Lunch (573 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.76 on 16 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Hornet (View user info) at 2008-07-21 19:17:40 EDT
Tom was out by the old stump on the far edge of the football field. Alan joined him. They sat together and ate lunch, limp and damp sandwiches pulled from ziplock bags.
They usually ate lunch out here as long as the weather was good. Most of the kids didn't want to walk that far from the school. A lot of the wasters would hop in their cars and race down Bell Street to Harper's or the Trattoria for a sandwich and a beer. Tom liked to draw without any distractions. Alan just liked the quiet, and the oddball discussions they had.
Equidistant from Grove high was an elementary school. It was to the south, hidden by a screen of poplars and high bushes. Sometimes little kids hung out by the low, wide stump. Tom or Alan would tell them to fuck off and watch them scatter.
Tom had his drawing pad out, a wide pad on stiff cardboard. The pages were heavy, the color of sand. Tom was taking a couple of courses and electives that would prepare him for engineering courses in college. He was good with computers, cars, anything mechanical. His sketches of circuits and fanciful mechanical devices were almost photo real.
Alan liked to write. He liked to read history. He had been born and raised in a town so dull no one had ever written about it. Alan couldn't see that changing any time soon.
Alan said, "I read a thing about suicide."
Tom was frowning, shading the hinged arm of some device. "Um?"
"Yeah, it said that in college, arts students have a higher suicide rate than students who study the sciences."
"No shit?"
"Yeah. It said that poets and painters and kids like that kill themselves a lot. Engineers not so much. Geologists, zoologists, physicists, the same."
Tom was darkening the edges of something that looked like a row of sharp teeth. "So what's got you so worried?"
"Well, I'm going to study history when we go to college. That's arts."
"Worried you might take a handful of pills or drown yourself in the tub?"
Alan shrugged.
Tom smiled. "Don't worry. You study history. You rely on facts. You use interpretation, but rely on what is real. That's science with artistic leanings. I think you'll be okay."
Alan shrugged. "Next year."
Tom chuckled. "Scared?"
Alan looked away. "A little."
Tom erased something from his drawing. "We'll have fun together."
Alan looked back. "I guess. So what are you drawing?"
Tom grinned. He turned the sketch pad around and held it up. "It's a remote-controlled six-wheeled head-crushing machine. See the jaws? And look at this articulated neck."
Alan said, "Cool."
"It runs on batteries and compressed air. I think I can get it to work. I'm going to test it on a couple of coconuts this weekend. I'll mount them on broomsticks. Want to help out?"
"Sure."
Tom and Alan finished their lunch. When they heard the bell they headed back to the school.
User Reviews
Submitted by icarus1987 (user info) at 2008-07-23 10:55:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd say we need a machine to make the straight men gay, but really we already have Caul.
Submitted by SilentRenegade (user info) at 2008-07-22 23:49:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
uhhh.........
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2008-07-22 23:30:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by Spam (user info) at 2008-07-22 15:00:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I approve.
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2008-07-22 08:33:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Well written, but it didn't really lead me anywhere.
Submitted by sexualchocolate1984 (user info) at 2008-07-22 07:12:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Short and sweet.
Submitted by Berty (user info) at 2008-07-22 06:42:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent, as usual. Although I instantly despised the boy who would draw because you made him sound inhumanly good at drawing. In a way it was similar to what the nazi propaganda machine did to the Jews, only with a more positive slant.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2008-07-22 06:27:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Why is Uber sooooooo sloooooooooooooooow? Are banjos alters causing too much traffic?
:)
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2008-07-22 05:41:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Littlebint (user info) at 2008-07-22 05:25:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Well that was nice,
Submitted by X54 (user info) at 2008-07-22 01:21:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was just beginning to get a little nauseating but then you pulled it back nicely. It was close, though.
Submitted by Falafel (user info) at 2008-07-21 23:06:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
+2 for reminding me of this excellent short film
http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/lunch_ehlers/
Submitted by Desz (user info) at 2008-07-21 21:28:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
rolls over your neighbor's dog?
What's great for a snack and fits on your back?
It's Log, Log, Log!
Submitted by DonkeyOnTheEdge (user info) at 2008-07-21 21:22:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
What rolls down stairs?
Alone or in pairs?
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2008-07-21 19:50:05 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2008-07-21 19:49:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
I'm not too sure how I felt about this. It was well-written, and your imagery worked reasonably well, but... I don't know. Nothing much happened, which is not always a bad thing, but it felt very, I don't know, unfinished, maybe? Have a +1.5 for making me think.