User:Posti/Team Spirit
{{#ifeq: User |User| Team Spirit | Team Spirit}}[[Title::{{#ifeq: User |User| Team Spirit | Team Spirit}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Bob Stein | Bob Stein}} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}} | ||
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}} | |
Author: {{#ifeq: User |User| Bob Stein | Bob Stein}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Bob Stein | Bob Stein}}]] [[Author::{{#ifeq: User |User| Bob Stein | Bob Stein}}| ]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Bob Stein | Bob Stein}} | |
{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}} | | Authors: ' |
Authors: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}}]]
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{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}} | |
Authors: {{#ifeq: User |User| Bob Stein | Bob Stein}} |
Author: [[User:{{#ifeq: User |User| Posti | Posti}}|{{#ifeq: User |User| Bob Stein | Bob Stein}}]]
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}} {{#if:| — see [[:Category:{{{category}}}|other works by this author]]}}
The doorbell started ringing just as Detroit's star linebacker caught the ball at the 35 yard line. Ben ignored the buzzing, focusing on the screen. Tyler, his best friend, jerked a finger to the door. “Company".
"Whoever it is can wait! GO, run you sunofabitch!" After one more ring, whoever it was switched to insistent knocking, but Ben waited until the tackle before racing to the door in time to see the back of a delivery man. “Yeah! I’m here!"
When the guy turned around to display a big plant with bright blue flowers, Ben blinked and shook his head. “You gotta have the wrong apartment, buddy.”
"Benjamin Turner, Apartment 12?" The guy glanced at the number on the door.
"Uh, yeah. But?"
"I need you to sign for these." The guy handed Ben a pad and pen. "The first blank line."
Puzzled, Ben scribbled out his name and took the planter. “Who the hell is sending me flowers?"
The delivery man shrugged. "Someone who likes you a lot. That’s $350 in your hand. Special order, overnighted from New York."
"Bullshit!" Ben frowned at the scraggly-looking plant. “Looks like someone dug up a weed."
"Hey, I just deliver them." The guy cocked his head. "You got the game on? Who’s winning?"
"Detroit, by 2. And they just got a first down. They’ll clobber the Raiders."
The guy grinned. "Sound like a Detroit fan."
"Lions all the way! I wouldn’t miss a game for anything." Ben checked the ceramic pot. "Who is this from? Is there a card or anything?"
"Nope." The guy strained to catch more of the game, then sighed. "I gotta make more deliveries. Enjoy the game!"
Tyler shouted from the living room as Ben shut the door. "Come on! They got slammed by defense! Third down! Who’s at the... flowers?" Tyler grinned.
"Three hundred and fifty dollars worth, according to the delivery guy."
"Who’d waste that much money sending YOU flowers?" Tyler stared at the planter a moment before suddenly voicing the thought that popped into Ben’s mind. "Crystal! Oh, man. You must have laid it on pretty thick when you cancelled out for today."
Ben grinned, setting the flowers down on the end table and twisting his voice into a plaintive, wheezing whisper. "I’m so sorry, Crystal. I know I promised to go with you to the ballet, but I got some kind of bug." He coughed. "Probably just a 24-hour thing. I’m going to lock the door, take the phone off the hook, and crash." He coughed once more for effect.
"Just better hope she doesn’t find out." Tyler grinned and shook his head.
Ben shrugged as he headed into the kitchen. "She probably got one of her girlfriends to go with her. Hell, I did her a favor. I’d have fallen asleep halfway through and embarrassed the crap out of her."
"Like the 'favor' you did her when you told her you had to work late last Friday?"
"I just didn’t feel like suffering through one of those damn foreign flicks again." Ben got a Bud Light from the fridge. "You want a beer?"
"Sure!" Tyler clicked off the sound as commercials started. "I can’t figure out why she puts up with your crap, anyway."
"The sex!" Ben grinned as he handed over the beer, then plopped back down on the sofa. "It was fun at first. She’d go to games, hit the bars, then she got on this damned culture kick. Hell, the last restaurant she suggested served me four scallops and a little pile of weird steamed vegetables and charged more than two steak dinners at Outback!"
Tyler grinned. "I’m sure you said as much to the waiter?"
"Damn straight! Course, Crystal read me the riot act when we got outside. Said next time she’d have the waiter throw a hunk of raw meat on the table." Ben grinned. "I told her that sounded good to me."
"And you lived?" Tyler shook his head. “Man, I wouldn’t have the balls for that. She doesn’t seem like the kind of woman I’d want pissed at me." He walked over and peered down at the small tag attached to the pot. "Midnight Blue Agapantus. Native of South Africa. What’s the deal with that?"
"Who knows?" Ben sipped his beer. "She's doing some big study on African folklore and legends for her Doctorate. Probably means something sappy."
"Me Jane. You Tarzan. Me wuv you!" Tyler grinned and ducked as Ben tossed a sofa pillow at him. He was leaning over to pick it up when the phone rang, and he reached for it automatically before Ben could stop him.
"Turner’s Bar!" Tyler’s grin vanished suddenly, and he looked at Ben in alarm. "Oh, uh Crystal! Yeah, I’m just over, uh, visiting." He tried to hand the phone to Ben, who shook his head violently. "He's, umm, lying down on the sofa. I just came over to make sure he didn’t need anything. He, uh, doesn’t want to use the handset. Germs, I guess." Tyler rolled his eyes and grinned and shook his fist in mock anger. "Oh, sure. Just a sec." He covered the mouthpiece. "She wants me to put it on speakerphone!"
