Chapter 11
 

It was nearly 10pm when Rollie and Josh came back from dinner.  "Boy that was good!  We should do that more often, eh?" Rollie asked rhetorically.  He enjoyed himself like he hadn’t in ages; with a start he realized that it had been months since he did have a moment of fun.  Maybe he was finally getting over the accident and her death.  It still hurt, hurt like hell all the time but at least now he knew that some things were still fun and it was okay to enjoy them.  "So, Josh?  Are you ready to get down to work?"

"Work?  Rollie, it’s 10pm!!!  This is nearly bedtime; don’t you know that??" Joshua was perplexed.  This was from a man who for the last 5 months didn’t want to do a thing.  He hardly left the loft except to go to the Blarney Stone or when he had a screaming fit with Kieran.  NOW he wants to work!?  ‘Maybe Kieran is right; maybe the guy is nuts!’  "Rol, don’t you want to go to sleep? Aren’t you tired?"

"Tired? Naaaahh!! I’m just getting warmed up; c’mon it will be fun.  Ange and I used to do this all the time."  Pausing to reflect, he contradicted himself, "Actually, I did this all the time.  She used to go upstairs to get some piece of equipment and take a nap or fall asleep on the couch as we went over the videos that we had just done."  He stopped for a moment looking at the stairs to his private sector; he had to struggle to contain himself.  After a few moments, he cleared his throat and took a deep breath and continued,  "She used to say that I didn’t know the rules of sleep.  Angie told me that most normal human beings slept when the sun went in and woke up when it came out. For some reason, I could never sleep the full eight hours that she could. Used make her bonkers. "

"Are you ok?" Joshua asked timidly.  This Rollie being so open was new to him; he didn’t want to scare Rollie but at the same time Joshua didn’t want to rush him either.  This was hard on him and it was obvious.

"Yeah.  Sure.  I mean it’s hard, but yeah…I’m ok."  He did feel ok, not great but ok.  Rollie wanted to get back to his work.  He wanted to get lost in the magnitude of a project, he wanted something that would occupy nearly all of his waking hours.  He figured that if he worked long and hard enough, he would be too tired to dream, which was the real reason he avoided going to sleep these last few months.  Rollie  was even hoping Frank or Mira had a favor that needed to be done.  Anything as long as he didn’t have to think about that damned boat accident.

"So, Josh, are we ready?  C’mon!  This is going to be great; you’ll see." He had to put on the ‘happy face’ so Joshua and Kieran wouldn’t worry.  Sarah said that if you think happy (or not so morbid thoughts, in his case), you might be able to change your outlook.  It was worth a shot, ‘nothing else seems to be working’ he remembered telling Sarah when she gave him a book on grieving and another on self help.  He knew she meant well but they were just collecting dust in the bookcase in his bedroom.  "Ok, I need you to go over on the other side of the room…not there! THERE!  YES!" as he muttered a give-me-strength-prayer under his breath but loud enough that Josh could hear him.

Joshua, remembering that Kieran had the exact same face and prayer earlier  in the day, shook his head at the resemblence of the two cousins, although neither one would ever admit to it.  They were both darker than Josh, taller, funnier and more open.  Both men were handsome, which did bother Josh at times because neither Rollie nor Kieran had to work for a date.  But even with their personalities, there were times when they could be dense to put it nicely especially when it came to affairs of the heart.

"Joshua, what  the hell is bloody funny?!  You have been cackling your little heart out now for a few moments; please share the mirth with me." Rollie gave his younger cousin his best imitation of an old world school marm; complete with horn rimmed glasses and pointer. Joshua couldn’t remember Rollie being this amusing or fun to work with in the last few weeks; he hoped that it would last a long time.

"Just thinking about something Kieran did earlier, that’s all.  Where am I supposed to be looking?"

"On the shelf, where the items are kept.  It’s the green box; should be marked ‘Blue’s Camera’.  It should have some film for his camera in there, at least that is where I think it is."   "YIP" came from the corner that Joshua was in.  Blue was just sitting there looking as if he was waiting for the film to be loaded into him.   "Blue, there are times when you scare me.  I actually think you are human." Rollie said with a smile.

"OUCH!!!  Rollie, when are you going to clean up over here!?  It’s like a death trap."

"You mean when is Kieran going to clean it up; payback time!  It’s what he gets for going out on a school night.  Don’t worry, now that we are back in business most of this needs to be  re-organized and since I am the boss you and Kieran can fight over that."

"Thank a heap" came the most unenthusiastic reply Rollie Tyler ever heard in his life.   "Rol, there are two rolls of film in here but I think one of them was used already.  How can you tell?" Joshua brought both Blue and the canisters of film over to Rollie’s workstation for the FX wizard to examine.

"Well, that’s easy.  It’s…um…well, I don’t remember which is which.  Damn! Blue, which one did we use?"  Silence from the little metallic pet; he still just sat there waiting for his master to play with him.  "Oh, now you decide to be quiet!  Blue, please go thru your memory and see if you could PLEASE remember which canister we used last time on your camera?  Was it the red one or the blue one?"

