3 New morning

When John woke up he noticed his cell phone flashing, he picked it up to realize it was already 10am. He had slept for 18 hours. He felt a little better but was still in a lot of pain. After a couple bowls of cereal and some toast he decided it was time to head out and enact the next step of his plan.

He grabbed his wallet and took off for downtown, heading for his bank. His last paycheck was due to hit and he still had the money for his house payment in his account. He thought he might need it.

When John reached the bank he went inside and spoke to a teller, "Hello my name is John Carleton, I'm an account holder. I'd like to make a withdrawal please." John was always polite unless someone was deliberately rude to him. "How much would you like to withdraw sir?" The teller was a pretty girl in her 20's, she had short blonde hair and full red lips. She wore glasses and a little eye make-up that drew attention to her blue eyes. John didn't recognize her even if he had been banking there for years, she must have been new. "What's my balance? Miss?" "Geresi, Jeanie Geresi. Your balance is $1022.38 Mr. Carleton. How much would you like?" Jeanie responded while looking directly at John's face for the first time. John smiled in response, which with his recent beating looked more like a grimace. But Jeanie smiled back at him while looking him in the eye. "It's a pleasure meet you Ms. Geresi, you must be new here. I'm sure I would have remembered such a pretty face as yours." John said while holding her eyes. Without dropping his gaze, "Just as I'm sure we've never met, I'd be sure to remember such a ruffian like yourself." she said slyly. "How much would you like to withdraw Mr. Carleton?" After a quick thought John responded, "Please, call me John. And all of it please." "Only if you will call me Jeanie," she said with a smirk. "$1022.38 from checking." Screw it go for gold John thought, nothing to lose at this point except my pride. "Only if I can call you later Jeanie, or if you can call me." he said. He quickly jotted down his cell number on his receipt and left it on the counter while he put his money into his pocket. Jeanie stared at the receipt for a second before pocketing it, "I just might do that John, have a nice day." "Have a nice day yourself Jeannie, hope to hear from you later," John said with a wink while walking away.

John was pleased with himself, pleased that he had managed to speak so easily to a beautiful woman like Jeanie. A woman he had never met before that day and he managed to setup a good rapport with her and even leave her his cell number without a single awkward moment. Perhaps because I managed to get out of there so quick he thought to himself in hilarity. Now he would play the waiting game with her, the ball was in her court. He continued walking downtown, he had much to do to prepare himself for what was to come. He had purposely emptied his account, his wife had an ATM card for his account too and he was sure that her and Chris would do anything they could to put him on his last legs. He wouldn't make it easy on them though.

He headed for the low income medical clinic, until a short while ago he had never needed it but now he was no longer employed and was in desperate need of medical attention. He walked into the clinic and the front staff immediately offered him assistance, he was escorted into the back without even filing the necessary paperwork. He was given shots and questioned about the nature of his injuries, he responded that he had been attacked and he didn't know who his assailants were. He wouldn't allow the law to get in the way of his revenge. The doctor on duty complimented him on how well he had cleaned his wounds and began to stich up his eye brow and lip. After the short procedure he was presented with a form to fill out and given a prescription for antibiotics. He asked to take the form home and headed back for downtown to stop by the pharmacy and fill his prescription. He threw the form away in the first trashcan he found outside the clinic. After filling his prescription at the pharmacy he began to head for home. It was nearly lunchtime and the cereal he had eaten that morning was past its prime.

As soon as he got home he took 2 doses of his antibiotics and made himself a sandwich for lunch with some chips and a banana. He was trying to keep his diet balanced to increase his recovery speed and his overall nutrition. With his lunch he drank a large glass of chocolate milk and a bottle of water.

After his lunch he began thinking about his plan, step 1 was his recovery. It was already on track and there wasn't much he could do then what he was doing now. Step 2 was to gain strength, something he had never realized how much he actually lacked. He had never been a particularly strong man, he had never been very athletic either. He wasn't lazy or lethargic, he had just never had an interest in sports. While he wasn't fat or horribly out of shape, he was actually very weak. He had no experience with fighting, either hand to hand or with weapons. He had always been interested in swords and even owned one, but having no martial skill to speak of, he had never practiced with it. While thinking about the many steps and long road ahead of him he dosed off on the couch.