The Adventures of Griffin Sue   I was at work today, wretched and miserable from my cold, wishing desperately that I were home in bed, when this occurred to me. I can't take credit for creating it; it just appeared, full-blown, in my head. I wrote it down, now I have no idea what to do with it, so I'll share it with you. The Adventure Begins by Griffin I was alone in the darkroom, or so I thought. I finished reloading when, from behind me, Jim said "Griffin". I did what any reasonable person would do in that situation: I shrieked and jumped about a foot into the air. The box I was holding flew out of my hands and across the floor. I whirled around and faced him. "Dammit, Jim! Are you trying to give me a heart attack? And you should count yourself damn lucky that box was empty, cause my boss would have been seriously pissed if I dumped a hundred dollars worth of unexposed film all over the floor!" Jim was making weird choking noises, and I realized that just because the room was dimly lit for me, the safelight undoubtedly made it bright as day for Jim, and I had probably looked totally ridiculous. He was trying, not too successfully, not to laugh. He seemed to have gotten himself under control when he said "Sorry. I wanted to talk to you, and now seemed like a good time since you're not distracted." He had a point. Loading film is one of those activities that keeps the hands busy, but allows the mind to roam. My hear rate was returning to normal, and I never can stay mad at Jim for long, so I asked "What's up?" "It's the new story you're working on..." "You're not upset cause I didn't work on it this weekend, are you? Cause I was sick, I really felt terrible." "No, that's not it at all," said Blair as he stepped out from behind Jim. "It's the sex. Or rather, the lack of it. It's already longer that anything you've written so far, and nothing - no kissing, no touching, not even any loving glances." I could hear the frustration in his voice. "Oh, that," I replied. "It's not that kind of story." "Oh my God!" Jim exclaimed. You're not writing Gen?" Even in the dim light, I could see he looked horrified. "Gen! No! I don't think I could, even if I wanted to. Nope, it's an Old Married Couple story. You two get to kiss and cuddle later on." "Just kissing and cuddling?" Jim asked. "It's a PG story, OK? No wild hot monkey sex!" "But I like wild hot monkey sex" he grumbled. "I don't know why you're complaining. I just posted a story where Blair couldn't keep his hands off you." "Yeah! That was nice." Jim's voice sounded indecently pleased. "Look, guys, this is nice and all, but I have to get back to work. How about if you help me with my current story, and I'll write sequel to my last one. A nice vacation, steamy sex...I have an idea - a cabin, some snow, and a bunch of stranded nuns..." "Nuns!" Jim yelled. "SNOW!" Blair shouted. "Okay, no nuns." I said. "No nuns! No snow! No psychos in the woods! No cabins!" Blair was working himself into quite a tirade. "I want room service, dammit! And sunshine! I need sunshine!" "Shh, shh! Okay! Room service, sunshine, I can do that." "Surfing would be nice," Jim quietly added. "And wild hot monkey sex." "All right, I'll see what I can do. But you have to give me some time here, okay? I have to make cookies tonight, and I'm the Brownie Mom tomorrow, then it's Thanksgiving, so I'll only be able to write in snatches this week. But I'll get to it as soon as I can, I promise." Just then Lois, my coworker, pounded on the darkroom door. "Almost done!" I shouted, and looked back at the guys to say goodbye, but they were gone. I picked my empty film box off the floor, grabbed my film magazine, and opened the door. As I blinked at the sudden brightness, Lois asked, "What took you so long?" "I dropped some film", I said. It occurred to me as I meandered back out to work, that I should not take this new cold medication at work. I felt a lot better, but the side effects were a doozy! I had this funny little idea for a story, so I wrote it. But I thought it would be fun to see what some of you could do with it, too. Wanna play? Further Adventures of Griffin in the Darkroom I was in the darkroom, running QA tests, absently singing "Smooth" only slightly off-key, which was all Aly's fault ("Smooth", not the off-key) when there was a 'thud', then a 'thunk'. "Ow!" exclaimed a very familiar voice from my left. "Don't move, Blair, the cabinet door is open. Gimme just a sec, I'm almost done." I put my film in the processor, shut the film box, and returned it to the cabinet. "You could turn on a light, you know!" "Sandburg, it's called a darkroom for a reason," I said. "Griffin, they have safelights for a reason, too!" he retorted. I snapped on the safelight at looked at him in the dim red glow. Beautiful as always. I sighed. "Where's Jim?" "A new writer has him. She's doing a kidnapping