I remember (1500)

Scotland
2005

Growing up Alister was mostly raise by his grandfather, not because his father was a deadbeat, but after the sudden death of his mother, they stepped in so he could focus on working. This suited Alister just fine as his “Boba” was a rugged old war veteran. He spent his entire adult life fighting every conflict and war the Queen asked him to, and he did until after the Golf War. He spent his later years owning a ranch raising cows, which suited Alister just fine, he got to grow up on a ranch. Everyday Boba would pick him up from school and take him back to the ranch until after dinner when his father would get off work. It was always just the two of them, a long time ago Boba found out the military was not the best place to be when a family is involved, and he is more than willing to attempt to make up for the lost relationship he had with his own son by having one with his “Oly”.

This particular afternoon Oly sits on the back porch overlooking the grazing fields the Highland cattle use. He looks down at the ground, where he normally would be keeping a very serious eye on what the cattle was doing. From the kitchen on the other side of a sliding glass door Boba notices. With a cup of coffee, he walks out and sits next to him.

Need a cup son?

I’m too young Boba. Alister not changing his body language he continues to look down at the ground and slightly kicks his legs back and forth.

I must have forgot, you having such adult problems and all.

Yeah, real big problems, you don’t want to be me Boba.

Thanks for that warning, guess you best be working on those problems.

Everyone in class made fun of my drawing we did. Mrs. Thomas said it was good, but everyone laughed at it. I worked really hard at it, I’ve been practicing so hard.

Did you hit them?

No. Should I of??

Boba pauses for a moment as if he had to make sure his answer was the best one. He takes a sip of his coffee and reaches over and puts his hand on Oly’s shoulder.

You’re just P1 Oly, no need for all that, but sometimes life can be resistant and you lose. It’s ok, just little battle scars, they don’t go away, never change, so we have to wear them proudly. What do you say we keep an eye on these cows to keep them safe?



Today
Roswell, NM

The national emergency system goes off of Waffle House being open or not, the fact that Alister is inside and enjoying himself, suggests there are no emergency’s here. As usual, you would expect him to be talking on the phone, but we all know he’s not. One of the waitresses reluctantly begins to walk by him as he reaches out for her attention.

What I’ve been trying to say is that sometimes we all get pushed around by life, but it doesn’t mean that we just give up right? Of course not, everyone stumbles once in a while. I couldn’t even tell you how many jobs I have worked to try and get and been turned down for. Now I have one of those jobs and a little loss never really stopped anyone from doing anything. I mean hey, still a World Cup winner, can’t take that away from me.

This week will be fun as well, my first Tag Team match in AW, one of those monumental trivia questions things. If I could of chose I would have been on Odin’s side, he hits really hard, but I am excited by the addition of Sam Kidgrove, another guy from the UK, it’s like we are in some sort of a take over angle, the British Invasion 7.0! Alister slowly rises to his feet in some sort of movie esc power pose. The waitress overly disturbed by the entire interaction slowly starts to shuffle away.

”I’m sorry sir, I… I really have to get back to my job.”

Looking over at her, and almost pauses as the gears begin to turn in his head. She rolls her eyes and walks away, chalking it up to another waffle house night.

Is this some sort of a switch-a-roo or something? I just realized this is a tag match, where all four people don’t have a problem punching someone in the face. I may have walked into last week naively, doesn’t mean I have to repeat the same mistake. Odin and Tony I learned firsthand, I’ve been sore for 3 days after the match, good one boys. Sam I’ve seen around a little the last few months, I am imagining a pretty great back and forth for all of us. Odin is a fairly dominant fucker, but to my advantage, I can just focus on him, no more worrying about Tony. I’ll say Sam seems to be a smart enough guy, so I’m expecting him to come to a similar conclusion, the two of use would put on a hell of a show for everyone else. I feel our styles would match up well.

I will be the first to say, Tony is not the first person I would personally choose as a tag partner, but I’m not mad he is. I figure we have this one thing as motivation to work together, that Muppet put a beating on us this past week, what better bounce back to take a W from him, after that, back to normal for all I care. I’m not going to screw you over; I just hope you want that win as much as I do. As excited as I am about this match, I also know I’m going to need a liter of milk after this one, going to be a long night.

He reaches in his back pocket and takes out his wallet, leaving cash on the table, he heads out the door. Let’s get this out the way boys, lets all agree to hold nothing back. I may not want to hurt no one, but I am willing to push the boundaries, sometimes things happen and you deal with it. How many opportunities are we going to have like this? Were after the match no one complains and cry’s for being too stiff. I at least am excited to see how far Odin can go, or at least I hope there’s more, would sadden me to think that’s all you have to have to be the champ. I could get used to last week, I would work with that, so I hope there’s more. Alister pauses for a moment and nods to himself.

Yeah, that one’s going to hurt. Maybe its Sam I should be most worried about? He’s had a pretty good run so far, maybe he’s the one to knock me and Tony out? I rarely underestimate anyone; I’ve even been accused of overestimating people. He’s displayed some power of his own, he has just as much of a shot as any of us do.

He walks out into the parking lot and sits down at the bus stop. He reaches in his pocket and takes out a pack of candy cigarettes. He leans back on the bench and blows a puff of sugar smoke as someone walks by, giving him a really confused look in the presence of his self-confidence.

Last week I said I wanted to be like Rocky, in a way, I feel I did. He didn’t always win, but no matter what loses he took, he wouldn’t let anyone defeat him. This week a new week, I can enjoy a nice candy cigarette, I don’t feel defeated. One of my favorite lessons my boba taught me was, no matter how many times someone kicks you down, keep getting back up. Maybe that slam at the end of the match knocked me back into remembering that. I could make all the excuses in the world for last weeks showing, at the end of the day I didn’t want it as much as Odin, maybe not even as much as Tony. This week we know each other just a little more, like old friends, we won’t have to shy away as much as we did last week. As long as Tony and I can work together, we can welcome Sam to our little bromance. Here's to this week, and all the fun and fuckery we will have!

He brings the candy cigarette up to his mouth and takes a deep breath and blows out the remaining sugar smoke. He laughs to himself as he throws it on the ground and “stomps it out”.

Looks like its dawn, I remember waiting for the sun to rise as a kid. A new day. An opportunity to grow.