Post by unstoppable on Oct 16, 2007 15:30:29 GMT -6
The true mark of a champion is not whether he wins every battle, but how he handles his losses. God have I become this cheesy?
It’s a cold 60 degree evening in Houston as Dan Harvey sits on his back porch, watching the rain pour down from the sky. His posture is slumped down as he continues drinking from a red can. His right foot, clearly propped up on the adjacent chair, adjusts a little as Dan exhales heavily, a faint smile on his face. There are very few moments like this in the world. Jessica is busy with homework in the house, which is amazing considering her age, the house is clean, dinner is slowly baking in the oven, and the rain creates a pitter patter musical in his head. Life just could not get any better for good ole Dan. The figure sitting beside him could not disagree more. This older gentleman seems very disgruntled right now, his white beard hiding his sour disposition. His arms are crossed over his chest as he turns to look at Dan.
“So you’re just going to sit there like everything’s alright?”
Dan languidly turns his head toward his addresser, cautiously gauging his composure before commenting quite plainly while turning his head to the rain once more.
“Yes.”
The old man rolls his eyes before sitting up in his lawn chair, his body turning away from Dan in a moment of disgust.
“How can you do that? You just don’t make any sense to me anymore.”
This time Dan doesn’t even bring his eyes away from the rain, the smile still on his face.
“Because everything is alright. Can’t you see that? Look around you. Do you see anything out of place?”
“It’s not about what’s out of place. It’s about what isn’t here!”
Dan sighs, putting his Dr. Pepper down on the ground before turning to look at the old man, his hands now loosely clasped over his stomach.
“I’m not following you gramps.”
That pissed him off. The elderly man reaches over and backhands Dan’s nearest leg, making a loud fapp as his hand hit the jeans. His voice is full of contempt
“You lost your title last week! Not only did you lose it, but you lost it to Zeke Inferno? Now you’re sitting here like everything is alright? What is wrong with you boy?!”
Dan, having finally had enough, sits up slowly and leans his head back, cracking his neck before gazing at the man called gramps.
“Everything is under control. You may not understand it now, but in time you’ll see.”
Gramps gets up, storming around the covered porch, now starting to pace back and forth.
“You let Reck Maverick screw you over! You know better than that. You see, this is what happens when you let things get personal! I told you to keep your nose clean all those years ago, and you didn’t listen did you?”
This tirade doesn’t appear to have affected Dan in the slightest. He still has this languid posture about him. To be honest, the man was relaxing his body. After a rough day in the gym, Dan was ready to pass out and let the world pass him by. Of course, with a visit from gramps, there is no way he would allow himself to go to sleep. After all, gramps only comes along once or twice a year.
“Of course I listened to you. I also listened to you when you said sometimes you need to implant ideas in others heads.”
Gramps places both of his hands on his sides and turns toward his disciple. Granted he’s a bit old to be called boy, but he wanted to so dearly wring his neck right now.
“This had better be a damned good explanation.”
Dan’s eyes were still transfixed on the rain, now slowly starting to die down. It was a comforting sight to him as he spoke of his plan out in the open.
“The television title was holding me back. I know I can take Reck Maverick, but as long as I had the TV title, there was nothing I could do. I needed to get rid of it and somehow manage to push myself into the main event.”
Gramps was still lost. Of course, Dan isn’t giving much information just yet. He’s beating around the bush instead of using the machete to take off the top of the hedge.
“Keep going…”
The smirk on Dan’s face begins to grow more and more smug as the explanation continues onward.
“I didn’t think it was right when I beat Flap Flanagan for the title and he immediately gets a shot at another title. Instead of giving Lestat what he deserves, his rematch clause, he gets placed in a match with Reck Maverick, and the man slips up, bringing me up in a less than flattering way during one of his promos. I saw my opportunity. Now I wasn’t all too offended by what Maverick said. I mean, to be offended I’d have to value his opinion. All I had to do was make it look like I cared, give him a slight distraction during his match with Lestat, and wait for my next title shot.”
Finally the light bulb hovering over Gramps head lights. The plan all came together perfectly.
“So he costs you the title, and you eventually get your hands on the World Champion. Wow, I’m actually impressed.”
