A Question of Promise #11 by Thuyen Nguyen

Forget the rain!

A Question of Promise #11

a comic by thuyen nguyen

With the low pressure system coming in from the west...

You do know that I can still see the TV, right?

...the rain will continue through to Sunday night.

We need to talk.

First: you're too small to block the entire screen.

Second: you're see-through.

While your behaviour is irritating at the best of times...

...this is beginning to annoy me.

SILENCE!

You've come home every Friday this past month and just stared at the TV.

Your eyes peeled to the weather channel, of all things.

What happened to Friday night fun?

What about our time together?

The damn weather channel!

What about me?

One Month Ago Perfect date?

A bit early in the morning for such a conversation, no?

What is your idea of the perfect date?

Come on, I'm serious.

Well, if you're serious...

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t grin like that!

You look like a pervert.

I have a fantasy.

Do tell!

That will depend on what you're about to say, my dear!

A warm day, a cool breeze. A drive along the coast.

A fast car and an open highway.

...eh?

The wind through my hair. The sun on my face.

A beautiful journey.

That's so... rebellious.

Dancing, candles, rose petals.

Well, I'm no James Dean, but I take your point.

Perfection is not a man-made situation.

a romantic date is easy. Wear nice clothes, book a fancy hotel.

When the cosmos meets at one particular intersection.

That can be great, but not perfect.

I was expecting something more girly.

What?

A beautiful journey only happens when everything falls into place.

A moment in time, where fate and free will collide.

Simple. Destined. Perfect.

You're right. This is too early for such a conversation.

That's why I don't talk to her after coif philosophy class anymore.

And when that day comes, I'm hiring a convertible and taking her away.

I've got that under control. There's $700 in my piggy bank.

I'm being realistic.

Umph. This is going to happen; come hell or high water.

So you watch the weather channel because-

I know you know it's winter. A sunny day is not on the horizon.

What if Eden has plans? She can't just up and leave on a whim.

You're a doubting Thomas.

Your determination is admirable.

Because I'm waiting for the perfect day.

Also, hiring a convertible is expensive.

Why are you being such a downer?

I reject that claim.

Stupid, but admirable.

And now looking ahead to the weekend's weather...

Come on... Come on!

Two weeks later

The state will be in for a record-setting amount of rain-

Welcome our new hail overlords!

CRAP!

Damn Melbourne weather. Sigh.

c cli

I hate my life.

Hey, Dice. Yo.

Still no good?

I need to give up. Wait six months for summer to roll along. You still want to do this?

Absolutely. Unfortunately, the world isn't co-operating.

Why?

Get your phone and call Eden.

Tell her you'll pick her up on Saturday, 9AM sharp.

For what?

For your perfect date-day-thingie.

The weekend forecast is rain. Cats and dogs-

You listen to me, fleshbag!

Hire your car, book your hotel and get ready.

The weather is the last thing you need to think about.

But the rain-

Forget the rain!

Call your girlfriend now before I change my mind.

Idiot.

Questâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Dein School of beauty

Are you sure about this?

There's supposed to be a massive storm on the weekend.

I know, but I'm under orders.

Is Dice having a secret party or something?

He'd have one whether I was there or not.

Oh, hey Eve. We're talking about Dice.

Who is?

No, not really.

Still, he's determined to get you out of the house.

He wants us to go on a delightful weekend trip.

The weather's going to be bad, though. I see.

You know what?

Let's go.

Really? Sure?

The whole point of this was the "beautiful journey".

No sweat, Eric. It'll still be fun.

I wish he wouldn't punctuate his sentences with insults.

It may not be the beautiful journey, but it's going to be close.

Besides, we'll save money by hiring a hard-top.

I'm looking forward to this.

So, Saturday 9am?

So what if it does rain? We can stay inside next to a roaring fire.

I wanted to do something that you'd remember.

Hire a convertible, you loser!

I'll pick out some good road trip tunes tonight.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a Date.

DJ Dave's Car Hire

Number 24, How may I help you?

Friday morning

I'd like to hire a car for the weekend.

What are you after?

The Slipstream CoupĂŠ Roadster

In red, if you've got one.

Lovely little car she is.

Yes. Back on Monday.

The weather's terrible tomorrow, I hear.

