Ketchup n Mustard
I'll have some fries with that
- 16
- Posts
- 18
- Years
- Age 31
- Seen May 25, 2007
I've been working on this for about a week now, and I have a first chapter. The names have all been changed, of course, but the Samuel character is based roughly off of myself, and other characters based off of my friends and people I know. So I guess this is a semi-fictional autobiography. C + C appreciated.
Chapter 1
As Samuel listened to the footsteps of the rain on the car roof, he thought of how cold it would be when he would have to wait for the train to take him to school. He thought it was funny that when he was a younger boy, he loved the rain, he would stand outside for hours just to see how wet he could get. It was such an exhilarating feeling, but now the rain just filled Samuel with a sense of dread. How foolish he had been as a child.
Samuel waited patiently as his mother lured the cat back into the house with a high-pitched whistle so it would not get wet. This attempt was in vain because the cat had no desire to leave its safe hiding spot under the car and run for a safer and warmer place. Maybe the cat just forgot what it was missing and honestly did not care. It would care, Samuel thought, when Mom threatened to run him over as she turned on the car's ignition.
When she realized the cat, Opey, was not going anywhere, she went back over to the car, turned it on, and then went back to the house door and closed after a terrified cat ran inside. If only the cat had any brains, this process would go much more quickly.
"Please get back into the house." Mom would say.
"Yes, Master." Opey would say as he walked calmly inside the house.
"Thank you," Mom would say, "Your such an obedient cat."
"Oh, it is no trouble at all," Opey would say, "I live to please." And Mom would shut the door quietly behind him.
Cats are so stupid.
Mom got into the car and backed it up down the long driveway, slowly as not to run over her pain-stakingly, well-kept garden. It was 6:54, that meant they needed to get to the train station in ten minuets before it left, eight just to be sure.
It was a quiet drive to the station, not because their was any tension in the air, just because there wasn't anything to talk about, but if there was anything to talk about Samuel probably wouldn't start a conversation. His mother seemed pretty understanding about it though, Samuel turned 13 a while ago, and she assumed that was normal behavior.
Samuel was pretty off an on with normal behavior though, the two of them could talk for hours some of the time, and other times he just would not have it. It was strange, but then again, a lot of people had changes of mood now again.
He glanced at the digital clock on the cars dashboard, making sure that they weren't going too slow so he could alert his mom if the need arose. They were making good time though, unlike the day before where Samuel had to sprint across a busy street to make it to the train in time.
At 6:59, they pulled up to the station. Samuel still had a couple of minuets, so he wasn't in any hurry, but he did run under the overhang to shield himself from the rain. He waved goodbye to his mom as she drove off with the flow of the traffic. Samuel was a little jealous, his mom getting to stay inside the nice, warm car for a bit longer.
The boy watched the cars through the rain and his frozen breath and imagined, like he sometimes did, what those people were doing. Samuel knew they were almost certainly going to work, living there lives mechanically, but then he thought about how they got their jobs, where they went to school, maybe collage. Everyone of them grew up, and he marveled for a second on how complex the scene before him was. Hundreds of people, all with uniquely different histories and families, were buzzing about in a great bee hive.
The whistle of the train interrupted his thoughts and he began to think about what he would face as he walked on the train. The train company's colors were blurred together by the rainbow of propaganda shamelessly flaunted on the side of the approaching mass of metal and plastic. Around every major holiday, like Easter, and Valentines Day, the train would get a makeover of childish paintings to partake in the festive season. Right now it was around Easter, so the whole train was covered in colorful eggs, and bunnies walking unnaturally on their hind legs.
As the train came to a complete stop, the hydraulics of the train would sigh as they let the doors open slowly and smoothly. Samuel waited politely for other passengers to exit the train, and then hurriedly entered the train, relieved to be out of the cold rain.
Samuel navigated the people who thought it would be fun to stand in everyone's way just because they could, but he didn't mind it much; Samuel was used to it by now.
His group of friends was always located at the back of the train, talking very loudly about nothing really. It was odd to him though, that Samuel never could seem to talk or participate in the conversation, except for a couple of meaningless comments that everyone just seemed to ignore. It was odd, but Samuel knew the reason for his shy behavior, a girl.
Alex had brown hair down to her shoulders, a pointed nose, and a very mild case of acne. She always, it seemed, carried a black bag that she would sling over her shoulder, presumably to hold her school supplies, though Samuel could not imagine how she could fit everything in there, his massive backpack would dwarf the bag in comparison.
This girl was also the reason Samuel was even coming on the train. For the first half of the school year, he had been driven to school by his mother, but she had gone on a business trip to Chicago and Samuel was left home alone for a week. He had taken the bus to the train station, and the train to the school, this is where he found out Alex, and his best friend Ben, were riding the train. Thankfully, Samuel was able to convince his mom to drop him off at the train station instead of in front of his school.
