"do it, bill." "i'm not sure i want to" ""you have to." "i'm not ready yet." "just do it, bill. it's required." "but - " "you have no choice." "oh, all right." "that's better." bill did it. "next!"
"what's your name?" "bob." "what's your number?" "1-3373-7637-6598-6881" "that's a prime number." "so they tell me" "you mean you can't tell yourself?" "not really." "not very bright, are you?" "i guess." "you guess? not really? not much for explicit statements, are you, bob?" "if you say so." "you're a pretty poor excuse for an excuse, did anyone ever tell you that?' "not until you came along. you're a big meanie."
"that's all well and good, bob, but are you ready to do it? are you ready to step up?" "no." "no? just no?" "i was trying to be explicit." "good one. score one for bob." "thank you." "back to square one. seriously, all joking aside, are you ready to do it?" "not really. i would prefer not to." "let there be no misunderstanding here. you are going to do it if we have to sit here all month. but if we have to do that, if we have to sit here for a month or a year, there will be some very annoyed people, only beginning with me. do you understand?" "more or less." "are you ready to do it?" "yes." "good." bob did it. "next!"
"what's your name?" "buck." "what's your number?" "2-4595-3941-7845-3674." "that's a pretty tedious number." "whatever." "i like your attitude, buck. are you ready to do it?" "absolutely. put me in, coach." "all right. did you hear that, stanley? buck is a hero. congratulations, buck, you're our first hero of the day." "let's do it." buck did it. "next!"
"what's your name?" "buddy." "what's your number?"
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7 comments:
incredibly true and sad...
what makes this piece so effective is abstractness (in all senses of the word)...
the process of 'adapting' to the system's norms, eh?
and the unfinished ending... ahhhh...
Heh heh. Jacques Brel has a song that would be a good soundtrack to this, called "Next". Here's Scott Walker's English language version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q_T0jehqpQ&feature=related
hb,
thanks as always. happy to see you can post
dan,
thanks for sharing! your pop-cultural and cross-cultural knowledge never ceases to impress
My pleasure, Timmy!
timmy --- great work on a whole lot of levels..... chilling and absurd, the dilemma and horror of disposable people.... the consequences of yes and no, the power dynamics that make some things just sickening
and you convey all this in these (not so ) innocent mundane exchanges
Hear, hear! Chilling and absurd and a perfect ending.
That was actually really cool.
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