It was so long since he had been happy that he forgot the why of a smile. He searched for it in normal places: he played with baby animals, but he chose baby snakes. He told jokes but all his jokes ended with realism or pessimism. He hung out with friends but he had to make them up first. He watched movies on the Internet, but he was only interested in political documentaries. He drove far too quickly but slid off the first corner. He took off his shoes and wiggled his toes in the dirt but forgot he lived in Oklahoma with sand burrs. He fell in love, but chose the wrong girl.
It worked.
He smiled because she left in the middle of their first date.
He smiled because she didn't paint the nails on her right hand.
He smiled because she tried to fit into his pants.
He smiled because she was all wrong for him and they loved each other anyway.
Like I said, he told jokes but they all ended badly.
Monday, September 26, 2011
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Hey, there's something kind of fun about baby snakes.
ReplyDeleteAnyway . . .
I don't like that I can't tell whether you're happy or sad, but then again, I think you're probably Eeyore, which solves everything. (Why is Eeyore the only one of the characters from Winnie the Pooh whose name isn't considered to be a real word by this comment box?)
"All wrong for him."
I take issue with that.
I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad. I'm trying to not be sad, but it's difficult when it's raining outside.
ReplyDeletePATHETIC FALLACY
BUT I THOUGHT YOU LIKED RAIN
ReplyDeleteRAIN IS A WONDERFUL THING SOMETIMES
http://www.rainymood.com/
ReplyDelete"Rain makes everything better."
Even pathetic . . . ness . . .
Rain DOES make everything better. :) I love rain. also, this is.....strange...the last line throws you lol.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the last line is the reason why the first bit makes sense in context of being happy. Otherwise, Solomon was wrong. All is meaningless.
ReplyDeleteWell . . . it sort of sounds like his entire life was a joke in that context, like he did everything just to make people . . . oh.
ReplyDeleteWait.
Hmm.
Yeah. Isn't that horrible?
ReplyDeleteWhy, Robby? WHYYYY?
ReplyDeleteJanelle. Look at the subtitle of the blog. Then tell me why.
ReplyDeleteI feel dumb. I still don't get it. Is it saying that everything before the last line was the joke excluding the love thing? I'm confused... O_o
ReplyDeleteIt's just . . . everything was a bad joke. It's not trying to be difficult, I guess, but it isn't clear.
ReplyDeleteWell, you fulfilled the subtitle of the blog, but I always thought you meant more than that, like the subtitle was just a . . .
ReplyDeletebad joke . . .
Oh wait.
No seriously, though, this might be the most horrible thing you've ever written. Because if you set out to live your whole life as a bad joke you've chosen to throw it away. You've chosen pain and sadness and all this other stuff. And for what?