#4 Stefan's Reunion

Stefan appears and the twins get acquainted with strangers at the bar. Sheridon and Tracy work behind the bar pouring drinks. Stefan gets ignored as always.

Tracy, Terry, Kerry and Stefan sat in a room looking around it as they did what they did. The room was clean, and it was slightly bigger than the room Debra had. It looked professionally done.

"Where's Stefan?" asked Terry

The twins were waiting for his return.

They were surprised when Stefan walked through the door looking as healthy as he did before he left it.

Stefan was surprised too, so much so, that he running round in circles as well as him to run to them as he would usually do.

Stefan spoke "I've got sweets" before walking then running a distance of 2 feet from the twins.

The twins thought that the stranger brainwashed him with sweets. The stranger grinned at Terry and then left after noticing that they were twins of course, after noticing that Stefan had Tracy's glasses of course.

"Did you have a good time?" asked Terry.

"Yes I did" Stefan replied sharply.

"What's in that bag?" asked Terry.

"Sweets" replied Stefan holding a bulging plastic carrier bag.

"Can I have some" asked Terry.

"Yes." The bag was so jam packed, he couldn't say no.

"Sheridon, Terry" interrupted Tracy sounding annoyed. "Stefan got abducted! For your information, the person just walked in, and swooped Stefan, and now he comes back and you don't even ask him where he went or anything? Don't you care?"

"Of course I care?" said Terry sarcastically sounding muffled as she was eating sweets making her sound even more sarcastic.

"His appearance did ruin our little conversation we had" replied Sheridon.

"I was distracted by Stefan talking to us" replied Kerry whilst using her phone to surf the internet making her look engrossed in that.

"Say something to him then!" she demanded. The stranger was still at the door leaning his head through the door so the body of the person could not be seen. In that time, Terry did nothing but eat chocolate. Kerry left no second to chance and ran after the stranger. She thought there might be a chance that the stranger doesn't explain his or herself. So she ran out the open door hoping that she would not gain a stitch. Did you know that if she did, Sheridon would find it so funny?

"So there he he is. Did you get my work done."

"Yes" replied Terry not sounding too good.

"The person took him for ransom for in case we don't do our work?" asked Kerry all shocked.

"What do you think happened to him?" asked Sheridon.

Tracy shrugged and twitched her face.

"I don't know, maybe they went outside for three hours." replied Terry.

"Three hours?" asked Sheridon.

"Three hours?" asked Kerry.

"Yes three hours. I would love to know what happened to him that time" said Terry.

"Yes look at him. It looks like he's come back from the zoo" said Sheridon.

"I know. He's live isn't he?" said Tracy.

"Yeah he's so happy. A bit too happy" replied Sheridon.

"It's just amazing." Tracy commented

"He could be hypnotised. How else could he be this happy?" asked Sheridon.

"Wouldn't it be bad if he actually was sad and had a miserable day and this is him now acting as he was told that if he looked sad he would come and harm him and his family?" asked Tracy.

"It would be no good him coming back crying is it?" replied Sheridon

"Exactly." replied Tracy.

"This must be how the person does it. Give them sweets, and take them on a day out. I suspect he's been taken out the building." said Sheridon.

"It must be" agreed Tracy.

Terry and Stefan were currently eating chocolate and talking all about Sheridon's wonderful day outside the ClexaCubicle. The twins looked at Stefan in admiration and vice versa.

Stefan however was delighted to have new company and was still reeling from the surprising fact that he had loads of sweets. This new company was Tracy. And Tracy was the victim of Stefan's entertaining and playful bullying, and it was more bullying than teasing. 

Sheridon thought about the many ways that a working person could spend their hours. Being a checkout assistant, sales assistant, or any other job he thought was mundane dead end job as that would bore him so much.

Sheridon's job for today was not a mundane job for him as it was his first day at the ClexaCubicle working. The job was sometimes boring, and it was fun at times. But one thing it wasn't, was repetitive.

Many times by others, Sheridon had been given the short straw and had been made to do the most boring of chores whilst the most inviting of work was yet to be done.

Sheridon waited for time that he could enjoy himself and not be bothered by finding out his younger brother was kidnapped and have a girl who wouldn't leave him alone.

In order to regain his rightful day as his own, he decided to leave and go to the bar and buy himself a drink. He got up and took his things, and Debra's handbag. Kerry followed him and utilised this time to tell her where he left the bin liner whilst she went back to the cleaner's stock room in order to collect some talcum powder.

* * *

"Why have you got talcum powder?" asked Sheridon in the starred room.

"To get rid of the fingerprints" replied Kerry.

