Some of you might actually live lives similar to mine, though I can be pretty sure that mine is one that I nevertheless happen to live very differently compared to any other.

 

I happen to be living-in with a person.  She's a fun loving, college going 20-year-old pretty lady.  We've been living-in for the past year and a half, and strangely, we are not the best of pals.  Or rather, I should rephrase that to mean that we have not been the best of live-ins until recently.

 

I joined college here recently in the hope that I would be better in the field that I hope to finally pursue as a career in the future.  I took up a place on rent in the university campus, but I was disgusted by the facilities and soon began scrounging around looking for a better place.  I found a lovely house off toward the west end of town, a lovely two-storey house with an attic and a glamorous basement and a garage to spark warmth into my new Black Jag.

 

Samantha apparently was looking around for a house too, and since she had'nt found a place yet, my best buddy Shaw convinced her that I would'nt mind a live-in.  Well, I did'nt really mind, but I was kinda hoping to be staying alone.  Never for a moment did it strike me that Samantha would be a gorgeous five-sixer!  She moved in, and insisted that she would try not to get in my way and that she'd move out as soon as she could find a place.  Apparently, she did'nt want to step on my feet.  :)  Whatever, I really did'nt care and I began by telling her how particular I was about everything and all my other pathetic yet unavoidable habits.  I did'nt want to get in her hair either, so like we were both mutually repelling each other.  :)

 

We lived our lives individually, and we did a pretty good job of staying out of each others ways.  Apart from the rare fights over the TVs remote control, and each others day/night habits like my weird late nights with loud music and her late night parties at home, there was hardly any trouble, and we never really jarred each others nerves too much.  Whatever we found irritating was forgotten about and we retained some good amount of formality between ourselves.

 

We hardly even met each other except at dinner, which always remained our sole social link.  We'd have our dinner together almost everyday in strange silence and non-interaction and we'd never have gotten that far if it was'nt for Shaws insistence that we at least eat together.  All my counter points failed before his logic and Samantha could'nt think of any reason why we 'should'nt' be eating together.  It was just one daily chore added to our non-interactive lives.

 

I'd never let her drive my Black Jaguar, and after my first refusal, she never once asked me for it again.  Her Quartz Sedan was hers alone and though I knew she'd let me have it anytime, I never asked her for it.  :)

 

We basically lived our own lives alone ignoring each other.  She once asked me over dinner why I never brought my friends home for a drink or anything.  I told her that I did'nt like just anybody, It takes a lot to be a friend of mine, and to be a friend of mine, one has to get to know me.  She replied saying that if I would give her a chance, perhaps we could get to know each other.  I told her that it must've been another one of Shaw's wild ideas to get us together and I would'nt play along.  I saw her face flush red and she said I always hit the wrong note, every time!  She wiped her chin with a napkin and left the table saying something about me almost certainly being gay or something.  She'd never seen anyone but Shaw coming over to meet me, and he rarely came around when she was home.  He was the sole common friend that we shared.  :)  Shaw was eternally troubled as to our interpretation of living-in and he completely disapproved of it.  If Shaw came over and Samantha was around, She'd come down and it was a strange stage where Samantha or I would talk to him one at a time and we'd never discuss anything involving all three of us.  He found this odd and he did mention it often enough, but my stubbornness bore fruit and his attempts at getting us together came in longer and longer intervals till I suppose he finally gave up.  :)

 

I must give her credit for trying to be nice, but I ignored her every attempt till she must have figured me out to be similar to a lamppost.  I smile back at myself now, but that would never have gotten me where I am right now.

 

I've given you a pretty good idea about our situation, so I'd best be getting along with the story I'm about to tell you.

 

Samantha had of late started going to discs and having a good time partying with friends so I was getting used to having dinner alone.  As a routine for the last week, I was half way through my dinner when the phone rang.  I put down my fork and got around to the phone.  I hardly ever got calls on the landline so I presumed it to be one of Samanthas friends.  I was about to blurt into the phone that I did'nt know where she was, when I heard a 'Hey Jim!' at the other end of the line.  I was about to complain that I would'nt play along with any more of Shaws games when Samantha continued hurriedly.  Apparently, She was stuck on NH6 and she could'nt get her car to start.  Darn!  I'd been working all day on a decryption algorithm and now, with a raging headache, this was the worst that could happen!  I had to go and get Samantha unstuck from NH6.  Oh Well, I told her to stay put and I'd see what could be done.  With that I hung up and grabbed my overcoat.