"Crap! OK, go ahead." Ben cleared his throat and prepped while Tyler punched the button and set the handset back in the cradle.
"Ben?" Crystal sounded a little tense. "So, it"s OK for your best friend to get exposed, but you didn’t want me to come over?"
"He’s, uh, staying away. Just here for a minute." Ben glanced at the clock on the DVD player. "Hey, shouldn’t you be at the ballet?"
"I decided not to go. So, how are you feeling Any better?"
"Uh, a little." Ben managed a couple of coughs. "Still got some chills and stuff. I was sleeping until Tyler got here just a few minutes ago. Oh, and I got the flowers! Thanks! They’re, uh, pretty."
"Oh, good." Crystal sounded a little more cheerful now. "So, Tyler? Looking after a sick friend? That’s nice. You sure you aren’t going to catch it yourself?"
His friend tried not to laugh. "Oh, I’m pretty sure I’ll be OK. Somebody’s gotta make sure he has food, right?"
"I'm really surprised the two of you aren’t following the playoffs. Isn’t this a big game against Oakland?"
Tyler rolled his eyes and grinned. The game was back on, luckily with the sound off. "Hey, if he’s sick enough to cancel out a date with you, he isn’t going to be watching TV."
Ben gave him a ‘thumbs up’ as he replied. "Sorry about that, hon. Maybe some other time."
"Maybe." She paused. "The Raiders have the ball!"
Both men looked at the TV, and Tyler shouted "Shit! They’re on the 20!" Then they grimaced and Tyler covered his face. "Oh, damn."
Ben struggled to come up with something. "Uh, yeah, we just turned it on for a minute, hon."
"Oh, cut the crap, Ben." Crystal had an edge to her voice now. "You ditched the ballet so you could watch the game. Every time we plan something I want to do, I dread seeing the message light on my answering machine flash. Because I know it’s you with another lie. You should have just said you didn’t want to go."
Ben threw his head back in exasperation. "OK, yeah, I lied. Detroit’s in the playoff! You know how important it is for me!"
There was a long and chilly silence before Crystal spoke again. "Yes, I know. Lions all the way. That's why I sent you the flowers. And since your buddy there doesn’t mind fetching you food and backing up your lies, he can enjoy them too."
Ben was annoyed now. "OK, I'm sorry I screwed up your day! Maybe it's time you stopped making plans with me. Your idea of fun and mine are getting pretty different these days."
"I believe you are right. What's a good time for you, Ben?" Crystal’s voice hardened. "A comfy place to watch the action, a hunk of red meat to chew on? And of course, a good screw whenever you get the mood?"
Tyler nodded emphatically and then buried his face in a pillow to smother a laugh.
"That sure sounds better than a bunch of people prancing around on tiptoe and a restaurant that considers a sprig of parsley one of the vegetables!"
Crystal seemed to brighten. "Then this is your lucky day, because it's nothing but good times from here on out!" Then she started a quiet chant.
Both men blinked and stared at the phone as her voice grew stronger. None of the words were recognizable, but the sounds pulsed around them, almost tangible. The air was suddenly hot, oppressive.
Tyler stared past Ben, his eyes widening and mouth falling open. Looking back, Ben saw why. The end table was sprouting tall, yellow-green grass. "What the hell?" He felt the sofa sag and jumped off as it collapsed in on itself and crumble into a dry, dusty soil. "Shit!"
Crystal’s voice resonated around them now. Tyler spun and ran for the door, but was unable to grasp the handle with the large, tawny paws that had replaced his hands. Ben was frozen, gaping as the wild grass swept though his apartment, consuming carpet , furniture, even walls. The chanting came to a crescendo, pounding into his brain, and stopped with an abrupt shout.
A soft moan drew his attention back to Tyler, or something that was standing where Tyler had been. Large, terrified eyes stared back at him from a face that looked less and less like his friend’s and more like that of a large, gold-furred lioness. His clothing fell away as he took an awkward step towards Ben, wobbling as his body lost the ability to walk on two legs.
It wasn't until he took a step towards his friend that Ben realized his own body was changing as well. He looked down in time to see his shirt and jeans crumble off a body already covered in fur. A tail pushed out from his spine, twitching with new muscles, and claws erupted from the nubs of fingers that rapidly drew into swollen, padded palms. His nostrils were filled with a mix of powerful and unfamiliar scents, including a heavy musk that had to be his own odor. Another spasm forced him over into a half-crouch, and he screamed.
The apartment walls shimmered and dissipated like so much smoke, revealing vast expanses of open plains in every direction. Tyler toppled forward, catching himself - herself- on her powerful forelegs. She stared up at him, eyes becoming unfocused and confused. Then the lioness snorted, shook her head, and settled in the grass to lick her forepaws.
"No!" The word came out guttural, almost a roar. Ben struggled to find an apology, to beg forgiveness, but a hot blast of air tore through his mind, melting away memories and knowledge. Muscles twisted and pulled, balance shifting until he could no long remain upright. His arms shifted as he fell, twisting and reshaping themselves into animal limbs.
"Goodbye, Ben." Crystal's voice came from the hot, dry air now, the phone long since dissolved into dirt. He twisted around, seeing the last traces of humanity fade away, aware of what was happening even though comprehension was failing fast. There was a fresh kill a few feet away, its bowels already ripped out. He snarled in anger and defiance, desperately trying to hang onto the last remnants of self.
The voice whispered now, almost lost in the rustling of the tall grass. "Here’s your good time." Ben heard the words, and knew despair a moment before even that was gone forever. "Lions all the way."
end