- 10,544
- Columbia, MD.
- Parnelli_Bones
I'm gonna see if I can try to get this started again WITHOUT interruptions! I'm at work...but it's pretty slow today. Some guy brought in an '01 Chevy Blazer, asking if he could get his front brakes done. I drive the truck, pull it in, look at the brakes, and it looks as if they're still plenty good. 
Told my boss "why does this guy need brakes? They almost look new!" There's no pulsation, no brake squeaks or other noises..
We're too honest. Some shops would have just put new brakes on. But now since I've got this window of time (no cars at the moment) let's hope this can get rolling again. There's going to be A LOT of story if I don't get interrupted.
...was now daydreaming. Gazing around the restaurant while her family bickered about this and that. Would it ever end? The constant snapping at one another? All families were like this of course. All of them had little squabbles and such, she assumes.
Right now she was just sitting back, her spaghetti (without meat) only half eaten. She gazes off into the next room. OMG she thinks. There's another room that goes off from the one the Wellingtons are sitting in, and OMG look at that cute Italian guy! Immediately, she starts gettting this weird, queasy feeling...."hormones" according to the sex-education class she took last semester in school. The man (boy?) looks about 18, and has dark hair and olive skin, as if he'd been out in the sun quite a lot.
He looked like a cross between Luke Perry and Johnny Depp! 
Why couldn't Princess have a stunner like this in her school, she thinks, totally oblivious to the fact that the boy/man is too old for the 6th grade! All the boys in HER school were such dorks! 
Her mind now switches gears! OMG OMG WHAT DO I DO? she thinks, even though the man/boy is too old for her, and even if she does "hook up", the Wellingtons are all supposed to leave Rome tomorrow!
Thinking back to one of her soap opera scenes, she remembers one where Daria (soft lighting and all) wanted the attention of Luke. The wedding between Melissa and Grant had just ended, and nobody was currently in the chapel...except Daria and her rich, meticulous hopeful Luke. What did Daria do? Princess tries to remember...oh yea!,
Princess decides to try a little trick, teenage experimentation and teen spirit fueling her nervously.
She walks into the anteroom (which is a little dark) and drops her purse. "Ooops! How clumsy of me to drop my purse! OH! What should I do?"
The guy looks over, a couple hairs covering his left eye (soooo romantic!) and says in an even, smooth-sounding tenor voice....
"Mi scusi signora...Vedo che hai abbandonato la tua borsa, il tuo piccolo trucco non funziona con me la mia principessa".
"Buuuut whaaa...ahhhhhhh AHHHH!!!" she nearly screams, running out of the restaurant back to her room!
"Princess?" asks Tiffany. Was that Princess?"
"Ahhhh, what did you say?" says Graham, finishing off the remainder of his home-made Lattefier, COMPLETELY unaware of what was going on with his daughter! The sweetness of the cocoa! The wholesome fulfillment of the foamed milk! The touch of vanilla and cinnamon on top of it all! The caffeine!
And the way it all syruped together, combining into one flavorful concoction of a drink! Not perfect as the barristas could do it, but close enough for now! Oh, he couldn't WAIT to get back to America! He wouldn't just order his favorite drink once he got back to STarbucks, Graham promised himself, no he would fricking' MOVE IN if he could. Move in, pay rent, and NEVER LEave!
Suddenly, his cell phone rang again.
"Hellowww, Graham Wellington speaking!"
"'allo I am looking for Mister Vellington" says a man's voice that sounds European in some way.
"SPeaking!"
"My name is Victor, I am GT2 RAcing Coordinator, you are driver in za race tomorrow, and vee vuld like to do uh...how you say....enterview you for magazine?"
Graham freaks out now! Interview?
Yikes! How did htey find him? What would happen now if they figured out where he was staying? His lattefier drink was fueling his anxiety...all that caffeine and sugar, but (of course) he was unaware of this...but dammit!!! He COULD NOT let them find him, his family all about! These guys could ruin EVERYTHING if Tiffany and his mother-in-law found out!
"Ahhh, NO! No interview NO!"
"But sir! All za other drivers have done...enterview. Vee need just a few moments of zur time!"
DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was unacceptable! How could he get this bozo off the phone and hide his family from this? OH the anxiety! But Grhaam of course had dealt with plenty of anxious moments before in the courts. Escapism was rarely an option at such times, but now he had a choice!
He snaps his phone shut before the man could speak another word! Quickly, he looks up the number and then programs his cell to block it!
"Who was that, Graham?"
asks Tiffany slyly...
