{"id":6427,"date":"2014-01-30T00:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-30T05:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gadflyonline.com\/home\/?p=6427"},"modified":"2014-01-30T16:39:00","modified_gmt":"2014-01-30T21:39:00","slug":"over-the-porch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/over-the-porch\/","title":{"rendered":"Over the Porch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"OverThePorch\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I sat down on the white bench, checking my watch.\u00a0 They were late, and nobody called me to tell me that class was canceled.\u00a0 I rose up from my seat and stretched my arms over my head, pretending to be oblivious to the cop now watching me.\u00a0 I glanced across the street to the dance studio, where little girls also stretched and practiced their dance.\u00a0 I was only killing time, but somebody noticed me.\u00a0 Now, the blinds were drawn, and the cop was near, contemplating his next move.\u00a0 But I was not going anywhere.<\/p>\n

I sat back down on my seat.\u00a0 I kicked at the air before me, waiting.\u00a0 I was always waiting for something.\u00a0 I wondered how I got here.\u00a0 It was a year ago, and my brother saw the ad in the paper for acting classes.\u00a0 He was thrilled and dragged me along to the introductory class, and I was the one left attending.\u00a0 And here I am now.<\/p>\n

More people walked by.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t even glance my way.\u00a0 They knew I was there, watching and waiting.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t care.\u00a0 Somebody did.\u00a0 Somebody probably watched too much of Law and Order or Criminal Minds, and they overreacted.\u00a0 Drivers overreact everyday, so I shouldn\u2019t be surprised.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 I was more annoyed, if anything, and now they weren\u2019t just wasting my time, worrying about me.\u00a0 They were wasting his time, so when would he leave?\u00a0 Or would I be doing a dance with this cop, who was still watching me?<\/p>\n

Ten minutes late.\u00a0 I\u2019ll give my acting coach another five minutes, and then I would be gone.\u00a0 It was a long day anyway, and work was aggravating.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t need any more aggravation.\u00a0 I wanted to have fun, which was a rarity in my life.\u00a0 I would just go home and watch television, but I wouldn\u2019t watch Law and Order or Criminal Minds.\u00a0 I was paranoid enough, and I needed something to calm my nerves.\u00a0 I would turn to SyFy or the USA Network to be entertained until my eyes would close.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey!\u00a0 You frozen up there?\u201d\u00a0 I jumped to my feet as my acting coach and his wife climbed the stairs.\u00a0 \u201cDid you get our message?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 I looked past them at the cop, who was still sitting there.\u00a0 \u201cWhat message?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat we would be late and that it would be a small class tonight.\u201d\u00a0 Just as my acting coach said that, two more students appeared behind him.\u00a0 \u201cCome on.\u00a0 Let\u2019s get this show on the road.\u201d\u00a0 He unlocked the front door, but then he paused.\u00a0 He glanced out across the street and noticed the cop in his car.\u00a0 \u201cEverything okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u00a0 Everything\u2019s fine.\u201d\u00a0 I was anxious for him to open the door and let me inside.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s just cold out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, winter\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, it is.\u201d\u00a0 I stepped inside, and the screen door slammed shut behind me, snapping at reality.\u00a0 \u201cAlways something,\u201d I muttered as I melted into routine, taking my seat and staring at the little stage.\u00a0 \u201cAlways something,\u201d and a moment later, the events from before faded away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I sat down on the white bench, checking my watch. They were late, and nobody called me to tell me that class was canceled. I rose up from my seat and stretched my arms over my head, pretending to be oblivious to the cop now watching me. I glanced across the street to the dance studio, where little girls also stretched and practiced their dance. I was only killing time, but somebody noticed me. Now, the blinds were drawn, and the cop was near, contemplating his next move. But I was not going anywhere.<\/p>\n

I sat back down on my seat. I kicked at the air before me, waiting. I was always waiting for something. I wondered how I got here. It was a year ago, and my brother saw the ad in the paper for acting classes. He was thrilled and dragged me along to the introductory class, and I was the one left attending. And here I am now.<\/p>\n

READ MORE.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":6734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,218,200,219],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6427"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6427"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6735,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6427\/revisions\/6735"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gadflyonline.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}