you, my mother Chuck? I'll go home when I darn well feel like it."

Pete tries to grab his father again and tries to convince his father saying, "Well start feeling like it dumb ass. We need to get home so you can sleep this off." Pete is embarrassed, no seventeen year old kid should have to drag their father out of the bar and drive him home, now the other way around maybe, but not like this. John finally gives in and Pete half carries him back to his truck and puts him in the passenger side.

As he pulls out of the bar Pete cannot hold his extreme frustration in anymore and yells at his father, "Frig dad, why do you do this, you make fools out of us and especially Mom. Why do you do this to her?"

John, trying to actually explain in some rational manner, responds, "Boy, I just need a little something to help me relax after a hard day at work. Besides everybody likes me more after I've had a couple."

Pete, trying to act the roll of the parent, says sternly, "They don't like you more old man, they just laugh at you because you act like a frigin' idiot." But John doesn't hear this last part as he passes out just before they get home. Pete half-carries, half-drags his father into the house and deposits him on the couch. Pete covers his father with a blanket as he begins to snore.

Karen, coming down stairs to meet her son, says, "Thank you for bringing him home sugar, I'm sorry you had to do that."

Pete says almost proudly, "It's OK Mom, whatever I can do for you. Sorry he acts like such an ass."

Karen says with a stern look on her face, "Don't you apologize honey. It's his problem not yours."

Pete looking at his mother responds meekly, "Yeah I know Mom, thanks."

Pete, his mother and younger brother and sister sit down for pork chops in a nice mushroom sauce with mashed potatoes and cheesy cauliflower for supper. His younger siblings, Beth and Keith, clamor on about school and their teachers.

Beth says very matter-of-factly, scooping potatoes onto her plate, "Mrs. Thomas left us for like an hour today to go to the bank. She said if the world is coming to an end she is darn sure going to get her money."

Both Karen and Pete drop their forks and look at Beth, Karen says very sternly, "Young lady you do not use that language in this house! Are you saying your teacher left you completely alone for an hour?"

Beth answers with a very confused look on her face, "But Daddy uses that language all the time, why can't I?"

Karen responds, picking back up her fork and digging into the cauliflower, "Because young ladies do not talk that way. It is disrespectful and it is disrespectful when your father uses that language too. You remember that young lady and if I hear that again you will be losing your cell phone privileges."

Beth responds in a snotty tone, "Well, it's not like cell phones work anymore anyway."

Karen in an attempt not to blow up, places her fork down, looks right at her daughter and says, "One more smart comment young lady and you will be spending the rest of the night in your room without your television."

Beth looks down at the floor, knowing she has been beat, apologizes, "Sorry Mom."

Keith, not wanting to miss a chance to get a jab in at his sister, whispers, "Yeah Beth, no more smart comments."

But Karen picks up on this and says sternly to her son, "Do you want to spend the night in your room young man?"

Keith also drops his eyes to the floor and responds, "Sorry Mom."

Pete has had enough of his siblings fighting and turns to his mother and asks, "So Mom how was your day?"

Karen says with a loud sigh, "Stressful sugar, very stressful. I will probably have to go back later tonight, without the computer systems working correctly it's so hard to keep tabs on the patients. Especially those that need the machines to breath for them or feed them." Pete's mom is the nurse supervisor at the hospital and makes a very good living doing that. If that weren't the case his father would probably drink the family into bankruptcy.

Pete replies, while reaching for more pork chops, "Yeah I was thinking about you today Mom and what a nightmare the hospital would be without the technology working right."

Karen answers trying not to sound overwhelmed, "We're doing the best we can but it is challenging and probably just going to get worse as time goes by."

The family finishes up supper and Pete makes his way to his room where he thinks about wrapping up some homework. He then decides to finish reading the book on the Heian period of Japanese history he has been working on and drifts off to sleep during the last chapter.