Sheridon thought this was a good idea, so Sheridon opened up a password protected safe and Kerry shook alot of talcum powder that Sheridon started to cough at all the talc molecules in the air.

"That should do it" Kerry told him.

14:00

Now it was time for Sheridon and Kerry to go to the bar. It was such a refreshing sight to see the two taking advantage of their job titles to drink free alcohol because they were having fun. They were hoping so much not to get caught. 

The bar had a wooden bar or counter, which Sheridon and Kerry stood behind. It also had wooden tables. The bar had circular tables with wooden seats dotted around the place. The wood looked aged, with the strips of lighting on the ceiling, it gave a good effect, as the light in the room shone across the wood. The wood was more orange, than it was burgundy, brown or white. It was closer to the colour of a dry cracker biscuit. The flooring was also tiled a lilac colour.

Behind Sheridon and Kerry, stood a wooden shelf, and on the seats in the bar, there was a foam jacket coated with fabric on the top, so that people wouldn’t have much pressure on their backs.

"Nice bar this, isn't?" asked Kerry.

"Yes it is. It's mint." Sheridon commented. Sheridon eyed up the architecture of the room whilst Kerry eyed the drinks. They started talking about their earlier escapade.

"Could you imagine if the shopkeeper was to find the phone earlier? He would have known that it was mine."

"Yeah. Your life would have been a shambles if that happened" commented Kerry.

"I wish I'd never forgot the pin code" echoed Sheridon.

"It's just another chapter in The History Of Failings by Sheridon Thompson."

"Trust me to dispose of a phone knowing my fingerprints are on it."

"Yes. You're a right issue aren't you?" she said smiling.

"I suppose I am. Maybe." The conversation ended and the two were standing up appreciating the silence as well as the conversation.

It ended just in time to serve someone a beer as a customer approached the counter they were standing behind, or as commonly known, the bar. Approaching the bar in the bar. The man who went to buy a drink didn't approach any of the three bartenders that were there behind the bar, just the bar itself. As soon as he sat down, another man, presumably a friend, from the distance, sat down by him.

"Knock knock" Stefan asked Tracy.

"Who's there?"

"Stefan."

"Stefan who?"

"Don't you know who I am? You're stupid." he insisted. Stefan smiled at Tracy with what he thought was a clever witty joke. He then turned his face to Terry and picked up her phone as if to say that she was worth his attention.

"Do me! Do me!" he pleaded to Terry.

"Do what? What do I do?" she asked curiously.

"Put me on there. On the phone screen."

"After I finish typing."

Once she did, the phone's light near the camera lens lit up, once she put the camera up. They both did a picture together.

"Do me! Do me!" Tracy deliberately mimicked.

"Alright. Strike a pose." The camera was further away from the sofa as she held the camera out. The photo had Stefan pulling Tracy's glasses off her head. Because of this, Tracy wondered if she could fit in on this family visit.

"Are you new here?" asked the first man addressing Sheridon as he found it easier to make conversation with men, as he would not be perceived of chatting them up. He thought that he had come up with the perfect joke.

"A default Sans Serif font walked into a bar" he said with a jokey smile looking at Kerry "and the bartender said, we don't serve your type here." Kerry and Sheridon looked at each other with horrified looks for four seconds in shock and then started to laugh at the stupidity of the joke. Fonts?

"Is that the best you've got?" teased Kerry.

"At least it's not like the last chat up line you got."

"Which one?"

"Don't you remember Kerry? Here's 40p to phone your parents and tell them you're not coming home."

"Yeah. That."

"What do you think Kerry is doing?" asked Tracy.

"They're not doing anything you need not know about" Tracy admitted.

"Who do you think's the most fun to have here?" asked Terry.

"Kerry. So that's why I have to see her now" replied Tracy.

"If you say that she is, I suppose that she Terry replied.

"She is."

"She's the most fun person we have all day" said Terry.

Debra's room has a computer in it.

"My mummy puts sugar on my frosted flakes" piped Stefan craving some attention. He liked to play with Tracy as she was a commodity. There are lots of things that a young boy would love to use and play with as they are strange and new. And Tracy was one of those things. He still had alot of sweets from his outing, too much for him to eat all at once, and he saved some for others. Tracy spotted Kerry on the phone again with a provocative photo of herself on the screen.

"What are you doing on there?" asked Tracy cluelessly concerned.

"Never mind me" replied Terry knowing that it was not her photo on the phone. "I'm just on NectarFace."

"NectarFace?" asked Tracy having heard very little about it.

"Yes NectarFace. It's a website you know."

The conversation ended, then the three took their things to meet the others in the bar to see what they were doing.

