This is a weekly space for creative writing. Please check out the landing page if you're interested in what we've written already, and feel free to comment below (according to the request feedback level) with any comments or suggestions!
Prompt:
Author: Sunny
Requested feedback: Reading what others have written in this field the past year has itself been a work of art. Say something, say nothing, all is appreciated and understood.
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Thursday, Sleepy's Tavern
"You ever notice that guy who’s always in here drinking alone?"
"The old guy?" replied Bill.
"He doesn't seem that old," mumbled Mickey. "I wonder why he keeps coming back here..."
"To drink, duh. At least he's not lame, er, uh, you know." Bill stutters, thinking about being recently challenged on his use of ableist adjectives. "Maybe we just don't see him with his buddies. Hey Jim—two more High Life’s please."
It's unclear where Jim even does his work, but soon the sounds of two caps opening, the slide of two bottles, and Bill and Mickey's coasters are revitalized.
"Ah! The Champagne of Beers! Cheers Mick"
"Cheers Bill" A simple clink of bottoms of beer bottles rings through the barely patronized bar.
After a quiet moment, Mickey turns his head towards his friend. "Bill, I was thinking more about what you said. I don't think applying for that internal position change is going to do it—this job isn't killing us because of the pay or work, per se, it's just soul crushing and demotivating. It's got to be cultural. I just want to feel passion and engagement again."
"Not now Mick. You're right, and I said it first, but right now I just want to enjoy this High Life."
Wednesday, Sleepy's Tavern
"Remember what I was saying last week? About my shitty job? About our shitty jobs?"
"Oh, I remember Mick. I remember everyday. This job's killing us, we're dying, maybe we're already dead," quipped Bill. "How about grad school?"
"And take the GRE? I mean, maybe. I'm not ruling it out. Might be the best bad option."
"Working at our company sucks, we all know it. I was talking to Paul during lunch over in building twelve today, and he hates it all too! But he's a real bastard and loves to hate himself and everything around him, so it kind of works out. Plus, I think he naps in his cube every afternoon and no one sees because he's on that corner space. I don't want to live that way, Mick, and I like naps, and I like Paul! I don’t think you do either." Bill gestures for two high life's from Jim behind the bar.
"Shouldn't it help us that we're doing good for the world? Making a difference? The company helps sick people! That must be better than working at Philip Morris right?"
"I hear you get free cigarettes at Philip Morris," replied Bill
"Is that a positive or negative?" murmurs Mickey. "My point is: why doesn't the net good of our jobs help me feel a little better at like, nine thirty am every day?"
"Maybe you do, imagine how bad you'd feel at Morris, even with those sweet cigarettes. Or maybe 'saving lives' at our job is different than 'saving lives' like a doctor or a fireman or something saves lives. It's too abstracted away for you to really feel it." Bill picks up his gaze as he delivers this last line. He notices Jim still has the bar calendar set on October.
"Well that sucks," sighed Mickey. "So it just redoubles the fact we need out of here. This is the prime of my life and I’m pissing it away."
"Oh we're definitely pissing it away. That we will! You want a citywide?"
Friday, Sleepy's Tavern
"Why's it so crowded in here? I can't hear anything!" yelled Mickey over the drone of the overpacked bar.
"Don't be lame! Must be a game or something. Footie? FOOTIE?! Have some fun! Make a friend! That dude over there is buying rounds!" yelled Bill.
They both looked towards the bar where a large man was dancing in knee high boots.
Monday, Sleepy's Tavern
Bill groaned. "I can't believe it's Monday again. Why is it always Monday."
"It's not always Monday," said Mickey, as he rotated the bottle along the bottom seam.
"It always feels like Monday."
Wednesday, Sleepy's Tavern
"We should change it up or something, I'm getting bored of this place. Don't they have happy hour drink specials downtown today? Like mid-week mistakes?" Mickey said, as he finished his high life.
Bill nodded his head. "Alright yeah, you're right. This place is lame. Let's try Crow's Nest downtown."
Wednesday, Crow's Nest
"He didn't pay when he left? Oh, uhm, sorry, I thought he would have paid... yeah, I can cover it... let me get my card," stammered out Mickey.
Thursday, Slappy's Tavern
"Is it just me or does this place feel like a mirror of Sleepy's? Like, bizzarro version or something" inquired Bill.
"How do you mean? All these dives are basically the same bar buddy," replied Mickey.
"No, I mean specific things. Like the Big Buck Hunt game, why's the gun, like, backwards?"
"You really need to get our more," said Mickey, though he couldn't stop staring at the backwards big buck hunt gun either.
Friday, Bill's House
"I find boxed wine is better because of the freshness and longevity factors. Franzia was a genius," Bill remarked, to no one in particular.
Saturday, Sleepy's Tavern
"I'm glad we're back at our usual spot. Something so familiar about that smell," led Mickey.
"Hear hear!" replied Bill, raising his high life. Mickey tips his beer to all the patrons at the bar, none of which who look back, a tradition he's started to himself.