 

The fog was a foot or two thick to zero visibility and I hoped the infrared dot on my screen was her.  I drew up close and recognized the figure hunched over the steering wheel.  I got out of my Jag and knocked on her window.  She turned to me and when she realized it was me, she opened the door and clumsily stepped out into the inch and a half of snow on the road between us.  She was cold and though I could'nt make out her face very clearly in the darkness and the fog, I could make out her shivering silhouette.

 

I told her to get into the Jag and stay out of the cold while I looked under the hood of her car.  She hesitated for a moment before deciding that she'd heard me correct.  The Jag, as I have already mentioned before is one of my greatest possessions and that's what must have had her wondering for a moment.

 

I could'nt see anything wrong with her car and figured that a fuse must have burnt out somewhere behind the tubes so it would be no use trying to find out what was wrong with it and I shut the hood.

 

I decided it would be best to leave the car here and let the TowGuyz bring it home.  I got into my Jag and called the TowGuyz who said they'd pull it in as soon as they could get there, perhaps in the next hour or so, so I decided that we'd better get Samantha back home and get a chicken soup into her to shoo away the cold and a good blanket would do the trick.  I turned to the co-pilots seat and was surprised to see that Samantha was'nt there.  I got out of the car to find that she was standing outside the door looking off in the other direction holding her overcoat and shivering to goodness.  I suddenly realized that My car could'nt open from the outside without my fingerprint ID.  I cursed myself for not realizing that and quickly opened the door and helped her in.  I apologized for keeping her waiting outside and turned up the heat.  She sat in silence while I quietly told her that I could'nt figure out what was wrong with her car, but that the TowGuyz would be taking it in in about an hour or so.  The snow was heavier now and I figured it would be best to get her home.  I turned the ignition and we drove back in silence.

 

I helped her to the couch and wrapped her in a blanket.  Mozart had always been her favorite and I put on the 40th which I quite liked too myself and brought in a steaming chicken soup for her.  I sat with her on the couch while she sipped at it weakly.  I suspected a hint of a fever coming onto her.  She never once looked at me, and as I recalled, after her first glance through the window of her car, she had'nt once looked me in the eye let alone tried to say anything.  I expected the embarrassment though I hoped she'd ease up a bit.  She seemed so fragile wrapped up in the blanket trying to sip at the soup without burning her lips.  For a moment, I wanted to help her with the soup, but gave up, stuffing the thought back from where it came almost instantaneously.  I just sat there and watched her as she finished the last bit of soup.

 

I asked her if she'd like to have some more but eyeing my half eaten dinner on the table, she insisted that she'd already given me more trouble than she should have and she'd rather go to bed and rest from her ordeal.  I began a refusal but she cut me off saying she really wanted to go to bed, I could have made her stay up and fight, but figured there was no use arguing and helped her off the couch and up the stairs to her room.  Laying her in bed, I tucked her in and told her to forget the evening and relax cause these things happened all the time.  :)  She thanked me and told me that she did'nt expect me to even come and help her when she'd called.  I smiled and told her that I could'nt have helped it even if I wanted to cause to see someone in trouble and not even trying to help was something way off from my morals.  :)  She whispered another thanx and I left telling her to just call if she needed anything at night.  Just as I stepped out of the door, I leaned in with a soft goodnight and a flip of the light switch I shut the door quietly and went downstairs to finish off my dinner.

 

As usual, I leaned back in my Zerg-Throne (That's my modification of an easy chair to fit my contours and just perfect for working long hours at a computer, complete with integrated switch controls for the lights and fan, door and with servo assisted adjustment and motion) and I flipped on the monitor.  Apparently, my program code was working I smiled as I noticed that the program I'd been working on the whole day had already decrypted a bit over half the message I'd been trying to decode for the past couple of days.  :)  I read through the message to make sure the decryption was perfect just incase it had made any mistakes in the decryption.  I noticed a small patch of garbled up text half way through the decoded message.  I ran that section of the message through the decoding program and again, I got the garbled text.  This was strange.  This message was like no other I'd worked on before.  There was the possibility that the message may have been corrupted at that point during the message transfer, so I let the decoding continue while I worked on fine tuning the program code to speed up the decoding procedure.  It must have been about 4 o'clock in the morning when the decoding was complete and I had now fine-tuned the decoding algorithm to perfection.  What took seven hours of raw processing power to decode the message now took only a half hour to do the same task.  That I figured was good enough and as far as I could see, I could'nt speed up the procedure any further without losing accuracy so I let it off the hook and decided on some sleep.  The garbled text would be taken up later once I was back in a decent state of mind.  On the way to my room, I peeped into Samantha's room to see if she was doing okai.  She seemed to be sound asleep and I continued to my room and tried to sleep.

