Due to the over whelming responce (3) to the specaly incoded (test) 
message I sent yesterday I'm posting the new stuff and going to work on 
my web page (sucks).  When I'm done (it will still suck) I'll probably 
have one more whole fic on there...yippe.  On the other hand maybe I can 
write a cgi to retrieve my fics(sure and monkeys fly).
   For those that asked, the reason my fics aren't on my web page is 
because, given a choice between codeing html and writing another 
fic...I'm writing another fic.  (Yes, its called coding html if you write 
it using unix pico.  Its called masocism if you write it using unix vi.)
   Anyway, I found this in my account yesterday, its apparently been 
gathering dust for about a semester(this is your brain on teaching).  C&C, 
please grammer and spelling errors, you know I can't spell sheit.
   I'll post "In Darkness" later today, probably near lunch, I oughta be 
good and sick of being here by then.  As a teaser this is a taste of what 
happens in this fic:
   Nothing.[1]

Matthew Trotter, Does anyone have some vacation I can barrow?  This ones 
                 almost over and I don't realy think I got my moneys worth.

[1] And by nothing, I do mean there is some small amount of something going 
    on, but nothing earth shattering really happens[2].  So generaly, there 
    is the normal something going on that you can expect in most fanfics, 
    characters talk and move about the set kind of woodenly[3], but nothing 
    of import to the over all plot, with the small exception of one minor 
    event that is hardly worth mentioning, so I won't.
[2] Mainly because Ryoga isn't in this fic.
[3] Because the author has been writing more C than fics lately...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Long Period of Waiting of Several Months
------------------------------------------
	A collection of short stories
		     by
	       Matthew Trotter
------------------------------------------
Shampoo
------------------------------------------
   Shampoo flung the eight bowls of ramen out the order window 
unenthusiastically.  Great grandmother was still gone.  She would be till 
almost closing.  Shampoo wasn't sure how Great grandmother had found out 
about bingo, but it was becoming a problem.  At least once a week she was 
off to play bingo.  And of course Shampoo had to fill in.  Not that it 
was boring cooking.  Not that she minded filling in.  It was just this 
was the week of the big bingo tournament.  Great grandmother had been gone 
everyday this week.  She and Mousse had been taking turns cooking.  By 
Wednesday they were bored enough to start trying to get the other to 
spill the orders.  So far the score was, Shampoo spilled some on Mousse's 
sixteen bowl combo, and Mousse had taken a bowl to the head from 
Shampoo's spinning drop shot.
   It was Friday and the were both tired of the game, and the work.  The 
only thing she could find any solace in was that this was the last day of 
the tournament.  After this she could go back to the normal 
routine...then again that wasn't all that comforting.  The normal routine 
was to get up early and try to pump herself up by thinking that Ranma 
would come and visit.  Then to spend all day working in the store only to 
realize, by close, that Ranma was, again, not coming. 
   There was of course the nightly game of Mahjong with Mousse, but that 
was getting old since they were both fairly evenly matched.  It was no 
fun to play great grandmother, she had long ago memorized every possible 
move in the game.  
   A paper airplane sailed through the order window and got caught on the 
orders list.  Mousse had gotten very accurate with those.  He'd been 
practicing all week.  Shampoo looked at the food.  It didn't look back at 
her.  It just sat there.  The air in the kitchen seemed to weigh her 
down.  The steam from the cook pots stuck to her and made her sweat.  
Shampoo methodically went about filling the orders.  There weren't too 
many, it was always slow when Mousse worked out front.
   Time moved by slowly, like a car driving on the spare doughnut because 
your too cheep to go buy another tire this week.  Or maybe like people 
gawking at a traffic wreck.  or...
   Shampoo blinked her eyes.  Great grandmother was sitting on the cash 
register.
   "So, great grand daughter, are you on autopiolate?"
   Shampoo spoke in Chinese, mainly because she didn't think her problems 
with the Japanese language were cute or funny.
   "I'm sick of sitting around here.  This is all I've done all week.  I 
haven't gone to see Ranma, or to terrorize the other ... girls who claim 
to be his fiancees.  Hell I've been to tired to even play Mousse at 
Mahjong in the evenings."
   "Don't use that tone on me young lady.  Do you think living in Japan 
is fun for me?  I don't even have some fickle young man to chase after.  
Bingo is the first thing I've found even marginally enjoyable."
   Shampoo looked at her feet.  It was true.  Great grandmother always 
got stuck tending the shop.  And while she might enjoy helping shampoo 
plot new ways to win Ranma, it wasn't as if she really got much of a break.
   "I'm sorry, great grandmother.  I've just been feeling tired today."
   "I understand, great grand daughter.  Why don't you go . . . visit 
with the okonomiyaki chef down the way.  She was still open when I passed 
by there."
   Shampoo jumped up and down gleefully, that was just what she needed to 
get her out of this bad mood...a good fight!