Of all the places today, the bar was the best place to be.

"See that's the thing about being a fashion designer," told the first man to Kerry, "you design something and someone else puts their name on it."

"At least your job doesn't involve travelling the country" replied the second man who hardly spoke much.

"Travelling?" sounded Kerry all intrigued, "How long have you got left here?"

"Oh man. It's like. After this week I've got one week left before I'm leaving."

Kerry took another swig of alcohol before resuming "So how did you meet him then?"

"Oh he's just like, a long time friend" he said with his voice deprecating in pitch.

"Me being brash, I suppose you have no time for relationships."

"Hmm. I wouldn't put it like that."

14:30

"Did you come here to speak to me, or to buy a drink and ask questions?" asked Kerry.

"Both" replied the first man. Kerry turned around then asked Sheridon if he was eyeing the girls turning back round again.

"What are you doing here?" asked Kerry.

"I'm here on holiday. You know, party, have fun. Sightsee around town."

"I'll let you know that there's nothing to do here in-" lied Kerry for the fun of it.

"Of course there us. I wake up after a cooked breakfast and then end up speaking to a girl at a bar." At this moment, the second man who had stayed silent until now, started to fix his posture straight in his seat, his eye contact stopped dwindling from the wall and drinks, and then his eyes fixed themselves onto the first man.

"It's also easier to to chat up the girl when she's a bartender. Because there's a great big barrier" he tapped the bar twice with his hand making a hollow wooden sound "in the way. It's not like you can take her to your place so it's not like she has to question your motives for approaching her."

"It's also easier to chat up someone who's been drinking too" interrupted Sheridon. Kerry gave Sheridon a dirty glare before another bartender started walking towards them. Sheridon and Kerry could not help but notice a badge she wore saying "STAFF".

"My Mum told me not to go on NectarFace" spoke Tracy.

"Why not?" asked Terry.

"Because there was this one girl who went on NectarFace who ended up being devoured by this paedophile and when she went to delete her account the next day, she couldn't because her account had been hacked."

"That's never going to happen to me. Terry dismissed.

"Yes it will. It could happen to anyone" argued Tracy.

"Do you even know what NectarFace is?"

"No? That's why I've never been on it." And with that, the conversation got halted as Terry went to the toilet.

"What is a paedophile?" asked Stefan.

"A man who loves to stuff little kids in ovens and gobble them up. Much like the big bad wolf."

"You mean like on tv?"

"Yes."

"Yes it's like on tv but it happens in real life and is worse than what you see on tv."

One thing Tracy missed about Debra's office was the fax machine. Watching Debra's friend's faxes come through the machine making whirring sounds and flashing its lights. It was much like a science fiction movie.

"I don't know how you can come to the bar."

"I can walk there."

"I hope this is one of those bars that allow children."

Once Terry had done and left the toilet  and met the two up, they went out of their way to find the others.

With just one and a half hours left, it was the time to make the most of the time. The two men found out that the bartender's shift ends at four. The previous bartender left work early knowing those two would fill in for her. Tracy ate one of her almond cookies before meeting Sheridon. So that was that. Sheridon and Kerry both got staff badges and agreed to cover for the original bar staff until 4pm.

14:40

Tracy, Terry and Stefan turned up at the bar and both the men were delightedly surprised to find out that Kerry and Terry were twins. Tracy wasted no time in approaching Sheridon so Kerry sat in a seat by the second man leaving Terry to sit by the first man as she offered her seat to her. Terry looked at the first man to make conversation but halted when she could see that his smile was undeniably frozen; it was almost as if the smile was corrosive, because it was making Terry feel uneasy. "It's my lucky day" was the thought Terry thought he was thinking.

"I'm guessing you're the consolation prize" thought Terry. "What are you doing on this fine day?" asked Terry.

"I'm just getting to know the area, find out what the people are like, what sort of clothes they wear. Stuff like that."

"So, err. I don't know what you've just been-. Why are you-. Say something then."

"I am speaking. Is there a problem?"

"Why are you looking at me like that?" said Terry sounding rather creeped out over the windfallen look he had on his face. "You look like you've won the lottery or something."

"I prefer to think of it more as good luck."

"Good luck it is to chat to us. Only a privileged few get to do that."

"You see I told you that's why the city's great."

"You seemed to of forgot that me and my twin are different people."

"Oh right. I should come here more often and meet more people like you. You seem very mysterious."

"If by mysterious, you mean hard to talk to, I should not continue speaking to you, as I am being very open with you."

14:50

"What are you talking about?" asked the first man to Terry "Why've you got your back up against the wall?"

"Because of you, you little creep."

