Donald and Thurma – Part 4 – Finale

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

“I think I can,” he said to himself, chugging along the sidewalk tracks. “I think I can.”

Donald walked with both fists clenched. Amanda and Thurma strolled a short ways ahead, Thurma with her head down.

He wasn’t angry, he was determined – and approaching a girl who was more than likely to reject him was no easy task for Donald.

“Hey,” he called out.

The two girls turned around. Amanda smirked, and crossed her arms. Thurma stilted like a wooden statue.

“Let me guess,” said Amanda. “You found something and were wondering if it belongs to Thurma. Is that your excuse for talking to her? Because that’s not exactly original.”

“No,” said Donald. “I want to talk to her as myself.”

“Why?” said Amanda, narrowing her eyes. “Been acting like somebody else?”

Donald stared straight at Thurma. “Have you?”

Silence.

“Erm, I’ll leave you two alone,” said Amanda, before patting her friend on the shoulder and walking on ahead.

“What are you talking about?” Thurma said to him.

“This shit.” Donald pointed back to the bar. “You want some dipshit frat-boy, let me know and I’ll leave right now.”

“I don’t want that.”

“I’m a dork. My name’s Donald by the way.”

“Mine’s Thurma.”

“You’re one too.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” said Thurma. She twisted her lip, then sighed and lowered her gaze to his feet. “But maybe I’m not the bitch who you met, either.”

“Good.”

She looked back up. “Maybe I am just a basic bitch. Maybe if you knew the real me, you wouldn’t have come running to talk to me.”

“I like basic bitches. I’m a basic dude.”

Thurma chuckled, then hid her teeth behind her hand. “So what do you want?”

“Huh?”

“What are you after?” She said, then set her hands on her hips. “Is it a number, to brag to your friend about? Because if you really think you’re going to sleep with me tonight-”

“I came to talk with you. That’s all.”

“Why?”

“Because when I look at you I see a part of me, the part that I like.”

“What part’s that?”

Donald scratched the back of his head, then looked away. “I like good morning texts. I like snuggling. I like having to tell a girl she doesn’t have to worry about what’s-her-name, no matter how paranoid she’s being, or clingy she becomes.”

“I’m not following you.”

Donald shook his head, then returned his gaze to Thurma. He creased his brow when he noticed the mark on her chin, then leaned forward to get a better look at it.

“Stop!” she said, then covered the mark with her hand. “That’s rude.”

Donald grabbed her wrist and forced it away, then set his thumb on her chin. “I like the scar you try to hind behind your makeup.”

Thurma’s exhale came heavy. “Oh…”

“The stuff that puts other guys off, that’s the stuff that I like. You could say that’s from low-confidence, but I don’t think it is. I think it’s a preference.”

“Ok.”

“There’s no line I can say to make you want me, there’s no maneuver I can use that will get you to like me back.”

Thurma’s eyes fidgeted in Donald’s.

“I’m just saying that I’d like to get to know you. If that friend zones me, then fine-”

“You said it.”

“What?”

“About fifteen seconds ago. You said the line that won me.”

“Huh?”

“Kiss me dork.”

Donald moved in with a smirk, then gave Thurma a light peck on the cheek.

Thurma shook her head, then scolded him with a finger wag. “I swear to God, if that’s what you think it means to kiss a girl don’t ever-”

Donald slid his hand through her hair, raking her brunnette locks up in his fingers until he had his hand wrapped around the back of her head. He advanced until her forearm fell flat against his chest, then dug his lips into hers. Thurma’s eyes dropped closed and the phone she had been holding unraveled from her fingers and plummeted until it cracked against the sidewalk. She immediately pressed her newly-freed hand against the side of his face.

An obnoxious series of honks was followed by a loud holler:

“Fuck her already, bro!” Yelled Freddy.

Donald finally took a step back.

“Number,” said Thurma.

“I think your phone broke.”

“Ok.”

Donald smiled, then wrote his down on a wrinkled napkin he’d stored in his pocket. “Nice meeting you,” he said, then turned around and headed towards Freddy’s escalade. Once he took his seat Freddy sped away.

