Patreon or PayPal Me keeps this site and its author alive. Thank you. |
Stories from the Verse
Re Verse All
Chapter 131: Hastings 225
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Beam 107
As they were eating dinner, another delivery arrived.
“Dessert?” Lauren asked.
Tommy laughed lightly. “Hardly.” She unloaded six tall thin cans from the cart and sent it on its way.
“So, what’s that?”
“Spray paint.”
Feeling silly, Lauren said, “I know that. What’s it for? Do you have something you need to paint?”
“Well, sort of, I guess.”
Lauren waited, and then Tommy continued. “It’s this whole drab world that needs some color.”
“I didn’t know you were artistic.”
“I’m not. I figure even bad art is better than none.”
“You’re not going to cover much of the world with half a dozen cans of paint.”
“No, but I’ll make a start. And who knows? Maybe I’ll inspire other cave painters. It struck me that there’s no graffiti out there, and graffiti would at least be something to see. I mean, it’s all the same to the point that if we were walking in circles I wouldn’t know it, and while I’m sure we’re not walking in circles, I thought the walk would be much more pleasant if the walls were decorated, and even if I can’t enjoy them I can leave them for others to enjoy.”
Lauren shrugged. “I guess. Hadn’t thought of it.”
Indeed it struck Lauren that she hadn’t thought of it. Her travel was purposeful, and her only interest had been in their destination and the provision of needs along the way. Of course, Tommy was right--nothing to see here. Lauren could remember being places where the world was worth noticing. How much Tommy could add with a bit of graffiti she couldn’t guess, but as she said, something was better than nothing.
The next morning Tommy was already out in the common area, and had spray-painted several orderly splashes on the walls. One looked like a sunrise, another a spiral. Most of them were obviously experiments that hadn’t quite worked right, or at least Lauren couldn’t tell what they were intended to be. As she watched, the girl rather cleverly took one can in each hand and made two overlapping capital “T”s, the left one a bit above the right. She looked at this, and then nodded as if pleased with her work.
Lauren waited a moment, not wanting to interrupt. Then she said, “Are you ready?”
Turning around, Tommy said, “Oh, good. I ordered breakfast sandwiches. As soon as you’ve eaten and packed we can go.”
Lauren didn’t remember her young companion being quite so eager to begin the day’s trek. This graffiti idea seemed to have sparked something in her.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with five other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #403: Versers Innovating. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
