Chapter 9

Caruso entered the house and viewed each item as having an identity of it's own, it's funny how since all the stuff he saw took on an entirely new meaning, it was like he was now attaching meaning, to the meaningless, somehow life was beginning to make sense.

So he walked over to the phone and called the only person close to him that might understand what it might be like to be Caruso J Sundance right now and called Benny.

Now, Benny and himself shared similar views like music, food (sometimes when they went for all you can eat at the Chinese buffet, they literally ate more than they could eat (and suffered as a consequence for days), women were another thing they agreed on, not that Benny ever had a girlfriend, he never needed one anyway, after all, he had his mom.

And anyways, he was after all only 34, 'Plenty of time for me in that department' some times he would tell his mothers friends, 'To land the right fish, you need the right bait', and wait for them to nod and agree with him, after all it made perfect sense, to anyone with sense that is!

It was easy to agree with Benny on most things, what was not to like? But i did say most things and not all things, one of the biggest things about Benny, well the trouble with Benny was he had a fear of all things to do with nature, for Benny if he couldn't see nature on TV, it probably wasn't worth looking at in nature, his room didn't even have windows!
So you can imagine a house visit from him at the farm was a bit much, him coming Oak st, was no problem, he could drive, even though he lived around the corner, that's another thing about his best friend, he thinks walking is for losers.

But what they both shared an interest was in music, Benny once said, 'Sundance, there are only two kinds of people in the world, those conceived to the Jay Z Album, The black album and those conceived to The Beetles, The white album' and along comes a DJ called Danger mouse mixes them and we get 'The Grey album', boom!' As if it was the big bang all over, the beginning of the universe which it was, for Benny anyways and did a hand explosion mime and looked up at the light fitting, which was a bit like the Sun for him, not that he spent much time out doors either, sunblock? He never got exposed to sun long enough to need the stuff?

A doctor once told him mother years ago that he had, 'Nature deficit disorder', not that any of that was important now, he was grown up now, he knew what he liked and besides that was years ago.

Benny wasn't sure if he had the right address, or if this was another one of Caruso's phases, he was informed to come over, 'To see my new place, i've come into a bit of money' and he still had the $10,000, minus the cost of 2 chocolate bars and a bottle of coke, he needed to have breakfast, a man cant run on empty you know?

Not that any of this made any sense to Mr Magoo, as he wagged his tail as if to indicate WTF is going on here?
There might be different kinds of sense, but all his senses, including cat sense were failing to comprehend the situation at large, Mr Smith, the Labrador looked at Mr Magoo for a sign, anything to indicate whether he should bark or go up for a pat and maybe belly rub, but if the cat knew something, it wasn't giving it up, cats can be like that, it was a cats life, sure, but he was doing just fine being a dog right now

'Benny, my dear fellow, please open the door and just let yourself in', came a familiar voice
Dude, are you breaking in or something, i don't want to get arrested in one of your little stunts, he was always in and out of phases, that was pretty much his reason for some of the things he does, it's just a phase i'm going through from the cleaning frenzy where he claimed to see bacteria, the money he lost on horse betting to the piercing and tattoos he got, and he still has them in fact, so i guess that little phase hasn't run it's course yet?
Do you need to know about the time the drive was broken on his car, so instead he reversed everywhere, well thats Benny in a nutshell

And for trivia, Caruso's pet subject, did it matter in knowing that there are 7 colors in a rainbow? Or that the band U2 were once known as 'Feedback', it just did not register on the richter scale of his world.

'Why Benny come on up' said a man wearing a fur coat at the top of the stair case, 'Dude, this is serious man, you could get jail for this, i mean if someone comes back and catches us?', ' No problem', said Caruso, 'i own everything' and he began explaining to his guest the latest change on fortune that befell him, it did feel good to tell someone, some one that cared and then Caruso phone rang, it was Daisy, his girlfriend, he's call her back later, some things were more important and retold the story, careful not to leave out any facts or figures, if it didn't make sense to him, what chance would Benny have?

'And it all fits in with a dream i had last week' said Caruso, i had a dream i found major dinero under my bed. But i didn't take it, but i had thought's of claiming the big prize', well Caruso, finders are keepers i guess? Said Benny and moved around the house to inspect it and the contents, stopping to look, admire, sometimes bemused, but not with wonder, half this stuff was made in the 60's, it might as well have been in a museum for all the value Benny could muster in his body

'You want that old statue' said Benny, 'Not Maria, she's mine' replied Caruso tersely as he turned to look his friend in the eye, 'No problems, Caruso, i'm half starved, you have any food in this place?'
'Yeah', and off the two friends went to see what wondrous food taste's they might have in common with an old lady, do old people even like peanut butter? Where is the cheese? What were bran flakes for, none of his Trivia education came to light, you certainly couldn't eat them, like ever! Maybe the bran flakes were for the dog?

All this and scavenging for food watched on by Mr Magoo, he couldn't but help but admire the intruders ability eat food when they wanted, and it wasn't even their food, clever he thought, it was certainly something he had never thought of, 'interesting', he meowed, he would have to keep an eye on these two

And after all you cant teach old dogs new tricks, dogs were a bit stupid, Magoo had been around the traps and he was a cat, he learnt something new ever day, but he was at quite a loss to figure what was going on here? Mt Smith had long given up on his standoff and was now eating some corned beef and getting a pat, 'disgusting, just like a dog' he commented.