story, and right now, she's got Jim all angsty, searching all over Cascade for clues." "What about you?" "My scene is later. I get to be tortured by a madman from Jim's past," he said glumly. "Well, surely you get some comfort to go with the hurt, right?" I asked. "It's smarm," he said. I winced. He looked so sad, I had to do something to cheer him up. "Well, what can I do for you? A PWP, something really hot? I haven't managed one yet, but I could try..." "There is something..."He gave me a quick glance, and from the smile on his face, I knew I had just been manipulated by a master. "Those cookies, the ones you made for Christmas, Jim really liked them, but he only got a couple...." "You want me to bake you cookies?" I asked. That was strange, even for Blair. "Don't be ridiculous. I want to bake some for Jim. You have to write it, so I know the recipe. It doesn't have to be very long." "Blair, that's so sweet." I couldn't tell for certain in the dim light, but I thought he was blushing. "No problem, I'll write you a little cookie story. You know, Jim's a lucky guy." "Me too." Blair replied as he stepped back into the shadows. "Thanks," he called softly, then he was gone. A cookie story. I smiled. I can do that. I stepped out of the darkroom, and started my busy day. ***** So my challenge is simple: a story with Jim and Blair, involving the making of cookies. Bonus points if you include the recipe. I'm going to post my cookie story tonight, with the recipe at the end. Whether you are in the mood to write a cookie story or not, enjoy! Happy New Year, Griffin See Just Another New Year's Eve for the cookie story My humble contribution to the Muse Challenge.   The Darkroom by Griffin I carefully eased open the door and looked in. So far, so good. I slipped into the darkroom and shut the door. I knew I had to move fast. I grabbed my box of film and loaded the magazine. I collected the wrapper and empty box and threw it in the trash. I made it! I was gonna be home free... "If I didn't know better, I'd think you didn't want to talk to me." Uh oh. Nailed. "Hi Jim." "Griffin." The curt way Jim returned my greeting told me I was in big trouble. "Well?" "I'm always happy to see you," I explained. "It's just that, well, my co-workers are starting to worry. They hear my talking in here, and they're starting to worry about my sanity." "Haven't you told them that you haven't been on speaking terms with Sanity in a very long time?" Oh great, Blair too. I set my film magazine down. This was gonna take a while. "Blair, I can't just tell my co-workers I'm crazy, they'll think I'm nuts!" I looked exasperatedly at the two men now laughing at me. "Well, I'm glad somebody thinks this is funny. You can laugh, you aren't the one who had to spend a whole morning trying to explain to Magnolia why I couldn't drop everything and write 'WonderPoodle of the Great City'." Well, that didn't help any. Jim was laughing so hard he had tears running down his cheeks, and he was barely holding Blair up. Blair was just making strange squeaking noises. "Is he okay?" I asked. Blair waved one hand weakly in my direction, which I interpreted as an affirmation. I gave them a few moments to compose themselves, then I asked "Why the darkroom?" Jim had recovered enough to answer. "It's quiet here, and there're no distractions. What you do here is so routine that your hands do the work and leave your mind free to roam." "If it really bothers you," Blair added, "we don't have to come anymore." "No!" I interjected. "I would really miss you if you guys didn't visit. I suppose I just get a bit frustrated. This is the perfect environment for communing with the Musae. But out there," I gestured to the door, "it's a mad house. And I can't write down these wonderful stories here on the workstation, and I don't get enough free time to write them out longhand, and I have to wait 'til I get home, and there's the kids and dinner and chores, so half the time, by the time I get to sit down and write I'm in total brain lock. So then I have to wait until I calm down and a writing frenzy hits." Blair looked at me doubtfully. "But you're cool with us visiting you in the darkroom?" "Yeah." I smiled. "It's kind of like the algae shakes, I've gotten used to it. It adds a little excitement to my day. Even the damned poodle. But, guys," I added as they turned to leave, " if you ever let Magnolia in here without you again, I swear I will write you a gen story and make you brothers. Both men shuddered, and I knew we had an understanding. "I've got to get to work, guys. See you later?" "Count on it, Griffin. C'mon Chief. If we hurry, we can catch a PWP with a little light bondage." "Can I be on top?" "Whatever you want, Chief, wherever you want it." "Warm, I want someplace warm..." I smiled as I headed towards the door. Just a little excitement to the day. end