Livin' Large - Ya, Right......

[Danny Parson]

Danny walked around the pool table, examining carefully his next move. One more ball in and he won, but it would be tough. The one he played against watched him carefully, whispering taunts into his ears, trying to throw him off his game. But Danny ignored them, as they were easy to ignore. He'd played so many times he knew what to expect. Finally he went. With one carefully planned out shot - he made it! He smirked at his opponent he glared and handed over the money. It wasn't a game unless money was involved. Money was switching hands all around as Danny picked up his beer and took a long drink.

It was the same old night down in Oakwood. Down in Mac's Pub, playing pool, drinking. Danny sighed as he finished his beer and made his way over to the bar, counting the money in his hands. He wanted to do more than this - he wanted to get out of the damned town. And it was damned, not just because nobody went nowhere in it, but because of what he had seen that day. It was coming back again, the Carnival of Fears. Why they always let it come back, with the rumors that spread around it like wild fire. Not like they didn't have a reason.

Danny finally made it through the crowded pub and up to the bar. But instead of ordering another beer, he sat down with a soft sigh escaping his lips, not his usual appearance. He usually played the tough kid act, as that's what people expected of him, with all the trouble he got in. What, could he help it if he was curious, or always in the wrong place at the wrong time? No, he couldn't. But now that school was over for him, and there was no college in the future (with his grades? As if.) Danny had lost his way out of town. He needed money, and he needed it fast. But nowhere in this town could he get it - with his rep only his parents would accept him as working, and he was not working at the farm, plus it would be forever to get the amount he needed.

Danny sighed once more. He was stuck for the time being. But he would figure out something, he had to. Without really looking at who was there, he ordered a beer and waited for it to come.

[Leo Madison]

Leo didn't mind working here. The people were always the same ones and they sat at the same tables, often having the same conversations. But Leo liked to watch them and serve them. This was a laid back place and he'd often just join in their conversations. It wasn't such a bad job, he got paid to bring drinks to people he knew and liked and could talk to them. They always tipped well, the people in this town, if they had money.

He felt his skin burning from his most recent sunburn---he often helped out the Giddeon family since he'd be a part of it at some point soon, after the wedding.... Leo let the hum of the pub float by him as he watched the images of the people and the lighting change with the sun. Leo was something of an artist, an ameture one--he'd never taken formal lessons-- but he was very good.

His only regret was that he couldn't draw while working. he had other things to get done. At this moment he was busy getting a drink for some kid, but no one was too careful with the age laws, someone would make sure everyone stayed in check. Upon a second glance he realized it was Danny Parson, the kid looked miserable to Leo. So he set the glass down and said, "Why the long face Danny?"

[Danny Parson]

"Why the long face Danny?"

As the glass was set in front of him a voice spoke. Danny looked up to see Leo Madison, not like he expected anybody else. Leo was usually the one working at Mac's when they came, and he often joined in conversations. Danny didn't often talk to him himself, the two never being much friends, with the four year difference and all, plus they were quite a difference between them. But still, everybody talked with everybody in this town, unless their was a hatred between the two people.

Danny shrugged as he grabbed the glass and took a long swig. He hadn't really talked about it with anybody. Sure, his family knew about all the rejections, but they didn't know how badly he wanted out of the town, how much he hated the farm. Only his brother ever seemed to notice that, though he didn't say a thing.

"Just, same old same old. Stuck in this town forever more, workin' on the farm," Danny said, the bitterness clear in his voice. He bit his tongue, holding back what he wanted to say. He needed to talk to somebody about it, but Leo didn't seem to be the right guy. Leo didn't seem to mind staying in town, he was marrying Sophia Giddeon for Christ sake. Probably going to take over the ranch when her parents couldn't handle it any more. Yes, he didn't seem to mind staying in town. He wasn't the right person to talk to it about, and so Danny just bit back the words that were dying to come out as he took another sip of his drink.

[Leo Madison]

Leo wasn't an idiot, he could hear it in Danny's vice. The kid wanted out of this place. And Leo understood that, the same things all the time. But for someone like himself, he picked up on the slight differences, he liked the never changing reality of his life because that increased his desire to do something artistic, change what he had, without going anywhere. And that worked for him. And several of his peers had done the same, stuck around. But there were always people who wanted to try a different kind of life. A life that was better suited for them.

"Sicka stayin' here?" Leo repeated, not really like a question. He wasn't sure if the twins shared their car, so he settled for, "Just hitch a ride with someone and make your way. No one is keeping you here." Danny was eighteen, technically, he could go and do whatever he wanted. Leo didn't know if he had any money to fund the kind.

[Danny Parson]

Leo'd heard it in his voice. It wasn't hard to hear, it was pretty obvious Danny wanted to get up and go. Then why couldn't his parents see it? They thought he was perfectly happy in Oakwood, working on the farm. They didn't see that all the trouble he got in was him letting his frustration out to cool him down as he stayed longer in the city. They didn't see that he wanted to see farther and wider, all over the world, and not in the tin dump they called Oakwood. No, his parents couldn't see that, but everybody else could hear it in his voice, see it in his face. What was wrong with them?

