Saturday, October 19, 2013

Talking




"You speak German, Japanese, Chinese--"

"Mandarin," Dree Raincave interrupted That Damn Stan.

"Yes, okay.  French, Italian, and Spanish.  Any others?"

"I can read Portuguese and I understand bits of Farsi.  I want to learn some more Farsi.  And I want to learn Tagalog."

Stan nodded.  "Anything else?"

"I like languages.  I'm good with coding," Dree stared wistfully into space for a few seconds and then sighed heavily.  "I'd like to create my own artificial language.  Not now.  After things settle down."

Stan sensed that Dree wanted to create a programming language but he left that alone.  "Alright then.  I'll see what I can do.  My mother has some friends in a language club who meet for lunch once a we--"

Dree groaned.

"Not all of her friends are addicts."

Dree nodded.  He wasn't crazy about meeting any more of That Damn Stan's mother's buddies.

"I think I can pick up some language C.D.s and books for you."  At my own expense, Stan thought silently.  The library is a piece of shit.  Nothing much there anymore.  I'd have to use an assumed identity and bit coins to get a hold of Farsi learning materials.  The Government and I don't see eye-to-eye these days on much.  Because I defend unpopular relatives of terrorists in court.

"I said 'F-ck the Pigs' in court," Stan told Dree.  "Three times."

Dree smiled.  "I've said worse in Sunday School.  Being agnostic in Carolina made me the dangerous man I am today."

That Damn Stan indicated a pile of Japanese anime comics on the living room coffee table.  "There ya go, buddy.  Stay out of trouble today.  Mom and I both have to work."

Dree Raincave smiled.  He snatched up the comics eagerly-- noticing that they were in Japanese and not English produced a smile that brightened up his whole face-- and retreated down the hallway to his bedroom where Majestic waited.

"Thanks, Stan.  You're alright."

Crap, Stan thought.  How am I going to tell him that I have to go to the City for a few weeks to attend to my law practice, and then fly off to California for the PayPal 14 case?  I hope my mother doesn't frighten Dree into a petrified stump while I'm gone.


                         ~ to be continued ~

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Hacker!




"Stan, did you see what Dree did?"

"No, Moth--"

"We now have a bamboo fence on the back of the property.  Some
  of the bamboo is still in the ground and he wove it right into the
  fence!"

"Do you like it?"

"I'm astonished.  I've never seen anything like it!  I had a good 
  idea."

Stan said nothing.

Dree RainCave, followed by Majestic, stalked into the kitchen just then.  He poured himself a cup of coffee and then sat at the table.

"I'm done," he said.  "I'm not going to anymore open doper meetings and I'm not going back to CODA either."

That Damn Stan's damn mother glared at Dree.

"I'm not an addict.  I'm an atheist in case the two of you haven't noticed.  I don't relate to them.  And you can't make me go."  Majestic jumped into Dree's lap and hissed.

Stan nodded.  "We'll all atheists here, Dree."

"How do you put up with that Higher Power shit?"  Dree sucked down half of his coffee and slammed the mug down on the table.
"And 'everything happens for a reason."  What bull!"

"Now you listen to me, you ungrateful foul excuse of a human being!  We are hiding you out from the feds at our own peril.  I wanted to keep you busy so you stay out of trouble, young man."

"I do and do for you kids and this is the thanks I get,"  Dree retorted in a sing-song.  "Get a grip.  You can't control me.  I'm a hacker."
He pushed his chair back and stalked down the hallway.  A minute later, Stan and his mother heard the back door slam.

His mother went to get up.  "Leave it be," Stan said wearily.  "How do you put up with all that god talk at those meetings anyway?"

             ~ to be continued ~