I know how that goes.

A weekend trip?

I can't really cancel my plans.

That'll be $695.

That said, at least you'll be driving in the rain in style. 09

Bags packed.

Umbrella... check.

Early to bed, early to rise.

10:00pm

Goodnight, dice. Got your alarm set?

Dice.

I hope you're not planning on doing anything tomorrow.

Anything that would... help Eric and Eden.

Yeah, yeah.

What can I do for you, my Guardian?

I know that you wouldn’t, sir. I’m speaking hypothetically, of course.

Stop looking at me.

I haven’t done anything.

Let’s see... zzz...

zzzzz

I assume your code is the same...

Indeed, Mr. Bond.

! ep ep! Be Be

cli

yawn... ALA

06:

I’m definitely not a morning person.

! ep eep! B

Okay, I’m off.

Will be back monday.

sh Bru rush b

Make sure he doesn't get up to anything, Eve.

Of course.

Have fun. Jerk.

Delivered right on time.

What do you sound like, honey?

Okay, now where's reverse...?

Bru-rooomm!

Purring like a kitten!

NNNIIIIIIIINN!

HONK! No...

Right, if that's the indicator then this one... k

Stupid foreign cars!

tic

Bingo!

Radio... on. Now, we ride!

You're listening to Sally and Mike’s early hours on 87.4FM.

87.4FM

I know it's winter, Mike, but wasn't the sun supposed to have come up by now?

87.4FM

Those clouds are as thick as thieves at the moment.

Better in here than out there, Sally. That’s for sure.

It was an eerie experience riding into the studio before in pitch black.

87.4FM

Is it sad that when a sunny day comes along, all I want to do is a load of washing?

Eden’s place ! k oc ck Kn kno

Ma’am. You ready?

No. I'm a big girl.

All packed, though I may need to bring a torch.

Morning, sir.

You afraid of the dark?

I can see that.

Cheeky.

Cool. Bags all fit.

It'll be two hours before we get to the beachhouse.

It won't be much of a scenic route, unless you like rain.

Feel free to have a nap.

What wonderful weather for music.

And miss out on the journey?

The soundtrack to this trip is all here.

NSERT DISC

Don't mind if I do.

Then spin away, DJ Eden!

1 K C TRA First up, from Hal, Burt and B.J.

Very appropriate.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Raindrops keep falling on my head...â&#x20AC;?

Glad you like it.

How's the car?

I'll have to give her a test drive later.

Nice. Sticks to the road like glue.

"Give her a test drive." "Isn't she a beauty?"

I think it's a European thing. French and Italian use gender in their pronouns.

Isn't it weird that cars are female?

Of course, cars have curves and smooth-flowing lines like women.

That sort of thing.

Except for Hummers. I suspect the French go masculine with them.

Don't like Hummers?

Ugly wide boxes on wheels. People who own those are overcompensating about something, eh?

Meanwhile, I'm driving a Slipstream roadster!

I haven't seen it. tunnels always remind me of that "Daylight" movie.

It's got Sylvester Stallone.

Being stuck underground in an endless tunnel would be scary.

Though being stuck underground period is terrifying.

Not one of his finer works.

I have to thank "The Vanishing" for that.

Stallone will always be Rambo to me.

You're not giving him enough credit.

What the hell?

He's a director and a writer too.

He did take out a helicopter with just an arrow, after all.

He was nominated for Best Screenplay for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Rockyâ&#x20AC;? but lost.

Yeah, they gave it to "Network", which was over-

No, look!

Did we just drive through a wormhole? This is... Weird.

I swear there were storm clouds five minutes ago.

And now blue sky.

Warm sun.

What should we do? Cool breeze.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

We do what we must.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ride!

And here I was regretting hiring a convertible! .

rrr..

rrrr

ck!

Cli

I have the perfect soundtrack for this...

Here we go.

Japanese jazz fusion.

Thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a genre?

Yep. coastal cruising would not be the same otherwise.

2 K C TRA Take it away, Kadomatsu-san!

I have a good feeling about this weekend.

Shall we?

ech

eee

scr

Wooo!

We drove down the highway without a care in the world.

The day started with the promise of rain, but there was none in sight.

Instead, a summer sun shimmered off a calm blue ocean.

