Wonderful Nonsense

ii. Jesusland

ii. Jesusland

☯ ☯ ☯

Before tearing my eyes from the tide and heading home I scream at the top of my lungs a little bit. Just a little bit. Only loud enough to wake a dog or two down the road but not neighbors, I'm not feeling that inconsiderate... Not tonight anyway.

"Letting out all that collegiate stress?"

Without even looking I can recognize that voice.

Finish college check.

Look like a lunatic on the beach. check.

Embarrass myself in front of Melita... Well it was only a matter of time. Four years with no contact only to be reunited by me turning into the Hulk at midnight. Despite my rather loud release she smiles as if she would have expected nothing less of me. Finally able to regain my composure I search for words to pick up the pieces of my dignity.

"There's that sweet endearing condescension I've been missing so much"

She immediately throws her "Sarcastic face" on.

"Well excuse me, I didn't mean to upset the almighty Lot, please forgive me your majesty"
As soon as my face can't get any redder she explodes in the laughter that she's been holding in since first seeing me.

"You can have all the birthdays you want and get all the degrees in the world but you'll always be a sweet little kid to me."

"Little kids don't graduate top of their class in anthropological studies."

"You're right, a little kid would have spent his time being happy and carefree instead."

A light chuckle and she's on her way again. She looks back at me while riding away.

"You should come to the store tomorrow for lunch, my dad is really excited to hear how college was."

Still a little taken back by the happy carefree kid comment I just smile and nod. Once she completely fades out of my periphery I head towards my parents house.

Her dad... now that's a face I wish I could have seen more often over those four years of overbearing workloads and drunken roommates. When Melita's family first moved to the neighborhood from Greece I was only four. She was ten at the time and whenever our families would meet for lunch it would be her job to stop me from crying. Apparently she was the only person that could. Once I was settled her dad would make loud bodily noises at me until I smiled. Melita has always been like a... Sister to me? Not quite... Well I'm not quite sure how to describe it.

Melita and her father Dimitri have been like real family to me. When I first started running away at about ten years old I would always go to her dad's store "Dimitri's Greek Fancy Food" and the gentle giant of a man would look at me and just laugh. He would feed me vinegar soaked spinach leaf wraps and tell me stories about his homeland until I felt good enough return to my parents.

"Ahh well if you don't feel well it's because you haven't had enough of my fancy wraps! You need to eat until the little knot in that head of yours moves to your belly!" He would yell in his loud Greek accent. For every wrap I had he would have three. He has never been a man of deep thought, but he always seemed to have life figured out. "Just laugh about it" was his motto and solution to everything if nothing else worked.

I would show up at my front doorstep and my parents would smell the vinegar on me and that's when they would know that I was feeling better. I would still get punished for running away but the argument always ended upon my return. Who could stay angry with even the smell of Dimitri around. Although at this time of night my guess would be that he's probably at home sleeping like a rock, which means no wraps for me right now... Without the scent of vinegar to shield me from my parents probable rage I trudge home armed with the predetermined argument "As far as running my life, you're legally five years late for that". Smart ass statement? Without doubt. Useful argument? Possibly. Intellectual? Certainly not. Well that's nice, my own preemptive argument has already disappointed me and it hasn't even passed my lips yet.