Dan chuckles softly to himself, finally managing the strength to sit up, cracking his knuckles before crossing his arms over his chest.
“I played the fool like a fiddle. It was too easy really. All I have to do is wait for Josh Eagles to have his little shot, and then I know Reck will come to me, begging to have me in the ring, where I can embarrass him, solidly putting myself in the main event where I belong.”
Having been impressed with his students plan, Gramps takes his seat back beside Dan. A thought occurs to him, and with a gesture of his hand he speaks.
“Aren’t you concerned with him figuring out all of this and not giving you what you want? I mean, what if he doesn’t fall for it?”
“To be honest, telling him my plan would probably piss him off more than anything else. To realize he’s fallen right into my hands like a pawn on a chess board should set him off worse than actually sleeping with his mother.”
Believe it or not, gramps used to get around a lot during his days in the wrestling world. He begins to think for a moment.
“hmmm… where did you say Reck Maverick was from again?”
Dan eyes him suspiciously through squinted eyes.
“I don’t even want to know why you asked that question.”
As if to cut the tension with an adorable butter knife, Jessica bursts through the glass door, holding up three pieces of paper to her father.
“I finished daddy! You gotta sign it now!”
Being the father of the year candidate he is, Dan picks up the homework and eyeballs it closely. It’s not complicated stuff, but he makes it appear so for the sake of his daughter. After checking the three pages he hands it back to his daughter and pats her on the head.
“Good girl. Not a single one wrong this time.”
Jessica looks proud as she looks over the work. Unfortunately, Dan didn’t sign the pages like she asked, and that troubles her greatly. She points again to the line at the bottom of the pages set aside for a signature.
“Daddy you didn’t sign it…”
Dan holds up his hands to show he has nothing in them.
“Sweetie, I don’t have a pen to sign it with. I can’t do it in my own blood.”
Jessica is a resourceful one. She holds up a blue crayon to her father and stands adamantly close to him, demanding his signature. Dan sighs and shakes his head, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Remember the last time I signed your homework in crayon Jessica?”
Childlike amnesia strikes again!
“no….”
“Well I do. Daddy had to come down and explain to them why I was signing things in crayon. They wanted to put me in a mental house.”
Jessica giggles softly as the incident unfolds in her head once more.
“I remember that now daddy. They said you were kuku but you didn’t have any cocoa puffs!”
Dan turns his head and mumbles a little about stupid psychologists before turning his head back to his daughter.
“That’s right. So what did we learn from that experience?”
Jessica tries hard to think through it all. Sometimes having the mind of a child is a bad thing. After a long pause she holds up a different color crayon.
“Sign in green! I like green!”
Dan sighs, and with a shake of his head he motions her into the other room.
“I’ll sign in a minute with a green pen, but first you got to give gramps a hug. You haven’t even said hi to him yet!”
Gramps opens his arms and Jessica practically tackles him in the chair, giving him a great big bear hug before jumping off his lap, running into the house.
“They make them do homework in first grade?”
Dan nods slowly, running his hand through his hair.
“I know… it’s just not right.”
“Jesus… well at least we know she’s getting a quality education. You pay enough for it. Anyway, what do they got you up to this week? Isn’t it the big DVD taping or something?”
Dan picks up the Dr. Pepper he has sitting by his chair. He takes a swig of it before wincing, throwing the can into the trash can beside the wall. Flat Dr. Pepper is the worst.
“Something like that yeah. They have me facing Dan Savage, the personification of the seven deadly sins.”
Gramps crosses one leg over the other, his ankle on top of his other knee, reasoning through the seven deadly sins.
“It could work… I think. Why do they have you against him anyway? I thought you were going after Maverick.”
Dan sits up, turning his entire body to face Gramps, placing his feet on the floor as if rooting himself in the ground.
“I am, but I can’t just take Josh Eagles title shot away from him. Besides they thought it’d be cute to put Dan Harvey against Dan Savage and call it “The battle of the Dans”. Pheh. I think it’s a ridiculous idea. Whoever came up with that should be punched in the face.”
“yeah… I have to say I don’t like that idea, but it will make for a good DVD. Anything starring my best student will sell well.”
“I didn’t know I was your best student. Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”
Gramps grins and slaps Dan on the shoulder, chuckling softly to himself.