"I'm not a creep. You can ask your sister that."

At this moment in time, Terry turned to look at Kerry and addressed her by her name to get her attention. Once Kerry was looking at her, Terry said "Again?" with an interestedly concerned face and in reply, Kerry simultaneously shrugged her shoulders and her face. The first man gathered that the reply meant something and whatever it was, they were talking in a secret twin code that he wasn't meant to understand, that, and that the question was unknown. He did not know that Terry was asking Kerry two things. The first was "What happened? What have you said to him while I was gone that made him think he could come onto me?" and the second meaning was "Why do you always leave me with the boys from the gutter?" but it was obvious to the first man and to Terry that she was also asking "Why do you always do this to me?"

Why was she always doing that to her? Is it deliberate, or is it unintentional. Who knows?

"Is this your first day here?" asked Terry as if the awkwardness hadn't happened.

"Yes it is actually. You know what?" said the first man with a smile on his face. "I've just realised that the drinks here are cheaper than in regular bars."

"Cheaper than regular bars?" interrupted Kerry looking at the first man happily shocked.

"Beep beep beep beep. --- Beep beep beep beep" said Terry in a high pitch mimicking a metal detector.

15:00

Meanwhile Sheridon was teaching Tracy how to serve drinks, or at least trying to.

"Now if you just pour this into the glass" said Sheridon guiding Tracy by holding her wrist to keep the glass from shaking "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE done. You've got drink all over the floor!" moaned Sheridon. The drink made an echoing sound as it hit the floor which sounded much like a spinning coin.

"I'll clean it up" said Tracy crouching down with her knees bent.

"No I'll clean it" said Sheridon keeping stood up. "You've done enough failing for one day." Sheridon stood up and used a large fibrous absorbent cloth to soak up the beer.

"Why do I do these things?" Tracy rhetorically asked.

"Your reasoning for doing things is an enigma."

"What's an enigma?"

"Never mind. Just know that on judgement day, when your life gets played back in front of your eyes, you'll be questioning why you do most of the things you do." There was no response as Tracy thought about what he had said for three seconds before standing up from her bent position.

Shortly after, Tracy served a new customer a new glass of beer.

"I'm getting the hang of this" said Tracy enthusiastically.

"Oh really?" asked Sheridon doubtfully.

"Yes I'm so good, I could run my own bar."

"I wouldn't be so self confident." argued Sheridon.

"If you pour water in my alcohol, I can."

"I would love to" said Kerry saying nicéties.

"That boy of yours, you raised him well."

"Oh he's not mine. I'm just looking after him."

"Oh that's good" said the second man mirroring Kerry's oh and position of her legs whilst seated.

"At least it means you're not tied down."

"Being tied down is always a burden."

"Yeah! Could you imagine it? You would never get any peace."

"Trust me. It would be a shambles. Me? Kids?"

"I would love to see it. Maybe upload it somewhere."

"Wait a minute. Once minute you're talking about how good it is to have kids and the next minute you're telling me how bad they are."

"No I wasn't. I said that having kids is good but having responsibility isn't."

"Sure."

"Enough about me. How about you?"

"Hmmm. The thing is, I'm not a very interesting a person."

"I see. The thing is, with a man like myself, is that," the second man's jokey persona, started to start, "the more words you say to me, the more happier you become."

"Really?"

"Try me."

"Say something funny."

"The cat sat on the mat."

15:10

The first man and Terry were having a nice conversation even though it wasn't as exciting as the chat that the second man and Kerry were having.

"Bringing babies to the bar. What a thing to do."

"I know. I like to do that."

"And making me buy you drinks?"

"I know. I like to do that too."

"And getting lots of money."

"I know. You have lots of money don't you? Don't get jealous."

"Yes I do. And I guess you have a lousy personality."

"So why are you talking to me then?"

Kerry slurred her words and looked like she was playfully lying here "Oh I don't know. I've got nothing better to do until 4pm."

"So I've got 40 minutes? Damn! It feels like an escort service!"

"I- I don't understand."

"It feels like I'm paying to date you, and I've got 40 minutes left."

"But You're not paying me."

"But it's like I am because I've got a 40 minutes left. A time bracket."

"But all dates have a time bracket."

"Yes. You're right. But I never got the chance to ask you for your name, or for a drink, or to ask you out. So it feels like this is an escort service." His voice increased slightly in pitch for the next two sentences, "You see, I'm paying money to date you, buy you drinks, when I hardly even know you. And when I leave, you'll be busy with your time with the next man."

"Do you mind there being a next man?" asked Terry putting him on the spot.

"No" said the man incredibly quick and abrupt as if he had something to hide.

