Timeline/World: Edge of Forever – Gifted Ones
Characters: Yang Dimm
Race: Sprite – Water
Age: 32, physically about 24
Current residence: Rochester, New York
Final Word Count: 779 words
This new job has been a change of pace that I knew I needed but didn’t think I’d ever actually get. There are no two ways of looking at it. We were being paid peanuts for the work we were doing, the kids weren’t always willing to listen to us and while I did like them to a point, it still wasn’t enough for us anymore.
I still can’t put into words how grateful I am that I was able to convince them to let Yin in, too. He’s my twin, I adore this goober to no end and I need him near me. We both realized that we just can’t work separate jobs, not in different buildings. If we’re in the same building and we can see one another a few times a day, we’re all good. We’re not tied at the hip, we’re not likely to go crazy if we’re separated too long but we do function better when we’re in the same general area.
I’ve seen so many people come and go from the classes that I can’t keep track of them all. Some only show up once or twice, they realize that they don’t care for the learning and then they go on their way. Others stay for the length of the class and we get to know them a little better as they do.
I mean, people tend to open up as they’re working on their projects, either to the people near them or in general as the class starts talking about this subject or that one.
Of the things I’ve learned from the people who have come to the class, the one that baffles me the most at this point is Ronald. Ronald is a middle-aged man who seems to have hit a bit of a low. He’s in that midlife crisis stage, or so he likes to remind everyone, and he needed some change in his life. These changes came in the shape of taking a woodworking class and adopting three little yappy dogs. He’s the one that calls them yappy. When he says that single word, it’s affectionate as could be so I suppose that it’s all right.
The one surprise of it all, I think, came when he announced to the class that Fork, Knife and Spoon were all doing great after their trip to the vet. I think all of us paused midway through what we’d been doing. Now, so far, what I know of Ronald is that he’s not very imaginative. I hadn’t expected him to be unimaginative when it came to naming dogs, though. They’re not terrible names, but truly, who gives dogs names like that?
The idea of being around him when he calls out to his dogs makes me shake my head. How are you to know if he’s talking to his dogs or asking for some utensils? I know it might seem like a childish way to look at things but that’s how I see it. I would never call an animal by a common name like that. Though, I suppose I’m only half surprised, I’ve met someone who’d named their cat Pickle. I mean, pickle as a name isn’t so bad but it’s still weirdly out there. Pickle, Fork, Spoon, all mostly harmless. Calling a dog—or any other animal—Knife sounds like you’re just asking for trouble.
Can you imagine? Date night, it’s somewhat dark in the living evening, you’re watching a movie together or something and you hear soft little clicking sounds from the floor. Your partner seemingly very randomly exclaims, ‘Knife!’ in a gleeful tone and… well that would leave me wondering and thinking that I should be heading out of there because walking knives seem like a stupidly dangerous thing.
After his announcement, I admit that everyone else was quiet for a few moments, probably trying to process the information they’d just been given before there were quiet little cheers around once knowledge that he was talking about his dogs came to the surface. It really was all just quite strange if you ask me. That’s all I can really say on the subject.
If you think about it, when you don’t know what someone is talking about, them stating that these utensils were doing great after their trip to the vet, you’re going to be scratching your head for a while. Maybe that’s just me, though, I don’t know. It’s all I can really think of, at this point. I try not to think about it much because I know that if I do, I’ll lose sleep while trying to figure out just what goes on in his head.
Works of JD Beckett 