"HUH? oh nothing! Just Findertson over at the firm". he concocts..."apparently a supplemental deviance pertaining to sub-section 14.B has suddenly remanded constituation for the Kipp foundation! And we all know what that means!" he says to the rest of the family, who could care less what it means. "It means that in 24 hours, the Matriculation grant from all 13 sub-sections leading up to 14.B will be null and void, if our motions do not get pertinently filed!" he says, slamming the table for emphasis!
"Uh huh!" says Tiffany again. "Just as I thought..." that carefully sly voice once again
"huh? What?"
"Oh nothing! Nothing! GO on about your....uh....business, Graham!"
"WHAT WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" he demands
"Grammy, keep your voice down!" says Grandma.
A half hour later, the Wellington clan back in their hotel rooms, Graham is now back on his laptop, as it were, researching up some pertinent information as he configures his final Clubman Cup odds, when (again) his phone rings! This time, it's not a EUropean number, thank goodness! Chances are Gran Turismo would never find him in his out-of-the-way hotel when there were so many to search for in Rome. It wasn't GT2, though. As he looks at the caller ID, he sees it's... why....it was Clarence Binks! One of the senoir partners! UH oh...
"Hello, Graham Wellignton speaking!"
"WELLINGTON!" says Binks! He sounded as if he were pissed off about something, like he couldn't wait to rolls some heads! Thing is, he always sounded this way, but Grhama placed caution now anyways...
"Um, hello sir, this is Graham, how may I help?"
"WELLINGTON" (Binks never, ever called associates by their first name) "where are you off to, my boy?"
"Rome, sir!" Graham says, trying to sound cheerful, yet suddenly feeling nervous as hell. "Off in Rome! Taking in some sunshine, and I'll be back at the office, bright and early Monday morning!"
"What's going on with the Penske file? We need some answers Wellington!"
"Well, sir, I have discovered that the Findersundt Montastaycil directly correlates back to 1998, which means, of course, that as Penske was sowing his seeds, milking the system for all its worth, he forgot all about the Pluto/Henderson foundation, which...."
"...which has implications pertaining to Chapter IXX of Proffessorial 4 dash 222. As it were"
"RIght! Exactly sir! As it were. However, if we..."
"Good work Wellington! Keep up the good work!" says Clarence Binks, apparently thinking that Graham was doing nothing but working on the case. Now, the senior partner effectively cuts off Graham from informing his boss (one of three bosses) about the Blendisatt Dellicitti measure. Especially once (IF) Penske filed motions pertaining to the delegation of all three pink metacouncils!
"Ah good to hear from you s--"
But Binks was gone. Phew!
Grhaam looked now at his "incoming call" records. Two minutes. Two 🤬 minutes of his life wasted by that bozo! And the roaming charges to his phone, of course, would not be covered by BB & B. :Mad: Grhaam just couldn't WAIT to see his phone bill now! [/sarcasm]
But as he thought about it, Graham began to mull over the fact that the Penske file, as tedious as it was to process, really was his life, the life he had built over the past twelve years, to step to the plate, to be a man, and to support Princess along with his wife. Penske! DAmmit! Penske! DAMMIT!!!!
Graham decided it was a good idea to call Al Sueyoo, one of his partnering associates, for a little chat about how Chapter B of the Myst/Botticelli Federation might come into play. He got back on his phone (damn the bill) and went for a little walk now...
"Honey!" he calls into the next room where his wife, daughter, and mother-in-law were staying. I''m going for a little walk! Gotta clear my head! And have a little chat with Al Sueyoo", he claims, for once being about as honest as it gets.
"Mmm hmmm, a walk" says Tiffany. "Enjoy your ....walk".
Good! With Graham out of her hair for a few minutes, Tiffany saw her opportunity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Born and raised outside, inside, and around Seattle just like her husband, Italian-American Tiffany Zapula grew up as just as much of a middle-class brat as Graham. Both their families were white collar, "respectable", and (without going into too much detail) she pretty much wound up with her husband almost by default. If it weren't him, it would have been some other white collar graduate school hopeful like him. Maybe not a lawyer, but perhaps an orthodnotist. Or a tax consultant.
She had become a real estate agent, and a damn good one at that. As Seattle's housing/population boom really took off in the mid '90s, Tiffany (daughter Princess now entering school) did not have to just be a housewife anymore. She could work, showing and selling houses to her clients all day. She was a "born natural" at it, too. Though she did take a course in Housing 101, Tiffany could move houses even without this knowledge. Graham (of course) was ecstatic about this. After all, a dual-occupational household could make more money than a single. And we all know by now how Graham feels about money!
