When I Return || Perrentes

Chapter 12: Currents Convulsive

They couldn't stay in the restaurant forever - after long enough Tony and Mike stood, and they pulled on their jackets. "I've had a really good time," Tony smiled as he straightened the cuffs of his shirt and neatened his jacket, and Mike offered that half grin at the corner of his mouth.

"So have I. Really. I suppose I'll...see you soon?"

Tony paused, put his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He briefly looked out the windows of the restaurant, at the dark outside, thinking fast - he wasn't ready for this to end, and he rapidly tried to think of a way to preserve the night. It came to him. "Unless," he shrugged, "you would like to walk me to my car?"

Mike raised an eyebrow, but made no sign of protesting as he smiled. Together, they began to make their way out of the restaurant. "It would be my pleasure."

They left the Italian, and once outside in the crisp night air, under the stars, moon and street lamps, they paused and Mike offered his arm. Tony, suddenly bashful, simply smiled and happily took his arm, the perfect gentleman to walk him away. Tony began to lead them down the road, slowly, walking at a leisurely pace, no desire to quicken or rush, happy in the moment. "It's chilly," Mike said eventually, and Tony chuckled.

"Is it? It's been colder."

"I think I have some adjusting to the weather to do. It isn't San Diego."

"No, it's much wetter, but it's so much more beautiful. It's very different."

"I imagine. So," he started up. "I have a question. What's this about sand?"

"Oh!" Tony laughed. "Right. Well, it was part of the apprenticeship I took at the VHRC. I got accepted onto the course at the interview and at the very beginning, all the people who were offered a place did lots of little tests and assessments, so they could see what our levels of knowledge were."

"Well, I imagine you breezed them."

"The theory, yes," Tony shrugged. "But I'd never been in a science lab. My theory was really strong but my practical skills were shit. I didn't know how to handle equipment properly, or control variables...so we got given this practical assessment, it was a chlorophyll extraction and chromatogram, and Ash and some other scientists observed it. And I felt so under pressure, I was all over the place, I was just wandering around trying to copy everyone else. So I got the basics down, and I watched the others, and I was trying to grind my leaves up in a pestle and mortar and I thought, this is too hard. So I went back to the equipment trolley to see if I missed anything, and there was this tub of sand. I guess I just used my logic, sprinkled some sand in with the leaves to grind it up. So then I filtered it to get it out...I fucked up a bunch of other things but they were impressed by my problem solving and instinctive skill despite knowing I had no background in practical science. I managed to earn some marks, scrape through the trial...I'd have been absolutely top of the apprentice class if it hadn't been for the practical. But thanks to my problem solving I wound up about mid field, gave myself the opportunity to pull myself up on knowledge, I worked really hard to refine my practical skills...finished at the top eventually and got selected for the second year, at which point it became a paid apprenticeship."

"All down to sand, huh?" Mike said, impressed, as they turned a corner onto Featherdown Road, the bright white street lighting reflecting on the tarmac of the road and bouncing off the shop windows. "That's very impressive. You really love your job, don't you?"

"I absolutely adore it. It's stuff that's fascinated me since I was thirteen...heck, sometimes I get to cut open brains and stuff. It's bizarre. It's amazing. And now you get to find something you love too!"