AAOOOSC! Mini Stories!

John was standing in front of a fancy, up-scale restaurant, wearing the spiffiest attire he found in his closet: black suit and navy blue tie with black dress pants and black dress shoes. Now, he was not in this attire, in front of this restaurant, for a date with Autumn, no, no, sorry--he was here to do a tradition he has been doing ever since he became captain of the Islanders: IRI aka Islander Rookie Interviewing.
Ever since John became captain of the Islanders and new players came into the Islanders from the draft or from different teams of the NHL/AHL, he would hold an interview with each of them in this same fancy restaurant, getting to know more about them, how they are like, their lifestyle, their benefit to the team, et centra, et centra, et centra.
And this night's interviewee was...
Loud screeches interrupted John's train of thought as he was just preparing his questions for the Islander Rookie. He turned his head to the right, landing his eyes on a blue and orange VW California Beach Camper Van that looked like it went through tough roads.
The door on the other side opened and the driver got off, rounding the front of the van. The driver had brown, huge curls as his hair, big eyes, and a goofy look on his face that looked like it belonged to a cartoon's. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt that showed beaches from around the world, khaki shorts, and flip flops; underneath his left arms was a neon orange kayak. "Howdy!" he shouted with a nerd-like tone at the spiffy man, waving his right hand in the air as he approached him.
John blinked for a moment in shock. "Ummm...Tyler Kennedy, I presume?" he asked in an uncertain tone.
"Oh, you can call me TK!" Tyler pointed to his chest with his thumb.
"I'll address you as Tyler."
He shrugged a bit. "Fine with me!"
"But why do you obtain a kayak nether your arm?"
"Oh, so that we can have some fuuuuun after the interview!" Tyler nodded his head up and down vigorously with wide eyes.
"We won't aquire time for such--"
"Okay then, what about after practice! I'm sure it'll be fun after hard practices!"
"Well, um, why don't you flake out your kayak in your..." He eyed the van with a disgusted look. "...caravan and let us go have our interview over dinner, shall we?" He clasped his hands behind his back.
"Ooo, food! Sounds good to me!" Tyler plopped the kayak onto of the van with a THUD! and marched into the restaurant, past John.
John zoomed after him, finding him coming up to the host, who was behind the podium; he cut in front of him.
"Hehehee..." John chuckled at the host. "Reservation under John for two."
The host looked down at the paper on the podium, then gazed back up. "Right this way, sir."
They were led into the main dining room, which was lit with chandeliers; the walls were white and the floor was a royal red carpet; circular dining tables were scattered throughout the grand room, and they were topped with white table cloths and plates and silverware of all sizes.
The host stopped in front of an empty table for two in the left middle of the room. The two hockey players sat on each end of the circular table and were each given menus.
"Wow... How do you read this?" Tyler tilted his hand to a side as he scrutinized at the opened menu.
John simply placed his hand on top of the menu, slipped it out from Tyler's grasp, flipped it around 180 degrees, and then shoved it back into his hands.
"Ooooo! Now I can read it a bit more better..." He narrowed his eyes at the cursive font that covered the pages of the menu. "...but what language is this in, French?"
"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness..." John had the urge to place his elbows on the table and slip his hands into his hair in distress, but he knew that was bad table manners. "It's in English."
"Doesn't looks English to me."
"It's English written in cursive."
"Ohhh...but I can't read it!"
John's mouth was replaced with a line, trying to think of what to say next.
Luckily, a server walked up to their table. "What would you like to drink for tonight?" he asked in an accent.
John placed his menu down and gazed up at the server with a sophisticated look. "We would fancy two glasses of champagne, please--"
"Well, I prefer apple juice," Tyler cut in, his nerdy voice becoming more obvious than before; the Islander's captain eyed the former Shark. "Mott's apple juice," he added in, nodding with little head movements.
"Alright, one glass of champagne and one glass of apple juice--"
"Alternate that to a bottle of champagne," John told the server. "I might necessitate it later on," he mumbled, glaring at his interviewee.
