Sunday, November 20, 2011

A bit too early

I find it a little ridiculous that Christmas decorations were placed in the stores before Halloween even happened. I want to enjoy my trick-or-treating candy without danger of mistletoe or being choked by holly. Is that too much to ask?

Generally my family puts up our Christmas stuff the day after Thanksgiving. Alas, Santa is coming sooner and sooner. Maybe we'll give in. I sure hope not, however.

We had to do a historical fiction assignment in Creative Writing. It was supposed to be short.. and mine somehow ended up being this huge convoluted thing. I just turned in a short version, but I don't want to stop working on the other one.

It's set in World War II Era, Battle of Britain-ish and yeah. It just goes through this dude's life. I wanted to participate in National Novel Writing Month. (November) But it's getting a little too late. I doubt I'll have anywhere near 100 pages towards the end of the month. But I guess that's what Sundays are for - busy work.

Here's the Prologue/1st Chapter. Haven't decided.


Death is sort of a funny thing. Everyone lives their whole lives dreading the moment they’ll be swept from Earth. But the thing is, in that one moment of life or death you’re not thinking that. It’s almost a sort of brilliant relief, the possibility of death. Think of it as some sort of emergency escape exit – not that those really worked on any of the buildings that were falling down. My left ear drum still rings shrilly every now and again, reminding me of what could’ve been, I guess. There are some things, that for an inexplicable reason, you’ll never forget. I don’t know if it’s God’s way of trying to remind you of something or what, but for awhile I had a hard time believing there really was a God. You’d think he’d try to prevent the total obliteration of a country. My country. Evie’s country too. Go figure.
The day started as normal as any, or as normal as they could get in 1940. The cloud was a gloomy, monochromatic gray – but it was something we Brits were used to. The sky cried sometimes, as for the reason why, my guess is as good as yours. I pulled on my blazer before heading out into the thick fog. The sleeves were too short as they always had been. Evie teased me, saying my arms had gotten even ganglier. I didn’t mind. I don’t know what I’d do without Evie’s teasing. It reminds me that some things in life are still good. She put on a shabby, pastel yellow dress – her favorite. I still told her she looked beautiful, because she could make a rubbish bin look good. We didn’t have much money, nobody did. But that was okay.
I had the same emotions course through me as I usually did. Anger, frustration. Sometimes I felt like our country was in shambles. It probably was, but they didn’t tell us. The Royal Air Force had been taking in volunteers. I probably should have volunteered, and some days I still think I will. Evie told me I shouldn’t, that I wouldn’t come back. It was probably the flash of her green eyes that persuaded me to keep going to my same old job. Monotony was monotony, but at least I would be alive. We needed money, too. Everyone needed money. Rumors of an invasion spread like wildfire the past few months. Everyone doubted it and laughed it off, but you could tell they knew it was true in the way they carried their shoulders. I thought happiness was beginning to go extinct. Evie would prove me wrong when I got home, and assure me I was just being cranky with one of her laughs. I would always end up laughing too.
I walked to work, we didn’t have the money for anything different. That was alright, it gave me time to think. I saw the long line of young men, eager to become pilots. There was a line almost every day. I didn’t have the heart to tell them what they were signing up for was suicide. Or maybe they already knew that, and I was the coward instead.
My eyes turned skyward as I found myself lost in thought. Evie always teased me when I’d randomly gaze off into space. I wondered what flying was really like. Was it worth dying for? Was a country worth dying for? Probably, I sighed. I wonder what Evie would say about it. She was definitely smarter than I was. A few planes droned overhead, dangerously close to the tops of the tallest buildings. One of these days my head would be taken off. The fighters passed over here every morning at the same time – on my way to work. I supposed they were on some sort of daily patrol. I stared at the puffy smoke trails their engines left for a long moment before turning away again. Sometimes I got distracted. Well, to be frank I just have a short attention span. Evie said they look for that in pilots.
I think life was a lot easier before you were ever considered an adult. No rules(or at least, we liked to pretend there wasn't), you could eat all the food you wanted without all the consequences, and everything just seemed funner. Sometimes I remember myself doing absolutely nothing – like throwing rocks into the pond by my house. Me and my brother would always see who could find the flattest stones, those were the best for skipping. He would always win, but I would always get more skips. Funny how it worked out like that, now that I think back on it. I guess one downside to the past was that Evie didn't even know I existed. Damn, was she a real piece of work back then. Don't get me wrong, she still is. Being a hormonal adolescent wasn't the best cup of tea either. Evie says my hormones still need to be reined in every now and then.

To tell you the truth, my real story started a long time ago. It may not be the best, and it might not be exciting. But it's just the story of me.
You're a real peach if you read all of that. So long.