Tiffany was a go-getter, she was enthusiastic, and this enthusiasm sprung forth now!!!
Now, with Graham out for a walk on his cell, Tiffany reaches into her suitcase. Princess, mother, and her son were all watching TV, zoned out after yet another huge, satisfying Italian meal, when TIffany chimes...
"ALRIGHT WELLINGTONS! FAMILY MEETING!"
"Ahh...not now" Princess says.
"Yes Princess...NOW. We are going to get to the bottom of this!"
Tiffany now reaches into her case, bringing out her "talking stick".
"Oh...brother!" Princess says. "Do we have to???" she whines!
As a "den mother" for Princess when she was in Brownies, as an ever-popular soccer mom, and as a generally enthusiastic maiden for her family, Tiffany had come up with a number of "methods" and rules about how to run her family, just as many mothers do all over the world. Somewhere along the line, she had devised how Wellington Family Meetings were to be conducted.
In American Indian culture, the tribe (depending which tribe, of course) would often hold meetings using a "talking stick". To prevent arguments flaring up, and to make sure everybody got their say on some situation, only the person holding the stick was able to speak. Until he (usually he) passed it on to another tribe member. Tiffany learned about this from somewhere, somehow, and it beguiled and annoyed the daylights out of the rest of the Wellingtons!
"Wellington family meeting, NOW!" she says again!
"Ah, but MoM!"
"Princess! Who's holding the stick?" Tiff says patiently... "You know the rules! No talking! Unless you have the stick. And currently, you do not! Correct? Okay. Let's begin".
"BUT how can we have a meeting if dad's not even-"
"Princess!" motehr warns "let's have a little respect. NOw here. You may take the talking stick".
"This is DUMB mom! Dad's not even here! How can we have a "family" meeting if he's not even here!" she says, looking for a way to exempt this meeting from even starting. Now she hands the stick to her mother.
"Good point, and I concur" says mother. "So for now, this will be an "addistation" to the family" she says, using one of her real estate terms. "Princess. I have something to tell you"
"What?"
"Ah! You don't have the stick!"
"Mom, this is dumb!" Princess says miserably.
"Princess, dear", says grandma igrnoring the "talking stick" rule, "we have something to tell you. Something you're not gonna like..."
Hope you likey! I promise the racing stuff comes next! 
STay tuned...
Told my boss "why does this guy need brakes? They almost look new!" There's no pulsation, no brake squeaks or other noises..We're too honest. Some shops would have just put new brakes on. But now since I've got this window of time (no cars at the moment) let's hope this can get rolling again. There's going to be A LOT of story if I don't get interrupted.
Princess...
...was now daydreaming. Gazing around the restaurant while her family bickered about this and that. Would it ever end? The constant snapping at one another? All families were like this of course. All of them had little squabbles and such, she assumes.
Right now she was just sitting back, her spaghetti (without meat) only half eaten. She gazes off into the next room. OMG she thinks. There's another room that goes off from the one the Wellingtons are sitting in, and OMG look at that cute Italian guy! Immediately, she starts gettting this weird, queasy feeling...."hormones" according to the sex-education class she took last semester in school. The man (boy?) looks about 18, and has dark hair and olive skin, as if he'd been out in the sun quite a lot.
He looked like a cross between Luke Perry and Johnny Depp! Why couldn't Princess have a stunner like this in her school, she thinks, totally oblivious to the fact that the boy/man is too old for the 6th grade! All the boys in HER school were such dorks! Her mind now switches gears! OMG OMG WHAT DO I DO? she thinks, even though the man/boy is too old for her, and even if she does "hook up", the Wellingtons are all supposed to leave Rome tomorrow!
Thinking back to one of her soap opera scenes, she remembers one where Daria (soft lighting and all) wanted the attention of Luke. The wedding between Melissa and Grant had just ended, and nobody was currently in the chapel...except Daria and her rich, meticulous hopeful Luke. What did Daria do? Princess tries to remember...oh yea!
, Princess decides to try a little trick, teenage experimentation and teen spirit fueling her nervously.
She walks into the anteroom (which is a little dark) and drops her purse. "Ooops! How clumsy of me to drop my purse! OH! What should I do?"The guy looks over, a couple hairs covering his left eye (soooo romantic!) and says in an even, smooth-sounding tenor voice....
"Mi scusi signora...Vedo che hai abbandonato la tua borsa, il tuo piccolo trucco non funziona con me la mia principessa".
"Buuuut whaaa...ahhhhhhh AHHHH!!!" she nearly screams, running out of the restaurant back to her room!
"Princess?" asks Tiffany. Was that Princess?"
