Friday, October 23, 2009

RICHIE - CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN (Twitter Novel / Keitai Shousetsu)



the weather breaks for a little
while after that and even
though its still gray and
slushy

its kind of unseasonably

warm like almost in the 50s
and the one morning im
walking over to the school
with richie

and hes being sullen and

weird like usual but whatever
and we walk past the wall
outside the commons where
the graffiti was

and the physical plant guys

are taking advantage of the
weather and theyre out there
with the sandblasting
equipment

getting rid of the writing and

nulles is out there watching
them with his red glasses and
twitchy little mouth

and richie stops to watch

them work and it takes me a
few seconds to realize hes not
with me

and i look back and richies

watching and grinning and
apparently nulles sees him
cuz he lumbers over there

and i walk back to where they

are cuz i dont wanna miss
this and i cant hear the first
thing nulles says to richie but

richie keeps smiling at nulles
and goes -let it come down-
and i think hes talking about
the graffiti but that

wouldnt make sense cuz then
nulles goes -you have
literally no idea what yr
messing with here none- and
then

i must catch his eye cuz he
gestures to me and says to
richie -why dont you tell yr
little friend

-how weve both been here
before- and i look at richie
and go -fairview- and he
narrows his eyes and shakes
his head

-dee dee has enough to figure
out right now- and nulles
chuckles -dee dee thats right
i forgot how fond you are

-of nicknames- then the
smile drops -no matter
whatever yr trying to do here
its not gonna work- and
richie laughs

-apres moi le deluge- and
nulles tightens up even more
-i dont believe you- and
richie stops laughing

and his voice gets low and
even -you know as well as i
do that fairview is all shiny
and new on top

-and the foundation
underneath is rotten and weak
and all its gonna take is just
enough pressure from above

-before the whole thing
crashes down around yr
ankles- and nulles doesnt say
anything for a minute but
then

he smiles a tight little smile
and says -well see richie
well see- and turns back
towards the wall

and walks over to watch the
workers some more and
richie doesnt take his eyes off
him and i go -what the fuck

-is going on here- and richie
scoffs but doesnt stop
watching nulles -just another
asshole in a long series of
assholes

-this world is just chock full
of them- and he starts
walking back and im still
totally unsatisfied and i go
-wait wait wait

-what was all that shit about
before and everything
collapsing and you not
knowing what yr messing
with-

and richie looks off
thoughtfully -you know i
really think hes just mad cuz i
kissed cuddy and not him-

and i almost throw up in my
mouth a little bit -jesus christ
can you imagine holy shit
thats gross- and richie laughs
and nods

-kissing cuddy was no picnic
either but that i mean nulles
you dont come back from shit
like that ever

-they dont make a
mouthwash that strong- and
that makes me laugh and
richie laughs again

and were at the door by then
so we just go inside laughing



7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you are still posting this on your blog because I closed my Twitter account yesterday and one of the things I knew I would miss was your novel.

It just gets better and better!

Eman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Ooh, drama in the house! I like the new suspenseful twist the story is taking (and did you think I wasn't still coming around for my weekly dose of the fairview boys)....I deleted that last comment- too many typos!

Jason Gusmann said...

hey selma - i'm sad yr leaving twitter, but honestly except for as a conduit for fiction (and very specialized fiction at that) its pretty pointless. the only reason i joined brad in pushing so hard for paul to return is because i thought #comebackgingatao was much healthier for the world than (ugh) #comebackmiley. if you don't mind waiting, 'richie' will always be here, eventually in its entirety.

hey percy p. - i'm glad to know yr still here (there) reading about our boys. the statcounter tells me basically where people who read the blog are from, but as i dont know oz as well as i should i can't tell individuals unless folks leave a comment. anyway, please keep coming back.

Maxine said...

Tee hee. This instalment is mysterious and cheeky to boot.

Cosmictree said...

Hey Jason, how are you? Hope u are laughing now like the last lines say...
It's fun reading these story-poems.

Tracey said...

So intense!! I love it!! Thank goodness I'm catching up all at once and still one more chapter awaits me...

I feel like something big will soon be happening... one more chapter to read before I'm up to date... 8)