See the Mouseachu! Oh, and his flunkie. You know, that pinto guy

One in every ten thousand tires produced are defective. Of them all, there was one that escaped the inspection line and was sold with the other uniformly designed ones.

The model carried a mark unlike others. It was not terribly noticeable, perhaps it was from the great molding machine or the etching machines, but it did not matter: one way or the other, this tire received had a noticeable difference in the treads that almost any could see as plain as day.


The other tires soon took notice notice: it is hard not to when one is around so many tires that all seem the same.


"What strange markings! Does she actually think there will be a use in her?"


"She's a defect!"


"Defective! Ha ha! Defective tire, I bet you will pop the moment you are placed on a wheel."


When they were placed on automobiles, the odd tire found itself enjoying its grip in preparation. "I'll show them," thought the round object as it whirred playfully, almost readily "I won't pop for anything. I'll be as good as any of them."


"Oh you'll pop," chided the other tires it ran on "You'll pop and rupture and no one will help you."


As time would have it, the new car was bought. "Oh boy, now to show myself off," the tire thought with glee.


As soon as the car drove off, the tire, moved with a special affinity towards the road. Some would think that she would be different and move faster, but she knew not to show herself off too much or else it would exert the entire car. Instead, she was polite and kept up with effortlessly.


"Oh look at her, thinking that she's got the ability to survive anything. I'm waiting for that moment you pop, you defect!"


But whatever the other tires said, she did not care to notice: her love of the road was quick and beloved. For every day that the car was driven, the tire did as it performed, without a single slip or screech or a pop in the seam. The other tires eventually grew used to her and they considered her a friend. The opposing tire that once chided her now grew to be affectionate for her.


"Oh, you're better than any of us tires," the tire would whisper between the seams of its tires "that mark is almost like one of beauty. I hope you'll be my partner forever..."


She soon accepted and loved her pair as a mate beyond any. For the next few years and the next owners that came and went, they grew to love each other more and more.


And then the day happened when there was a tremendous blizzard. Snow rose and piled to three times the height of any normal tread, and it was difficult climbing through it. "Please dear, be careful! I don't want to see you pop here of all these places!" He showed genuine worry for her, but she was no concerned. No, there was something special about her tread that the others did not know. The flaw in her seam, which different, gave her a type of tread like that of a tread normally expected for the hardiest of vehicles. She dug through the snow with the ferocity of a monster truck, and when the others could not overcome the skidding, she quickly pulled them back.


"Dear! You are amazing!" he said astonishly as he watched her in action. It was what she had wanted to hear for the longest time. After the owner drove home, he looked over the car and inspected the tires and then noticed the different tread.


He quickly bought a new tire, complaining about the bad tread of the freak tire. The defective one rested in the trunk of the car as a spare, in a perpetually dark corner. As days passed, months, years in patient waiting, she hoped her friends and her love would wait for her as she did for them, remembering the cherished time they thought of her as something useful. ...when she would one day awaken at the sound of a rumble that awoken her. "What could it be?" she thought "It sounds so terrible!"


Soon the trunk opened and she saw the light of day again, and then the different person, never knowing about the new owner. He looked her over, grimaced at the different tread and then took her to the front wheel. The tire that replaced her was ruptured beyond repair. The other tires weeped in sadness and even she, the one pushed away felt compelled to shed a sign of compassion. When she came back though, she immediately saw her lover.


"My love, I have returned! For so long, I have returned!"


The tire, still crying, replied "Who are you? You cannot replace the one I lost."


"Lost? But, beloved, I am found again! I was put away for so long and how you have grown so old..."


"Old? What sort of tire are you? You are a defect! I want the one whom I cannot have anymore. She is dead right there before me."


The car soon began to move and as it reached the gas station, the defective tire realized what had happened all this time, that she had been forgotten and that she was nothing more than a stranger again. So she drove over a nail and ruptured herself.

7:05AM
I woke up and combed my hair fifty times and then changed into my clothes. White shirt, royal blue coat and matching dress: nothing too fancy. Just a light touch of makeup and then went downstairs for class.


7:46AM

HIS403. Dr. Jenkins was discussing the history of the Euphrates and the history of it in ancient to pre-modern literature. Bobby wasn't here like usual. Someone said I looked good today like usual, I thanked him.


9:10AM

ENG213. Dr. Livingston was giving me that look again. Thought about why Bobby was not there at class.


10:05AM

Called Bobby on the cellphone I was planning to give him. His dorm mate said he was not home and if I was okay. I told him that he should worry more for his roommate, but he just sighed when I said it and hung up. I wonder what is wrong with him.


10:12AM

Went to the commons and had a coffee and an english muffin with some butter. More people looked at me: I guess they're wondering if there's something wrong with Bobby as well. I worried about Bobby... he wasn't usually out like this missing a class.


10:52AM

Went back to the dorm to prepare lunch for Bobby.


11:23AM

Left it at Bobby's door, hoping that he was going to at least eat well.


12:05AM

One of the guys from my History class approached me and we talked about the day. Said I was dressed really nice today like usual. I thanked him and then we sat around talking in the quad. Finally left him for class, hoping Bobby was all right.


1:20PM

MAT326. Bobby was not here again. Dr. Bremen did not seem to notice him or care. Forced me to answer more questions on the board than I would have liked.


2:30PM

Dr.Bremen kept me after class to ask me if I was interested in joining him for coffee later. Rejected him because I was going to take care of Bobby tonight.


2:35PM

Knocked on his door. Bobby's roommate said he still wasn't around and that I should stop worrying about him. When I asked why, he didn't answer. Who couldn't care over poor Bobby?