 

I don't remember when I fell asleep, but at about 6 o'clock, I awoke with an idea in my mind, perhaps the garbled text was not a corruption during transfer but a coded part of the message.  I had noticed that there was a direct reference to that part of the message often throughout the entire message and if the message was all that important, then the text must have been re-encrypted where it was most needed, so perhaps running some decryption algorithms over the garbled text would come up with something.

 

I was too tired and sleepy to get back to coding right away so I figured a bit more sleep was a plea from my bodies mind and it should be listened to.  I reached over to the desk near my bed and grabbed my mobile phone.  I typed out a reminder for myself and turned off the light.  Sleep was calling me from more than one angle and I turned over in my bed feeling the warmth of the sheets.

 

Something did'nt seem alright....  I opened my eyes and I saw a dim stream of light making it's way through my door.  It could'nt be a burglar as I knew the trip alarms would have gone off.  The next thing I thought gave me a chill, I'd forgotten to set the trips to life when I left my computer.  Or did I?  I figured It would be best for me to check, so I put on a T-shirt and fuzzily walked back.  At the top of the stairs, I noticed the light was coming from Samantha's room.  I knocked twice before opening the door.  Samantha was in bed, but she did'nt look too great.  I went to her and felt her forehead checking for a fever.  She opened her eyes and I told her she was coming down with something.  She just nodded at me like she did'nt want to say anything.  I asked her if she wanted anything and again, she replied with silence.

 

I knew she was'nt feeling well at all and even if she did tell me, I know I could'nt help her much so I reached over her and picked up the bedside phone.  Thinking for a moment, I finally made up my mind and dialed the number of the doctor who lives across the street.  Samantha began to protest but I waved her down.  Ms.Brooke, I made out from her groggy voice, was apparently asleep when I had called.  I first apologized for having woken her up and then went on describing the situation.  She figured she'd better come over and check Samantha herself and that she'd be over in about ten minutes or so and she hung up.

 

I told Samantha that Ms.Brooke would be over in about ten minutes and I asked her if she'd like anything in the meanwhile.  She looked blankly at me for a moment and then shook her head.  So I sat with her for a while staring out the window waiting for Ms.Brooke.  The window overlooked our driveway and we had a clear view of the Brooke's front door.  Less than five minutes later, I saw the door open and Ms.Brooke began making her way across the street.  The snow was deeper here and I figured I'd go and help her across the deep snow.  I told Samantha that I'd go and help Ms.Brooke across the snow and I'd be back in a moment.

 

Ms.Brooke was glad to see me coming over to her through the snow.  It was still snowing lightly, but the visibility was much better than the evening of the day before.  Together, we came into our porch and we dusted the thin layer of snow off of ourselves.  It was evident that it had snowed heavily in the night.

 

Just as we entered and were taking off our overcoats, She asked me how Samantha was.  I told her truthfully that I had no idea what the problem was, but that it must have had something to do with the cold when she was stuck on NH6 with car trouble.  She looked at me and smiled.  She said not to worry and that it must just be a fever or something.  We went upstairs to Samanthas room where I pulled a chair up close to the bed for Ms.Brooke.  She sat down and asked Samantha what the problem was.  I figured Samantha was not too comfortable in my presence and I excused myself and went downstairs to fix a coffee for Ms.Brooke.

 

While I was at it, I turned on the radio to pass the time.  Looked like there were a lot of early morning Disco Radio freaks up today, calling in to request a song.  I figured I might as well try requesting a song and I picked up the phone.  A couple of thoughts later, I called them up and asked for Nightcrawlers - "Push the feeling on". Apparently, the radio jockey realized I was a first time caller and she playfully flirted about my voice that I should have been a radio jockey too.  :)  I laughed and told her I was into programming computers for a living as well as as a hobby.  She switched her tone and said I'd perhaps have a better career in jockeying cause of the dot-com slump.  I laughed and replied that I was'nt a dot-com'mer but a dot-bomber.  She giggled and handed the number I'd requested onto a low.  She thanked me for calling in and warming up a cold morning like this.  With that, she wired me off and stepped up on the volume.  I smiled and got back to the coffee.

