Story Board

"... time goes by, so slowly ... and time can do so much ..."

"So much", I sighed with the back up singers on the Righteous Bros. "Unchained Melody". I was doing my evening roadwork to finish my night and I was heading for home.

One of my house mates, Russ was already in for the evening. He was in the master room. It was a three bedroom town home, and deciding who gets what room between me, Clarence and Russ was fairly simple. Sandie had introduced me to the guys, before Russ got his job at Bershire-Hathaway. Clarence was more a 'professional student', and as long as the parental gravy train was covering him, he was more than fine.

Before Russ got his job, the problem was, that he wanted more space, but needed a roommate who combined lack of obtrusiveness, with a need for little space, good taste and can clean behind themselves, all the while not indulging in wild parties and loud nights. Pretty simple to find in a college town, right?

My major need was finding a heated home with a bed. The whatever else's of potential roomies wasn't a major concern of mine, as I am a 'house trained' kind of cat. Sandie knew this, and she had seen Russ' ad in the student paper. She also happened to know him from a class, and knew that he was choosy about who he would have in is house. She correctly predicted that we would get along, based on a piece of music -- when I first met Sandie, I was singing one of my 'feel good' songs, 'We Got The Beat' by the Go-Go's after I had won a match during the nationals. Apparently, after she got to UM-KC, she ran into Russ and he too 'had the beat', as she put it.

Running for a hour in frigid temperatures, with a fine glaze of frozen frost on my running outfit, I thawed out on the floor of the master bedroom with Russ on his bed, watching 'What Not To Wear' on Bravo as we talked about what I was doing.

"So you think this is going to be it? This is going to be the beginning of your 'Mike Tyson' phase?" Russ asked mischeiviously. He knew I felt that Mike was mishandled from the start. I knew more to his back story, stuff that didn't get the headlines or ratings. But that was me. He added, "If I see Sage Steele's name on the caller ID ..."

Lying on the floor , I rolled my neck back, so I was looking at him upside down from the floor. "For real, it is more like the call you got for your job -- you were like Dieter from 'Sprockets' ", I said sitting up. "You were as happy as a little girl," and I did the Mike Myer's thing with the front of my shirt.

"Maybe, but I didn't have to stop school to do it." And he was right. In fact, Berkshire was paying him to CONTINUE school, and that was a deal you couldn't beat. I hadn't been in class for the past two weeks and this was the start of 'zero week'for me and my fight preparation. We had been really racheting things up in the gym. The amateurs were really into it, pushing themselves as hard as they could to push me. Giving Dalton his credit, he put his time in too, giving me good physical sparring.

As to Beth, it goes without saying that she was into it. You could see why she and Ken had such a strong bond together. Definitely a 'San Diego weather report' deal. In four days I'd be getting on that plane and finally leaving all the 'suckers and clowns' in my life behind ... and that was going to be a fact.

"What are you going to do, win or lose? I don't think you are going to be able to catch up, so that means this semester is lost, Mark. Are you going to come back to school?" This was something that had crossed my mind before. I had committed to a LIFE in Kansas City, and I could see it knitting itself around me. Win or lose, I was coming back to town and school. This was home for me now, and I didn't want to leave it. Besides, Sandie was still around ...

The front door opens. Clarence had came in. He had stopped playing in a cover band since his parents cut his allowance. It was rough at first, but he got a day time job and was doing alright. Classes were light, and he was coming from a study session.

"Mark, you here? I brought home cookies." That was his way of saying that Sandie, who he picked at by calling her 'Pecan Sandie', like the cookie, had come in with him.

I sprang to my feet, the iced perspiration in my suit having now melted, making me damp with exertion. "Sandie?" I called out.

"Yeah," she replied. I could hear it in her voice. "Guess who I saw today at the Student Center? Your philosophy study partner, Betty. Said you haven't been in class, what's up with that?"

"Look at me," I said from the top of the stairs. "If you have come to talk, let me grab a quick shower and get out of these clothes before I come down."

"You are in trouble now, " Russ said as he moved around me to go down to the first floor. "The girl who doesn't want you, wants you now, so she can beat you like a rented mule."

"Yeah whatever. Go down and do some fondue or something ... tell her some jokes or show her some of your still life, that is good for a laugh or two."

"So you say. But I am the one who is going to get read like Cliff Notes and dropped in a puddle."

"Hurry up then, I don't have all night!" That came from Sandie. She did have a bad bowl of Corn Flakes, or perhaps the kid from Punjab Province spit in her Latte today. I moved to grab my gear and get my shower on ... trying to imagine the conversation that awaited me.