Death Co Re-Write II (1)

I decide rather than posting everything from this year's NanoWriMo that I would just post some of my favorite excerpts. Here is the beginning of Part II, introducing a new character named Joe. I'm at about 16,000 words and counting!

1. Objection

     Joe was a teacher, a contentious objector, and fond of tie-dye. In the decade of the sixties he had felt quite at home, but as time passed on, he began to feel stuck in a world that was moving on without him. The youth were no longer the movers and shakers of America, but were instead complacent with a system that had become bogged down with greed. In his English classes at the community college he attempted to instill in students the values of education and revolution, but the biggest revolution he ever stirred was five students who dropped his class.

     Letters came from parents stating that he deviated from the subject matter of English too often and should have been replaced. In a board hearing about this subject, Joe simply said that all language is English and has a lesson to be learned. The board did not share his sentiment on the subject and had him suspended without pay. This did not bother Joe, as he had lived a meager lifestyle, and even on a teacher’s salary, had accumulated a modest assortment of what could be considered as wealth.

     All in all things were not that bad for Joe. Throughout the world, the human condition continued to deteriorate.  For a span of ten days he owned a television. This experiment had ended the day that he saw the smiling face of a lawyer who had helped release a murderer with no punishment. In a fit of rage he had thrown the TV off of the front porch and left it to rot on his lawn for several days. The malaise that possessed him made it too difficult to clean, and so he just left it as an homage to modern art about materialism.

     It was an odd existence to be sure, but not wholly different from the other specimens who had been educated during the Summer of Love. As it seemed, the very interesting aspect of Joe’s life came after it had ceased to be. Joe’s suspension was set to last two months, at which point he would reappear before the board a “changed man” and resume teaching. This would require groveling, boot licking, and the accepting of flawed cultural norms, but he missed the classroom and was willing to comply.

     Over the two months, Joe had compiled an entire notebook of quotes and sayings to ensure that his meeting would go off without a hitch. Every afternoon he would walk five blocks and cross the bustling 5^th avenue intersection to his favorite coffee shop. Here he would listen to calming music and imagine that in some way compliance was the right thing to do, and would help him to change the world in one way or another.

     Whether this was to be the case was unfortunately never seen. On a sunny day in July, listening to the seductive sounds of “Sweet Dissaray” by Dan Croll, Joe stepped into the crosswalk of 5^th avenue. The white walk symbol illuminated and he closed his eyes, soaking in the summer sun as he walked. From the opposite end of the street, a large truck full of questionably effective pharmaceuticals, driven by a beefy lump of a man imbued with the powers of alcohol and said pharmaceuticals, sped through the red light. The grill collided with Joe in spectacular form, sending him cartwheeling through the air, and straight through the windshield of a staunch republican from lower New Jersey.

     He thought Well isn’t this interesting, and then died on impact…