An Excerpt from a Writing Project

From The Somewhat Perilous Plot of the Patriotic Mosquitoes

Levi Cranston woke up, but he did not get out of bed yet. He still lay on his comfortable futon and hoped that his two cats, Duchess and Prussia, would pay him a visit. But, alas, they were probably trying to fight each other to the kitty food bowl. Like what cats always do. One can never trust a cat. But one can always love a cat.

Levi was still lying on his side on the bed. Everyone else was probably doing something rather productive. Since Levi didn't get back home until 5:30 in the morning, sleep was something he most definitely needed. 

However, he was in the mood to play tennis later on today, probably with his friends Jack Andrews, David Savino, and Asad Prejesh. As long as they weren't busy. 

Andrew Grzedek was probably free as well, so he could join in on the fun. However, Levi had just thought about it. Jack was going to St. John to see some family. David was out of town; he was going to Marquette, Michigan with his three older brothers. And Asad was already doing something with his extended family. Most likely just a reunion in town. But who knows.

It wasn't too bad of an idea to phone Andrew. Levi wasn't really doing much. He was sitting in the common area, about to play video games when he wanted to play a specific game that he doesn't have yet. Andrew has it at his house, and Levi was hoping that he could bring it over. 

They did have an idea of what they wanted to do this afternoon. They had talked about it for quite some time, but they have not gone through with it yet. That's why they were planning to go through with it today. Yes, they'd play some vid'ya games. They would have time for that. But Levi was the one who came up with the idea of walking from his house on Elmhurst Avenue in Valparaiso to Wheeler, which is about ten minutes by car.

"Hey," Andrew answered on his end.
"Yo. How ya doing?" Levi answered back, trying to do a great Rhode Island accent like his dad.
"I'm good. Tired, but I'm feeling lots better."
"That's good to hear. Look, you know how we had always talked about walking to Wheeler from our house?"
"Yeah. What about it?" Andrew responded, a little confused. He must have woken up just recently as well.
"Today might be a good day to do that," Levi replied.
"How long do you think it will take us to get there?"
"I didn't really factor that in, but not too long, I don't think."
"It's not close like the fast food joint is, yeah?"
"A little farther away, I'm afraid."

In no time at all, Andrew came over to Levi's house. It took him maybe five minutes to walk here, since he lives a few blocks away from Levi. They greeted each other at the front door, and Andrew brought over some leftover quiche that he and his roommates knew they were not going to finish. 

After chowing down on quiche, Andrew and Levi played the vid'ya game that Andrew brought over from his house on Weston Street. The one that Levi really wanted to play. Then, after an hour and thirty minutes of playing that one vid'ya game, Levi and Andrew discussed their action plan of walking from Levi's house to Wheeler. 

Andrew wasn't quite sure how this would all work out. However, Levi was more than reassuring. He was more than positive that this would be a fun thing to do. Especially since they've never done this before.

"So, I checked my phone, and it says it will take us two hours to walk there," Andrew remarked.
"No, I don't think we'll take that long," Levi said.
"You sure?"
"I'm pretty sure. I'm a faster walker than the average Kevin."
"The average Kevin? I thought I've heard it as the average Joe," Andrew said.
"It's an inside joke between me and one of my cousins. His name is Kevin and he's pretty average," Levi said.
"Good one!"
"I came up with that one."
"It's a good inside joke."
"Thanks."