Just the first draft of a story for class... tell me what ya think!
Chuck Taylor's
Jake and I had been friends for as long as I could remember, growing up in the same foster home, and helping each other through the hard times in life or enjoying the good together. While our lives hadn't always been the easiest in the world, there always seemed to be some way to get through the tough times. Much like most of the time, we were both out of work and had plans for spending the day enjoying the hunt for the elusive creature known as a paycheck.
I awoke earlier than the usual 11am, and well before the alarm even sounded. The night had been largely sleepless, much due to our empty stomachs, and the knowledge that one of us would soon need to find a new source of income to fill that void. As I sat on the roof outside my bedroom window to watch the sun rise, I made a promise to myself that today I would find a job and make things work out.
"Beautiful," I said to no one through a wisp of cigarette smoke.
It was one of those amazing sunrises where there is just enough clouds to give the sky character and dimension. Despite this beacon of hope, little did I know, I wasn't going to come anywhere near meeting the goals I had set forth for that day, nevertheless, it was going to be one of the most important days of my life.
-----------------
The tradition held true with my job hunts, and we strapped on our lucky Chuck Taylor's, but had little direction to go in on where to get started. As usual, we opted for the city as it held the most possibility for all the kids who scraped up from almost nothing to get just slightly more than that.
"Hey Max, where are we off to first?" he immediately questioned as we began our walk in the city.
"I'm not sure man, I was thinking that we'd make our way to the mall first and see where that lead us," I responded, knowing that it wasn't really the most productive way of going about things, but sounded just as good as any other suggestion.
We headed out down toward the mall, with an optimistic mindset; ready to actually take charge of the day. There was the familiar smell of the streets, and feeling of commerce along the way. It really felt like home, and was all we had known for the past several years. The initial applications to get us going were turned into a few places that we knew there was little to no chance at, but we applied anyway as a way to get the ball rolling, so to speak. It wasn't until our break for lunch that we decided to give it a shot at some of the places that were more up our alley. The first stop was just a few blocks down, and we headed that direction immediately upon gobbling down the rest of our meager street vendor hot dogs.
At the third stop on the list of places that were somewhat optimistic, we parted ways because I had no interest in the yuppie coffee shop he was applying to. That decision would become the beginning of the end of our long-time friendship.
------------------
After a little time had past, and people watching in the park around the corner became interesting no longer, I decided to check on Jake's progress. Upon peering into the window of the caf, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Inside, there wasn't any sign of him either until I got around toward the back. I found him there interviewing with a young woman worthy of one of Da Vinci or Warhol's works with her strange beauty.
I sat down near them, catching small bits of their conversation. It was slowly becoming apparent that this was not an interview as I had thought.
"So what do you like to do in your free time?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing entirely interesting to describe: just wandering the streets and people watching," he replied. Jake had always had a way with words.
"Yeah, I definitely can relate to that. I love to observe the world," she said.
At that point I had heard enough and needed to visit the restroom anyway. I tapped him on the shoulder and motioned to the bathroom. He waved at me as if brushing off a fly near his ear, signaling that he understood.
When I came back, they were no longer at the table with their coffee, but were lingering at the door. I tried to catch up with them to see if our job search was going to continue, but they kept moving away. I just caught a few snippets of their conversation, getting the gist that they were talking of their childhoods, and going to be talking for a while.
"Yeah, I didn't have any sort of ideal or normal childhood. There were some more normal aspects to it though," Jake was telling her. "I definitely had a few of those childhood 'security' aspects."
"How do you mean?" she asked, falling into his charm.
"Well, there was definitely the baby blanket part," he said as a glint of a smile appeared on her lips.
I had almost caught back up to them at this point.
"What else?" she asked.
"I had an imaginary friend too," he continued.
"Oh yeah?" she asked, excitedly. "Tell me more about this friend!"
"Well, he was my best friend. We had the exact same Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars."
I was just out of reach, but didn't want to shout out to him just yet.
"Did he have a name?"
"Yeah, his name was Max," Jake said as I stopped dead and faded back into the crowd.
End.
-Drew
Chuck Taylor's
Jake and I had been friends for as long as I could remember, growing up in the same foster home, and helping each other through the hard times in life or enjoying the good together. While our lives hadn't always been the easiest in the world, there always seemed to be some way to get through the tough times. Much like most of the time, we were both out of work and had plans for spending the day enjoying the hunt for the elusive creature known as a paycheck.
I awoke earlier than the usual 11am, and well before the alarm even sounded. The night had been largely sleepless, much due to our empty stomachs, and the knowledge that one of us would soon need to find a new source of income to fill that void. As I sat on the roof outside my bedroom window to watch the sun rise, I made a promise to myself that today I would find a job and make things work out.
"Beautiful," I said to no one through a wisp of cigarette smoke.
It was one of those amazing sunrises where there is just enough clouds to give the sky character and dimension. Despite this beacon of hope, little did I know, I wasn't going to come anywhere near meeting the goals I had set forth for that day, nevertheless, it was going to be one of the most important days of my life.
-----------------
The tradition held true with my job hunts, and we strapped on our lucky Chuck Taylor's, but had little direction to go in on where to get started. As usual, we opted for the city as it held the most possibility for all the kids who scraped up from almost nothing to get just slightly more than that.
"Hey Max, where are we off to first?" he immediately questioned as we began our walk in the city.
"I'm not sure man, I was thinking that we'd make our way to the mall first and see where that lead us," I responded, knowing that it wasn't really the most productive way of going about things, but sounded just as good as any other suggestion.
We headed out down toward the mall, with an optimistic mindset; ready to actually take charge of the day. There was the familiar smell of the streets, and feeling of commerce along the way. It really felt like home, and was all we had known for the past several years. The initial applications to get us going were turned into a few places that we knew there was little to no chance at, but we applied anyway as a way to get the ball rolling, so to speak. It wasn't until our break for lunch that we decided to give it a shot at some of the places that were more up our alley. The first stop was just a few blocks down, and we headed that direction immediately upon gobbling down the rest of our meager street vendor hot dogs.
At the third stop on the list of places that were somewhat optimistic, we parted ways because I had no interest in the yuppie coffee shop he was applying to. That decision would become the beginning of the end of our long-time friendship.
------------------
After a little time had past, and people watching in the park around the corner became interesting no longer, I decided to check on Jake's progress. Upon peering into the window of the caf, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Inside, there wasn't any sign of him either until I got around toward the back. I found him there interviewing with a young woman worthy of one of Da Vinci or Warhol's works with her strange beauty.
I sat down near them, catching small bits of their conversation. It was slowly becoming apparent that this was not an interview as I had thought.
"So what do you like to do in your free time?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing entirely interesting to describe: just wandering the streets and people watching," he replied. Jake had always had a way with words.
"Yeah, I definitely can relate to that. I love to observe the world," she said.
At that point I had heard enough and needed to visit the restroom anyway. I tapped him on the shoulder and motioned to the bathroom. He waved at me as if brushing off a fly near his ear, signaling that he understood.
When I came back, they were no longer at the table with their coffee, but were lingering at the door. I tried to catch up with them to see if our job search was going to continue, but they kept moving away. I just caught a few snippets of their conversation, getting the gist that they were talking of their childhoods, and going to be talking for a while.
"Yeah, I didn't have any sort of ideal or normal childhood. There were some more normal aspects to it though," Jake was telling her. "I definitely had a few of those childhood 'security' aspects."
"How do you mean?" she asked, falling into his charm.
"Well, there was definitely the baby blanket part," he said as a glint of a smile appeared on her lips.
I had almost caught back up to them at this point.
"What else?" she asked.
"I had an imaginary friend too," he continued.
"Oh yeah?" she asked, excitedly. "Tell me more about this friend!"
"Well, he was my best friend. We had the exact same Chuck Taylor Converse All-Stars."
I was just out of reach, but didn't want to shout out to him just yet.
"Did he have a name?"
"Yeah, his name was Max," Jake said as I stopped dead and faded back into the crowd.
End.
-Drew