My eyes were on the road, but I looked out to sea every chance I got.

It was a postcard... and in the middle of winter!

Eden had a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

She laughed and nodded her head in time with the music.

I wanted to take a photo of her, but that would have to wait.

That was the start of our weekend away. Our beautiful journey.

I was glad that she was enjoying herself.

We drove for an hour or two, through seaside towns and mountain tunnels.

To think that it took weeks of preparation for this trip.

Those tunnels made me nervous. I didn't want to come out & find the sun gone.

But it was worth it, just to see that smile.

To emerge from that wormhole & return to those dark grey storm clouds.

We parked and walked towards the beach.

The sand was warm and soft under my bare feet.

We found a nice spot and sat down to watch the waves roll in.

The beach was peaceful. No kids running around. no footballs being kicked.

Eden closed her eyes and let the breeze caress her face.

I did the same. I listened to the water crashing on the nearby rocks.

The sounds of nature. Pure and peaceful.

That was the kind of thing you couldn't get in the city anymore.

No wonder people retired to the beach when they had the chance.

We stayed there for an hour.

All that time, we didn't say a single word.

It was a comfortable silence.

When it was time to move on, all we did was smile at each other.

That was all that was needed.

It was around lunchtime when we took a break from driving.

m p 1 0 12:

We found a pier soon after and decided to check it out.

At the end of the pier was an old man, sitting alone with a cast rod.

His bucket was empty - he hadn’t caught anything yet.

“Fish not biting today?” I asked him.

The old man smiled. “They will eventually.”

“Beautiful day for fishing, eh?” Eden said.

“Every day is a good day for fishing,” The old man replied.

“Fishing is my life. I worked in a dead-end job for 60 years to be here now”

“To come here, every day, and do what I want to do.”

“That sounds nice. Can’t wait till I retire & have time to enjoy life,” I said.

The old man smiled again.

“Let me tell you what I tell the fish on days like this.”

“Of course, the fish don’t understand a word of what I’m saying.”

“But maybe you two do.”

What are you waiting for?

We stopped at a local market and bought some food for dinner.

After another half an hour, we finally arrived at our rented beachhouse.

It was on the beach, with a massive balcony overlooking the sea.

Eden asked me how I could afford a place like this.

Because of the storm, the owner was desperate. No storm meant we scored!

We sat on the balcony and talked the afternoon away.

I thought about calling home to check up on Dice.

I didn’t though. I knew that Eve would keep him in line.

As dusk came, the sky grew orange and the sea grew quiet.

We had dinner under the stars, thanks to a cloudless night.

We ate smoked salmon with olives, sun-dried tomatos and fetta.

Crispy vienna bread with Pâté topped off with a bottle of local wine.

It was simple, but it was the best meal I had in ages.

Although, at the end of it, we realised we had no dessert.

We promised to find an ice-cream place tomorrow and go nuts.

We finished dinner and lit the fireplace to warm ourselves up.

Eden put on some chillout music. Usually not my taste, but it set the mood nicely.

We opened another bottle of wine and made a toast to lady luck.

The couch was comfy and right in front of the fireplace. No TV in sight.

Eden told me that Erin was offered two movie roles!

Everything was on the up and up for Erin. That made me think about myself.

Erin showed that chasing after what you wanted was worth doing. What were my dreams?

So what did I want?

Did I even have any?

I pondered that question for some time. So much so that Eden got my attention.

I asked her what her dreams were. What did she want in life?

In Life, she said, she didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know yet.

As for right now, she knew exactly what.

She smiled like the Cheshire Cat.

Dice, I’m home!

Monday morning

Fantastic! Simply wonderful.

Not a single drop of rain.

How was the trip?

Couldn’t have been any better.

And how was the weather?

What did you and eden get up to?

Ah, such high praise. Eh?

It was a miracle.

A gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell. Any... happy snaps?

Stop it. You’re embarrassing me! What?

Actually, forget I said that.

I’m just thankful that it was a perfect trip in every way.

Determined to take Eden on a great weekend away, Eric is hampered by continuing bad weather. Dice convinces him to take a chance and just go, though Eve is suspicious of his intentions. With a fast car, the couple head for the coast. Will the “perfect” weekend be perfect after all?