“You better get a tit-pit,” said Freddy.

Donald grinned and looked at him.

“What?” said Freddy.

“I’m the man,” said Donald.

“You’re a man, not sure if you’re the man.”

“No,” said Donald, before turning the bass up on Freddy’s sound system. “I’m the man.”

The End!

Hope you enjoyed.

• Thomas M. Watt

Epic Night Out: Part 2

Click here for Part 1

Matt stood with one fist tightly clenched. He’d approached an attractive blonde girl and had begun hitting on her just as her date, who was built like a giant, showed up. While the giant in the leather jacket was waiting to fight to his right, to Matt’s left there was a group of guys pointing and laughing at him. No doubt that group had added some spice to the bar nuts as a prank – Matt’s mouth was now burning so intensely after eating them, he could hardly manage to get words out of his mouth.

Worst of all, Keith – Matt’s even-keeled, comfort-craving friend – was nowhere to be seen. He’d made Matt promise him they’d only have one drink then be out of there.

“What’s the deal?” said the giant. “You hittin’ on my chick?”

Matt looked at the blonde girl as she happily chewed her gum and twirled a lock of hair.

Before he could respond, a few dozen peanuts smacked against his back. The group behind him laughed harder than before.

“You’re,” began Matt. He was trying to insult the giant, but the burning sensation in his throat was killing him. “You’re a-” Matt stopped short again – his strained voice was coming through high-pitched – he felt like a talking mouse.

“I’m a?” said the giant. “I’m a what?”

“You’re,” cough, “a,” cough,”hussey.”

That wasn’t what Matt was trying to say.

“A hussey?” said the giant, followed by a hearty laugh. “That so?”

The giant nodded his head as he took off his jacket, one sleeve at a time. He handed it to the blonde girl.

Another spray of peanuts hit Matt on the back. He turned around to catch the group laughing at him some more. The bottle of hot sauce sat on the table in the middle of them. Matt then turned to the bar – still no sign of Kieth.

Where the fuck did Keith go?

Matt reluctantly turned to face the giant again. He clenched his own fists. As the giant loaded up and Matt braced himself for the brutal ass-kicking he was about to be on the receiving end of, something amazing happened – a beer bottle came flying through the air and shattered against the giant’s head, knocking him out cold and sending him timbering to the ground.

“Whoa,” said Matt. He looked up slowly to find Kieth, standing by the doorway.

“I said one beer! Let’s go!”

Keith bolted out the doorway. Matt turned around to the group that had been laughing at him. They were now stunned and speechless, staring in unison at the giant on the ground. Matt checked on the bottle of fire-strength hot sauce again – it was still in the middle of their table, and the group was completely distracted.

Matt took two quick steps, grabbed the bottle, then squeezed it and sprayed the red stuff into their faces. They screamed and covered themselves. Matt turned around and sprinted toward the doorway.

“Get him!”

Matt noticed the leather jacket in the blonde girl’s lap. He stopped, grabbed it, then went for the doorway again. Before he crossed outside, he turned around, and returned for the blonde.

“Hey,” she said.

Matt grabbed the blonde girl by the hand, then took her with him as he ran for it. He could hear the chairs and tables flipping from the group chasing after him.

To be continued…

– Thomas M. Watt

Epic Night Out: Part 1

It was supposed to be one round of drinks. No girls, no wild night out, no arrests. No shots, no bong hits, no midgets. A drink between two bros who had grown so accustomed to the comfort of their former long-term girlfriends they didn’t know the first thing about what it meant to ‘go out’.

But it wasn’t.

It was more.

A lot more.

Matt took the stool at the end of the bar and Keith followed suit.

“One beer. That’s it,” said Keith.

“I get it dude. You’ll be watching t.v. at your place in no time, don’t even worry about it.

Keith scoffed.

Matt ordered two beers and soon the close friends were sipping light beers as they watched the bloopers reel on the television behind the counter.

“I love these clips,” said Keith.

