The Eddie Munson Tape Dates

Black Sabbath, 'Master of Reality'

"I can't believe it's the last one." You say, flipping Master of Reality over in your hands.

"Well, you know it's just the last one of this batch, Babe. We can do this whenever we want, you know." Eddie smiles, rolling on his side towards you. He cups the side of your face to turn your face towards his and kisses you gently on the mouth, then the jaw and the neck.

"Eddie..." You playfully complain, "We can't just stay in bed all day."

"Who says we can't?" He says, grabbing the tape from you and putting it on the bedside table behind him, "I haven't seen you all week. We've got the place to ourselves. I don't see why we can't", he says, reversing the trail of kisses

Eddie was right. You had hardly seen him this week. In fact, you probably spent more time with Wayne this week than Eddie. You'd only gone over there to pick up a textbook you'd left there and ended up staying and chatting for a few hours.

"Well, except for the fact, this date is probably going to be the best one," he says, being purposefully vague.

"The best one? Really? How so?" You say, turning to him and returning his trail of kisses.

"Well, first of all, it has multiple parts. It involves thrift shopping, creativity, a picnic, and some scary stories," Eddie manages to say, a little distracted.

He then playfully pushes you away, "You know what, you were right! We can't stay in bed all day, Babe. We've got so much to do!!" Then, finally, he springs out of bed with a new enthusiasm he didn't have five minutes ago.

He opens up the cassette case and takes out $40. He gives you $20, leaves the other in the case, and starts getting dressed.

"Ok, so by sunset, you are gonna need The poem for me, an original by you, that I told you about in advance, so no complaints. At least one scary story. It doesn't have to be an original. Lastly, a suitably spooky thrifted outfit. I will permit you can use your own stuff, but the main elements of the outfit must be thrifted. " He says, pulling on his sneakers.

"Wow, So as it is now midday, Edward. I now have a little under 7 hours to do all of that, and stores are gonna close in 4 or 5??!!" You say, leaping out of bed, grabbing yesterday's clothes and throwing them on. Comically tripping over your jeans as you try to get in them.

"Hey, hey. Slow down, speedy. You need to make it to the date too, you know?" Eddie chuckles. "You can tell you aren't a person that's used to being late for things. Besides, your poem must be done by now, so that's one thing. You must have heard a scary campfire story. So it's really only the outfit, right?"

"Right." You smile and agree. He was correct, of course. You'd had this poem ready for some time and rehearsed it whenever possible. You knew you would eventually read it to Eddie. You'd just envisaged it being much later on.

"So I'll see you later, ok, babe?" He says, leaning down to you and planting a kiss on your head with his keys in hand.

"Wait...what? You're just gonna leave me, now. The man that just didn't want to get out of bed. You haven't seen me all week, and you're ditching me until later? I hate this date already, Eddie," you say half seriously.

"Oh ye of little faith, we'll see how much you hate it later on, shall we?" He smiles smugly at you and waves goodbye, leaving you in your bedroom, bemused.

You charge back through the front door a few hours later with everything required. You run upstairs to get showered, fix your hair and put on a little bit of darker makeup than you would normally. You wanted to look a little spooky but not like a zombie, and you really couldn't carry off that alternative look. You didn't have those kinds of makeup skills.