"Ahhhh, what did you say?" says Graham, finishing off the remainder of his home-made Lattefier, COMPLETELY unaware of what was going on with his daughter! The sweetness of the cocoa! The wholesome fulfillment of the foamed milk! The touch of vanilla and cinnamon on top of it all! The caffeine!
And the way it all syruped together, combining into one flavorful concoction of a drink! Not perfect as the barristas could do it, but close enough for now! Oh, he couldn't WAIT to get back to America! He wouldn't just order his favorite drink once he got back to STarbucks, Graham promised himself, no he would fricking' MOVE IN if he could. Move in, pay rent, and NEVER LEave!Suddenly, his cell phone rang again.
"Hellowww, Graham Wellington speaking!"
"'allo I am looking for Mister Vellington" says a man's voice that sounds European in some way.
"SPeaking!"
"My name is Victor, I am GT2 RAcing Coordinator, you are driver in za race tomorrow, and vee vuld like to do uh...how you say....enterview you for magazine?"
Graham freaks out now! Interview?
Yikes! How did htey find him? What would happen now if they figured out where he was staying? His lattefier drink was fueling his anxiety...all that caffeine and sugar, but (of course) he was unaware of this...but dammit!!! He COULD NOT let them find him, his family all about! These guys could ruin EVERYTHING if Tiffany and his mother-in-law found out!"Ahhh, NO! No interview NO!"
"But sir! All za other drivers have done...enterview. Vee need just a few moments of zur time!"
DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was unacceptable! How could he get this bozo off the phone and hide his family from this? OH the anxiety! But Grhaam of course had dealt with plenty of anxious moments before in the courts. Escapism was rarely an option at such times, but now he had a choice!He snaps his phone shut before the man could speak another word! Quickly, he looks up the number and then programs his cell to block it!
"Who was that, Graham?"
asks Tiffany slyly..."HUH? oh nothing! Just Findertson over at the firm". he concocts..."apparently a supplemental deviance pertaining to sub-section 14.B has suddenly remanded constituation for the Kipp foundation! And we all know what that means!" he says to the rest of the family, who could care less what it means. "It means that in 24 hours, the Matriculation grant from all 13 sub-sections leading up to 14.B will be null and void, if our motions do not get pertinently filed!" he says, slamming the table for emphasis!
"Uh huh!" says Tiffany again. "Just as I thought..." that carefully sly voice once again
"huh? What?"
"Oh nothing! Nothing! GO on about your....uh....business, Graham!"
"WHAT WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" he demands
"Grammy, keep your voice down!" says Grandma.
A half hour later, the Wellington clan back in their hotel rooms, Graham is now back on his laptop, as it were, researching up some pertinent information as he configures his final Clubman Cup odds, when (again) his phone rings! This time, it's not a EUropean number, thank goodness! Chances are Gran Turismo would never find him in his out-of-the-way hotel when there were so many to search for in Rome. It wasn't GT2, though. As he looks at the caller ID, he sees it's... why....it was Clarence Binks! One of the senoir partners! UH oh...
"Hello, Graham Wellignton speaking!"
"WELLINGTON!" says Binks! He sounded as if he were pissed off about something, like he couldn't wait to rolls some heads! Thing is, he always sounded this way, but Grhama placed caution now anyways...
"Um, hello sir, this is Graham, how may I help?"
"WELLINGTON" (Binks never, ever called associates by their first name) "where are you off to, my boy?"
"Rome, sir!" Graham says, trying to sound cheerful, yet suddenly feeling nervous as hell. "Off in Rome! Taking in some sunshine, and I'll be back at the office, bright and early Monday morning!"
"What's going on with the Penske file? We need some answers Wellington!"
"Well, sir, I have discovered that the Findersundt Montastaycil directly correlates back to 1998, which means, of course, that as Penske was sowing his seeds, milking the system for all its worth, he forgot all about the Pluto/Henderson foundation, which...."
"...which has implications pertaining to Chapter IXX of Proffessorial 4 dash 222. As it were"
"RIght! Exactly sir! As it were. However, if we..."
"Good work Wellington! Keep up the good work!" says Clarence Binks, apparently thinking that Graham was doing nothing but working on the case. Now, the senior partner effectively cuts off Graham from informing his boss (one of three bosses) about the Blendisatt Dellicitti measure. Especially once (IF) Penske filed motions pertaining to the delegation of all three pink metacouncils!
"Ah good to hear from you s--"
But Binks was gone. Phew!
