still with me? ok. on the news from last night, we had a party for lucia. if you want an excellent account with images, i'm happy to refer you to my friend khat's blog where she has documented the evening. a link to her site is just there to the right. yup, right there....up a couple...too far....yes! we've landed. so i won't spend too much time on it, but thank goodness we have roya here to cook us such excellent food! and thank goodness lucia just attracts all these wonderful people to spend a lovely evening together!
let's see, what else is going on... i feel like writing a short story...hmm
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it's not often that he would come out to play like this. in fact, as far as he could remember, sean couldn't recall a single memory where dennis would simply show up and actually be happy to be around him. a sort of disgruntled condecension usually distilled any semblance of authenticity. why was he so happy to see me?, sean wondered. he knew he would not be able to let it go, but decided to do his best and carry on with the chess game. speed chess. the only way to play dennis had said once. sean was fine either way, he could take his time or simply throw caution to the wind as he knew he didn't have the skill to think that quick. he usually got lucky though. two summers ago they had taken the time to build a bench and playing board by simply nailing old pieces of lumber across tree stumps in the far right corner of the backyard. it was ideal place to play a game that required concentration and a sense of tranquility. there were also clothes hanging from the line that suspended between two pines which provided them with more seclusion. sean knew his heart was not in today's game, but felt compelled to keep playing as he saw the look on dennis's face. "why was he so happy? focus. pawn two paces up. ok, he's taken my bishop. oh good, he's left his knight out in the open, it's mine now. dang it, there goes my castle. ok, need to sacrifice a another pawn. hmm...he didn't take it. slide my knight....move my queen...bring in my castle. CHECKMATE....says....dennis. "what! how...how did you do that." "you weren't concentrating", said dennis with that grin he get's when he knows he's soundly won. "i guess i got lucky, that's all".sean leaned back against the tree, swatted away a couple of flies, but nothing was coming to him as to how dennis had won. "i thought i was so close". "naw, it was a good try though". "why was he not gloating" thought sean"usually by now he was doing some sort of dance". "sean!". his mom was calling from the back door. sean peered between the red-stripped dress and his brothers undershirts to look towards the back door and saw that his mom didn't know where he was....he decided not to answer. "sean!", she called again. "you'd better go see what she wants", said dennis. "what's with you?" sean asked. "what do you mean?" "well, for starters....errr...you're smiling." "oh, umm...i...sort of found something yesterday." sean paused waiting for the rest to come out but soon realized that dennis was not just going to offer any information. "and! well, what was it!" "i'd have to show you, don't want to say it too loud. but go see your mom first, don't make her wait". highly skeptical, sean stepped out between the boxers and socks, under the line, past the pines, through the tall grass and on to the back porch. "yeah ma, what do you need". "two things. first there is a message from your brother". sean's brother had been out of the country for a while now. it hadn't been the same since he's left, and sean found himself revisiting things that reminded him of when they were together. it had already been 2 years since he'd been gone. "the time has gone by so fast, hasn't it" asked his mom.
"what was the message?", sean asked. and with that his mother quickly snatched him up and hugged him like only mothers can. "mom, put me down...sheesh" but he couldn't hide the smile. "what was the other thing?" "oh, i was just wondering what you were doing out there? it's getting late" "oh, uh, nothing really...just resting i guess". "anyway" his mom said "you know dennis is coming back for a quick visit in early october. he'll be here for your birthday." "oh, ok, sounds good". sean turned to go back to his room. he couldn't stop smiling. why was he so happy? he knew he'd be thinking about it all night. "i'm going to bed i guess" he yelled back as he closed his door. he knew the sooner he slept, the quicker the next few days would come.
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ok, good, glad i got that out of my system. here's a photo of one of the nights brian was with us at Bahji. ciao!
this picture was taken by our dear friend sholeh (http://sholeh.calmstorm.net/blog/)
(me, khat, nadim, roya, brian)
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