Apollo's Awakening

Part 11: Last Strands Of Man

Not, I'll not, carrion comfort, Despair, not feast on thee;
Not untwist - slack they may be - these last strands of man
In me ór, most weary, cry I can no more. I can;
Can something, hope, wish day come, not choose not to be.
~Gerard Manley Hopkins, "Carrion Comfort"~

"So wait, what happened?" urged Peter with a mouthful of key lime pie. Apollo declined his offering of a slice, he had too much to tell.

"We sat and chatted over drinks; she had iced tea and I had water. Then I ate some soup and she had salad. The food was delicious by the way, it was very-" "Save it." Peter interrupted. "I've eaten there before. Just tell me what you guys talked about. What was she like? How did she speak? I. Demand. Details!" Apollo chuckled. "Alright, alright,"

"For the most part, it was easygoing. She did most of the talking. Once I told her I was new to the city, she described so much to me about it. The sights, the smells, the tastes; she said it all. And when she spoke, it was like I could see what she was talking about right before my eyes. There was never a dull moment when she spoke," Apollo remembered the way her pale blue eyes danced, and how the freckles on her cheeks would rise when she would smile. He grinned. "The words just rolled off her tongue. Soon she started talking about her personal life: her family and her childhood. By the time it ended, there was no one else in the restaurant. She gave me this." He handed Peter a folded napkin. "I haven't gotten the chance to open it yet."

Peter unfolded the napkin rapidly, and his eyes grew wide as he read it. "Do you know what this means?" Apollo was perplexed. "She likes you, man! She gave you her number!"Apollo still didn't know what the big hype was, but he was delighted that Callie liked him. "So you didn't tell her that I found you on a bench?"

Apollo frowned. "No. I didn't know how to." Peter's look was questioning. "Well, what're you gonna do when you guys get close? She's gonna wonder where you came from, who you are." Apollo sighed. "I don't know. I guess I'll explain when the time is right. I think I'll ask her to come to Central Park with me tomorrow. We could have a picnic or something."

Peter finished the pie with a grin, and a smudge of whip cream lingered on the side of his mouth. "Aren't you a Casanova? You wake up with amnesia and two days later you have a date!"

As Peter wiped the pie off of his face and retreated into his bedroom for the night, Apollo pondered. Had it really only been two days? He had learned so much, and experienced amazing things. Like having friends such as Peter, Christi, and Callie. His head started to hurt again.

Gosh, why did it have to hurt all the time? Well, it doesn't help that you bumped your head on the underside of Callie's desk, you klutz. Two opposing forces spoke in his mind. He shook them off, and thought about Callie some more.

He wondered about her ex husband, why she was yelling the first time he heard her voice, and crying the first time he saw her. He thought about what Peter said about love, and what he felt earlier tonight. Was love what he felt?

"When you love someone, you feel something. Something deep inside you. It begins to consume you, and no matter what, you can never let it go." Apollo didn't understand, and as his mind wandered, he slowly drifted off to sleep.