"Can you stop reloading the drinks?" asked Tracy whilst Sheridon was reloading the drinks. "They're already nearly full. You don't need to fill them."

"I'm," announced Sheridon loudly before pausing "doing real work. Real labour. Whilst you, are lazing around, doing nothiiinnnnggg".

"I'm not doing nothing" defended Tracy sounding much like Stefan, "I'm dealing with the customers."

"Or what's left of them."

"No Sheridon. Your mother's friend told us we have to deal with the customers and collect customer feedback."

"We've got my sisters to do that."

"No you don't understand. You're hiding being shy whilst I'm here at the front."

"I'm not being shy."

"You are," Tracy turned around "aren't you? You're being shy aren't you?"

"No. No! Why would I be being shy?" Tracy grabbed Sheridon's arm and pulled him forward much to his surprise and reluctance.

"Now. You're going to do some work. Get here. See these people here? They're your work mates. It's not hard to serve people and ask them what they think." Sheridon did not respond to her instruction. He instead joined Tracy in the front, towering over the four people who were chatting.

15:20

The conversation that the second man was having was becoming more interesting yet nice to participate in. So much so, that the first man was wondering what it was that the second man had done right.

"What did I say? I just do what I does and I do it because" said the first man.

"You certainly are doing the do."

"Doing the do. I like the sound of that."

Kerry laughed. "You certainly do."

"See I told you I could make you happy."

"No you didn't. I'm as happy as I was before I walked in this room."

"Just forget it. If you was me you would not be arguing with me and finish your drink."

"But I don't have any drink."

"Exactly. But if you was me, you would have a drink," he pointed to his glass, "and you would have drank it instead of arguing with me."

"No I wouldn't have. The drink would be higher up in the glass."

"You finished your drink ages ago. And mine's been lying around all that time."

"Good point."

The first man was eavesdropping on the second man who was arguing with a girl, who was just like the one he was speaking to, about how high the level of drink would be in a glass, if the two were each other. The first man wondered what made his conversations so compelling and why he was failing with his conversation. After all, him and his friend are talking to twins, so his fault must be bad chat-up techniques rather than being with a difficult girl.

15:30

Debra's friend came up to the seven and said.

"I knew you'd be here. It's nice to see that you got my memo."

"Yeah we sure did" replied Tracy as if she was a part of the family.

"Well I'm going to let you leave ten minutes ear-. Who gave you those?"

"You mean these biscuits" said Tracy as Kerry, Terry, the two men and Sheridon were eating one.

"No these badges. Those staff badges" said the friend looking at Sheridon.

"This worker whose shift ends at four decided that we do her shift for her." Sheridon was using hand gestures. "So that's why we have these badges."

"Don't forget to give them to me when you leave."

There was no response as the seven continued what it was that they were doing for thirty seconds. "So did you have a good time?" There was a pause whilst the four being addressed thought about their day, contemplated their thoughts, and started to lie to shut the woman up and keep the peace. 

"Yes" said all four at the same time.

"I'll leave" said the friend about to leave. "And give the staff badges before you go. And remember, don't leave until the next bar staff turns up."

She left to the sound of silence.

Author's Note

This chapter took 4 hours to write. Just like Chapter 3, NOTHING HAPPENS IN IT. If you want to count the twins chatting to men as something, you're wrong as everyone knows that a cheap writing trick is to introduce a new character when it gets boring.

As nothing much happens in it, please comment below about whether you liked it and explain what you liked.

Reviews

[Marie Harrison]

Ha! It's like a Seinfeld show to me. Very funny. I enjoyed the dialogue in this chapter. I also enjoyed the humor embeded in their conversations. Nice chapter.

[tynamite]

I've never watched Seinfield, so I can't comment on that. I was 6 when that show ended.

What I can say is that I did not write the book to be funny. I wrote it to have realistic and good characters and everything that happens in it has to be realistic. The humour is unintentional. Yes some of it is intentional, but 75% of the humour is unintentional. I didn't know the book was funny until I finished it, people read it, and told me it was funny. I was oblivious.

I just wanted it to be offbeat. It has to be spontaneous and unpredictable because real life is unpredictable (unless you sit in your house all day watching tv like Jeremy Kyle Show and smoking weed). Especially offbeat. The number 1 goal is to be realistic and offbeat, more particularly offbeat. Whatever you expect to happen does not happen. People are unpredictable, real life is unpredictable, so my book HAS to be unpredictable and offbeat.

Every time I write a new sentence or new line, I asked myself "How can I make this offbeat, yet still be realistic but not farfetched?"

The book may seem funny, but it's a serious book with a serious message.