|
June 2016
“Toby, you alright?” Brody Ingram asked his younger brother, whom he saw lying on the couch in the common area. “My head’s pounding,” Toby replied. “Sorry to hear that.” “Yeah, well, I did it to myself.” “What happened?” Brody asked. “Idiot me decided to go on a run after taking a week off from it with this damn head cold going on,” Toby replied. “How do you feel, aside from the pounding headache?” “I feel okay otherwise, a little tired. It felt really nice getting my pulse up again, but I think I started back at it a little too early.” “Maybe a little, but at least you got a workout in. Do you think it went well today?” “No.”
0 Comments
Spring 2017
Brody Ingram woke up slowly. He was still not in the mood to do much of anything. His throat was still a little sore from the cold that he was battling, and it was pretty hard for him to breathe. David, Brody's brother, felt pretty sorry for him, since this was all very bad timing, but he still needed to get ready for his move to San Francisco. In general, Brody was pretty excited about the move, but the cold was not doing him any favors whatsoever. While waiting for Brody to take his sweet little time getting ready for the day, David invited Julia Jaconetti, Brody's girlfriend, inside their apartment for a cup of tea. They both knew Brody would take a while, so why not wait for a bit? “How’s Brody doing?” Julia asked David. “Well, he could be doing better,” David half-joked. “Of course. I’m assuming it’s just a cold?” “That’s all it is, the man cold.” “He needs to man up, then!” Julia joked. “Of course!” David replied. “What time do we need to leave?” “I think noon. Andrew, Adam, and Toby are coming over around 10 am.” “Oh, okay.” “What kind of tea would you like?” “Oolong.” David set out his pot of water on the stove, and waited for it to boil. Julia couldn’t wait for her oolong tea fix. And, once Brody would finally wake up, he would likely make English breakfast tea for himself. Since that is always his go-to flavor. Julia noticed David’s shirt, since she has never seen him wear it before. It said, “Deutschland” on it, with the German flag showing underneath the letters. She has seen both him and Brody wear t-shirts that they got from London a while ago, but she somehow didn’t know that David studied German in high school and college. Brody also studied German in high school and some college. “When did you go to Germany?” Julia asked David. “In 2013. Brody and I both went there for a month during the summer,” David replied. “Oh awesome! Did you like it?” “Absolutely I did. Running in Germany is so much different than it is here.” “I’ll bet. I didn’t know you run,” Julia said. “Sometimes, but Brody is much better than I am,” David remarked. “What did you guys do there?” “My parents gave me and Brody a package to Germany. One of their friends had planned to go to Germany, but their plans fell through, so we took that opportunity.” “That sounds like it was a great opportunity. Where were you?” “Mostly in Munich, but we explored as much of Germany as we possibly could.” March 2018
“How are you doing, Toby?” Brody Ingram asked his younger brother over the phone. Toby was in the hospital since he had to get his appendix taken out. “I’ve seen better days,” Toby replied. “Yeah? I felt the same way when I had my appendix out. It will take some time for you to feel better, but at least you have your little dinosaur friend to keep you company.” “Yes, Mom brought him to keep me company. She also brought some video games, but I’m not sure if I’ll feel up to playing anything.” “They’re keeping you overnight, I’m assuming?” Brody asked. “I’m staying here overnight but will likely go home tomorrow,” Toby said. “You feel okay, though?” “I’m just really sore. Oddly enough, my shoulder is killing me, was not expecting that at all. I’m also a bit queasy and threw up a few times already. I don’t expect to get much sleep tonight.” “Just try to sleep as much as you can. When you go home, you’ll likely be sleeping a lot.” “Yup, I’m expecting that.” Summer 2014
David and Brody Ingram sat on the sofa, not saying a word. They knew how their mom was going to respond to their all-nighter. Not that she would at all be mad. However, she knows how they are when it comes to sleep. And these boys need all the sleep they can get. Their mom sat in the dining room with a cup of tea in one hand and a business journal in another. David and Brody peered over to see that she was there. She had a great appearance; her hair was neat for long and wavy light brown hair, given the fact that she is only four years older than her husband, who is fifty-eight. She wore a blue sweater and blue jeans. Mrs. Ingram was definitely ready for the day. “Did we play video games all night long?” Brody asked. “I think we did,” David replied. “I think we stayed up longer last night than we did at school.” “Oh, when you and your friends would stay up and play video games on Friday nights?” “Yeah, but last night we didn’t order Chinese or anything,” Brody pointed out. “We