So what’s the thing?

by Darren Coxon

It was Lol, or was it Stevo, who told us about the thing first. You know, the thing everyone was talking about then. Anyway, Stevo, or Lol, or maybe it was Harris, mentioned it to Joey and me, and before long it was all we could talk about.

We made a decision, right there and then. We decided that we’d get started on it the next day, so as not to be seen by the others to be hanging around.

Stevo wasn’t too happy about this at first. He said that he needed to get home by five as his wife would start to worry. Lol told him not to be such a wimp – who was the man around the house, anyway? Harris spoke with authority, and managed to convince us all that it was the right thing to do. I wasn’t too sure, but then Joey backed Harris up and before long we were all getting excited about it.

We met the next day, the five of us, in Lol’s workshop. I’d brought some of the stuff and Harris had brought the rest. You could always rely on Harris to find stuff when needed. So we all sat around waiting for the first person to talk. I guess none of us wanted to be the one to offer an objection or two. Even Harris, usually verbose, was quiet. Stevo bit his nails and kept looking out of the small, grimy window. There was quite an atmosphere, that morning.

Eventually Harris spoke. He said something about what a ridiculous idea this was, and who ever thought it would work? Stevo blamed Lol and vice versa. Joey suggested we go for a beer. It was the first halfway normal thing anyone had said in days.

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~ This piece was posted on Monday, March 6th, 2006 and was filed under Writing, Short Story. You can make comments on it below. ~