Grhaam looked now at his "incoming call" records. Two minutes. Two 🤬 minutes of his life wasted by that bozo! And the roaming charges to his phone, of course, would not be covered by BB & B. :Mad: Grhaam just couldn't WAIT to see his phone bill now! [/sarcasm]
But as he thought about it, Graham began to mull over the fact that the Penske file, as tedious as it was to process, really was his life, the life he had built over the past twelve years, to step to the plate, to be a man, and to support Princess along with his wife. Penske! DAmmit! Penske! DAMMIT!!!!
Graham decided it was a good idea to call Al Sueyoo, one of his partnering associates, for a little chat about how Chapter B of the Myst/Botticelli Federation might come into play. He got back on his phone (damn the bill) and went for a little walk now...
"Honey!" he calls into the next room where his wife, daughter, and mother-in-law were staying. I''m going for a little walk! Gotta clear my head! And have a little chat with Al Sueyoo", he claims, for once being about as honest as it gets.
"Mmm hmmm, a walk" says Tiffany. "Enjoy your ....walk".
Good! With Graham out of her hair for a few minutes, Tiffany saw her opportunity!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tiffany
Born and raised outside, inside, and around Seattle just like her husband, Italian-American Tiffany Zapula grew up as just as much of a middle-class brat as Graham. Both their families were white collar, "respectable", and (without going into too much detail) she pretty much wound up with her husband almost by default. If it weren't him, it would have been some other white collar graduate school hopeful like him. Maybe not a lawyer, but perhaps an orthodnotist. Or a tax consultant.
She had become a real estate agent, and a damn good one at that. As Seattle's housing/population boom really took off in the mid '90s, Tiffany (daughter Princess now entering school) did not have to just be a housewife anymore. She could work, showing and selling houses to her clients all day. She was a "born natural" at it, too. Though she did take a course in Housing 101, Tiffany could move houses even without this knowledge. Graham (of course) was ecstatic about this. After all, a dual-occupational household could make more money than a single. And we all know by now how Graham feels about money!
Tiffany was a go-getter, she was enthusiastic, and this enthusiasm sprung forth now!!!
Now, with Graham out for a walk on his cell, Tiffany reaches into her suitcase. Princess, mother, and her son were all watching TV, zoned out after yet another huge, satisfying Italian meal, when TIffany chimes...
"ALRIGHT WELLINGTONS! FAMILY MEETING!"
"Ahh...not now" Princess says.
"Yes Princess...NOW. We are going to get to the bottom of this!"
Tiffany now reaches into her case, bringing out her "talking stick".
"Oh...brother!" Princess says. "Do we have to???" she whines!
As a "den mother" for Princess when she was in Brownies, as an ever-popular soccer mom, and as a generally enthusiastic maiden for her family, Tiffany had come up with a number of "methods" and rules about how to run her family, just as many mothers do all over the world. Somewhere along the line, she had devised how Wellington Family Meetings were to be conducted.
In American Indian culture, the tribe (depending which tribe, of course) would often hold meetings using a "talking stick". To prevent arguments flaring up, and to make sure everybody got their say on some situation, only the person holding the stick was able to speak. Until he (usually he) passed it on to another tribe member. Tiffany learned about this from somewhere, somehow, and it beguiled and annoyed the daylights out of the rest of the Wellingtons!
"Wellington family meeting, NOW!" she says again!
"Ah, but MoM!"
"Princess! Who's holding the stick?" Tiff says patiently... "You know the rules! No talking! Unless you have the stick. And currently, you do not! Correct? Okay. Let's begin".
"BUT how can we have a meeting if dad's not even-"
"Princess!" motehr warns "let's have a little respect. NOw here. You may take the talking stick".
"This is DUMB mom! Dad's not even here! How can we have a "family" meeting if he's not even here!" she says, looking for a way to exempt this meeting from even starting. Now she hands the stick to her mother.
"Good point, and I concur" says mother. "So for now, this will be an "addistation" to the family" she says, using one of her real estate terms. "Princess. I have something to tell you"
"What?"
"Ah! You don't have the stick!"
"Mom, this is dumb!" Princess says miserably.
"Princess, dear", says grandma igrnoring the "talking stick" rule, "we have something to tell you. Something you're not gonna like..."
Hope you likey! I promise the racing stuff comes next! STay tuned...
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...
But at my job, us mechanics aren't forced to do "busy work" like cleaning like we would be at some other shop. I can litereally fall asleep, write my story, watch Jerry Springer or Speed Channel, and nobody will yell at me. 
But he was on his phone, and now he's here.
As he actually looks at the paper later on as he hails a taxi, EVERYTHING came to a grinding halt!
and now college time nearby so it's kinda a chores to me to get it back again. *sniff*