 

It was almost done and I figured I'd go upstairs and see if Samantha would like anything else....  She insisted she did'nt want anything and I returned to the kitchen and brought out the coffee.  Just as I was coming out of the kitchen, Ms.Brooke was coming down the stairs and she indicated toward the living room.  I placed the coffee on the center table and leaned back on the couch.  Ms.Brooke sat down in the easy chair and sipped at her coffee and looked probingly at me.  I finally leaned over and filled myself a cup of coffee.  She smiled and we both leaned back into the cushions.

 

Finally, I asked her how Samantha was.  She waited a moment before she answered.  She said that it seemed like an ordinary fever, but it could take a turn for the worse anytime.  It was not pneumonia she guessed, but she did'nt rule it out just yet.  The symptoms were too vague to decide on what she was down with, but she'd stay awhile and see how Samantha pulled along.  Besides, she could see that I was sleepy from my eyes and I should be getting myself some sleep.  I thanked her and smiled saying that I had been working and had hardly gotten much sleep at night.  We talked a while and I told her about Samantha getting stuck on NH6 and that she'd waited in the cold for me to open the door.  After a while, I was beginning to yawn and Ms.Brooke said I should go and get some sleep.  I told her to wake me up incase she needed anything but the house was hers while she was here.  :)

 

We walked up the stairs and after showing her the mess my room was in, I showed her back to Samanthas room and I went back to my room and crawled into bed.  I was asleep even before I closed my eyes and I must have slept quite a while because I remember dreaming that I could'nt get into my car and I was stuck in the cold trying to figure out why the fingerprint scanner was'nt working.

 

I woke with a jerk and a slight spinning in my head.  I had forgotten about the alarm and it had just gone off.  Well, anyways, I was feeling partially rested and I figured it was not very nice of me to be sleeping while Ms.Brooke was watching over Samantha so I swung myself off the bed and stepped into the shower.  It was 11 o'clock in the morning and I could smell the sweet smell of fresh coffee wading through the air.  I was thinking of a shave but gave up the idea after realizing I had just a days stubble on my face.  I was'nt the social type of a human being and I figured it did'nt really matter to me.  :)

 

Morning chores completed, I put on a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt with a line of printed text on it saying "If U can understand this: vv3 $h0u!d 7@!# else, please stay away!".  I gave my shirt an approving look in the mirror and decided it was okai.  Worth wasting some printer cartridge on it.  :)

 

I made a beeline for Samanthas room and saw Ms.Brooke reading one of the many novels that Samantha kept reading.  I hated romantic literature and always tried to stay away from them.  I treasured my Sci-Fi books as my favorite book material.  Isaac Asimov had always been my favorite and I had collected all his books as a child buying them with my miniscule pocket money.  I still had them in my bedroom, displayed with pride.  A feeling of nostalgia always filled my mind recollecting the days of my childhood every time I saw my collection.

 

Ms.Brooke saw me come in and she pulled a finger to her lips indicating silence and putting the book down, she got up and came over to where I was standing.  I figured she wanted to talk to me, so I let her pass by me and followed her out.  After shutting Samanthas door, She told me that she was worse now and it was just a viral fever.  But the fever was steadily rising.  She said that she'd called up the pharmacists and asked them to drop off some medicines but they were snowed in too and they said they'd drop off the medicines in about two or three hours when the snow was cleared.  She said Samantha was not doing too great and we'd save ourselves a lot of trouble if we could somehow get the medicines sooner than that.  I thought for a moment and then told her to wait while I go and fetch the medicines from the pharmacists.  She started to say something about the snow and how cold it was and that we could wait till the weather got a little better but I told her it was okai and I would rather risk catching a cold to letting Samantha get worse.  With that, I went down the stairs before she could say anything else.  Reaching the door, I grabbed a jacket and hanging the overcoat over my left arm.  I called back to Ms.Brookes that I'd be back as soon as I could make it.

 

The snow was deep and I knew it would take a while, but I would be back as soon as I could.  I did'nt want to waste too much time in the whiteness that was spread all around me.  I felt the cold biting into my face, and I wrapped the muffler around my neck.  I swung the overcoat around me and dived into the snow.  The road was invisible due to the thick snow covering it, but I made my way by intuition.  The Pharmacist was about six miles away and I knew I'd have a long trek till I made it.  The snow was thick and though I could see for about a couple of hundred feet or so, I found the going to be pretty slow.  For a moment, I had hoped I was at home, on my Zerg-Throne, sipping coffee and typing myself to oblivion, but I tucked that thought away knowing that I had something more important on hand for me to finish first.