did have baklava, though,” David remarked, trying to lighten the mood. “Oh yeah. I almost forgot.” “Do we have anything that we have to do today?” “I hope not.” “I hope not either.” David and Brody definitely could feel their eyelids getting heavy. So, with this in mind, they wanted to say “good morning” to their mom and then head off to bed. They could not remember if they had anything going to today or not. It was Saturday, so no one had to be anywhere today. Which was probably a good thing, given the boys’ circumstance, er….all-nighter. When the two boys seated themselves at the dining room table, they had an idea that their mom knew they were up to something. Nothing bad, but nothing saintly either. Just the fact that all four boys had basically spent the whole night playing their favorite video games. And that they would have to pay the consequences today. Unless David and Brody headed toward their futons now and slept in until at least one o’clock this afternoon. “Good morning, boys,” Mrs. Ingram said as she still sat at the dining room table. She still had with her a cup of tea. “Morning,” David replied. “Morning,” Brody responded. “You guys are still up,” Mrs. Ingram stated. “We pulled an all-nighter,” David remarked. “Why?” “We couldn’t stop playing video games, I guess.” “We were planning to go to your dad’s parents’ house today.” “Oh. Whoops.” “You should go to bed now since we were planning to go over at four o’clock.” David and Brody headed toward their bedroom. When climbing the stairs, they could feel their weight being brought down by gravity. In their minds, they couldn’t decide whether this meant that they were truly tired, or if they were truly lazy. The two boys couldn’t possibly be lazy. They just wanted their bed, and their bed just wanted them. David and Brody finally made it up to their bedroom, and then to their futons. In a matter of minutes, David was out like a lamp. Brody, however, could not go to sleep so quickly. As a matter of fact, it was his pounding heartbeat that was keeping him up. For some very odd reason. Brody walked back downstairs to his mom because he was feeling scared. “I can’t sleep,” Brody said sleepily. “No?” Mrs. Ingram asked. “I feel like my heart’s going to pop out of my chest.” “I believe you’re really slap happy.” “I’m so scared,” Brody remarked as he folded his arms over his chest. “Your heart’s not going to pop out of your chest,” Mrs. Ingram pointed out. “I hope not.” “Believe me. It won’t.” “Will you make sure?” “Okay.” Mrs. Ingram smiled and laughed to herself and put her hand on her son’s chest, so that she could clearly feel his snappy heartbeat. Brody put one of his hand over her hand so that he could have the reassuring feeling that his heart was not actually going to pop out of his chest. To Mrs. Ingram, this was pretty ridiculous. She was wondering why the boys had stayed up so late. She wondering why the boys would do that to themselves, since they are not morning people to begin with. “Is my heart going to pop out of my chest?” Brody asked, even more sleepily than before. “No, Brody,” Mrs. Ingram replied, quite amused. “Are you sure?” “I could feel your heartbeat, so I’m not worried about it.” “What should I do?” Brody asked. He was completely out of it. “I think you should try to get some sleep. I am not completely for all-nighters,” his mom stated. “Why? All-nighters can be fun.” “Your sleep schedule is destroyed, and you’re not a morning person to begin with.” “Oh yeah. Right.” “So, get some sleep!” Thanksgiving 2022
“You alright, Toby?” Brody Ingram asked his younger brother. They had both finished a pretty intense run, and he noticed Toby lying on his back on the floor, breathing very hard, and with his shirt rolled up just above his belly button. All five boys were back at their parents’ house in Crown Point, Indiana. And the two boys ran on the treadmills in the workout room. “I will be, I think. My heart is pounding so hard that I think it could burst inside my chest, and I can feel sweat dripping into my belly button,” Toby replied. “You want me to bring you anything?” “I could use some water.” “Okay, I’m also getting some for myself.” Summer 2024
Toby Ingram just came back from a run, and his girlfriend, Alyssa, was waiting for him at his apartment. They were planning to spend the evening in and watch goofy cartoons. He needed a breather before taking a shower, so he lay on the common area floor with Alyssa, and he lifted his shirt up to his chest, exposing his ribs and belly button. Alyssa then put her right ear against his upper stomach. “Jesus Christ, Toby. Your heart’s thumping,” Alyssa remarked. “Yup, I can feel it in my chest,” Toby replied. “You’re so hot and sweaty, too. How did your run go?” “I think it went well. Ran up Halsted through Boystown and back and then a little past Fullerton and back.” “How crazy was it today?” Alyssa asked. “It wasn’t bad. It’s gonna be insane next weekend though,” Toby said. “Oh yeah, that’s right. Oh, can you do me one favor?” “Yea?” “Can you tell me your middle name?” “You know my middle name.” “I do, but I want to hear you say it,” Alyssa said. “Alright, my middle name is Matthew,” Toby replied. “What is it again?” “It’s Matthew.” “Again?” “Matthew.” “I just love hearing you say your middle name.” “Sure.” “You’ve got a strong and sexy heartbeat.” Spring 2022