“Because you’d get a big head.”
“Please… like my head could get any bigger.”
It’s a cold 60 degree evening in Houston as Dan Harvey sits on his back porch, watching the rain pour down from the sky. His posture is slumped down as he continues drinking from a red can. His right foot, clearly propped up on the adjacent chair, adjusts a little as Dan exhales heavily, a faint smile on his face. There are very few moments like this in the world. Jessica is busy with homework in the house, which is amazing considering her age, the house is clean, dinner is slowly baking in the oven, and the rain creates a pitter patter musical in his head. Life just could not get any better for good ole Dan. The figure sitting beside him could not disagree more. This older gentleman seems very disgruntled right now, his white beard hiding his sour disposition. His arms are crossed over his chest as he turns to look at Dan.
“So you’re just going to sit there like everything’s alright?”
Dan languidly turns his head toward his addresser, cautiously gauging his composure before commenting quite plainly while turning his head to the rain once more.
“Yes.”
The old man rolls his eyes before sitting up in his lawn chair, his body turning away from Dan in a moment of disgust.
“How can you do that? You just don’t make any sense to me anymore.”
This time Dan doesn’t even bring his eyes away from the rain, the smile still on his face.
“Because everything is alright. Can’t you see that? Look around you. Do you see anything out of place?”
“It’s not about what’s out of place. It’s about what isn’t here!”
Dan sighs, putting his Dr. Pepper down on the ground before turning to look at the old man, his hands now loosely clasped over his stomach.
“I’m not following you gramps.”
That pissed him off. The elderly man reaches over and backhands Dan’s nearest leg, making a loud fapp as his hand hit the jeans. His voice is full of contempt
“You lost your title last week! Not only did you lose it, but you lost it to Zeke Inferno? Now you’re sitting here like everything is alright? What is wrong with you boy?!”
Dan, having finally had enough, sits up slowly and leans his head back, cracking his neck before gazing at the man called gramps.
“Everything is under control. You may not understand it now, but in time you’ll see.”
Gramps gets up, storming around the covered porch, now starting to pace back and forth.
“You let Reck Maverick screw you over! You know better than that. You see, this is what happens when you let things get personal! I told you to keep your nose clean all those years ago, and you didn’t listen did you?”
This tirade doesn’t appear to have affected Dan in the slightest. He still has this languid posture about him. To be honest, the man was relaxing his body. After a rough day in the gym, Dan was ready to pass out and let the world pass him by. Of course, with a visit from gramps, there is no way he would allow himself to go to sleep. After all, gramps only comes along once or twice a year.
“Of course I listened to you. I also listened to you when you said sometimes you need to implant ideas in others heads.”
Gramps places both of his hands on his sides and turns toward his disciple. Granted he’s a bit old to be called boy, but he wanted to so dearly wring his neck right now.
“This had better be a damned good explanation.”
Dan’s eyes were still transfixed on the rain, now slowly starting to die down. It was a comforting sight to him as he spoke of his plan out in the open.
“The television title was holding me back. I know I can take Reck Maverick, but as long as I had the TV title, there was nothing I could do. I needed to get rid of it and somehow manage to push myself into the main event.”
Gramps was still lost. Of course, Dan isn’t giving much information just yet. He’s beating around the bush instead of using the machete to take off the top of the hedge.
“Keep going…”
The smirk on Dan’s face begins to grow more and more smug as the explanation continues onward.
“I didn’t think it was right when I beat Flap Flanagan for the title and he immediately gets a shot at another title. Instead of giving Lestat what he deserves, his rematch clause, he gets placed in a match with Reck Maverick, and the man slips up, bringing me up in a less than flattering way during one of his promos. I saw my opportunity. Now I wasn’t all too offended by what Maverick said. I mean, to be offended I’d have to value his opinion. All I had to do was make it look like I cared, give him a slight distraction during his match with Lestat, and wait for my next title shot.”
Finally the light bulb hovering over Gramps head lights. The plan all came together perfectly.
“So he costs you the title, and you eventually get your hands on the World Champion. Wow, I’m actually impressed.”
Dan chuckles softly to himself, finally managing the strength to sit up, cracking his knuckles before crossing his arms over his chest.