Ben was probably the only reason people didn't notice his shy behavior, or maybe they did, and just did not say anything. Samuel hoped it was the former. Ben had been his best friend since fifth grade. He had short black hair, which was more like fuzz. Ben was smart, especially in math, which is a stereotype for most Asians. Ben knew this, and laughed about it, though people on the train who did not know us probably thought I was being a little bigoted when I told him he was being a stereotype again, which just meant to us that he was acting really nerdy. Not that I thought that was bad, just the opposite, that's why I liked him so much.
Race was an issue in our school, it was something people noticed, but nobody ever acted racist about it. Everyone made jokes about Whites, Blacks, Asians, and the list goes on, but nobody went beyond it being just a crude joke, because, when you got right down to it, they were funny jokes and nobody wanted to stop. Occasionally people did go overboard though, and were then shunned for a while from the conversation.
When he finally reached the area where everyone was clustered, Samuel found that there wasn't a place to sit, but this was normal and he would actually prefer to stand. More body movement, more expression, standing gave the illusion that he was more involved in the conversation.
Today's topic was on one of the teachers, Mrs. King, and English teacher that for some reason everyone seemed to hate. Apparently she gave out a lot more homework then the other English teachers, and she was stricter to. Samuel had no opinion on Mrs. King; he had had her all year so he had no one to compare her with. Other students had had Mrs. King all year to and they hated her, though Samuel guessed their opinions were slightly warped by others who actually had experience with multiple English teachers. Samuel thought it was funny how malleable the opinions of kids his age were.
"Oh my god, today we have a test on the book we're reading, this is like the second test in a week!" said a girl named Nadine. All Samuel knew about her was that she was really athletic and had a passion for soccer.
"Ha!" Said a boy named Daniel, "Davis hasn't given us a test in like a month!" David was a very likable kid. He had short, black, curly hair and he always seemed to know when to crack a joke, something Samuel envied a bit. Mrs. Davis, the teacher Daniel was talking about, was one of the other English teachers, and she was also an easy A.
The conversation continued for a bit until we got on the topic of vocabulary tests.
"I never study for those," Alex said.
"Me either." Samuel quickly and nervously replied, though maybe it was too quiet because no one seemed to here it. Then he added, "I never study and I always get at least an A minus." It was true, the vocab tests were very easy, at least for Samuel. He already knew a good majority of the words on the test, and the rest he could guess because nouns and verbs could only go in certain places in a sentence. The worst grade he could recall ever getting on a test was a fifteen out of eighteen, and he still didn't worry too much about that.
"Which teacher do you have?" Alex asked.
Samuel was caught off guard for a fraction of a second, then coolly replied, "Mrs. King, why?"
"Do you have the notes for the test on Shakespeare?" For the last month or so Mrs. King's classes had been doing a unit on Shakespeare, and from what Samuel had learned, he was the most boring playwright Samuel had ever read. Maybe it was just because it was so difficult to read, but either way, it was not an enjoyable experience.
"Ya, sure." Samuel said as he carefully crouched down to open his backpack, careful not to fall over because of the movement of the train. He pulled out a heavy binder, bursting with papers and charts from each of his classes. Samuel was not very organized, he could not tell a person where notes were on a specific subject, but he knew. He kept a mental map of the binder, so within seconds he navigated the labyrinth of pages and pulled out a few notes on Shakespeare. Samuel handed them to Alex.
"Thanks," she said, "I'll give them back after I copy them down." Samuel wondered why she hadn't just taken the notes herself, but he still preferred this instead.
Samuel turned his attention to Ben, who amazingly he hadn't said a word to since he got on the train. "I am so tired." Samuel said, trying to make conversation. It was true though, he hadn't gotten much sleep last night and it was still only ten past seven in the morning.
"Ya, right." Ben replied, "Did your mom make you stay up 'till eleven o'clock studying for math counts?" Math Counts was a nation wide math contest, and Ben had made it into state this year.
"No, I don't have an abusive mom who makes me do math whenever I'm awake." That statement was half true actually, Ben's mom did make him study math a lot, Samuel had been over to his house many times before and had seen the piles of math books and worksheets that were strewn across his house. Ben could have gone into Intermediate Algebra if he had wanted to, but didn't for some reason. Samuel was sure it was only because his mom did not know he could.
The truth was that Samuel envied Ben for his skill at math. He knew it wouldn't be fun to study math all day, but still he wanted to know how to do some of the complex equations that Ben did casually. Samuel never said this out loud, of course.