 

All the houses I passed were lifeless and as far as I could see, there was no living object to be seen in motion or otherwise either.  There must be a way to travel, snow or no snow.  My Jag would'nt plough through this snow, I knew.  I should have attached a set of sleds onto it.  Perhaps I would'nt have to take all this trouble to get to the Pharma’s pharmacy and back.  I was thinking all the while I was walking about how I could fit them onto my Jag without wasting too much energy.  I mean just putting sleds on would'nt be a great idea because we'd need something to propel the vehicle forward, the wheels would be no good in pushing it forward due to their low resistance over snow.  A little thinking later, I figured I could perhaps rig up a broad Caterpillar Track along the rear end of the car to push it forward.  Of course I would have to make sure the power from the engine should be diverted to the tracks, but that would be a comparatively easy thing to do in reference to the actual attaching of the caterpillar tracks.  They would have to be able to be concealed under the chassis of the Jag itself.  Shifting between the wheel drive and the caterpillar drive should include disengaging the Wheels from the engine and engaging the caterpillar track to it and I knew that would take a lot of thinking and a lot more designing.

 

I kept my mind busy on this idea while I tediously moved along toward the Pharmacists shop.  A lot of thinking and even more walking later, I reached the square.  I could see the workmen cleaning away the snow.  It was indeed a relief.  I noticed with awe the sharp difference between the wet road and the foot and a half deep snow at the point where the hot blade of the bulldozer was pushing the snow aside.  The snow was falling weakly and I watched the flakes fall animatedly to the ground as I moved quickly over the recently cleared road.  There were more people around than I had expected and I flicked my drooping collar up as I walked on toward the pharmacist shop.

 

When I got there finally, the pharmacist was quick in his dealing as he seeded out the package like he was running short of time even though I was the only person at the shop.  His eyes suddenly flickered and he smiled warmly at me.  He expressed some kind of awe that I took a moment to realize as surprise.  He knew I'd come a long way to get the medicines and asked me if I'd like a coffee or something which I politely declined.

 

Before long, I was on my way back.  Walking back now was easier till I reached the bulldozer once again.  It had hardly cleared more than a hundred feet since I last saw it and I examined the boredom on the faces of the driver and his pal.  They were smoking cigarettes in silence with the occasional word or two that they shared every now and then.

 

I walked past them and stepping into the snow again, I suddenly became aware of it's coldness wrapping around my boots.  The bottoms of my jeans were wet and I cursed myself for not having worn my high neck boots when I left home.  The cold was beginning to make my feet numb and I was suddenly very tired.  Still, I walked on with the package tucked under my arm.  Again, I noticed hardly a soul in the vicinity.  The fog had almost cleared completely and I could see far ahead now.

 

I tred on for a while without trying to lock my mind on any thought when suddenly out of nowhere, I clicked upon the question of the corrupted message.  Weird I thought, I must remember to get back to work on the message as soon as I give Ms.Brooke the medicines.  All out of the blue (or rather, the white), I heard a voice calling my name.

 

I stopped and turned to see Shaw taking large bounding steps through the snow toward me.  I waited till he caught up.  He is a tall man, about six feet tall, and his long strides did'nt take long to get him to where I was standing.  He explained that he was at home when I passed by and he noticed me through the window and figured he'd just say hello.  He looked around and asked me what I was doing in the middle of nowhere on foot.  I explained that it was'nt the best of ideas to try driving my car around in this weather.  He laughed deeply and excused his stupidity and slapped me on the back.  He asked me again about what exactly I was doing walking around in the snow dressed like this.  Before I could explain, he stuffed a cold hand under my coat collar and exclaimed.  He insisted that I should get inside and rest a bit, I was looking strange he said and half dragged me back to his house.  I began to protest, but his determination was too much for my current state to retaliate against.

 

We reached his place and he helped me out of my coat.  We went into the living room and pushing me into the sofa, he demanded an explanation.  I quietly narrated the entire story to him.  He sighed loudly when I finished and then hurriedly pulling himself out of his seat, he said he would come along too.  He saw the tiny pool that my wet jeans were making on the floor and he called an agonizing "O' God".  He snapped at me to get out of my jeans and he'd get me something to wear.  With that, he walked out of the room.

 

I followed him into his room and sat down on the bed.  He buried himself in his cupboard and finally brought out a pair of jeans that looked my size.  Saying those were the shortest pair he could find, he tapped his temple and started putting on a pair of boots.  I rid myself of my jeans in the meanwhile and put on the jeans that Shaw had given me.  They were a perfect fit.  He smiled at me and told me they were mine.  I smiled back and winked a thanks at him.

