*Magnify*
SPONSORED LINKS
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1822696-Junkyard-blues
Printer Friendly Page Tell A Friend
No ratings.
Rated: 18+ · Short Story · Dark · #1822696
human interaction for someone who never was one to shine
A young man took his car to the junkyard and asked the bearded old man at the counter how much they would give him for his broken down car. The old man at the counter said "two hundred dollars," but first it was company policy that before the accepted the vehicle that the young man would have to drain the oil out of the engine of the car. Although the young man thought this was a very low offer, he went outside and walked down the road to the nearest car parts store to buy a wrench to drain the oil from his engine. When he was done draining the oil he walked back into the office to tell the old man that he was done draining the oil. The old man told him that the business was low on funds and that they could only really offer him one hundred and seventy five dollars for the car. The young man did not like this but he needed to get rid of the car and even more so he needed the money. Before the old man gave him the money he told the young man that although he was sorry that he had forgotten to mention it before but it was company policy that the transmission and radiator fluid be drained from the car as well. The young man walked out of the office and down the road to the nearest car parts store to buy the wrench he needed for the task. After draining the fluids the old man gave him the money and he left.
A week later the young man returned to look for a used part he needed for his new car. While in the yard he witnessed to old man give another old man three hundred dollars for the same car as the young man had traded in without making him drain any of the fluids from his car. When the young man confronted the old man on the matter the old man told him to go fuck himself, chuckling all the while. So the young man went home and later that night drove to the old mans house and burnt it to the ground killing the old mans entire family while the old man was the only one to escape the fire he knelt in the front yard in front of the young man. His gray beard flailing in the wind the young man grabbed it and like the wrings on inside of a tree he could feel and see the years of this mans life through the shade and roughness of his beard. The old an shouted WHY! WHY would you do this to me over such a small matter. The young man replied.
"Old man, we all survive know that we are somewhat crazy, we just put our heads down and hope that we will burn out or die in a quick manner, but there is also an aspect to us that wants to stay around and muddle in this vast space and hope to uncover or overturn and a pile of trash only to see a gem underneath, an answer to all our lifelong questions, the glory of that extreme fulfillment is what burns inside us all, and you sir are one cog in the side of making that existence take longer and longer making the days go slow with no fulfillment and for that sir you can go fuck yourself."
© Copyright 2011 Peter Arcapelago (sortofsordid at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates have been granted non-exclusive rights to display this work.
Printed from https://www.writing.com/main/view_item/item_id/1822696-Junkyard-blues