"Rollie, wouldn’t it be the blue one?"

"Huh?  What  makes you say that?"

"Blue.  Ya know his name and the color; sounds like soemthing you would do." Joshua offered as an explanation.

"Sounds as good as any other one I can think of.  Ok, we’ll develop the blue canister.  Hopefully it has pictures on it and that will tell us it the camera is still working.  I really hope it doesn’t need any work.  We are falling behind schedule as it is."
 

An hour later found the cousins sitting at the workstations, trying to resolve the logic of the program that they had written earlier in the week but with no avail.  Rollie letting a grunt of frustration, walked to the darkroom where the blue canister was being developed.  "I’m going over there to see how the pictures are doing."  As he continued his stroll over there, the phone rang, "I’m not going over there; Josh please see how they are doing?  Tyler, here. Yes, Mira we’re fine.  No, Mira no one is dead.  Kieran isn’t here that is I how know he is doing fine.  Joshua is in the darkroom; yes, mother.  Yes mother….then stop acting like my mother.  I promise I will call you if there is any other problems.  Bye, Mira and thank you."  Looking at the phone he laughed and continued to work.

"Hey, Rollie we were right; it was this roll.  The pictures are still wet but they look pretty good, want to see?"  Joshua came back from the dark room gingerly carrying the few precious photos that came from Blue.  They were the only ones that Rollie knew of that came from Blue that were taken from as a regular camera not from a spy camera.

"Sure bring ‘em over.  Let’s see what we have; oho, this is a good one!!  I caught Frank eating a hot-dog at the preceint.  See the mustard on his face, shall we keep it or give it?" Looking at each other, in unison they said "Keep it!"   "We might be able to use it as blackmail against him later on.  What else is there?"

The bantering and the commentary over the photos lasted for 10 minutes; some of the pictures were wet so the ones that were dry kept them amused a little while longer.  Joshua would dart back into the darkroom to get them as they dried.  On his last trip out, Rollie noticed Joshua just staring at one photo in particular.  "Josh, what’s that?  What’s got your attention, hmm?"

Joshua continued to stare, looked up at Rollie and showed him the picture with as his commentary, "Wow.  Who is she?"

"That’s Angela; she was gorgeous, wasn’t she?  Oh, man.  I had completely forgotten about this picture.  I was testing out the camera and surprised her while she was playing on the computer."  The tears quickly welled up in his eyes as he struggled with his composure.

"Are you ok?  We can stop if you want; it’s no big deal.’

"No, I’m not ok.  And it is a very big deal.  I took this picture of her two days before she died.  It’s the last one that I have of her.  That was the day that she um…she.  Look, I gotta leave for a few; I’ll be fine but for right now I have to leave."
 

Twenty minutes later, Kieran came sailing in a great mood. ‘Why shouldn’t I be in a good mood?  I just met a great girl who thinks that I am cute and funny. Me, Rollie and Josh are back together and working again…what’s not to be happy about?’ he contemplated.  He kept up his little dance of joy all through the kitchen where he poured himself some tea to the lounge where he saw  Joshua sitting dejectedly.  ‘Great here’s the party pooper.’  Instead he kept up his happy attitude and asked, "Hey there cousin!!  Where’s Rollie?"

"Out."

"Out?  You mean on a date?  Woo Hoo—way to go, Rol!"

"NO! No, it’s nothing like that.  We had dinner, came back here, started to do some work. Oh, by the way, Rollie says you have to clean up that side of the room, the one where the shelves are messy."  Noticing Kieran’s look of disgust, Joshua pushed the pangs of guilt aside for another day; Rollie was more important right now. Recollecting the emotional state that Rollie left in, Joshua himself began to lose his composure "Then we got talking about how he and Angie used to work then he…"

"Got all misty eyed and left.  Well, he did do some work.  I can’t really blame him though.  He said he knew her for what, like 14 years.   That is a long time; I don’t think I could just let go either especially how she died. Hey, what are these?  Can I see?" Kieran started looking thru the pictures before he was actually given permission to do so.

"I can’t believe you!  Rollie is like a basket case and all you can do is look at those bloody pictures!! What the hell is wrong with you!?  Don’t smear them; some of them are still a bit damp." Joshua got a cloth for the photos since Kieran didn’t seem to be listening but kept right on looking at them and treating them as if they were from the local pharmacy and not straight out of Rollie’s darkroom.

"Hey, we can’t except a miracle overnight.  Plus he is a big boy, Josh.  Let him be for a little while.  Hey, um where did you say you got these?"  Kieran was intently focused on one photo in particular.

"Rollie just took them around the loft and the neighborhood.  Why?"

"Well, I’m just curious as to how he got a picture of my date?" and with that singled out the photo that sent Rollie running out the door.