The train ride lasted another five minuets or so. When they got off at the very last stop Alex handed Samuel back his notes, thanked him, and went on her way with some of her friends. Samuel knew this would be a good day.
Chapter 1
As Samuel listened to the footsteps of the rain on the car roof, he thought of how cold it would be when he would have to wait for the train to take him to school. He thought it was funny that when he was a younger boy, he loved the rain, he would stand outside for hours just to see how wet he could get. It was such an exhilarating feeling, but now the rain just filled Samuel with a sense of dread. How foolish he had been as a child.
Samuel waited patiently as his mother lured the cat back into the house with a high-pitched whistle so it would not get wet. This attempt was in vain because the cat had no desire to leave its safe hiding spot under the car and run for a safer and warmer place. Maybe the cat just forgot what it was missing and honestly did not care. It would care, Samuel thought, when Mom threatened to run him over as she turned on the car's ignition.
When she realized the cat, Opey, was not going anywhere, she went back over to the car, turned it on, and then went back to the house door and closed after a terrified cat ran inside. If only the cat had any brains, this process would go much more quickly.
"Please get back into the house." Mom would say.
"Yes, Master." Opey would say as he walked calmly inside the house.
"Thank you," Mom would say, "Your such an obedient cat."
"Oh, it is no trouble at all," Opey would say, "I live to please." And Mom would shut the door quietly behind him.
Cats are so stupid.
Mom got into the car and backed it up down the long driveway, slowly as not to run over her pain-stakingly, well-kept garden. It was 6:54, that meant they needed to get to the train station in ten minuets before it left, eight just to be sure.
It was a quiet drive to the station, not because their was any tension in the air, just because there wasn't anything to talk about, but if there was anything to talk about Samuel probably wouldn't start a conversation. His mother seemed pretty understanding about it though, Samuel turned 13 a while ago, and she assumed that was normal behavior.
Samuel was pretty off an on with normal behavior though, the two of them could talk for hours some of the time, and other times he just would not have it. It was strange, but then again, a lot of people had changes of mood now again.
He glanced at the digital clock on the cars dashboard, making sure that they weren't going too slow so he could alert his mom if the need arose. They were making good time though, unlike the day before where Samuel had to sprint across a busy street to make it to the train in time.
At 6:59, they pulled up to the station. Samuel still had a couple of minuets, so he wasn't in any hurry, but he did run under the overhang to shield himself from the rain. He waved goodbye to his mom as she drove off with the flow of the traffic. Samuel was a little jealous, his mom getting to stay inside the nice, warm car for a bit longer.
The boy watched the cars through the rain and his frozen breath and imagined, like he sometimes did, what those people were doing. Samuel knew they were almost certainly going to work, living there lives mechanically, but then he thought about how they got their jobs, where they went to school, maybe collage. Everyone of them grew up, and he marveled for a second on how complex the scene before him was. Hundreds of people, all with uniquely different histories and families, were buzzing about in a great bee hive.
The whistle of the train interrupted his thoughts and he began to think about what he would face as he walked on the train. The train company's colors were blurred together by the rainbow of propaganda shamelessly flaunted on the side of the approaching mass of metal and plastic. Around every major holiday, like Easter, and Valentines Day, the train would get a makeover of childish paintings to partake in the festive season. Right now it was around Easter, so the whole train was covered in colorful eggs, and bunnies walking unnaturally on their hind legs.
As the train came to a complete stop, the hydraulics of the train would sigh as they let the doors open slowly and smoothly. Samuel waited politely for other passengers to exit the train, and then hurriedly entered the train, relieved to be out of the cold rain.
Samuel navigated the people who thought it would be fun to stand in everyone's way just because they could, but he didn't mind it much; Samuel was used to it by now.
His group of friends was always located at the back of the train, talking very loudly about nothing really. It was odd to him though, that Samuel never could seem to talk or participate in the conversation, except for a couple of meaningless comments that everyone just seemed to ignore. It was odd, but Samuel knew the reason for his shy behavior, a girl.
Alex had brown hair down to her shoulders, a pointed nose, and a very mild case of acne. She always, it seemed, carried a black bag that she would sling over her shoulder, presumably to hold her school supplies, though Samuel could not imagine how she could fit everything in there, his massive backpack would dwarf the bag in comparison.
This girl was also the reason Samuel was even coming on the train. For the first half of the school year, he had been driven to school by his mother, but she had gone on a business trip to Chicago and Samuel was left home alone for a week. He had taken the bus to the train station, and the train to the school, this is where he found out Alex, and his best friend Ben, were riding the train. Thankfully, Samuel was able to convince his mom to drop him off at the train station instead of in front of his school.