“I’ve got my first date with this girl, Alyssa, tonight,” Toby Ingram said to his brother, David Ingram, over the phone. “Are you excited?” David asked. “I really like this girl, but I just want it to go well. We’ve been seriously talking for a few weeks, and we agreed to get coffee after work.” “The first date is always the hardest, in my opinion. Especially if you don’t know them before the date.” “That’s the only thing I’ve been able to think about today. I haven’t been able to eat much. My heart’s been racing pretty much the whole day. And I’m feeling these weird cramps in my stomach. I just want to get this over with and see if there is some connection,” Toby said. “That was me when I first met Mia. It was so weird though, because we would see each other in random places. After the fourth time of unintentionally running into her, I asked her if she wanted to grab coffee some time. And, of course, we’ve been together for some time now. Before that, I had been single for a few years after all the crap that happened with Olivia, so I felt like that was a huge leap of faith,” David said. “Yeah, same. I’ve been single since Covid started, and I’m just ready to get myself out there now. The thing that is nice, though, is that Alyssa is shy. Like painfully shy. That’s one of the things that attracted me to her, I guess.” “Mia is very introverted, which got me into her. And it’s awesome that she and Julia, Brody’s girlfriend, are like best friends now.” “If it actually works out with Alyssa, maybe they’ll have a new friend.” “May I ask how old she is? Mia is going to be 28 in a month,” David asked. “When is her birthday?” Toby responded with another question. “May 19.” “Oh wow, I’ll be 26 on the 15th. Alyssa is going to be 24 this year.” March 2018
“So I had my hernia ultrasound today,” Toby Ingram said over the phone to his brother, David Ingram. “How did it go?” David asked. “Kinda embarrassing, honestly. When I had the ultrasound done, my stomach decided to be super loud.” “Oh jeez. Do you know if you’ll for sure need to have surgery?” “I am 99% positive I will need surgery for this hernia. Just don’t know when yet, since I’ve got a lot to catch up on with school and all,” Toby responded. “Hopefully soon. How do you feel otherwise?” David asked. “I feel okay, really exhausted. But that’s all part of recovery. I went back to school last week.” “That’s good. I remember Brody having a similar experience when he had his appendix out.” “For sure. I can eat most food, but I’m still having a hard time with spicy food. I started feeling more like myself a few days ago. The first few days were brutal, since I felt like I had a really bad stomach bug. On top of that, I couldn’t shower for 48 hours after my appendectomy, so I felt super gross after a while. So all this for my damn appendix. I felt better when I had my tonsils out at 15.” “Knock on wood that I don’t ever get my appendix out.” June 2016
“Toby, you alright?” Brody Ingram asked his younger brother, whom he saw lying on the couch in the common area. “My head’s pounding,” Toby replied. “Sorry to hear that.” “Yeah, well, I did it to myself.” “What happened?” Brody asked. “Idiot me decided to go on a run after taking a week off from it with this damn head cold going on,” Toby replied. “How do you feel, aside from the pounding headache?” “I feel okay otherwise, a little tired. It felt really nice getting my pulse up again, but I think I started back at it a little too early.” “Maybe a little, but at least you got a workout in. Do you think it went well today?” “No.” Spring 2019
“Hi David,” Brody Ingram answered his phone after his older brother tried to call him. They were in Door County, Wisconsin with their other brothers, Dawson, Brett, and Toby Ingram. Dawson, Brett, and David were out and about. Since Toby was sick with pneumonia, Brody decided to stay back at the hotel with him. “Hey Brody. How are you and Toby doing?” David asked. “I’m back at the hotel room with him now. We played video games for a bit, and then he fell asleep. I went for a run at the gym and came back to him throwing up. But now he’s sound asleep again.” “Oh man. That sucks for him.” “Yeah, I feel bad for the kid. I’m just playing video games now while waiting for him to wake up,” Brody said. “We’re headed back to the hotel, FYI,” David replied. “What did you all do while we were away?” “Just some exploring, but nothing else otherwise. We decided that we want to do pizza at the hotel tonight.” “I’m cool with that. How long do you think it will take for you guys to come back?” “About 30 minutes or so.” |
Archives
April 2026
About my BlogMy blog contains anything and everything one should know about my books. Aaaaand a lot more as well. |
RSS Feed