by Kristie Ponce

Created on: February 26, 2009

MICE AND MAN

You wouldn't think watching CSI together could be a romantic thing, but somehow, it was. Lying in our king-sized bed, my head on his chest, feeling warm and content, sharing a love of the morbid and mysterious, his fingers gently stroking my hair....

And then the phone rang.

He answered, and handed it to me. "It's your brother."

"Hey, Goob! What's up?" Hearing from him always makes me happy.

"Well, I got a problem, and I need your help."

You wouldn't believe some of the questions he's asked me over the years. Everything from, "Do women shave their butts?" to "What does herpes look like?" John had another question for me, and I was already starting to feel amused.

"You know I'm always here for ya, Bub."

"Yeah, well, 'here' happens to be cruddy hotel in Virginia, which is too bad, 'cause I could really use your expertise right about now."

"With what? Did you get hurt at work or something? Or is it another one of those herpes-type questions?"

"No," and I could hear him chuckling. "Nothin' like that. I've got RATS."

"Rats?"

"Yeah! That's what I said! You losing your hearing already, or what? So, what happened was, I was layin' in bed, drinkin' a beer and watching TV..."

I could picture him, still in his tattered and filthy work clothes, lying on his unmade bed, with his feet on the scrunched-up comforter, most likely with his boots still on. He'd have pillows behind him, propping him up enough to drink without pouring beer down his chest. Remote in his hand, flipping laconically from one channel to the next, interested in everything and nothing, always sure that there was something better on a different station, but never quite finding it.

"And this huge RAT comes, and it runs across the dresser in front of the TV screen, right? It runs across, and then it just SITS there, looking at me, like it's wondering what I'm doing in it's room!"

"More likely wondering why you can't just pick one show to watch."

"Haha, very funny. Okay, so I threw my bottle cap at it. I missed, but I came close, and it just sat there, and looked at me. So now I'm startin' to freak out, 'cause it's like it's just waiting for me to fall asleep, and then it's gonna come and eat me, or something...."

"They don't really do that, you know."

"Whatever. This one might. He's got that look. Anyway, so I took off my belt, and swung it at him...."

I'd been right about him lying there in his work clothes.

"But I missed, and hit the coffee maker instead. Busted the top right off it."

"You missed? You, Mr. Expert-Marksman-In-Everything-Except-Claymore-Mines?

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