Matt nodded, took a handful of bar nuts, then tossed them in his mouth. He took a good look around the place as he chewed. About four girls, three of whom were surrounded by ‘pool guys’ and one who was sitting by herself, anxiously looking at her phone. ‘Pool guys’ were those guys who stood around the pool table leaning on the sticks, messing with their hair, and smiling at any girls who walked by in hopes they could get them in a game then impress them with their ‘stick skills’.

“What about her?” said Matt. He coughed after he said it, and for the first time noticed his mouth was starting to burn.

Kieth looked over. “What about her?”

“She’s hot.”

“I thought we said no girls.”

“You said no girls.”

Keith groaned and returned to his drink. “She’s waiting for her date to get here. She has no interest in meeting anyone.”

Matt turned to face her. She did look pretty invested in her phone.

“I’m gonna go over there and find out,” Matt said, then coughed. “These bar nuts are fucking hot.”

“I thought we said no girls!”

Matt smiled then pat Keith on the shoulder. “No my friend. You said no girls.”

Matt strode over to the girl as casually as possible. He kept one hand in his jean pocket and tried his best to ignore the intense burning his tongue was starting to feel. When he stopped at her table the blonde girl finally looked up. She eyed him up and down, twirled the curly lock dangling by her ear, then chewed her gum a little more obnoxiously and smirked.

Matt smirked back. An inviting smile was always a good sign.

“Hey beautiful. I noticed you from across the room and wondered,” said Matt, before stopping to cough. “I was wondering if you,” he said, before stopping again. The last few words he barely choked out.

“Yeah?” said the blonde girl. “Wondering if I what?” She raised her eyebrows.

Matt turned to the group of guys to the left of him. They were pointing and laughing at him. On the table in the middle of them sat a bottle of “Wild Dragon’s Flaming Hot Sauce.”

Matt stared back at them, then over to the peanuts on the bar counter, then back to them.

“Who’s this?” Said someone behind him.

A hand grabbed Matt by the shoulder and whirled him around. He looked up to see the giant figure in the leather jacket standing over him.

“I don’t know,” said the blonde girl, as she smacked her gum. “I think he’s hitting on me.”

“That right?” said the giant.

Matt looked over to the end of the bar for Keith – but Kieth was already gone.

“You pussy,” Matt muttered to himself. He gulped painfully, then rolled his fingers into his palm until he had a tightly clenched fist. He winced his eyes close and took one last breath. It was time for action.

To be continued…

– Thomas M. Watt

The Black Sea

The sad man, whose name was lightning, withdrew himself from the crowd at the funeral. He was simply overwhelmed by the loss of his friend, Greggory, and was battling with the bleakness of reality, and acceptance of what was lost, was lost. As he stepped away, he bumped into a cloaked woman named Sapphire, who smirked when he did.

“You are looking pretty sad. I’m sorry that he’s dead. He was the one who was friends with you and always made you glad.”

Lightning gulped. “Yes this is a loss. Yes what you say is true. Yet I shall go on somehow it is what I always do.”

After a chuckle, Sapphire responded. “Go on you say, you think it’s true? You think you can find happiness after losing one who’s close to you? I’m sorry I’m afraid, but this isn’t true. I lost an important friend one time and now worry’s all I do.”

Lightning shook his head. “No that isn’t good. Worry is not for me. I will continue to ride this wave until clear skies set me free. It is a time for sadness yes, a true loss yes indeed. A time for solace and contemplation, and pondering all unseen things. Greggory was my friend, you see, the best he was indeed. But sadness does not fill my soul with anything but more grief.”

Sapphire frowned. “Grief you say is bad? You think unseen things are true? Look around dear Lightning, don’t you see, this sadness it is true? The gloom we feel when friends are lost, when tragedy is seen. That is the time for true depression and realizing what is seen. Open your eyes, you hopeful fool, look around instead. You’re friend Greggory was hopeful too, and now that man is dead.”

Lightning groaned, smeared his face with his hand, then returned. “Oh Sapphire you so hate me, Oh Sapphire it’s true. You are the black of blackest coals, for what you say is drool. My friend Greggory is lost I see, he is gone and lost for truth. He is dead to this world but heaven opens too.”

