Page 5 (1/2)

But it h every time because I don’t wear any of that name-brand crap, don’t play or follow popular sports at all, and wouldn’t be found dead wearing our shitty school mascot I’m not a follower Not a joiner I’s up symbols, I can watch the others squir like a dae, so to speak

My classmates are all repressedto be a workaday To person I can find--and then I’ll get off at whatever stop the target does and follow

Ninety-nine percent of the tiet doesn’t even noticefive or so feet behind, and the target will alalk really quickly because the target is forever late and in a rush to get to a job the target inevitably hates, which I just don’t get19

The whole time I pretend I have mental telepathy And with et, "Don’t do it Don’t go to that job you hate Do so you love today Ride a roller coaster Swiet on the next flight to anywhere just for the fun of it Maybe stop a spinning globe with your finger and then plan a trip to that very spot; even if it’s in the o by boat Eat some type of ethnic food you’ve never even heard of Stop a stranger and ask her to explain her greatest fears and her secret hopes and aspirations in detail and then tell her you care because she is a hu Sit down on the sidewalk and make pictures with colorful chalk Close your eyes and try to see the world with your nose--allow smells to be your vision Catch up on your sleep Call an old friend you haven’t seen in years Roll up your pant legs and walk into the sea See a foreign fil! Because you start a revolution one decision at a tio back to that o every day Show me it’s possible to be an adult and also be happy Please This is a free country You don’t have to keep doing this if you don’t want to You can do anything you want Be anyone you want That’s what they tell us at school, but if you keep getting on that train and going to the place you hate I’ the people at school are liars like the Nazis who told the Jews they were just being relocated to work factories Don’t do that to us Tell us the truth If adulthood is working some death-ca your secretly cri stressed andhe’s a hero when he’s really a lousy person and anyone can tell that just by shaking his sliht now Just tellfate Please"

I’ll do the et cliates skyscraper shadows and finally disappears inside a building that usually has a security guard to keep crazy people like o to the nearest park, sit with the pigeons, and stare at clouds until my workday is over and it’s time to ride home with all the other weary workaday Toms and Jennys, who look even more miserable on the pm return trip

The rides home always deepen my depression, because these people are free--off work, headed back to families they chose and made themselves--and yet they still don’t look happy

I alonder if that’s what Linda looks like riding home from New York City in a car--so utterly miserable, zombie-faced, cheated

Does she look like the mother of a monster?

TEN

I’ve taken dozens of practice-adulthood days, followed so many suits, but only once did anyone notice lasses on the train, even though round I could see herdown her cheek, but she was really beautiful otherwise Like, I was sort of attracted to her

Long, bright blond hair

Red lipstick

Black stockings

Gray pinstriped skirt suit

You could tell that she was an authority figure just by the way she sat and dared anyone to say anything about the runnyand it definitely said, "Don’t fuck with ardless, on that day, this woman was by far the most miserable person on the train You could tell she was upset, but it also looked like she’d rip your face off if you said anything to her

All the other adults pretended not to notice, which seeot off at her stop and followed

I re on the concrete like cap guns firing

She walked up the escalator; I did too, trying hard to keep up

When we cleared the turnstile I started the o to that job you hate Go skydiving Buy a star on the Internet Adopt a cat" And I continued with my routine for a city block or so She turned into a back alley, and ere halfway down it, she spun around tornadolike and pointed a can ofrade stuff too Illegal in the United States I squeeze this trigger and you won’t be able to see for o blind"

I didn’t knohat to say, so I put my hands up in the air, like I’d seen criminals do in the art-type guy points a gun and says, "Reach for the sky"

It surprised her, and she took a step back, but she didn’t spray me

"How old are you?" she said

I said, "I’m seventeen"

"What’s your name?"

"Leonard Peacock"

"That’s a fake name if I ever heard one"

I said, "I can show you my school ID"

She said, "Let’s see it, but real slow If you try anything funny, I’ll shoot you in the cornea"

I lowered my hands super slo-mo and said, "It’s in my pocket May I reach into my jacket?"

She nodded, so I produced lanced at my name, and said, "Well, I’ll be damned You really are Leonard Peacock What a stupid naer twitch and I thought I was about to get maced, but instead she putme, really? Did so like that at all"