"So they say," Danny mumbled taking a long sip of his drink. Nobody was keeping him there - yet he felt as though his parents were. Plus he needed money - and that was something he didn't have. If only somebody (besides his parents) would give him a job - but they all didn't like him - after a thing or two he'd done to them here, and a thing or two there through the years. They just wouldn't get over it. Damn long memories. He needed to find another way to get money. But he didn't want to think about that then.

Danny shook his head, realizing he'd been starring into is empty glass for a few seconds. He pushed it towards Leo indicating he wanted another while he decided to change the subject. "So what you've been up to lately?"

[Leo Madison]

Leo understood, Danny felt trapped here, wanted something bigger and better than Oakwood, Indiana. But his parents gave him no money, his family wouldn't want him to leave. But really, if he'd been in the boy's place he would have just grabbed however little money he had and gotten out. You could tie yourself down forever waiting for the right thing, and then never get it.

Maybe that was why he'd proposed to Sophia. He figured he loved her and doubted something any better would come along. he wasn't sure if it was true love, but it was love, and that would have to be enough. And if Danny didn't do something, Oakwood was going to end up being enough. But Leo liked living here, it was simple. And he was in no place to give Danny advice.

"Oh you know, that same things, working here, working at the Giddeon's," Leo shrugged filling the kids glass and grabbing a beer for himself.

[Danny Parson]

He would get out after the summer - no matter how low he was on cash, how much his parents didn't understand - he'd get out after the summer. He was just staying to see if he could be more prepared before he went on his big renowned trip around the world, get his parents to understand he didn't belong in Oakwood. That was his reason - or the one he was sticking with. He couldn't help but think there was some other reason Danny stayed - what it was, even he didn't know.

Danny thought over Leo's answer. Work - something Danny had always hated and slacked off on. Was that why he wanted to be a world explorer - because it wasn't really work? It was more of an adventure, in sense. But Leo, he didn't seem to mind the town, being stuck here. He was marrying Sophia Giddeon after all. Oh, the Giddeon ranch. Danny hated that place. Not the place, so to say. He was afraid of horses - not that he let it show, or anybody knew. Actually, he was pretty sure Johnny knew, but that was his brother, he hadn't said a word.

Speaking of the Gideon Ranch........

"Ya, heard that you're marrying Sophia," Of course Danny had, everybody had. Everybody knew about everybody's business in this town, and a thing like that had been known by everybody in town not an hour after it had happened. Barely anything else was talked about by the middle aged folk. "When's the wedding?"

[Leo Madison]

The wedding, was that really all people had to talk about? Maybe... The carnival was always news but other than that, it was all the people here. He was surprised people hadn't started to talk about how often he went over to see Sophia, and sleep with her. But he figured that was a good thing, someone were so old fashioned. "We haven't really settled on a date yet."

Being utterly truthful about it, Leo had cold feet, he wasn't sure if it was really true love, but he was just going to take it as it came because he doubted he could find anything better out here. He was not a city boy. he never would be. So he'd settle for the farmer's daughter. Wasn't so bad. they did love each other, and they'd get the farm, which would give them money. they'd live comfortably and happily.

Well, probably.

[Danny Parson]

"Mmmm," Danny mumbled. He didn't really care for the subject much - he didn't understand why the wedding was so big. Wasn't that all what people did around here? Go through job then marry one of the girls they met through school? Seemed like it. Well, not Danny, and no, not just because he hadn't met a girl through school, (they seemed to only look at him, but listened to their dads when they were told to stay away). He was going to get out, he swore on it.

Danny looked down at his empty glass again and back at Leo. This was why he'd never talked to Leo before - the two had nothing to talk about. Danny stood up and dug into his pocket, pulling out just enough for his drinks. That was the last of his money, but he was leaving anyway. Seemed he'd have to work on the farm for a bit the next day - depending for how long he worked was how much his parents payed him, since he didn't work everyday - only when he was low on cash or had nothing to do, or was determined to get more. Sometimes when they really needed hands too.

"Well, I've got to get going," Danny said, thinking about going up the hill and watching the stars. He'd fallen asleep many a nights there, and his parents had come up with their own ideas on where he had been at night, and he let them think what they wanted to, he wouldn't tell. People only seemed to know apart of him - the wild part. They'd never seen the soft part - he hid it well.

Danny gave Leo a nod before weaving his way through the crowd and exiting out the pub, a hand running through his brown hair as he did so.

[Leo Madison]

The kid was going to get out, and for a moment, Leo was jealous. Some part of him wanted more than the hand he'd been dealt, just for a while, to know what the rest of the world was like so he could love Oakwood a little more. He'd only know this place and the surrounding towns, old pick up trucks and house wives who called the kids in from the field and baked. It really was old fashioned, but he'd gone to a community college, a 2 year one, with a bunch of other kids like him because he couldn't afford better-- he'd been smart enough-- top of his class.

But Oakwood was really all Leo had, wether he wanted it or not.

And he did like Oakwood, he just sometimes wondered what was out there that he was missing.