Secret sighed and muttered, �Jesus Christ,� under her breath when she opened the door. The telltale sign that RP, the Roommate, was not yet up was clearly in view: the ladder leading up to the loft was still down. �It�s 2:00 in the afternoon,� she thought to herself. It appeared that RP�s earlier promises that she would go to class and not sleep during the day so much went, yet again, unheeded. Secret wasn�t sure if it was worth even bringing up again because it would result in the same tired circle of RP blowing her off by saying that she would start going to class more and blah blah blah. It was just too exhausting to put her faith in some kind of action.
Oh well.
The day was unseasonably beautiful as Secret had walked to class. She regretted not putting on her rollerblades and trying to get some exercise, but at least the day was sunny and warm to contrast with the weather she�d experienced on Saturday night.
The weather reminded her of the second day in Chicago�
She awoke to knocking and a foreign voice on the other side of the door. She was resting her head on P, the Conqueror�s, shoulder while he held her tightly with the arm that she was lying on.
�Housekeeping�� the voice said.
�Can you come back later?� P asked and turned over on his side. The maid left, but the damage was done: Secret was now awake.
�Should we get up?� she asked. He mumbled a response and Secret climbed out of the bed to check the time.
�I�m hungry,� P said when he finally sat up. Secret replied with, �I know,� as he was always hungry and went to take a shower. She saw yet another sign that she was in the perfect hotel: cute mini bottles of Bath and Body Works shampoo, conditioner, moisturizer, and soap were on the counter just waiting to be used.
After they had both taken their showers and cooed over the �gourmet� soap, they ventured out into the cloudy but warm day to find some food. They happened to stumble upon a California Pizza Kitchen for a delicious lunch.
�This is a great town,� Secret remarked over her burrito flavored pizza. P agreed while munching on his mushroom and sausage pizza. Schaumburg seemed to have everything that the heart desired, plus one tourist attraction that Secret was looking forward to: Medieval Times.
After lunch, they decided to venture to downtown Chicago, but after seeing the traffic on I-90, they promptly turned around and visited Woodfield Mall back in Schaumburg. The mall was some kind of architectural anomaly with two floors in some places and three in others. There were staircases and ramps in strange places, leading to the mysterious �middle� floor.
�Ha, I don�t even need to shop to be entertained,� P remarked about the strange, but cool, architecture. The mall had everything: Surf City Squeeze, Express, Sephora, MAC store, Apple/Mac Store, Wizards of the Coast, Gamers Store, and every other store that any shopper�s heart desired. Secret caught sight of some sailor moon paraphernalia at a kiosk on the first floor. They had seen about half the mall when their feet tired and they decided to return to the hotel for some recreation.
Thankfully the hot tub was nowhere near the temperature that it had been the night before and they had the entire area to themselves. =]
After about an hour of alternating between the pool, hot tub, and sauna, Secret realized that time was becoming short and that they�d soon need to get ready for the big dinner later that night.
So after another shower with the Bath and Body Works soap, Secret and P drove around Schaumburg in search of the castle.
It was like stepping into another world. Squire�s greeted them at the door with English accents and bowed as they walked past.
�My lord, my lady.�
They were assigned to the Green Kingdom, represented by the �black sheep� of the knights. They were informed by wenches that their particular night was brutish and a drunkard.
�Hell yeah,� Secret said as a green crown was placed atop her head, �we�re in the right section.�
After taking very non-medieval photographs with the reigning queen, Secret�s hopes of saying �Serving wench, fetch me a beer� were quashed when P was carded at the bar for a Strawberry Daiquiri.
�Oh well, I guess I will have to live vicariously though you,� Secret laughed and sipped on the heavily liquored daiquiri. For about a half an hour, the tourists, er nobles chatted and spent their money on souvenirs before trumpets rang out overhead. They were greeted by the master of the games, a good looking young man with a very perverse sense of humor.
�I don�t remember there being that many lewd references the last time I was here,� Secret remarked.
�I know, isn�t it cool?� P responded.
They were escorted to their seats by their respective wenches and serfs and awaited to be served their feast. Their serf, Chris, came by to introduce himself and serve them with the vegetable soup in their iron soup bowls. Secret noticed the appropriate lack of silverware as she grabbed the grip of her bowl to drink directly out of it.
The show began with showmanship of the kingdom�s horses, riders, hawks, and finally the introduction of the knights. Each man was wearing his respective colors, complete with a beautiful horse and a squire. The
Green Knight lived up to his name by putting on quite a show of �rebellion� against the chivalry of the other knights, even throwing the stem of a flower at the Master of the Games. The competition began shortly after the introductions.
Secret watched the various tasks including the javelin, jousting, sword fighting, and even fist fighting while the serf brought by a quarter of a chicken, ribs, garlic bread, a potato, soda, coffee, and finally some sweet sticky cakes.
�For the price we paid, that must barely cover the meal we just ate,� Secret said to P and she enjoyed every bite of her feast.
�They must be counting on people buying souvenirs.�
Finally, the last fight began and the wounded
Green Knight prevailed. Their kingdom had been victorious, but only for a moment.
The evil Black Knight, the son of Robert, whom the king and his army had just defeated arrived to challenge the champion and the other knights. A raging battle rang out between the dark knights and the knights of the kingdom.
Alas, the
Green Knight was victorious again and the Black Knight was lead off to be executed in the dungeon after being whipped in front of the nobles. The kingdom breathed a sigh of relief and were dismissed back out into the souvenir lobby.
The knights soon joined them for pictures and autographs and Secret found herself edging slowly toward the victorious
Green Knight for a picture. He started petting her hair while posing for the picture.
�I love your hair,� he said. Secret wasn�t sure if she should be flattered, creeped out, or if she should return the compliment on his luxurious long blond locks. She simply smiled at him and returned back to P�s side while they looked around for stuff to buy.
�We should come back tomorrow,� P said, twirling his new sword letter opener while still wearing the crown.
�You had fun then?� Secret said smiling back at him with her new noble headpiece.
�Yeah, I did�.it was great,� he took her hand.
Secret agreed.
They returned to the hotel, full from all of the wonderful food, to swim again for awhile. This time, they were not so fortunate to be alone.
After another hour of swimming, they went back upstairs and immediately collapsed into bed. Secret snuggled up as closely as possible as she could get to P and closed her eyes to welcome the sweet dreams ahead.
�.To be continued with day 3�.
