Gaps & LINKS

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“Yes! Take your car! That’s what it’s for!

Put your hat on and get out of here!”

Her frustration and discontent,
bubbling up like poison gas.

Later at her creative writing class
she made detailed notes
on the techniques involved in plot construction.
The fourth act return.
Introduction of the heroic subtext.
The magical object in folktale terms.

DAMN!

Her pencil broke.

She went out onto the cold balcony
for an illegal smoke. No matches.

DAMN!

Back in class,
in the austere Victorian schoolroom,
the teacher began praising Doug for his grasp of fifth act denouement procedures.

“Oh for Christ-sakes!!!”

Disapproving eyes probed her depths.

“Well I mean. Isn’t this taking automatic positive-ness
just a little too far? We all know Doug couldn’t plot
his way out of an episode of Watch With Mother.?!"

“What?! It’s true isn’t it!?”

Doug. Bowed his head. And actually burst into tears.

“I don’t believe it.”

Quiet condemnation welled around her.

DAMN!

The Administration office wanted to see her.A prematurely gray spinster type was waving her enrollment form. She then explained sweetly and patientlythat the forms had a printing error on page 23 and needed to be re-done.“What?! All of it?! Why not just tippex out the offending bit?”The woman looked gravely offended. If you had suggested having sex with her recently deceased Grandmother, she could not have looked more offended.“Tippex is messy and not entirely accurate. No.I think we will stick with the original plan.”

A sublime noise was issuing from a room at the end of the corridor. She went to look.She was drawn. It was a group of men, with funny beards playing old fashioned instruments.Walking away she was enveloped in sadness.

A tramp buttonholed her on her way to the trainwith a long pathetic story. “ And I suppose youthink you’re the only one in this f***ing worldwith any problems?” Without changing his expression the tramp turned and walked away.

The guard announced that the train would be terminating. Everyone got off. Another train pulledin opposite. Everyone got on. Then the guard announced that this train would be terminating.Everyone got off. The digital info board changed. Everyone got back on the first train. The doors closed.It was about to move off. Then the guard receiveda call on his handset. Moments later he announced that the train would be going back to Fulham.Everyone got off. As they were doing this a train they could have caught on the opposite platform pulled out.Everyone stood silently on the platform.



“Do you think tippex is not entirely accurate?” Her
partner considered. “Yes,” he said.

They sat after dinner reading their novels. Somewhere
in the block she could hear a child crying.

DAMN


GAPS & LINKS