Suicide and Keg Stands - Chapter 5 - November 26, 2007

The bar wasn't crowded when Ryan and I got there. I slunk in wearing sunglasses hoping people would just assume that I was high or drunk or trying to be cool. I didn't want to spend the whole night lying about my eye. I figured I could always go over to John's if it was unbearable. Everyone ended up stopping by his place on Saturday nights anyway and Lynn was usually at the bar or there. I had though about calling her but I didn't want it to be weird. I figured it would be more casual if we just sort of ran into each other. I didn't want her to think that I was taking last night as anything more than it was.

I managed to find a seat towards the back. John wandered over after a few minutes with a pitcher and a couple of glasses.

"Nice sunglasses, Bono."

"I'm starting a look."

"Is that the coke-head alcoholic look or the 'I got my face punched in' look?" He said but I wasn't really paying attention. Marie had looked over at us and smiled. I pretended I didn't see her.

"I thought you were having a thing tonight? I was going to stop by."

"My apartment is quarantined."

"Really?"

"A guy on the first floor dropped dead. The smell is horrible."

"Shit."

"Yeah."

"What are you doing after graduation?" I asked after a moment.

"Street urchin."

"Like a pick pocket?"

"God willing. You?"

"I don't know."

"Didn't you have that internship?"

"I quit."

"Why?"

"I just couldn't do it. I sat in this cubicle under these neon lights checking textbook manuscripts for typos. The work was awful, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't that. The people who worked there ... There was this lady, Betty in HR. She was in charge of office supplies. Every day she'd send these little passive-aggressive emails about 'appropriate copier use'. Things like the cost of copying each page or how much printing had been done the day before. Reminders we shouldn't take the pens home with us or that staples weren't free. Everyday was another annoying email or memo. Plus she'd make up these yellow and pink signs about being responsible and hang them above the copier. It was like her job was to suck the life right out of that place. It got to the point where I just wanted to start throwing office supplies out the window onto the street. Just to see if she'd have an aneurism.

I think I could have dealt with the whole thing if my boss would have just had a spine and told her to fuck off and worry about something that mattered. But he wouldn't. He was just as big a moron as she was but in his own way. She was always bugging him to assign the office copy codes and since he wouldn't stand up to her he'd just give her some bullshit line about looking into it. Week after week they'd do this little dance and while the rest of us are at home carving Betty's name onto the tips of our hollow points."

"So what? Betty's insane. At least it was a job."

"I had to drop my timesheet of at her desk because I'd forgotten to email it on time. I went when I knew she'd be at lunch so I wouldn't have to talk to her. In her cubicle, right over her monitor was little sign that said 'I can only please one person per day. Today isn't your day ... and tomorrow's not looking good either.' At first I kind of chuckled because it's funny. But then I started to think about it. No one sees this quote except for her. It's not like anyone comes by her cube when they need something. They just send an email. And it's not like she can realistically say no to anything. She has no discretion. She either handles requests or passes them up to her boss. So I'm standing there looking around her cube and she's got these post cards of London and Paris and Venice pinned up but they're blank. They weren't sent to her, she just bought them and hung them up. I felt so bad for her, no pictures of friends of family. No pictures of her on vacation. Just her little slogan and pictures of these places that she's never actually been to. I didn't want to end up being her. Surrounded by these little reminders of all the things I'd failed to do. So I quit." I said as Georgia walked over and sat down at the table. She was holding another pitcher of beer.

"This is what I like about you. You're like a beer delivery service." John said.

"What are you doing here?" Georgia asked him.

"My apartment is quarantined. Chemical spill." I looked at John but he just shrugged.

"Really?"

"Sure."

"What are you two talking about?"

"Graduation."

"Big plans?" She asked.

"John's going to be a hobo." I said.

"Street urchin."

"You'd do better with trains."

"What about you?" He asked her.

"I don't know. The more people talk about it, the less I know what I'm going to do."

"What happened to your eye?" She asked.

"He's starting a look."

"A look?" She asked then saw Marie. "I can't stand her. I heard she's sleeping with her TAs just to pass this quarter." I had heard the same thing. Marie was almost legendary in her excesses, coming to college for the boys and booze and easy access to drugs.

"God bless her." John said.