“I played the fool like a fiddle. It was too easy really. All I have to do is wait for Josh Eagles to have his little shot, and then I know Reck will come to me, begging to have me in the ring, where I can embarrass him, solidly putting myself in the main event where I belong.”
Having been impressed with his students plan, Gramps takes his seat back beside Dan. A thought occurs to him, and with a gesture of his hand he speaks.
“Aren’t you concerned with him figuring out all of this and not giving you what you want? I mean, what if he doesn’t fall for it?”
“To be honest, telling him my plan would probably piss him off more than anything else. To realize he’s fallen right into my hands like a pawn on a chess board should set him off worse than actually sleeping with his mother.”
Believe it or not, gramps used to get around a lot during his days in the wrestling world. He begins to think for a moment.
“hmmm… where did you say Reck Maverick was from again?”
Dan eyes him suspiciously through squinted eyes.
“I don’t even want to know why you asked that question.”
As if to cut the tension with an adorable butter knife, Jessica bursts through the glass door, holding up three pieces of paper to her father.
“I finished daddy! You gotta sign it now!”
Being the father of the year candidate he is, Dan picks up the homework and eyeballs it closely. It’s not complicated stuff, but he makes it appear so for the sake of his daughter. After checking the three pages he hands it back to his daughter and pats her on the head.
“Good girl. Not a single one wrong this time.”
Jessica looks proud as she looks over the work. Unfortunately, Dan didn’t sign the pages like she asked, and that troubles her greatly. She points again to the line at the bottom of the pages set aside for a signature.
“Daddy you didn’t sign it…”
Dan holds up his hands to show he has nothing in them.
“Sweetie, I don’t have a pen to sign it with. I can’t do it in my own blood.”
Jessica is a resourceful one. She holds up a blue crayon to her father and stands adamantly close to him, demanding his signature. Dan sighs and shakes his head, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Remember the last time I signed your homework in crayon Jessica?”
Childlike amnesia strikes again!
“no….”
“Well I do. Daddy had to come down and explain to them why I was signing things in crayon. They wanted to put me in a mental house.”
Jessica giggles softly as the incident unfolds in her head once more.
“I remember that now daddy. They said you were kuku but you didn’t have any cocoa puffs!”
Dan turns his head and mumbles a little about stupid psychologists before turning his head back to his daughter.
“That’s right. So what did we learn from that experience?”
Jessica tries hard to think through it all. Sometimes having the mind of a child is a bad thing. After a long pause she holds up a different color crayon.
“Sign in green! I like green!”
Dan sighs, and with a shake of his head he motions her into the other room.
“I’ll sign in a minute with a green pen, but first you got to give gramps a hug. You haven’t even said hi to him yet!”
Gramps opens his arms and Jessica practically tackles him in the chair, giving him a great big bear hug before jumping off his lap, running into the house.
“They make them do homework in first grade?”
Dan nods slowly, running his hand through his hair.
“I know… it’s just not right.”
“Jesus… well at least we know she’s getting a quality education. You pay enough for it. Anyway, what do they got you up to this week? Isn’t it the big DVD taping or something?”
Dan picks up the Dr. Pepper he has sitting by his chair. He takes a swig of it before wincing, throwing the can into the trash can beside the wall. Flat Dr. Pepper is the worst.
“Something like that yeah. They have me facing Dan Savage, the personification of the seven deadly sins.”
Gramps crosses one leg over the other, his ankle on top of his other knee, reasoning through the seven deadly sins.
“It could work… I think. Why do they have you against him anyway? I thought you were going after Maverick.”
Dan sits up, turning his entire body to face Gramps, placing his feet on the floor as if rooting himself in the ground.
“I am, but I can’t just take Josh Eagles title shot away from him. Besides they thought it’d be cute to put Dan Harvey against Dan Savage and call it “The battle of the Dans”. Pheh. I think it’s a ridiculous idea. Whoever came up with that should be punched in the face.”
“yeah… I have to say I don’t like that idea, but it will make for a good DVD. Anything starring my best student will sell well.”
“I didn’t know I was your best student. Why didn’t you tell me that earlier?”
Gramps grins and slaps Dan on the shoulder, chuckling softly to himself.
“Because you’d get a big head.”
“Please… like my head could get any bigger.”