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oooOOoooOOoooOOoooOOoooOOoooOOooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, about 12:15 "Shhhh" "What? Jim?" (knock-knock) ... (knock-knock) "Time to come out now, boys." (Cree-eak) "How did you--?" "The phonetics lab? You thought you could hide from an anthro TA in the phonetics lab? Whole babies have been conceived in here. "Really, Blair, you are such a clueless nerd. I bet you spent the whole time discoursing on articulation and missed midnight." "No, Catharine, for your information, I did NOT discourse on articulation and I'm quite aware that it's the new year, thank you very much." "Articulation, Chief?" "The way the lips and tongue are used ... to make speech sounds." "Then, no, Catharine. Nothing that dull." " I stand corrected. ... Anyway, they're thinking of moving the party - - what's left of it -- to Dr. Berlin's place. And we have to lock up. So ... as I said, Blair ..." "OK-ok! We're coming out. "What?" oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOoooooOOooooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, 12:30 a.m. "Jim, man, I've read a LOT of Shakespeare and I don't remember anything that sounded like 'fear and denial make clueless morons of us all.'" "Chief? We've just been caught in the phonetics lab and you want to talk Shakespeare? OK, let's try this:
"Sound familiar, Chief?" "You remembered all that?!" "I had to memorize the whole damn thing in college." "But, Jim, he's talking about suicide." "Well, yeah, but I was thinking about a metaphorical death. When we were in Peru and I had that spirit journey that I told you about, I had to be willing to die as my old self to be born as a confirmed Sentinel, my new self... And there's more in that speech than the desire for suicide; there's all that stuff about fear of the unknown holding us back. I was beginning to feel ..." "Like the unknown could not be any worse than the known! Yeah, me too! It was making me crazy! "But, Jim, how did you figure it out? I mean, I never.." "Blair, I hate to say this, honey, but in the past couple of days you have not been exactly Gary Cooper." "'Honey?'" "It's true, I missed a LOT of clues, but ... Timon and Pumba?! Sandburg I'd never heard your heart race so fast. And taking me to the phonetics lab? Even I figured out the phonetics lab. And the look in your eyes when you told me all about kissing? Even if I had been dead wrong, that look alone woulda done me in." "I always knew you were smart, man." "Gotta be, to keep up with you, sweetie." "'Sweetie?!' My mom calls me that and you are definitely NOT my mom." "But Blair, sweetie, you said we were family." "Cut that out! I said you were my family, but you are NOT Naomi. And only Naomi gets away with that." "I hear that." "Jim ... you are SO not Naomi." "Not even if I give you some tongue?" "Aww, ma-an." oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooo Date: Fri 1 Jan 1999 12:45 a.m. "So, Jim, how into Shakespeare are you?" "No more than anybody else who's been to college, Chief. I'm just as capable of misquoting him or quoting him out of context as the next guy. Why? You got a hankerin' to have me recite poetry to you, my Puckish one?" "Jim. Just drive the truck." "Something the matter, Chief?" "I just want to be home." "In a hurry, are you?" "Jim." "'A consummation devoutly to be wished'?" "Jim! Stop it." "Sorry, Blair." "Just nervous." "Makes two of us." "Yeah, two of us. Partners. In this together, right?" "That's how I see it, Chief." "Me too, Jim. With you all the way. ... "Jim. Watch the road, man." oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, about 1:15 a.m. "Now that we're safely home, you wanna talk, Chief?" "Aww, man, Jim, it's late!" "You going to be able to sleep now, if we don't talk?" "Well, no ... not really. So where do you want to start?" "Maybe .. the beginning? When did you know?" "I didn't know until tonight. In the phonetics lab." "Not about me, about you." "Oh. Can't really pinpoint a time. By the time I knew, it had already happened. Maybe about the time we went to Peru." "But Chief! That was a couple of years ago!" "Yeah, well I knew but I didn't know-know, you know?" "Oddly enough, Chief, that makes sense; I think that's pretty much what happened here." "So ...?" "So .... Ah, nah, Sandburg, not the eyes! Don't do the eyes!" "The eyes, Jim?" "How do you do that?" "Do what?" "How do you get your eyes to do both love AND panic all at once?" "Like I have any control over that! I feel both, the eyes do both. That's all there is to it, Jim." "Love and panic. Kind of sums it up, I guess." "Yeah, well, I figure in time the former will take care of the latter, don't you think?" "Yes, Blair, I do. How much time do you want?" "With you? All of it." "You got it." oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, about 2:10 a.m. "Now what?" "Thought you'd want to talk more, Chief." "I do. Just ... I'm really tired. And I want to think about stuff ... and ...it's late and ..." "Where to, Chief?" "Where to?" "Upstairs or down?" "Aw, ma-an." "There go the eyes, again." "Cut it out, man." "Need help up the stairs, Blair?" "I'm not drunk or weak or ..." "Not that kind of help." "What kind of help are you talkin' about, then?" "Just ... here.... Give me your hand. "Like you said, we're in this together." ... "Which side, Chief?" "Left? I like to sleep on my left side, it's more calming, somehow." "Left, it is. "You going to sleep in your clothes?" "Don't laugh, man. Well, OK, if it wasn't me, it'd be funny. Just ..." "It's OK. It's all OK ... "Well, except for the shoes. I insist that you take off your shoes before coming to bed." "You're so strict, Jim." "Yeah, well, I'm old and set in my ways." "Jim?" "Hmmm?" "Happy New Year" "Love you, too, Chief." oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, 4:05 a.m. "Blair, honey?" "Mmmm?" "Quit stealing the covers." "Cold." "You're sleeping in your sweats and wrapped in all the covers and you're cold?!" "Yes. ... 