 

He finished tying the laces on his boots and then grabbed a jacket off a hangar behind the door.  I followed him out to the front door and while he was putting on his overcoat, he asked me if I was sure I wanted to come along.  He said that he could take the medicines over and I could stay here and get some rest, I was in a bad condition already.  I told him my feet were almost dead and I might as well come along, perhaps they'd warm up or something.  Besides, I had to get back to work on a message and him coming over was an added bonus, and we could both work on it together.  I'd never trade that in for a cold!  :)  He smiled again and said to hang in there till we reached.  I made a half smile and stepped out with him.

 

From his place, it was'nt a long walk and we covered the distance pretty quickly.  I was hurrying to keep up with his long strides but the snow was not doing much to help the situation.  I was tired and numb and I guess Shaw also realized for he suddenly apologized and fell into step with me.  I was relieved for a while until I suddenly handed the package to Shaw.  No sooner than he grabbed it sensing my discomfort, I let go of my self and I sneezed every molecule of living tissue right out of my lungs.  I was coming down with a chill.  I saw the look of horror on Shaws face and could'nt help but laugh.  Shaw realized what had happened and joined in.  We laughed a long while till I sneezed again.  Shaw had seen me build up to this one, and was ready for it.

 

We walked on and finally, reached my place.  I opened the door and began taking off my overcoat.  half way through disrobing myself from the overcoat, I let off another thunderous sneeze.  I hung up my overcoat and noticed that Shaw was'nt laughing at my sneezes anymore.  I ripped off my jacket and hung it up as well.

 

Ms.Brooke came out of Samanthas room and leaned on the railing.  She called from there that we were just in time, Samantha had just woken up and she was'nt much better.  Shaw called a "Hi!" to Ms.Brooke and took the stairs two at a time with the package of medicines while I climbed them like a normal human being behind him.  I reached the room and was just in time to follow Ms.Brooke and Shaw into the room.

 

Sam was propped up against the pillows finishing off the last of the soup that Ms.Brooke had made for her.  She smiled weakly at Shaw as we came in.  He walked to her side and felt her forehead.  He told her she'd be good as new soon with Ms.Brookes help.  Ms.Brooke laughed and joked that no one had ever died when she was around and we all laughed.  We watched as Ms.Brooke gave Samantha the medicines and then, we pulled up chairs and sat around the bed.  We talked a while about various things.  I was quiet most of the while and was glad no one had noticed my silence.  Samantha fell asleep finally and we decided to go downstairs to the living room so as not to disturb her.

 

Down in the living room, Ms.Brooke thanked me for taking the trouble to go and get the medicines for Samantha.  I just smiled and told her it was the least I could do, after all, I should have remembered to open the door for the lady when we were on NH6.  With that done, I let off another sneeze and excused myself to fetch myself a handkerchief.

 

When I came back, Ms.Brooke looked concerned.  My feet were burning from the cold they had been through and I could'nt keep my boots on any longer.  The socks were soaked and semi-frozen due to the temperature.  I sat down on the couch and took off my boots.  My feet were red and swollen and I rubbed them tenderly with my fingers.  Ms.Brooke leaned over, looked closely at them and finally announced that I needed to get them in some hot water.  I told her they were already burning and any hot water would kill me instantly.  She ignored my pleas and went out of the room.

 

Shaw was looking at me strangely and I asked him what was wrong with him.  He just shook his head like he was disappointed.  I tried asking him again and again but he just stayed mum like he did'nt want to tell me.  I finally broke my pleas and told him that if I should'nt know what the matter was, then he should'nt look at me like that.  He pulled his eyes away from me at that but a while later, I caught him looking at my feet in the same way.  I was getting frustrated now and I asked him to break the shell and tell me what was on his mind.

 

He must have decided that it was okai for me to know and he opened his mouth to speak but just as he did, Ms.Brooke came in with a bowlful of steaming water and he was quiet again.  She brought the bowl and put it down at my feet.  She waited a moment and then when she realized that I was'nt stepping into it, she asked me what I was waiting for and I told her I was not going to dip my burning feet into any hot water unless I knew what was going on.  Ms.Brookes and Shaw glanced at each other and finally, she told me that my feet might be coming up with frostbite and if we were'nt too late, they would be fine.

