Friday, June 26, 2020

Dignity - a flash fiction

Warren took a bite of his apple, and decided he hated the sourness. It was too much, too early for such a tartness that he decided that he would toss the rest of the apple, mostly untarnished by his teeth, into the garbage. But, when he arrived at the can he saw that it was overflowing with trash. Nearly-empty bags of microwave popcorn sat atop the mess, several of them, filled with nothing but solid kernels. He pushed down on the top of the pile and hoped it would succumb and sink further into the can liner, but it did not, not completely, and one of the brown bags that held kernels rolled off the top and onto the floor. Warren did not want to change the garbage, and he did not want to pick up the bag, so he sat his once-bitten apple and placed it on the marble counter top.

His boyfriend Randall entered the house about a quarter to eight that afternoon with a paper bag full of groceries resting on his arm. He was environmentally conscious and had watched one too many news articles about the amount of plastic in the worlds oceans. Though he lived nowhere near an ocean, he'd be damned if he were going to be responsible for contributing, even potentially to the problem of the plastic menace. He saw the apple browning on the counter top, and waited to place his bags down before he called for Warren. He'd kept his eyes on the apple, craning his neck so that he could keep his eyes on it, to make sure it wasn't a figment of his imagination. He started unloading the bags, and called for Warren again.

Warren had been napping. He dragged his feet dramatically across the laminate floors and yawned. He asked Randall what the fuss was about, why had he been shouting for him with such obnoxious ferocity. Randall huffed and gestured to the apple on the counter. Warren shrugged and pointed halfheartedly to the trash can. He informed his boyfriend that the trash can was overflowing and that he didn't want to change it. It wasn't his job.

Randall rolled his eyes. He leaned down and picked up the abandoned popcorn back and placed it back on top of the pile, and he pushed the trash down as best he could. But, just as with Warren the trash pile did not give to the pressure. Randall let Warren know that if they continued to pile trash on top of the can it was going to continue to be a problem. Warren seemed disinterested, and was in fact extremely not-interested in the conversation, he said as much and turned around, taking the steps toward his room, to show his intent that he was ready for napping.

Randall gasped and when Warren turned around, Randall mumbled heatedly under his breath as he attempted to extract the liner from the can. It was no use. The bag was stuffed far too full, and the can was caught up with it, raising into the air. The popcorn bags jostled around and one by one fell off, and the kernels escaped and scattered all about the kitchen floor. Randall did not give up.

Warren was the one to then roll his eyes. He approached his boyfriend, and attempted to help him free the trash, as trash exorcised itself from its can and fell about the floor. Now, with the kernels were a banana peel, and a can of tuna fish, residue of water from the can splashed out as it clanked against the floor. Randall pushed Warren away and Warren stumbled back and fell upon his ass.

Warren began to profess his guilt, he announced his desperation at attempting to help, he apologized hard. Tears swelled up in his eyes. He didn't fully understand how Randall could put so much blame upon him when he was home, with depression, with awful feelings swarming about in his brains.

Randall filled with rage picked up the once-bitten apple, and chucked it hard, launching it with such ferocity, that the velocity knocked Warren clean off his ass and onto his back when it connected against his forehead. Randall pulled the trash bag out and emptied all over the kitchen spaces. All over the laminate floors, and when the bag was more than half empty he took out the bag and tied it tight. He threw it at Warrens feet.

Randall produced his car keys out of his pocket as he opened the door and walked out.

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