Tuesday, January 22, 2013

A Short-Short: TV


                                                            Crunch.

I sat at the kitchen counter mindlessly chewing my Fruit Loops, staring at the TV across the room.   On the screen, a pretty woman holding a microphone was standing next to a balding, less-than-attractive man with a scarf wrapped around his face.  Have…listened…band…performance…?  The crunching of my cereal interrupted the woman’s question.  The balding man must have said something funny in reply for the woman tossed her long curls back with a laugh, but between the scarf covering his mouth and my chewing, I would never know what.  The top of his head was glowing red with the cold.  Shouldn’t he be wearing a hat rather than a scarf?  I kept eating my Fruit Loops.  Crunch.
                I examined the rainbow colored rings floating in the now slightly green colored milk, watching them swirl and change course with every movement of my spoon.  Knocking into each other like bumper cars.  I felt a presence step in front of me and I slowly raised my gaze, putting another spoonful into my mouth.  My mother stood with her arms crossed and a raised eyebrow.  She opened her mouth to speak and I started chewing. 
                “Do…time…today…you…can’t…late!...hear…talking…me?”  I stared at the freckle on her collarbone and crunched crunched crunched as she yelled.  She slapped the countertop with her palm to get my attention.  I stared at the freckle, pushed my hair back behind my ear, and took another bite of cereal.  Crunch.  She stood there looking at me for a few seconds before walking away, knowing it was pointless. 
                The screen had changed to a young man pointing at a map of the country and its current weather conditions.  I could see sweat stains when he raised his arms to demonstrate a wind pattern.  But this one had all his hair.  I raised another spoonful to my mouth.  Crunch

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