No Context

This is the first of what I hope to have many of: No Context posts. Basically, I just write a little snippet of some fleeting thought. It will likely not make sense to an outside reader (and it may not even make total sense to me), but it is an effort to get writing again. That is really a terrible description, but it will probably make sense when you read it. Some of these posts may be expanded upon later, and maybe I’ll actually run with these snippets and develop a novel or short story from them. Point is: I’m writing now. I’d like to start drawing again too, so I’ll include a little doodle when I can.

~~~

Tom walked into the room. “You been up here all night?”

Felix grunted in response.

“Good grief, man.” Tom made his way to the desk, tripping over empty bottles of tea. “This room smells strongly of coffee and there are bottles everywhere. And did it work? Are you awake?”

“Barely.”

“You’re drinking the wrong source of caffeine. Energy drinks are where it’s at.”

“I’d rather get my caffeine from natural sources.”

“Natural sources? So you’d rather cheat nature to be in harmony with it?”

Felix thought about that.

“Besides, energy drinks are natural. The word you’re looking for is ‘unhealthy.’”

“Yeah, well, I can’t imagine this being much healthier.”

“It’s not. Body needs sleep. You can’t pull all-nighters like this.” He paused, wondering whether to speak his next thought. “You’re not in college anymore.”

“Well I can thank you for that every day for the rest of my life.”

Tom stood there, about to apologize. Instead he saved it for a future moment. “Did you get anything?”

“No. And this is my third night. I thought you said this would have been easy.”

“Easy is relative.”

“Well if it’s so easy, why don’t you do this?”

“I don’t know how.”

“Uh-huh.”

There was a chill in the air as Felix sat fuming over the situation he now found himself in. He looked at Tom in conflict. Here was a man he both admired and partially hated. How could he have such evil in him while still being a good man? Was it possible morality was not so two-sided? Or was it that people can never be wholly good or wholly evil, but a greater percentage of one or the other? Whether they succeeded or not, Tom would be remembered for his good deeds. A humanitarian. His work would be taught in schools for decades, maybe even thousands of years before some future solutions or theories outweighed his own. Felix was not so sure about his fate. Dropping off the face of the planet tends to make you look bad. Failure would too. But success? Would that clear his name? Would others see behind the façade he planted for himself? Or was it already too late? Had he just blindly jumped after some unattainable goal with hopes of changing the world next to a man who already had?

“Get some sleep. You’ll get it eventually.”