Not that any of this made sense to Countess Maria, from her bird's eye location as she wondered what the future had in store for her now these cowboys were on the scene? 'Could they be homosexuals?' she thought? That answer was answered by Benny licking some chocolate spread off of the floor, 'interesting' she thought

Chapter 8

As Caruso, pulled up at the appointed time, he spied Edith standing on the lawn with 2 bags as she scanned the territory, the place that was home until he opened that letter from this benefactor and these unexpected turn of events got under way, maybe seeing the home that was her home, up until she signed the dotted line when her lawyer came over for lunch in a new way.
Seeing something she had not noticed before, maybe a plant or a rock? As Edith pivoted to take it all in? Maybe for the last time, she reminisced as inhaling the ambiance one more time

But, he reasoned as he got out of the strawberry colored car, 'Business is business' and he was a business man, as a gleaming Edith Robinson approached, 'Hello Mr Sundance', pipped Edith, 'I have just been in touch with your legal representation, everything seems to be in order, he told me that you were a great lover of pets and my pets will be well taken care of. I cant tell you how delighted i am to hear that!'

If you could call Caruso a lover of pets or anything that wasn't covered in peanut butter, you were a better person, for if it really were to be known, he saw himself as a kill or be kill, live and live, lover? 'Well, it is a changing world', he reflected, 'we all have to move with the times, sooner or later'

But as far as pets in general, he just didn't seem to care, or mind for that matter, it wasn't something that never really came up in the chicken business, but that was about to change and Caruso was willing to change, a world was beginning to open for him too, he felt over the moon, all the smiling was beginning to catch on too, not that he never did before, maybe he was beginning to enjoy himself and it was beginning to show, he did certainly feel good

Oh, i'm so happy Mr Sundance. Mr Eagle has transferred the funds, my lawyer has approved the deal, and now i can take a trip and get to know my sister in Germany, i'm not going to live forever, and i have been meaning for so long to do all the things i'm going to now do, how can i ever thank you?

'Familiarity breeds contempt' thought Caruso, which it actually does. Jean Paul Satrtre once commented that 'Hell is other people', the truth is the more you know someone, chances you'll like them less, which is interesting how people nowadays know so little of their neighbors, but know what some actress in Hollywood had for breakfast.

Would this lady thank him if she knew him all her life? People tend to like other's due to the hopes we have for them, and not who they are. Not that we dont all want best friends, it's just that people will at times disappoint and if you cant handle that, you might be in the wrong business? In Brazil, they say the difference between your friend and your best friend is, your best friend will always screw you over, maybe it's just that best friends are a hell you haven't met yet, so dont get too close, you'll get burnt if you cant handle the truth.

Not that any of this mattered, not now, he was here on business, not pleasure, he had to be professional, he had been practicing a smile while driving on the way over, something that conveyed, 'a fake it till you make it, not yet, but one day would

More like a smile he one day could grow into, something that had 'winner' written all over it, winners after all are grinners and Caruso had the biggest grin, one in which he was trying to tame as if a Lion tamer, at the Circus trying to get a the Lion to jump through the hoop, success, he could smell the success like the lion smells fear and he was ready for this, and he was sober too, as i said, he was being professional!

Without delay, Edith's bags were loaded into a cab and off she went to to spend the night with a friend, she was getting an early flight, yesterday Germany felt like a world away, now Germany was a day away and a new world of possibilities and now she had regained a passion for life to make her life story complete, after all she was beginning to feel younger by the minute, was there any point is wasting any more time except to give instructions on caring for her pets, which were Mr Magoo, the cat and Mr Smith, the Labrador, Hell is other people, but surly not their pets?

Time being such a precious commodity after you hit a certain age and Edith knew it, the value of money declines in the Time/Money equation, maybe the things you get most from life have nothing to do with money, maybe it takes a lifetime to realize this, and then it's all over?

Some people realize that the age to enjoy certain activities passes you by as you get older, you wont get time back, sure you can got to South America when your 70 years old, but it wont be as good if you went when you were 25 years old. Same same, but different!

The sooner you accept responsibility for the way your life is, the sooner you can get down to living the life maybe you were destined to live, now our boy Caruso is pushing on too, it had taken him 5 years to get used to being 30 and now he was 35, you could see just under the mugshot on his license if you like?

If there was ever a reason to get a knife, not to do any self harm mind you, but just to cut his favorite bacteria into precise slices and to not have to look at that damn date of birth when he wanted a cheese sandwich, that would be one reason, but now he would have a kitchen full of stuff to play with, maybe his troubles would be over, life on easy st, Oak st, not a chicken in sight maybe there would be a cheese grater in the house, that certainly would sweeten the deal he reminded himself, licking his lips

Every time you view your license it tells you how old you are, when he uses his plastic make shift cheese knife, it tells Caruso how much time he has left, the average male lives to about 78.9 years old here in Australia, 81.2 if he was a female, it's true he thought to himself, 'I lose out by a 2.3 years being a guy, but it's worth it, i dont think i'd be cut out to drink wine, iron clothes and spend an hour every morning brushing my hair', 'I'd be driven crazy', an early death couldn't come any quicker, the sooner the better if you cared to ask him

All this and more came to mind as Edith made a quick exit and Caruso turned around and felt like a Prince, surveying the land, his land and he remembered the princess inside, Maria baby i'm coming as he picked up his bag and walked towards the front door, eyeballing the lion knocker on the front door as he said, 'Who's boss now? Not so tough now, are you?' as he entered his home, feeling a bit hungry and thinking a cheese sandwich might be in order?