"Shut up John. She should have been kicked out years ago." Georgia said cutting herself off as Marie made her way to our table. I watched her as she walked to our table, her short hair bouncing as she moved across the room. She said hi to everyone she passed, her wide mouth always ready with a smile or a loud laugh. She had the kind of face I could never imagine being upset, her eyes always laughing at something the rest of us didn't see. Marie slid onto John's lap giving him a kiss on the cheek. Georgia gave us a tight smile that didn't touch her eyes and walked away.

"Nice sunglasses." She said and John grinned. "Was she worth it?"

"Didn't you two used to date? I should leave you alone." I said.

"Me and this one here? We've dated for a night or two. But Johnny here's all love struck and has no time for me." She said with mock sadness. John blushed and pushed away from the table, a little unsteadily. She sat in his seat.

"What about you?"

"What about me?" I asked.

"You love struck too?" I looked over her head. The bar was filling up with people. This early it was a mix of the late afternoon crowd who were downtown for the weekend and those of us in college who were getting an early start on the night. Friday nights were worse when the working crowd came in to hit on the sorority girls and bang away at the happy hour specials.

Later it fill up with mostly college kids. There was probably some kind of music at the union tonight so the indy kids in their tight shirts wouldn't be in until late, already trashed off of cheap vodka they'd snuck into the show. I hadn't seen any fliers for frat parties so the frat guys might start filtering in soon.

Lynn hadn't come in and I didn't see any of her friends. Maybe she had gone to a house party instead. I didn't know if she had been sleeping with anyone besides Jason. It was possible, probable even. Maybe she had decided to stay in tonight. I didn't want to think about it.

"You know I only got eyes for you, Marie."

"You're trouble." She said with a smile.

---

Chapter 4 | Suicide and Keg Stands Index | Chapter 6

Posted by Ben Corman at 8:31 AM

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Comments

Keep it up, I can't wait for the next installment.

Posted by: ZS at November 27, 2007 11:40 AM

"Shut up John. She should have been kicked her out years ago." Little mistake there.

Posted by: Wayland at November 27, 2007 07:46 PM

Thanks Wayland, I'm not a very good proofreader of my own stuff.

And thanks ZS, I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Posted by: Ben Corman at November 27, 2007 08:10 PM

I found a few spots as well:

* I figured I could always go over [to] John's

* Every instance of the word "cubical" should be "cubicle." I count 2.

* There was probably some kind of music at the union tonight so the [indie] kids...

Should "the union" be capitalized? As in the name of a pub or something?

I'll see you next Monday. You're an inspiration.

Posted by: Marcus at November 27, 2007 08:37 PM

Thanks Marcus,

I actually have a copy of this story with all the necessary copy edits and like an idiot, I forgot to fix chapter 5 before I went live. So my apologies to my excellent copy editor as well (I'm not sure if I'm supposed to use her name here or not).

Chapter 6 won't be such a disaster.

Posted by: Ben Corman at November 27, 2007 10:04 PM

Fantastic. I sat down this afternoon and read everything published on this blog. I cannot wait for the next installment. Even your article on what kind of writing (content) Rudius looks for was entertaining to read. Ryan and you (assuming you keep up this activity up and don't let it slow down) are now my two favorite Rudius writers that I will continue to check up on on a daily basis.
There's something dark yet inspiring in your writing that keeps me addicted. Keep it up Ben.

Posted by: JP at November 28, 2007 05:35 PM

Me again. I'm refreshing myself on the entire story chapter by chapter and I thought I'd mention this.

The two paragraph speech by the narrator on Betty and why he quit his job is wholly unbelievable. Who launches into a prepared coherent explanation like that on cue?

It would read a lot less awkwardly to me if he just went, "I just couldn't do it. There was this lady, Betty in HR." Then he trails of and tells the reader the rest of what you already wrote as an internal soliloquy, and not spoken dialogue. Just makes more sense to me, let me know what you think.

Posted by: Marcus at March 21, 2008 06:00 PM

He'd be able to launch into that explanation if he'd spent a lot of time thinking about the reasons he quit. It's not just an off the cuff explanation, it's something he's been sweating since he left the job.

Posted by: Ben Corman at March 22, 2008 07:06 AM