One day I noticed that French wasn't at school. He missed math and he was nowhere to be seen at lunch. I thought he was skipping. This was well before cells n'such so I small-town-walked over to his house and, sure enough, he was in his shed.
He let me in, but was a bit pissed off. French made it clear that I shouldn't bother him. French laid down the rules: I could stay and skip with him, but I had to read a book. I laughed, (I was skipping English class) but he wasn't kidding. Bruce Fish had found a large box of old books that had been thrown to the curb. Bruce Fish had only kept one book: The Old Man and the Sea. French had unpacked the rest and set them up on a shelf made of milk crates, cinder blocks, and a coupla planks.
He was reading a huge book called Crime and Punishment. I wasn't feeling that ambitious so I reluctantly picked one based on its thinness: Metamorphosis by some dude named Kafka. I started to read the first page and said: "holy shit the guy turned into an 'effin bug". French looked up from his cot and put his finger to his lips and shushed me.
I finished that novel that afternoon.
7 comments:
That first line of Metamorphosis certainly grab one's attention. To not go on reading is an exercise in futility.
I've got to tell you, Ollie, I'm loving your writing more and more.
According to William S. Burroughs, Kafka highs are the best. And since Bill was probably an expert on such things, I'm inclined to agree with him.
Three amazing books in the pile, Kafka is reading that will change people, not into bugs, but definitely into something they never thought they could become.
Great writing, Ollie. =)
Kiss you.
I bet he learned more from those books than he would have learned at school.
French reminds me of Japhy. Books in milk crates. "Old Man and the Sea" has been a Bible to me.
Beautiful picture
and once ya start reading that kind of stuff you'll go blind.
i laugh.
Great story.
~robert
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