 

I looked at her and then at Shaw.  I asked her what she meant by "too late" and she waited a couple of heartbeats before replying seriously that if we are too late then I could lose them.  I looked at Shaw and then back at Ms.Brookes, I did'nt even want to think any further and then, without complaining further, I timidly slipped my feet into the hot water.

 

********************************

Place to insert Frostbite stuff!

 

For a moment, my feet sent alarm signals screaming through my nerves to my brain, but I held myself by a mental vice and led myself slowly down back to myself....  The water did'nt feel all that bad after all.  Infact, It felt good as my body eased itself slowly to the temperature of the warm water.  I lay back and suddenly realized how tired I was, I was'nt exhausted, but I really felt burnt out (for lack of a better word).

 

Place to insert Frostbite stuff!

********************************

 

I don't remember how long I had my feet in the bowl for it was'nt long before I fell asleep.   When I awoke though, I could hear Shaw typing on my Bedside PC.  I wanted to say something but I was too burnt out to even turn my head.  I was really feeling terrible!  Eventually, Shaw turned around and, looking concerned and with a furrowed brow, he asked me how I was feeling.  I did'nt respond simply because it was too much for me to do.  Shaw told me to relax and that I was not well.  The realization hit me like a sledgehammer on the chest.  "My Feet?"

 

Shaw smiled and said they seemed to be doing okai so far.  I relaxed again and tried semi-consciously to sense the sheets covering me with me feet.  My feet still burnt, but it was way better now.  I could barely feel the sheets over my feet though.  It was like I had lead weights placed on my feet like they were chained down, the only difference was that I could'nt feel the weight, I just could'nt lift them.  I could wiggle my toes and that was good news enough for me.  :)

 

Ms.Brooke came in a little while later and put a bowl of something on the bedside table.  I could'nt make it out from where I was, but whatever it was, it had a nice fragrance.  Shaw propped me up with a couple of pillows and both of them sat down on either side of me, Shaw on my right and Ms.Brooke on my left.  They talked a while about me and then, looked at me expecting a reply.  Finally, Ms.Brooke poked me to respond and I whispered that I was feeling very very burnt out.  She said it must be the after effect of one of the drugs she gave me.  I can't remember what it was called, but that does'nt change the story around, so I'll keep going anyways.  I was way too burnt out to have been hit by the after effects of a drug in this manner.  I was sure I was down with something.  I did'nt have a headache, but I was just too tired or lazy or something of the sort, I can't explain in words the state that I was in.

 

All of a sudden, a question popped into my mind, but I was waiting for a moment to slip it into the conversation about garden flowers that Shaw and Ms.Brooke were having.  I was not uninterested by their chatter, but it did'nt interest me enough to join in either.  After a moment, I caught Ms.Brookes eye.  She asked me what I wanted and I asked her how Samantha was doing.  Apparently, she was asleep and getting better.  Another question came in and I asked her about the bowl she'd brought in.  She told me it was a surprise and she'd tell me what it was later.  I looked at Shaw and he seemed to be enjoying every moment that was passing.  When asked about my feet, she told me that everything seemed to be in control and that I had nothing to worry about as of right now and that I should concentrate on getting as much rest as I could get because knowing me, I'd jump around as soon as I felt a bit better and that could ruin my immune systems efficiency if it was'nt strong enough by then.

 

I smiled and sank back into my pillows.  Again I was asleep and as usual, I don't remember for how long but I woke up with an odd tingling in my feet.  Pins and needles!  I tentatively moved my toes and feet and found I could feel much better now.  My feet were saved after all!  Ms.Brookes voice called out from beside me to keep still as I was distracting her.  I turned my head and was glad to note that it did'nt offer much resistance as it did earlier.  Perhaps it was indeed the drug, but I really did'nt care as long as I could move now.  :)  Ms.Brooke was trying to read one of the books in my Isaac Asimov collection.  I smiled and told her they meant more to me than most of my other possessions.  She stuck a bookmark into the book at the page she was on and placed the book gently down on the table.  She took off her glasses and looked at me for a while.  Then she asked me to tell her about it.  I told her how I had collected them as a child, saving my pocket money to buy them.  The entire collection took me ages to get together but now, I was as proud as a father would be of his son, on hearing his first words, that I had saved my pocket money and invested it in this.

 

 

I’m sorry guys:

 

This Lucid Journal has been left unfinished on purpose,

I was awoken untimely before I could come near completion of the dream....

 

I have done my best to bring out every inch of detail as and when the events occurred.

I don’t say that this is exactly how things occurred but I guarantee that the integrity of this story is as perceived by myself originally.

