Rebel Without A Clue
He carefully applied the thick black eyeliner as his doting mother brought him a cheese sandwich. She asked him if he needed anything from the shops and inside he silently cursed her for loving him. How dare she and his father not have the good grace to fight like the other kids’ parents?
He looked up at the over-sized poster of Kurt Cobain on his wall and thought to himself that Kurt would understand. Kurt knew pain just like he did. Of course, his pain was different, his pain was the terrible ennui brought on by being given everything he’d ever wanted. Didn’t his parents understand that this loving, secure home brought him such misery?
He carefully styled his jet black, dyed hair, which his mother had so kindly dyed for him the week before. He pulled the fringe down over one eye, knowing that it made him look so different from everyone else, from all the sheep with their slavish devotion to pop music and the latest fashion trends.
He turned off his state of the art Sony stereo, bringing My Chemical Romance to a sudden halt, and put on his black, faux-military jacket. It felt good to be an individual, to not wear the “uniform” of the typical teen. No t-shirt and jeans for him.
He descended the stairs of the three bedroom, semi-detached suburban house he shared with his parents and younger sister, and headed toward the front door.
“You’re looking smart,” his mother commented, “why are you dressed like that?”
“Because I’m a rebel, mum,” he attempted to snarl.
“What are you rebelling against?” she wondered.
He stared back at her, his expression blank.
“Just…stuff…”
Nicolas Papaconstantinou
Hah… quite heavy-handed, but pretty funny for all that.
Any time we can rip into that particular cultural behaviour, it’s worth it!
I think given a bit longer, you’d probably shave a few words here and there, but the short day – and the technical difficulties we had with the image last night – make that fair enough, I reckon. Nice one!
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Rivka Jacobs
Hey, that is a good short-short.
Hmmm, observatory …
It’s a very acute observation of family relationships? Ian has focused the telescope of his insight on family dynamics?
I think it’s very good, anyway. I am nervous now as to what in the heck I can come up with by the wee hours of Wednesday (US Eastern Time) that has something to do with a classic Observatory. Good image, by the way.
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iansharman
Hah…the connection between the story and the image seems to have confused a few people.
Unless I’m very much mistaken, the observatory in the picture featured rather heavily in the film Rebel Without A Cause…
It is, indeed, a great picture, I hope I can post something equally good on Sunday!
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Cynthia Lugo
You’re right, Ian. It’s the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, taken from the path on which the characters in my story are/were standing.
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