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Justin is in the garage working on his car speaker system when his mother, Amy, pulls into the driveway of their grey, two-story home.

Amy asks, somewhat concerned, "Hecko dear something wrong with the speaker system?"

Justin responds in a muffled voice from the trunk, "No Mom, just not happy with the way the crossover is working. I'm trying to tweek it or maybe just get another one, how was work?"

Amy sighing loudly, "A pain the butt dear, when the inventory system shut down we had to resort to filling orders the old fashion way. By reading them off paper and checking off what we had, what was sent, and what we needed. I swear you take a computer away from someone and they cease to use their brain. Anyway, how was your day?"

Justin's mom is the office manager of the local paper distributor. She has been there for almost thirty years and after her husband passed, she did not need to, but chose to keep working. The family received quite a large amount of money from her husband's life insurance policy, almost five million. Of course they didn't get it all at once and it wouldn't last forever but it was a nice chuck of change.

Justin responds closing up the trunk, "My day was good. Lots of talk about the computer issues and what not, but other than that it was fine. School was OK too, hung with the guys and worked out at the gym after school, same old, same old."

Amy and Justin walk through the garage door and into the kitchen. Amy continues the conversation as they walk, "Sounds good, are the guys coming over tonight?"

Justin shakes his head and says, "Probably not, with everything that's going on they will probably stay with their fams."

Amy responds almost disappointed, she likes having the guys around, it was nice to have house full of life. Amy says, "I just wanted to make sure I didn't need to make extra food for supper."

Justin answers, smiling at his mother, "Just me, ma."

Amy, looking into the living room, asks, "Is Megan home?"

Justin sits at the kitchen table and grabs the newspaper, "Yeah, in her room I think."

Megan was Justin's little sister, he also has an older brother and sister. Both are very successful, a CEO and a pediatrician. To Justin his siblings success seems a lot to live up to. But it is not his mother that has high expectations of him. It was just pretty much everyone else, teachers, friends of the family and random people around town. The family is also treated differently because their father had died. Everyone gives them some sort of special treatment and Justin hates it. He just wants to be treated like everyone else. That's one thing he loves about his friends. They have no real expectations of him and they give him heck just like anyone else.

Dinner is great as usual, Justin's mom is a superb cook. They have lamb chops in a nice cranberry sauce, rice and steamed carrots. Amy attempts to spark a conversation with her daughter over dinner. You see Megan sits through most meals, well sits through most everything, without saying a work.

Amy asks, trying to pull any information from her daughter she can, "So dear how was school today?"

Without even looking up from her plate Megan responds grudgingly, "OK."

Amy sets down her fork and tries again to spark some sort of life out of her daughter and ask, "Just OK?"

"Just OK," Megan answers again without looking up.

Amy continues persistently, "Learn anything new?"

"Nope," Megan responds taking a drink of milk.

"Well, how is your friend Lindsey?" Amy prods.

"Fine," Megan answers with no more emotion than before.

Amy looks over at Justin with a confused look and shrugs her shoulders. To which Justin answers with a shrug of his own shoulders and they go back to their meal.

After dinner Megan quickly goes back to her room. Every since she hit puberty she is almost a recluse, very ashamed of her body, even at home.

As they finish up the meal Justin asks with a rather concerned tone, "So Mom, what's gonna happen with these computer problems?"

Amy decides not to sugar coat it for her son and answers, "Not sure dear but it doesn't look good. I think it's a bigger problem than people let on and some people are getting pretty nervous."

Justin looks out the dining room window as if almost expecting to see something and responds "Yeah I got a bad felling about the whole thing. But I suppose there's not much we can do about it now, let it come, right?"

Amy smiles at her son, "That's right dear, let it come."

Justin spends the night with his Mom watching an old movie. At first impression you would really not take Justin for the kind of guy who likes to hang out with his mother but he does. She is probably the coolest lady he knows and that makes him smile. He goes off to his room after the movie, finishes up some homework and falls asleep.