Ben was probably the only reason people didn't notice his shy behavior, or maybe they did, and just did not say anything. Samuel hoped it was the former. Ben had been his best friend since fifth grade. He had short black hair, which was more like fuzz. Ben was smart, especially in math, which is a stereotype for most Asians. Ben knew this, and laughed about it, though people on the train who did not know us probably thought I was being a little bigoted when I told him he was being a stereotype again, which just meant to us that he was acting really nerdy. Not that I thought that was bad, just the opposite, that's why I liked him so much.
Race was an issue in our school, it was something people noticed, but nobody ever acted racist about it. Everyone made jokes about Whites, Blacks, Asians, and the list goes on, but nobody went beyond it being just a crude joke, because, when you got right down to it, they were funny jokes and nobody wanted to stop. Occasionally people did go overboard though, and were then shunned for a while from the conversation.
When he finally reached the area where everyone was clustered, Samuel found that there wasn't a place to sit, but this was normal and he would actually prefer to stand. More body movement, more expression, standing gave the illusion that he was more involved in the conversation.
Today's topic was on one of the teachers, Mrs. King, and English teacher that for some reason everyone seemed to hate. Apparently she gave out a lot more homework then the other English teachers, and she was stricter to. Samuel had no opinion on Mrs. King; he had had her all year so he had no one to compare her with. Other students had had Mrs. King all year to and they hated her, though Samuel guessed their opinions were slightly warped by others who actually had experience with multiple English teachers. Samuel thought it was funny how malleable the opinions of kids his age were.
"Oh my god, today we have a test on the book we're reading, this is like the second test in a week!" said a girl named Nadine. All Samuel knew about her was that she was really athletic and had a passion for soccer.
"Ha!" Said a boy named Daniel, "Davis hasn't given us a test in like a month!" David was a very likable kid. He had short, black, curly hair and he always seemed to know when to crack a joke, something Samuel envied a bit. Mrs. Davis, the teacher Daniel was talking about, was one of the other English teachers, and she was also an easy A.
The conversation continued for a bit until we got on the topic of vocabulary tests.
"I never study for those," Alex said.
"Me either." Samuel quickly and nervously replied, though maybe it was too quiet because no one seemed to here it. Then he added, "I never study and I always get at least an A minus." It was true, the vocab tests were very easy, at least for Samuel. He already knew a good majority of the words on the test, and the rest he could guess because nouns and verbs could only go in certain places in a sentence. The worst grade he could recall ever getting on a test was a fifteen out of eighteen, and he still didn't worry too much about that.
"Which teacher do you have?" Alex asked.
Samuel was caught off guard for a fraction of a second, then coolly replied, "Mrs. King, why?"
"Do you have the notes for the test on Shakespeare?" For the last month or so Mrs. King's classes had been doing a unit on Shakespeare, and from what Samuel had learned, he was the most boring playwright Samuel had ever read. Maybe it was just because it was so difficult to read, but either way, it was not an enjoyable experience.
"Ya, sure." Samuel said as he carefully crouched down to open his backpack, careful not to fall over because of the movement of the train. He pulled out a heavy binder, bursting with papers and charts from each of his classes. Samuel was not very organized, he could not tell a person where notes were on a specific subject, but he knew. He kept a mental map of the binder, so within seconds he navigated the labyrinth of pages and pulled out a few notes on Shakespeare. Samuel handed them to Alex.
"Thanks," she said, "I'll give them back after I copy them down." Samuel wondered why she hadn't just taken the notes herself, but he still preferred this instead.
Samuel turned his attention to Ben, who amazingly he hadn't said a word to since he got on the train. "I am so tired." Samuel said, trying to make conversation. It was true though, he hadn't gotten much sleep last night and it was still only ten past seven in the morning.
"Ya, right." Ben replied, "Did your mom make you stay up 'till eleven o'clock studying for math counts?" Math Counts was a nation wide math contest, and Ben had made it into state this year.
"No, I don't have an abusive mom who makes me do math whenever I'm awake." That statement was half true actually, Ben's mom did make him study math a lot, Samuel had been over to his house many times before and had seen the piles of math books and worksheets that were strewn across his house. Ben could have gone into Intermediate Algebra if he had wanted to, but didn't for some reason. Samuel was sure it was only because his mom did not know he could.
The truth was that Samuel envied Ben for his skill at math. He knew it wouldn't be fun to study math all day, but still he wanted to know how to do some of the complex equations that Ben did casually. Samuel never said this out loud, of course.
The train ride lasted another five minuets or so. When they got off at the very last stop Alex handed Samuel back his notes, thanked him, and went on her way with some of her friends. Samuel knew this would be a good day.