Sideshow Girl

When Monday rolled around and I left Shakopee, I already started missing the festival. I missed Scott and Jamie. I kind of missed Johnny and Ronaldo. I especially missed Bik and Asbestos. Oh yeah, I missed those fabulous fruit smoothies, too.

My parents had gone to the grocery store by the time I got home, but my short-haired Toy Fox Terrier was thrilled to see me. Her little stub of a tail wiggled furiously as she put her front paws up on my leg and stared adoringly up at me with big brown eyes. "Hi, Kiwi," I said, reaching down to scratch behind her pointed ears. "How's my baby?"

I went to my bedroom followed closely by Kiwi, her little claws clicking against the linoleum floor. I sat down at my desk and turned on my iBook, then opened my internet browser to look up schools in the area that would offer a degree in Liberal Arts. I had put it off for too long, I decided. My friends from school had started researching colleges toward the end of Junior year. It wasn't long before I grew bored of just researching, so I signed into MSN Messenger. Scott was online. He had the day off. We had very little to talk about, since I had only left his apartment just over an hour before. We both signed off, and then my phone started ringing. I scrambled to find it and answer it quickly. "Hello?" I said, without even checking my call ID.

"Hey, it's Bik."

"Oh, hi Bik. Miss me already?"

"Desperately," Bik laughed. "I talked to Asbestos. Friday will work. What time do you get into Shakopee?"

"Well, last time I got there around five at night," I said. "I can come earlier, if you need me to."

"I'd appreciate you showing up in Minneapolis around noon." He told me the address at which I would find him and Asbestos.

"You want me in Minneapolis?" I asked.

"That is where I live, you know."

"Okay. Thanks, Bik," I said. "See you Friday."

"Ciao." I laughed at him as I hung up.

I heard the front door open. "Louise!" my mother hollered. "How was your first weekend?"

"Fabulous!" I said, dramatically bursting out of my room into the hallway and striking a jazzy pose. "I have oodles of great stuff to tell you about."

"Tell us during supper," Mom said. "We're having chicken and rice."

"I love chicken and rice!" I exclaimed. My mom winked at me.

"How's Scott doing?" my dad asked as he reached for a tissue to blow his nose.

"He's doing pretty well, Daddy," I said. "He's got a most excellent messy little apartment. Jamie was there, too. He slept over on Saturday night, and then he and Scott came to watch me on Sunday."

"I can't believe anybody wants to work on a Sunday," Mom commented. "I never work Sundays unless I absolutely have to."

"Well, I guess that's one of the many differences between us, Mommy," I said, only just loud enough to be heard. Mom pursed her lips and started getting the ingredients to her chicken and rice hotdish. "We should have tater tot hotdish sometime," I said, hopping up to sit on the counter.

"I'll keep that in mind," Mom said. She set the bag of frozen peas on the counter next to me. "Get down, Lou. I need the counter space for food, not your butt." My cell phone started going off, signaling that I had a text message. I had forgotten it was in my hand until then. "Who's that, Louise?"

"Dunno yet," I said with a dismissing wave of my hand. I flipped my phone open. "Oh, it's Bik."

"Dick?" Mom said. "Who's Dick?"

"Not Dick," I corrected. "Bik."

"Like a pen?" Dad asked.

I smiled, remembering when I had asked Bik the same question. "No," I replied, "like a him."

I looked down at the screen. BikZippo says: ARGH I your help. Commputer porblems. Your a hig-tech teenager. Sorry 4 the typos.

"You still haven't told us who he is," Mom said. She turned to Dad. "I think Louise found herself a boyfriend," she joked.

"No!" I laughed, shaking my head. "He's like, thirty-something. No. He and his stage partner have kind of taken me underwing so I can learn stuff."

I texted Bik back. LouieLouie says: What makes you think I can help? BTW your name reminds me of Bickford Shmeckler's Cool Ideas, and I love that movie passionately.

Shortly after I sent the text, my phone rang. I looked at the call ID that time. Wouldn't you know it? Bik. "What?" I nearly shouted when I flipped it open.

"Chill out, Small One," Bik said. "Don't get your panties all up in a bunch."

"I am chill," I argued.

"You are not, or you wouldn't be biting my head off! So, can you help me with my computer?"

"No. I can go in my room and watch a movie."

"Douche," he huffed. "Oh! Never mind, I fixed it."

"Did you fix it, or did it fix itself?" I asked with a hint of teasing in my voice.

There was a pause before Bik said, "Yes."

I laughed as I shuffled back to my bedroom. "Can I watch my movie now, Bik?"

"Depends. What movie are you planning to watch?"

"Fight Club, of course," I said.

"Excellent. Carry on. I'll talk to you later. I should call my girlfriend before she decides to call and yell at me."

"Kay." I hung up and stuck the DVD into the player.

I was at the point where Jack the Narrator meets Tyler for the first time when my phone started going off again. I flipped it open. BikZippo says: What's the frst rule about Fight Club??

I giggled and texted back: LouieLouie says: The first rule about Fight Club is YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB!