Frank and Julie

Thursday, Day 4

Frank arose at 5:30 feeling mighty fine. He drew himself a bubble bath, and sat in the tub a good while, daydreaming about getting engaged to Julie.

Afterwards, it was time to take some practical steps in that direction. Frank did a little remodeling of the Shorikiki, expanding the bedroom just enough to accomodate a double bed, and removing the wall between the now-smaller bathroom and the toilet.

A little cleaning, some breakfast, and bill-paying followed; and then it was time to invite Julie over to see the results of the remodeling. After the events of the previous day, one couldn’t help imagining the inspection of the bedroom turning into a rather hot time.

Frank and Julie, for their part, couldn’t help being themselves.

(Frank did eventually get some nice makeout time on the couch, however, before catching the carpool for work.)

After work, it was a quick shower and then straight to bed, where Frank slept soundly, knowing that he’d had a perfectly productive and enjoyable day…even if he hadn’t exactly kept his unseen audience on the edge of its seat in the process.

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After the big night the day before, Julie slept in until 10:30. Which still left enough time for her morning crossword (of course), some chores, and some reading (of course).

Followed by her diary. (Of course.)

Would there be actual spillage of juicy tidbits this time? Surely Julie had plenty to talk about after the long, passionate afternoon and evening she spent at Frank’s.

“You know, that Kevin fellow is awfully attractive.”

Hey. Hey! Now that sounds like we’ve got some juicy potential here. Is it a secret crush? Cold feet about getting serious with Frank? A romantic triangle in the offing?

Oh, such drama this promises us! Whispers and lies and two-timing! Local gossip and rumor mills going wild! Covert assignations in downtown photo booths!

Oh, we’re sorry, Julie. Our imaginations ran off with us there for a minute. Do carry on with the diary confessions.

“But what am I going on about him for? You know that whatever happens, I will always love you, dear Diary. You will forever be my first love…

“…well, you and crosswords, of course.”

Sigh.

Revealing? We suppose.

A little sad? Perhaps.

Juicy? Um…no.

After reassuring her diary of the constancy of her affections, Julie headed off to work. To everyone’s relief.

Including that of a local canine named Alabama, who had been waiting for Julie to leave before starting some excavating in the corner of the lot.

Alabama dug, took a break to follow Simmie Cal down the sidewalk and growl and bark (hey, she doesn’t think much of you either, poochie), then kept digging, finally wandering off not long before Julie returned from work.

It had been a quiet night at the police station—quiet even by Cardinal standards—so Julie still had some energy left when she returned home. And so, she…

…headed straight for the bathroom mirror, and worked on her Charisma skill until the wee hours?

Well. That’s different.

Let’s try something different ourselves, shall we? Julie says she never dreams, but we’ve never believed that, have we?

So let’s sneak in and see just what Julie was up to in dreamland, after so much practicing in front of her mirror before bedtime.

Does she dream of Frank? Of Kevin?

Does she have a sweet, tender dream about her diary? We’ll take that, if we have to. We can work with it.

Gaaack!

We shall never speak of this again. Understand? Never.

And we shall, in future, take Julie at her word when she tells us she does not dream. Better yet, we will do so retroactively. So…(ahem)…

…as Julie slept, dreamlessly, Alabama returned to dig still more. Apparently the dog has been told that a shortcut to China may be found in that particular corner of the lot.

Just why Alabama is so intent on getting to China, we may never know.

Next installment: Remember what we were saying about bells?