 

Some parts of this story have been altered and certain events have deliberately been left out and/or exaggerated.

I may be an honest individual, but that does’nt mean that I don’t hide a few details....

:o)

 

 

Here is my own version of the rest of this story.

It’s NOT the original by any means, But due to reader Request and demands,

I have decided to provide an ending for this here Lucid Dream.

Read on for the end!

 

 

Ms.Brooke smiled back at me from where she sat and running the edge of her right ring finger over the backs of the neatly arranged books of my prized collection, she lingered over one of them that stood out of the rest in it’s heavily eroded-with-use dark leather binding.  It was obviously not a part of the collection and was placed among a couple of other similarly dark bound leather backed books.  She said with an idle smile that she never figured I was the diary kind of a person.  I replied pause taken that those were actually my failed attempts at cataloguing my life in diary form.  They had turned out to always end up as something way far from the normal human version of a diary.  I could never get myself to stop at the end of a date, and I had never managed to drop into the considered custom of drawing out my life in diary form on a regular basis.  Sometimes, I would write for a series of days and then I’d suddenly step into a series of blank pages that would just drop the habit out of my schedule altogether.  I would never be able to stick to the events of the day, I’d usually end up arguing in writing about some topic of discussion inadvertently drawn from a tangent to the matters of the day.  These so-called diaries always ended up being my sounding board for my life.  Poetry and long discussions flitted themselves through the pages and I rarely ever ended up with anything more than a catalogued plethora of sentimental data.

 

I could hear the muffled tap-tapping of Shaw’s fingers running over the keyboard of my computer in the background of all of this, but never really noticed him in the room.  But it was the sudden silence of his fingers that drew my attention to where he was sitting on the swivel chair at te computer.  He slowly swirled around saying he could’nt help but overhear what we were talking about....  But he urged us to go on nevertheless....

 

Ms.Brooke smiled as she pointed out that she was and still is an avid diary-writer.  She went on to say that she believed that people like me were usually creative people who could never survive as themselves if they tried to bind themselves into the tight edges of diary writing.  She explained that diary writing is more of a self-disciplining activity and is meant to get people into the habit of writing as a course of things rather than getting them put off of it.  She added that she would love to go through some of the stuff that I had written in my idle moments in these diaries if I did’nt mind.  I agreed to that and she said she’d get to it as soon as she finished off the book that she was reading from my so highly prized collection.

 

Shaw decided to speak up at this point and he took on a somber tone.  He referred to the message that I had been working on the previous night and said that the algorithm that I was running over it was perfect in every sense that he could think of....  There was no problem with the decryption algorithm as far as he could see and still, that crucial part of the message was totally garbled up and far from understanding.  Shaw had already tried his own edited version of the decryption algorithm over the message, but he still could’nt decrypt the garbled part.  He suggested that we could try a different decryption algorithm over that part of the message, but that would be a stupid thing to do since it was a well known fact that running various ciphers over parts of a message would inevitably cause a problem in the decryption of the same.  I had a glimpse of a thought, but it receded from my mind before I could hold it down and draw it back into the moment.  I tried to remember but in vain so finally, frustrated, I decided to let it remain for the time being for thoughts such as these inevitably drop into the mind in later times of lesser thought.

 

Shaw sensed my uneasiness and cracked a smile to lessen the heightened mood that had set in.  I smiled back and with a wave of his arm, he caught the edges of the chair and spun around on the swivel chair.  Ms.Brooke giggled abstractedly at the childish flavor of the moment.  I smiled at the scene absently reaching for the bedside table for the pack of cigarettes that were always within arms reach.  Shaw smiled at my inability to find them and spoke suddenly.  He’d had a few from my pack and there was just one left.  The snow outside was melting away and the roads were shining with wetness and though the cold was’nt as bad as it was the day before, it was taken for granted that no one planned to go out to get us smokes.  Shaw grinned and drew the packet containing the last cigarette and pulling it out, he declared in a muffled croak, that we’d have to share this one.

 

I was’nt in the mood to draw more than a couple of puffs just for the heck of it and settled for Shaw’s plan.  He set the cigarette in my mouth imperfectly and I had to reach out and set it properly before he double snapped his lighter and set it ablaze.  I drew in the first puff, savoring the taste as it hit my dampened lungs.  I smiled realizing how long it had been before I had had my last cigarette.  Shaw reached for the computer and set some lively music whose tune I could’nt place.  I let it be and decided to just wallow in the mood for a while. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jims major life