"Very well." The server nodded and walked off.
Tyler continued to look at the menu. "Are there any chicken nuggets here? Hoppin' Nuggets are good!"
"Chicken nuggets are not served hereabouts..." John groaned at the menu.
"Well, what's there then?" He frowned at the menu.
"Rotisserie chicken...roasted lamb...fried frog legs...rib-eye steak..."
"No chicken nuggets?"
"No. They wouldn't serve a matter like that hitherto." John knew he should just cut to the chase since he knew that the IRI would be a disaster if it was pushed until the normal time, which was after the food was served. "So, tell me, Tyler--" He placed the menu down. "--where do you derive out from?"
"From San Jose!" Tyler answered excitedly.
"Yes, yes, you were a Shark...and afore that?"
"A Penguin!"
"And afore that?"
"A Penguin!"
"So you were a Penguin, then Shark, and in nothing flat an Islander?"
"Yup, got that right!"
"What is your allegiance?"
"Canada!"
"Canadian," John corrected flatly.
"Canadian!"
"When were you drafted?"
"In 2004!"
"Round and overall?"
"I remember...4th round, 99th overall!" He smiled proudly.
"Yikes," John muttered under his breath. "Position?"
"Centre!"
"Like me... What benefit would you inflict on the team?"
"I'm good at assisting! And you're good at scoring! So-so I can assist and you can score! Dynamic duo!" He threw his hands in the air like as if he was in a roller coaster ride.
"I don't deduce that Kyle would regard highly of that..." John muttered to himself, looking down at the menu, thinking of the next question to ask him. "What is your preferable past time?"
"Oh, I like ice skating, playing hockey, going to the beach, and heeeeey!" He heard Tyler getting up from his chair.
"Hey-hey-hey what?" John looked up with puzzlement, which immediately turned into shock.
He saw Tyler standing next to the table, doing what seemed like a secret handshake with a lady about his age that had dark blond hair that was down and brown eyes; she was wearing the same attire as him.
"I'm so glad you came!" Tyler exclaimed happily to her after their handshake was over.
"Hey, how can I miss out on our river rafting night fun now?" she told him with crossed arms.
"Who-who-who is this here?" John pointed to the lady.
"Ohhhh!!!" Tyler spun around to face John. "John, meet Brandi. Brandi, meet John!"
"Hello." John waved back awkwardly.
"Hey!" Brandi waved at the Islander's captain.
"So, um, is she an acquaintance or--?"
"My wife!" Tyler clinged his arm around her's proudly.
"Your...wife..." John nodded his head slowly with wide eyes. "And what exactly are you guys devising to do this eventide, I was overhearing what you guys were conversing--"
"Oh, we're gonna go on a kayaking adventure in the dark dark darkness!" Tyler made a slow, showy motion with his hands, staring out into space.
"That seems quite innocuous," he commented sarcastically.
"We did it before in the Guadalupe River back in San Jose--it was a blast," Brandi assured him.
"Okay, so then--"
"We shall go before the creepy river monsters come out!" Tyler shook his outstretched fingers back and forth quickly in a Halloween-like fashion.
"Yea, we should go before they come! Yeesh!" She jumped a bit.
"Yea, yea, you guys may depart, it's as if I heretofore got all my questionings responded to," John said morosely.
Tyler bounced over to John. "Oh geez, thanks, John!" He slapped his back, making him let out a HUUU!
The server walked over to the table with the tray carrying a bottle of apple juice with an empty glass and a bottle of champagne with another empty glass.
"Well, gotta go! Bye!" Tyler swiped the bottle of apple juice and with Brandi he left the restaurant.
The server placed the other contents on the table and left.
Now John was all alone, slumped in his chair. "If only I attained the authority to exchange him back to San Jose." He eyed the dark green bottle. "But at least I am capable of making the most of this." He slipped back up in his chair and pulled out his iPhone, unlocking it and pressing the phone icon app; he pressed the number 5 on the electronic number pad and placed the screen to his ear. "Good evening, Autumn...! I could be doing finer--how about you...? Well, are you occupied at the moment...? Yea, I got practically got jettison in the interview... So would you move towards the restaurant...? I'm disconsolate and voracious... Alright, thank you, I'll be abiding here for your presence. I love you... Good-bye." He slipped his phone back into his pocket. "This gloom just got a whole lot exceeding."

The End.

Notes