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[Apr. 23rd, 2008|10:27 am] |
Late Afternoon,
Wednesday, April 23rd 2008
Martin Luther King Memorial Library
It looked much better from the outside than in, this edifice of black steel and smoked glass. Leaky ceilings and broken elevators plague the readers moving listlessly around in the enforced hush. Designed in a less energy efficient age and treated with neglect, the library would cost more to put right than it would to pull down and build anew. At the height of summer, it's a pressure cooker, hot and close; even with spring cloud it's still rather warm. Not that Woody minds -- he's using his coat and jumper as a cushion because the chairs are all too low for him (or the tables too high). There are pens and paper on the table and he's reading a huge, illustrated, leather bound book that looks like it could weigh as much as himself. His headphones are on, despite the posted signs, but they make no noise. Why should they? They're not plugged in to anything. |
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[Feb. 22nd, 2008|09:11 am] |
Who: Diana and somebody?
Where: Snap Crepes in Georgetown
When: Friday afternoon
The ice and freezing rain of the day had canceled any tours Diana was going to be giving for the afternoon and she wasn't scheduled for the coffeeshop that day so Diana had taken the opportunity to convince one of her tour coworkers to drive her out to Georgetown and drop her off at one of her favorite little restaurants. The place was in a converted townhouse and it was tiny though there was nice garden seating out back when the weather was good. Otherwise, there were a few small tables inside and...that was about it. Still, in the middle of the afternoon, she was the only person in there besides those working so she ordered herself some hot tea and a sweet crepe. Nutella and bananas, yay.
While she waited on her food, though, her cellphone rang. Half expecting it to be Jack, Diana didn't bother to look at the caller id and was greeted to the sound of her mother's voice instead. "Hi, Mom. You know I'm usually working at this time, right?" she asked in a I love you but why are you calling me right now exactly? tone.
"What? No! No I wasn't fired!" she rolled her eyes and sighed. "Tours got canceled because of the weather... No, no I'm not freezing my buns off outside. I'm actually inside, getting crepes." She paused. "You know, that little place in Georgetown I took you to that one time? Yeah, it is pretty cool." Diana tapped her foot, eventually her mother would get to the point. Of course, at the moment, that was taking a long time and her tea had arrived so Diana switched on the autopilot and started making I'm listening noises into the phone while she poured herself a cup and added lots of sugar.
Then she came up short. "Wait. Is that what this is about?" Now she was choking down a laugh. "Mom. He's my roommate. I'm not dating him. We're not engaged. We're never going to be engaged. No, I'm not moving in with him because I'm pregnant. He's already got a kid anyway. No, he didn't run out on the kid! Yes, he's a good father, but that doesn't make a difference to me. Mom. Mom. Mom!" Her mother wasn't listening and Diana could see her crepes coming. "Mom, I'm hanging up now, I'll call you later," when you've passed this momentary insanity, "Mom, I love you but I'm really hanging up now. Byyyyeee!" Then she shut the phone with a click just as the server set down her crepes. She smiled up at the server as she turned her phone off with a relish. "Thanks! They look fabulous." |
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[Feb. 9th, 2008|09:29 pm] |
February 9th 2008,
National Air and Space Museum
Of all the Museums around here, Woody liked the Air and Space Museum best. The art was pretty and the science was cool, but neither were as interesting as the thought of being able to hop on a winged chariot and ride right across the sky like the sun. He liked them so much, in fact, that he was walking along with his head tilted back so he could see the planes hung above him and not paying any actual attention to where he was going, which is why he bumped into someone. |
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amused