Short Stories and Poems

(Short)10,890,651 Days of Pancakes

Warm savory smells of bacon brought me awake, small noises came from downstairs. Dolly must be making breakfast. the sun splayed out on the floor of the room like a basking orange cat. I stretched each of my limbs starting from my toes up to my waist, to my ribs, to my elbows terminating in my fingertips. I gave the world around me a wide smile. Today was going to be a lovely day. I climbed down the stairs into the kitchen. Dolly had her dark curly hair tied up, bacon in one pan, pancakes in the other. Dolly turned around and brightened, "Marcy! I was hoping to make you a bed and breakfast, but I must've made too much noise. Sorry!"

I shrugged, "Not so much the noise as the smell... And the idea of seeing you down here."

Dolly flushed, "O-Oh! Well here I am." she laughed, "Why don't you sit down, pancakes are almost done."

"Already ahead of you Doll!" I say as I grab a chair.

Moments later Dolly comes by with a stack of wonderfully fluffed pancakes. Putting half on my plate and the other half on hers. Dolly ran back to the kitchen to grab the bacon, coming back again putting half on hers and half on mine. Then she takes a seat. I pour the cheap syrup from its plastic container, waving it around so it makes a little dance.

"Hey Dolly... Why don't we go out today? Better than staying inside?" Dolly took a few seconds to finish her mouthful of pancakes, hashing it around her mouth and finally choking it down.

" Usually I'm the one dragging you outside." Dolly laughed, "What's with the change of pace?"

I pressed my fork against the pancakes, watching the syrup ooze in and out of it, "Just thought it would be fun. The two of us haven't gone out recently... And I want to, so there's that."

Dolly scarfed down a few more pancakes, syrup just barely leaking out of the corners of her mouth, I pushed my pancakes around the plate a bit more.

"Okay!"

After a bit of brainstorming, Dolly decided on going to the park. Lovely. So we got up and went over a few blocks to the nearby park, "Tinity Park", and we started to walk, by then the sun was sitting pleasantly overhead, starting to climb down from its zenith. After a few walk-arounds, I went over to the sidelines and plucked a tall purple flower.

I bowed and presented it to the fair lady, "For you, my Doll."

Dolly bent down and plucked a blade of grass, " For you, m'lady," she says in a curtsy.

I pluck a blade of grass and present it along with the original purple flower, "My dear, it appears that I have twice the bounty than you, thus my love is greater."

Dolly bends down again and plucks three more blades of grass, "It appears that you may need glasses. Last I checked, four is greater than two. By about two times as much."

"You forget the value of a Hyssop"

"Didn't know that you knew the names of a flower, just the other day I saw you struggle to name a rose," Dolly teased.

"Did I now?"

We continued this for a time, throwing blades of grass at each other, professing that our love for the other was much too great to comprehend, followed by laying on the grass and basking in the sun. When the sun reached halfway down its mast into the horizon. I tilted my head up and looked at the top of Dolly's head, "Let's go get Ice Cream."

"What?"

"Let's go get Ice Cream."

Dolly pushed herself up and turned towards me, laying on her side, "Why?"

"I have a sudden craving," I lied.

"Alright... where to?"

"Coldbird."

"Coldbird?"

"Coldbird."

"Why Coldbird?" Dolly perplexed.

"It's down the block," I jumped up to my feet, "I'll race you" I shouted as I ran off.

"No fair!" Dolly calls back, now climbing to her feet, "Let's make this a proper race."

"No thank you my Doll... I am winning," I shout back.

When we finally arrived home, the sun had long set. Dolly was just about to tip over and fall asleep and crack her head at the bottom of the stairs. The smell of alcohol wafting off of her, I caught her and brought her up the stairs. I don't drink of course, Dolly tends to die if I do, and tucked her into our bed. I looked at her sleeping form, while I long to join her, there is something I must do first. I grabbed my daily notebook, its original purpose long forgotten, and on the forever blank page, wrote down 10,890,650 days. Then I put the notebook back down and climbed into bed with Dolly.

Tomorrow will be a lovely day.