small things catch you (621 hits)
Category: GeneralLabels: nonfiction
Rating: 1.08 on 19 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by scourgeoftheseas (View user info) at 2005-11-03 11:31:31 EST
The line of memory is strange. Really not the coherent whole that could be inferred from what it is sometimes written or defined as. More like a vague string, with odd bright spots, standing out crystal clear against the gray miasma that makes up the most of it. I can recall many other things, but these are the ones that just stand out, on their own, like mile markers for a life.
The morning of my brother's funeral it snowed, hard. The thick, wet, heavy snow that sticks for days. It was unexpected because we hadn't had any snow that year at all; it was the end of the season and the few weeks previous had seen temperatures in the seventies.
Blinding, driving snow.
At the cemetery, the snowstorm only got worse. The snow was so thick you could barely see five feet past the tent. Branches started breaking off trees from the weight of the wet snow, and the loud report as they cracked and dropped was the only thing that penetrated the silence that snow creates.
Afterwards we sat in the basement of the church, low ceiling, tile floors, cheap stained panel covered walls and long folding tables, just like any other church basement. The only sounds really registering were the buzz of the fluorescent lights and the soft whup- whup- whup sound of the ceiling fan blades as they cut through the air. The noise from the gathering of people was just a mumbling roar, none of their words cutting through the thick barrier of introspection, but still there.
One of my old friends had showed up for the funeral. He sat at a table, alone, stirring his iced tea, lazy, slow. Watching the ice spinning in the glass. The beads of condensation gathering on the sides of the, gravity slowly tugging them into one another, they gained speed, grew larger, and dripped onto the bare wooden tabletop.
I'd seen him maybe a handful of times over the past three years. Yet I still gained some comfort from his presence. More than what I find in those who I had counted among my friends at the time.
We always draw back into a comfort zone. A place where memory draws fuzzier lines. The ability to step back into a place where change can't happen.
I guess I was glad to see him because he knew my brother, knew him at the time where the stories come from, before people started getting married and having children, living next chapters of their lives. He had left our circle of friends when he
We maybe spoke a total of four or five sentences the whole day. We didn't really need to speak, his presence was enough to show his concern.
As the ice spun it barely made a sound. Only an occasional tinkle after the long spoon started the mesmerizing dance. Then a slow spinning down into the funnel of deep amber liquid.
At that point in the day the snow had stopped, the sun was out and had dropped far enough to creep through the basement casing windows. Long shafts of yellow with dust spinning in them, starting right at head level, slanting across to hit the far side of the floor. Blinding people. As it hit the glass, which happened to sit at the precise point in its path, the condensation shimmered and the liquid caught fire, turned into a glowing brown fire.
He just stared lazily at the glass. Stretched out in his seat, legs splayed in front of him, not speaking. The thoughtful silence had more meaning than anything that the others had to say.
When the ice first collided against itself in the glass, it was like a switch that instantly killed all other sound. Voices, muted. Horrid buzzing lights, muted. The sound of the ice echoed for a moment, loud and resonating in my head, slowing time, but really it was just a little *tick* and then nothing. After this all I heard was the sound of the liquid swirling around the glass.
Before my sight narrowed and focused down on the glass, blurring everything else into oblivion, I noticed that the liquid was spinning in the counter direction of the dusty ceiling fans.
After this the next memory was everyone starting to gather up to leave, and then the rest was all just part of that gray blur of memory...
User Reviews
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-07-26 13:19:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
uh, already got this one:
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2006-03-10 14:24:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-11-03 12:46:30 (#)
Ranking: 2
Pretty damn good. It seemed kind of slow and dreamy, quite a bit like the way you described the snowflakes falling.
Submitted by ghola (user info) at 2007-05-18 13:02:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
No Comment
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2007-02-18 20:40:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2006-10-31 22:41:06 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
I've had it up to here with your shennanigans, I'm going through and -2ing ALL of your posts!
Submitted by EchoBoxing (user info) at 2006-10-27 14:35:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by EchoBoxing (user info) at 2006-10-27 14:35:19 (#)
Ranking: -2
stop using oathmeal to +2 yourself
Submitted by jgreening (user info) at 2006-10-27 14:31:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
So... he gave up his PW or something?
Where?
I missed it...
Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-10-27 14:29:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I LOVE MYSELF!!
SIGNED,
SCOURGEY
Submitted by UnderOathMeal (user info) at 2006-10-27 13:55:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2006-10-27 13:39:58 (#)
Ranking: -2
http://www.ubersite.com/m/95020#2202073
banning attempt
Submitted by MistressFist (user info) at 2006-03-10 14:33:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2006-03-10 14:24:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-11-03 12:46:30 (#)
Ranking: 2
Pretty damn good. It seemed kind of slow and dreamy, quite a bit like the way you described the snowflakes falling.
Submitted by Sacrilicious (user info) at 2006-01-11 19:51:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by minimumdino (user info) at 2006-01-11 19:49:53 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
whens your funeral?
Submitted by ruthless (user info) at 2005-11-03 14:57:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice feeling portrayed here.
Submitted by Saffron (user info) at 2005-11-03 13:31:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
"The noise from the gathering of people was just a mumbling roar, none of their words cutting through the thick barrier of introspection, but still there. "
The thick barrier of introspection. Very nice.
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-11-03 12:46:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Pretty damn good. It seemed kind of slow and dreamy, quite a bit like the way you described the snowflakes falling.
I *like* that kind of symmetry.
Submitted by MyTeeOne (user info) at 2005-11-03 12:43:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Great writing but not quite enough meat to the story. It stopped right when it should have got going.
Submitted by jack11058 (user info) at 2005-11-03 12:34:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2005-11-03 11:37:34 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Thank you Mr. Donkey. That is what I was going for. Just a fade in, fade out, like a small mental snapshot.
Submitted by DonkeyOnTheEdge (user info) at 2005-11-03 11:34:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
Its pretty good, but kind of disjointed and wonky for my liking. Plus it didn't really go anywhere.
Solid 1.