“Heaven you believe? Eternity you fool? Don’t you see with your own eyes that faith is just a tool? A way to make bad things feel nice, a way of strength for realists vice. A fight of truth, a pledge of greed, a form for thinking those things in which peasants feel good things. Greggory was your friend I see, he was mine too. Greggory was a man who died and now he’s gone for good.”

Lightning laughed. “So you say, you know all truth. So you claim to know what rules. So you think in sadness that silence heals all wounds. Hope for children, faith for sheep, all things called holy for the meek. You are too smart, too smart to see, that Greggory still believed in these.”

“Yes he did! And now he’s dead. Off to ruin in the ground instead. Look around you, lightning see, the thought of faith is not for me. Your friend is dead, the soil he treads, his body withered and lost and dead.”

Lightning shook. “His body gone, yes I see, but you know the soul is free. It is a cage, this flesh of age, a container for what God has made. The body gone, spirit freed, a life yet lived for Greggory.”

Sapphire laughed boastfully. “Oh you poor, pathetic thing. Oh you fool, filled with fool’s dream. It is so sad, so sad I see, faith of old ruins all dreams. Don’t spend your life with this dumbly thought, don’t spend your years in pointless plot. Listen to me, let it be understood, your friend is dead and gone for good.”

Lightning turned to face Sapphire directly, held her by both shoulders, and addressed her. “I know you think all thought is good. I know you think you stand for what you should. I know sadness has comforting ways, I know depression for me soon must play. But I know, I’ve seen and found, a faith in a God who is much more profound. For what I know, is more than just seen, what I know is not just false dreams. The fact is this, and will always be, the God of mine defeats misery. There is no color, nor spot of black, there is no mistake in his own road’s paved track. There is a reason, just let it be, the God of mine paints the sunsets and seas. And well he does, while the ocean floats blue, the common mistake is to quicken your view. For if you look close, squint and you’ll see, the color of blackness is in beautiful things.

– Thomas M. Watt

Drinking and God

When I drink, I enjoy conversing. I love to speak. I love to argue. I love to talk to people who build conversation. I am a passionate believer in God, but I just so happen to speak with people who don’t believe.

Not that I try to get them to fear, or realize, but I like building conversations. Every so often, in our time on this planet, we run into people who enjoy the search for truth. The search for truth is the polar opposite of the search for personal fulfillment. The search for personal fulfillment goes this way – I believe this, and will disregard everything you say to counter it, by way of aggressive hand pokes and head shakes and discrediting tones and saying things that you’ve never heard of, in order to make you feel like a fool.

I hate that. I fucking hate that. I love people who don’t know. I love people who want to know more. I love people who know more than me. I love people who know less then me, but would like to know more. Conversing with these types, we learn more.

I think the joke of it is, as far as God goes, he usually comes out on top, in a sensical manner. I honestly feel it is evidence of non belief when a ‘believer’ shuts out outside opinions in order to keep believing. This person’s belief can then be attributed to a way of feeling good about themselves, and in no way demonstrates their belief in a higher power.

I’m excited for the day people can drink and say what they really think, rather than what is cool to say. For instance, if I make some asinine joke about vodka, all will laugh. If I say something about ‘being a man’ people will often nod in agreement. The truth is, I don’t really care about anything, save for the truth. Unfortunately, there are very few people who actually seek truth, and an overwhelming majority seeks feeling good at the particular moment.

How boring life is when all you do is act as something you’re not. How terrible a time it is when you are forbidden from speaking an actual opinion, and instead voice the words of what is acceptable, and what is held in ‘high regard’.

As far as the quest for God/ no God goes, it must be the truth. As soon as it becomes an idealistic view, we are no longer seeking God, but a way to feel better about ourselves. I truly despise that. I don’t think there is anything more disheartening to a believer than a false believer. And for those who don’t believe in God but are willing to speak in honesty about the subject, they are the most honest people who exist.

If in some way you think the acceptance of non-believers goes against God, you are an idiot. For, the only person willing to gamble their salvation is the very one who has put much thought into the matter. And if you do believe in God, make certain it is God, and not a dispirited worldly view. If it is thus, it is nothing, and belongs only to imbeciles. Seek the truth, and ye shall find it.