Celebration of any Kind

August sat back in his leather lazy boy chair as he thought about the events in the last 24 hours. Half of these event he couldn't make any sense of, yet he knew they were important. Claire was still in a deep sleep and Aug had no plans of waking her for other reasons than his fear of her angry hangover, but because he lacked the patience he would need to speak with anyone at the moment much less some one with unanswerable questions such as the ones she would have.

The news clouded his thoughts; It's volume was up much higher then need be and he grunted having got out of bed this morning on the edge of a headache. The local news anchor turned his head to the side and asked some sort of serious question. The T.V. lighting flashed in a blue tint across is shadowy apartment causing Aug's head to pound silently as he forced himself back upstairs to shower and go about any other morning routines. Aug purposely distracted himself with things such as business outlines and future meeting so he would stop pondering yesterdays events. But soon found he was to intrigued these to help himself. So after adjusting his tie and grabbing his brief case, he left home not thinking about his sleeping girlfriend Claire, but of some one must less blunt about herself. Some one he knew he would never have, and probably never even see again, but dreamed of anyway.

~

As he was about to take lunch yesterday, a girl stormed out of the management office, letting the door slam behind her. She went to carry about her tantrum by marching down the hallway, but accidentally bumped into Aug as she was doing so. He stopped talking to his assistant, and Aug's assistant was about to question him, and the sudden stop in conversation, until he saw the fuming women as well, and the two men both stood completely still with mouths half open in confusion, curiousness, and most of all amazement of this women. Still moving toward the next door the women turned around and briefly shouted an apology walking backward as talked and forward again as she disappeared into the next room. Aug had only gotten a short glance of her, but she was beautiful he knew. Her eyes were a deep violet, and her hair was straight white but glimmered yellow and turquoise as she moved. He blamed his next few actions completely on the fact he was in total adulation of this women. Speed walking out of the waiting room, through the long hallway that lead outside and finally outside, he shouted after her.
"Miss, Miss, excuse me!" She did look familiar, but not in a I know you type of way. She just felt comforting, and Aug was not sure about anything in is life at the moment, except that he needed to speak with this women.
"Yes?" She stopped dead in her tracks and turned around gracefully.
"Don't I know you from somewhere?" He asked her lamely, walking though the grass to catch up to her.
"Uh I don't think so, but where is it that you think you know me from?"
"I just can't place you." Waving his hand over the general direction of the company as he spoke, he asked "Do you work here?"
"I don't but as a matter of fact my sister does, maybe you're confusing me with her?"
"I don't think so, but what is her name?"
"Story Artz."
"Oh, that's your sister?"
"What is it you mean by that." She asked with a cigarette hanging out of her mouth as she lite it.
"Oh nothing, she doesn't work here though, she works in the factory area. It's down on 5th street."
"No shit?"
"Yeah, I can see the resemblance between you two now that I think about it."
"Do you know her very well?" She let out a long drag off her cigarette and blew the smoke into my face as she spoke.
"Nah, but a girl like Story is kind of hard to forget."
"I see, but why is that?"
"Why is what."
She sighed, "Why is she so hard to forget?"
"She kind of glows.. Like you.." Aug turned pink.
"That she does, but I'm looking for her right now. Can you point me to where she is?"
"Yeah." I said pointing down West street Toward 5th. "She will be in the large Grey building next on the corner just before it V's off, Look for her on the ground floor. If your lucky she is on lunch."
"Oh well I don't need to talk to her or anything, Thanks.. um.."
"August."
"Thanks August, I'm Marcy." Her fingers felt so cold as we shook hands, but I brushed it off figuring it was just the fact mine were so warm and sweaty from nerves.

~

Aug was almost late as he finally made it to the bus stop the morning after meeting Marcy.
None of the raggedy looking people gathered around the beaten down blue sign really looked like they were enjoying themselves nor looked like they wanted to be there. One guy was talking angrily into his overly priced cell phone. A girl in sweat pants and rings around her eyes was sitting with her legs crossed on the side walk eating cheese-its. Then a girl in olive green army pants, combat boots and a wife beater t-shirt was standing toward the back. After yesterday Aug could place the girl in his mind without any delay.
"Oh, Hello Mr. Austen." Story beams, but in reality she was thinking 'SHIT, shit, shit, shit.' as she greeted her boss, trying to make her eyes bright and happy enough to hide the evidence of tears. He noticed though, it was hard not to.
"Hey. Hi," He laughed at himself, "Hows your morning?"
"Could be better. How 'bout you? " She spoke with an undefinable accent. The same one that traveled from her sisters words, although Story's seemed a bit more pure sounding, as if she had nothing to hide and as if the day and everyone in it was a complete bore to her. Marcy was almost hiding something. No, Aug knew for sure Marcy was hiding something. There was no doubt about it.
"It's okay I guess. I'm suffering from a serious headache but I think I'll make it." Just then she opened up her overly sized purse and begun rummaging through it. It consisted of every last thing she has lost in the past and hidden among sticky note reminders about things she had forgotten, old receipts and garbage which had somehow found a home beside her wallet instead of neatly placed in a garbage can.
After a few minuted of searching she pulled out a plastic bag full of large pink submarine sized pills.
"Here." She held them out on her hand.
Aug couldn't help but give her a quizzical look. "I'm not going to wake up on an Army Base in Japan tomorrow or anything, right?"
"Oh it's fine." She laughed. "It's just ibuprofen."
"How the hell did you get a hold of ibuprofen?" He snatched the plastic bag right out of her hand and took two of the pink pills from inside of it.
Story smiled hugely and climbed onto the approaching bus.
'Yet another crazy thing to add to my new, and growing list.' Aug thought.