2:40PM

Contacted his frat leader that he worked hard with on late Friday nights. Said he wasn't around and told me that there was a private study session later tonight if I was interested. I declined since Bobby told me he was a nasty guy that I should never trust.


3:12PM

Jeannie said she saw Bobby today with some girl. The poor girl must be helping him from his sickness. I went looking for him to help.


3:25PM

The hospital said there was no one named Bobby Leinburg here. The poor girl must have been taking care of him at her home.


3:52PM

Checked for Bobby again. He still wasn't around. When I noticed his bag, his roommate said it got dropped off something 2:30 or so. Told me not to worry about him again. What a rude roommate.


4:12PM

All my friends are acting the same way after I told them. Hmph, some friends. Returned to my dorm to study.


7:12PM

Took a break to get some dinner. Finally saw Bobby! He seemed happy to see me. He was hurt on the cheek, but he said it was okay and then asked if after I study if I wanted to go out with him. I'm such a lucky girl to have a guy like him.

I'm going to be out all weekend because I'm camping with the scouts! Wheee, I can see myself freezing in my sleeping bag again. Oh well, at least it will be in the company of others.

I actually made four stories yesterday. One more was inspired from a dream of mine a long long time ago when I was much younger. Maybe it was a fantasy of mine or something at the time. Err, here's the third.

"Conflict"

"Yeah?" Brian sat in his seat, waiting for class with a calm look in his eye as he admired the organized chaos of the soccer field. His teacher did not take his feigned disinterest lightly, but maintained her calm.

"You know what you did..." she said with an evenly strict tone.


"Yeah, so?" He turned, face in defiance.


"So..." She took a single step forward "So you understand the consequences?"


"Why should I?" He returned to looking lazily at the field "She deserved it."


"No girl deserves to be hit, Brian Schumaker!" She said it with a stomp.


"No guy deserves to get a slap in the face..." he muttered in his own anger.


"What was that?"


"Nothing. Heh, nothing at all."


Detention was a simple thing that made his life tedious by two hours. He walked home past the baseball players and flinched.


"Damn face still hurts..." he muttered between his breath.


Being fifteen would have meant respect in most cases. His dad actually gave more of a shit about his opinion, his mom gave him a lighter curfew, and while the work was harder, he was allowed to be up later to make up for it. People even gave him some respect: being a linebacker meant that sort of thing, even if he was intravarsity.


He stole a glare at the woman's baseball team and then continued on his way.


I'm going to get that bitch one day... He shuffled into his coat tighter and sneezed, flinching again at the sting of a bruised blow. Melanie...


She was a girl of certain virtues. Of course, none of those virtues could be admired by most people. Born from a family with an abusive dad that was eventually relocated from her thanks to a witness protection program, she was like her father's own rage. Smart kid, people knew, but tough. Used to carry a pipe in her backpack until she actually used it.


She picked on Brian as soon as she entered junior high.


"Hey you, fat kid!" She would always greet him with.


"Shut up and go away," was his usual reply as he was lugging around books between classes. Bullies were bad enough when they were a year older than you. There were even worse when you were taught you could never hit them back.


All year he had to deal with her and her special way of calling him special names.


"Hey, fat kid!"


"Tubby!"


"Hey big boy!"


It wasn't what he wanted to hear. It was not like he was fat either.


"Hey, Al. Am I looking pudgy?" he asked his friend once.


"What, you actually listening to that Melanie? Forget what she's saying, you're buff."


If anyone spent as much time lifting they too would be called that. He was usually called that, but enjoyed being left alone. People liked to call him the gentle giant. No, it was only Melanie that got into his spine. She had that special way of getting him constantly. He joined clubs and would find her passing by through the meetings yelling that out through a window. He joined football and found that she joined women's baseball, which shared a similar practice time. He once nearly got a ball in the face while jogging when she was at bat and could not help but think that she intended it.


In eighth grade, he finally confronted her about it.


"Hey,"


"Heya fatass. What?"


"Stop that."


"Stop what?"


"Stop calling me that, damn it."


"Calling you what? Fatty?"


"No, shut up, I'm serious."


"Oh, you're serious huh? Does this mean you'll actually stop whining?"


"No, fuck you, I'm being serious."


"Ooooo, he's being serious!" A crowd was starting to watch. He did not want a crowd.


"Yes, now just leave me the fuck alone for once."


"He said it again! just leave me the fuck alone for once." They were laughing.


"Forget it, go fuck around with your life you bitch." He started to walk out of the crowd.


She jumped up screaming "WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" He continued walking. "Get the fuck back here and say it in my face!"


She rushed up and gave him a blow on the face. He felt a lost tooth. He replied with one of his large fists and she fell to the floor with a bloody nose.


After getting a principal and three teachers on his case, he got to listen to them reason with him that "violence was not the answer." Like I started it in the first place.


He walked home early because he was suspended from football. He saw her at the front of his door.


"You... the fuck do you want?" His hand pushed into a fist "Want to finish this?"


She glared back at him, a white bandage on her nose that he smiled at like a trophy that she deserved. "Yeah," her dark eyes squinting into angry slits.


"Well go ahead then. If you want to start something with me, then start it now. I have to explain this to my parents and I'm suspended from football. If I didn't think it was a fucked up situation, I would have already knocked you right now." Brian then stood up straight. "I dare you to hit me to get me back."


She walked up, the glare still at him. She approached, close enough to hit him even if he dodged. He didn't care, he just wanted an excuse to get her back, and this would have given him a chance to actually explain his situation.

She stared into his hate-filled eyes, clenched a fist, pulled it


-and embraced him.


"I love you..." was what she muttered between the tears that began to rise in her face.