Crying Over Spilt Light (Sci-fi Mind Bender With A Sexy Muse)

Chapter 2i^3

"No man. No."

"Come on!"

"I said no. And even if I were to come present my apodeixis, I would need to get the presentation ready. Not everyone has your charisma, some of us need to actually work on stuff instead of just relying on our smile," said Yanni and instantly regretted that last remark.

Nikos did not really take offense but got the hint to back off. "OK. Sorry. I'm only pushy because I care. And I do actually work sometimes."

"I know you do, I didn't mean to say that. I meant that I need to be prepared to get my confidence up," said Yanni.

Nikos acknowledged in silence. He turned the car around.

"Just pull over here and let me walk. It's just a couple of blocks," said Yanni and got off the car. He was more embarrassed than offended, cause of the earlier slip of the tongue. They didn't say anything and that was okay. Men could depart in silence and leave things unspoken. Next time they met they would be old pals again. He walked back to his house, taking a longer route through a park he liked.

It wasn't a long detour, a mere five minutes longer. As he was about to turn around to his home street he heard familiar voices shouting.

He ran to his house and saw a few of the neighbours gathered in the yard, a bit of smoke coming out of his lab/office window.

"Oh skata! The laser..." he said and dashed in his yard.

His heart pounded for a couple of seconds that seemed like weeks. He was about to grab Miss M... (Margaret? Molly? What's her name, who cares?) by the shoulders and shake her to say where his family were but moira saved him some dignity and Thalia came around the house with the baby in her arms and Georgie holding tight on her skirt.

He raised Georgie in his arms and hugged Thalia, feeling relieved. "Thank God you are ok, I couldn't see you in the yard."

"Yeah, I was checking the back of the house. It's ok," she said calmly.

"What happened? I-I know what happened, I'm such a vlakas. What did you do then?" he asked slapping his forehead.

She pointed at the man coming out of the house with a fire extinguisher in his one hand and holding a greased t-shirt on his mouth with the other. "I took the kids out, shouted at Mr. Andreas next door. He had a fire extinguisher nearby and rushed up the stairs."

Yanni walked next to Mr. Andreas and thanked him. The neighbour sniffed a bit of fresh oxygen and said, "Heh, its fine. I had the fire extinguisher nearby at my toolshed," while raising the red canister high. "I hope that makes up for all the noise I do with my power tools!"

"It sure does!" said Yanni and laughed in relief along with the good man.

"The fire was not much, especially since I got it in time. My fire extinguisher is not suitable for electronics but I tried not to spray your setup too much. As soon as I pulled the plug the fire pretty much went out. I don't know a lot but that thing looks expensive."

Yanni did not care about the laser at that time. His family could have been hurt and that was avoided. That was all that mattered. He told so to the good man and sent him off with a promise to pay for the refill, which Mr. Andreas refused of course. That is the way with Greeks.

He told Thalia to stay in the yard and went up to see if the smoke had cleared. Mr. Andreas had opened the window, leaving just the smell behind. Some burned wiring was especially irritating, but it was safe. He leaned out the window and said, "Ok, come on up. The smoke is gone."

His wife was talking to the old ladies that had come to "help", took the kids and came inside. She had to reject various offers of help from all of them and replied each time politely. Miss M-what's-her-name offered us her house to stay. "We are fine Miss Meropi, thank you very much. It was more smoke than flames, we will be okay," Thalia said and finally managed to get inside.

Meropi. Yes, that's her name. Yanni never could remember the damn thing.

The rest of the neighbours waited around for a while but slowly dispersed since the couple had nothing more to show. Yanni could swear he saw two of them whispering to each other as if this was his fault.

Which it was actually.

Oh, what a dodged bullet that was. Yanni left the window wide open and closed the door behind him to contain some of the burned material's smell. Thalia was oddly calm about the whole thing but her patience was sure to run out after the initial shock. He didn't dare look her in the eye and said, "I'm sorry honey, I really am..."