"What if we apply to that new data startup? Looks they have nap pods and stuff on campus, it's nearby, that could be a fun place to work," Bill said, excitedly.
"Okay, yeah, let's do it. This has been an alright week, I've been feeling alright Bill. Like hope instead of fear. Surplus instead of desperation. I got lunch with Paul today, over in building twelve, and they had a new hot sandwich bar. I had a panini! Things could be a lot worse."
"Me too Mick, feelin' alright. And that's the right place to come at this - not from desperation - and if we get the jobs, great! If we don't, great!"
"Great," replied Mickey, as they clinked their bottles.
Tuesday, Sleepy's Tavern
Mickey was grinding his teeth: "my boss is riding our team like crazy this week."
"What does he have you doing?" asked Bill.
"It's just like, a bunch of slides of data that no one really cares about, but we need to show something for all the work we do. All of a sudden, it's urgent because we haven't planned anything before now. It's eating up all my time and mental space."
"Sounds like a drag," replied Bill.
"What do they have you doing anyway, Bill?" asked Mickey.
"Mostly putting together slides of data. It's pretty lame."
Wednesday, Sleepy's Tavern
"How come Bill Murray didn't kill himself in Groundhog's Day?" asked Mickey.
"What do you mean? He kills himself like, a bunch of times. He drives off a cliff with the groundhog in one scene. Haven't you seen it recently? This is Bill 101."
"I guess it's been a while."
"Yeah, I suppose his character has to realize that killing yourself isn't going to provide any real escape or relief from this infinite loop of hell. You always end up back in the same place with cheap escapes like that."
"You think that’s true?" pondered Mickey.
Thursdsay, Sleepy's Tavern
"Hey Mick, knock knock."
"Who's there"
"To"
"To who?"
"To whom"
"Hah. Haha. Hah."
Mondsay, Sleepy's Tavern
"You ever see Blazing Saddles Mickey? My dad says it's hilarious; an all time great."
"No, I've heard the name of the movie, but I'm pretty sure I haven't seen it."
"We could stream it on the train ride home, I downloaded it on my laptop."
"Okay," said Mickey, nodding his head. "Has to be better than my usual thousand yard stare. How do those old comedies hold up today?"
Wednensday, Sleepy's Tavern
"Two high lives over here Jim, thank yoooooou. I found out today they have laundry at the gym Mick. Pretty cool huh?"
"Yeah, uh, cool. I guess that'll save you some time" Mickey said, turning over the idea of at-gym laundry in his head.
"And it's free!" added Bill.
"I don't think we're really hurting for laundry money, but that’s cool. I'm all about maximizing value when possible."
"Exactly Mick, exactly. Maximizing value," Bill said, with a toothy smile. "Why not take in what life has to offer?"
"Yeah, why not?" replied Mick, as they clinked bottles.
Thurstday, Sleepy's Tavern
"Thanks for the high life Jim. Have you seen Bill? He wasn’t at work today. No? No, no, I mean, sure, but we’re not really phone people."
Thurstday, Sleepy's Tavern
"No, I haven't seen Bill since I last asked you Jim, I figured you'd have said something to him or me. I mean, it is what it is, he's probably just caught up with something. He'd think it lame for me to worry."
Thurstday, Sleepy's Tavern
"Hey Jim, yeah, one high life please."
Friday, Sleepy's Tavern
"You ever notice that guy who’s always in here drinking alone?"
"The old guy?" replied Dan.
"He doesn’t seem that old. Honestly, he looks barely older than us," mumbled Stanley. "I wonder why he keeps coming back here."
2 comments:
Waiting for Godot meets that one commercial about the guys watching soccer together. You've done it again.
Dude, this was awesome. Thanks for doing this. I don't know if you would describe it as "stepping out of your comfort zone" because I've seen you do the creative writing stuff in album reviews before, maybe more like a "stretching those muscles" type of thing. In any case, I appreciate you being here, taking an A.S.S. for the road as we wrap things up around here.
There's a real sadness in this song and I'm glad you captured it well in your writing. I appreciated that. I've long been fascinated with Cheersian idea of finding happiness by sitting next to other sad people on a bar stool. I loved the conclusion of your story really hammering that home, it was really effective. The circular nature of it. I loved it.
And I loved how this was both a collection of short stories (micro-stories) and also one big narrative. It was both at once, which was really nimble of you. But I also liked how the fact that it all tied together and served a singular purpose wasn't really revealed until the end. Was it a twist? I don't know if I would call it a twist. But it felt like a twist, a gut-punch like the best twists entail.
I thought you did really well with the lighthearted conversational tone. 48 weeks in and that's still the part I struggle with, the conversations feeling natural. This didn't feel strained at all. It felt like a real conversation that would be happening at any bar. Just enough details outside of the quotation marks.
Thanks again for doing this, dude. Looking forward to see if you can transfer some of these creative writing skills into other writings on the blog in the future.
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