'Honey'? You called me 'honey'?" "Yes. And I'll start calling you worse, if you don't let loose with some of those covers." "Here." ... "Blair?" "Hmmm?" "You still cold?" "Yeah.... It'll go away, eventually. It's just ... anxiety interferes with circulation..." "Would you feel better in your ... in the other bed? ... Less anxious?" "Less anxious but less loved, Jim. "It's really a no-brainer where I want to be." ... "Jim?" "Hmmmm?" "Let go for a minute, I gotta turn over now." "Anything you want, Sugarbritches." "Sugarbritches?! Man, that one makes my teeth hurt -- hand me the insulin" "(chuckle)" oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, 8:45 a.m. "Jim." "Mmmmm?" "Let go, buddy." "Don'wanna." "Jim, I gotta pee, man." "Come right back?" "Jim, just give me a few minutes. My teeth have sludge on them and I've got bedhead and ..." "You're beautiful, Chief." "C'mon, man! I know what I look like in the morning. My hair looks like I stuck a finger in the wall socket, I get creases all over my face from the folds in the pillow cases, my former 5 o'clock shadow is halfway to a beard ..." "You're beautiful to me." "Aww, man. I figured you for a bit of a mush, but don't tell me you're going to start singing along with Joe Cocker!" "If Marge Simpson can sing it to Homer, I can sing it to you." "Can I call you 'Marge'?" "Can I call you 'Sugarbritches'?" "(gaag) Guess not." "Thought you had to pee, Sandburg." "Wow! All the way from 'Sugarbritches' to 'Sandburg' in the space of 2 seconds! Talk about mood swings!" "Blair, honey... darlin'... Just go do what you gotta do so you can get back in here. Before I change my mind about early morning snuggling." "Oh." ... "That was fast." "Well, yeah, I was motivated." oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, 9:45 a.m. "You still OK with the guys coming over to watch football, Chief?" "Yeah .. um .. OK .. but .." "But what?" "But none of that 'honey' stuff in front of the guys, OK?" "OK, no nicknames that can cause cavities. Check. Anything else?" "Not ready for any 'announcements,' OK?" "OK. ... But I think Connor may guess..." "Megan! Yes. She'll know. Oh, man!" "Breathe, Sandburg. We'll just pull her aside and tell her to keep a lid on it. Fair enough?" "Sure. She'll be cool." "Yeah, she's pretty good about keeping secrets; pretty good about figuring them out, too." "Well, she is a detective." "A better one than I was, this time. ... And don't you dare tell her I said that." "Won't breathe a word." oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, 10:30 a.m. "Sandy, where does this go?" "In the kitchen on the ... here I'll show you." ... "So .. did you tell him? ... You did! I can tell!" "Megan, can we just keep this between us? Keep this private?" "Sure thing, Sandy. ... What did he say when you ... oh! Never mind. Sorry." "It's OK, Megan, ... just ..." "Hey, Sandburg! Stop flirting with Connor and come join the party!" "Flirting? Me? Hey! You're supposed to eat the popcorn, not throw it!" oooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooooooOOooo Date: Fri, 1 Jan 1999, about 2:00 p.m. "So, Sandy, who's winning?" "Don't know, doesn't matter." "You're spending a whole day watching games and it doesn't matter who wins?" "Well, it might matter to somebody here ... for a couple of days ... but it's really about male bonding." "Then why did you invite me?" "Aren't you one of the guys, Megan?" "Smartass." ... "And really it goes way beyond the usual bonding, skirting the edges of homoeroticism." "Sandburg. Do. Not. Go. There." "But, Simon, it's true! "Big beefy guys patting each other's butts? Guys huddling together with their arms around each other? Grabbing balls from between the legs of guys who are bent over with their asses in their team mates' faces? It's so obvious!" "That may be, Blair, but I don't think most people really want to think about it." "Well, I don't mind thinking about it, Sandy. I think you have a good point." "Thanks, Megan. Actually, women tend to be more open-minded than men about this stuff." "Well, I don't know, Chief. What if the sport were played by women? Megan? ... Would you mind hearing about the subtext, then? ... Megan?" "No. I don't seem to mind, Jim." "With you there, Connor." "Simon!" "This is just so typical!" "Chief?" "Sorry, Simon. It's just that when it's women, it's somehow OK. More than OK, judging by the drool on everybody's chins here. But if it's men, it's 'DO NOT GO THERE.' No wonder men are such repressed assholes sometimes!" "Easy, Chief." "Sorry guys." ... "Anybody want another beer while I'm up?" "Sure, Sandburg, how about another round." ... "What's up with Sandburg, Jim?" "He's had a rather disconcerting couple of days, Simon. He'll be OK." "If you say so." ... "Hey, Chief, you want help in there?" "I'd appreciate it." ... "So, Chief...." "Why are you whispering, Jim?" "Love you, Sugarbritches." "Jim!" "Football giving you ideas?" "Jim!" "Or is there something in your head screaming 'DO NOT GO THERE'?" "OK, so I'm busted. Very perceptive." "Not really. Lotta people get pissed when they see their own 'faults' surface in others. Nothing new." "Jim, how can you stand it?" "What, Blair?" "My panic-fits. Here you've put yourself out there and I'm ..." "You're you. You've always been like this. And you usually come back down to earth. And it's always worth waiting for the return trip." "Aww, ma-an. How do I deserve you?" "You don't." "Hey, guys! Quit your bonding and get some beer in here!" "Coming, guys! Jim, man, cut it out!"
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