justwrite 9 november

Ryan is okay at lunch because he is practicing a technique not unlike visualization in that he is in pursuit of an improved view of life and an improved life in general. However, because his current visualization of junior high kids and green beans and droopy French fries is already so strong, and seemingly irreplaceable, he has decided to work on sound and “not sound.” His current setting—and preference—is “not sound.”

Across the table, Jeff’s lips are flapping in some sort of rubbery dialogue. Except at this point, it’s actually a monologue, which Jeff does not realize. Why does his mouth look so crazy without sound?

Actually, what Ryan has achieved is fairly impressive. Separating sound from its point of origin is a tough sell. You rarely look at a trumpet and consider the instrument and the sound it produces as two separate entities. To be honest, you rarely look at a trumpet to start with. Not that you have a problem with trumpets, of course, but it’s much more likely that you’re more often stuck somewhere you’d rather not be and listening to someone you may know talk about something you don’t really care about. Still, it’s someone you may know, so you could at least act polite.

Ryan nods politely and takes another bite of his sandwich. It’s not a bok choy sandwich, if that’s what you were wondering. It is, however, made with all-natural peanut butter [the kind that separates in a fairly unappetizing manner, though Ryan’s mom says that at least you know what you’re getting when you see this kind] and banana slices [the kind that come from bananas, which Ryan’s mom buys all the time, despite her occasional deep sighs about carbon footprints and that sort of thing]. Would an eighth-grade boy risk bringing a peanut butter and banana sandwich to lunch, where anyone equally steeped in adolescence could see him? I’m telling you Ryan does. He made it himself. Plus, he made one for Emily, too. What a good big brother. Clearly. It’s easy to be the hero of your own thoughts. Ego! he thinks, and tunes back in to Jeff.