typeracer

On the way to the bus stop, Bill saw somebody he recognized walking towards him, but he couldn't remember his name. He began to think of things to say when they'd be close enough to acknowledge each other. As they drew nearer, their eyes locked, uncertain if the other was gonna stop to talk. The person greeted Bill as Bill mixed up the phrases "What's up" with "How's it going?" Confused, the person blurted out "Thanks" before he knew what he was saying. Words caught in Bill's throat and he replied, "Weh." They did a sort of awkward half turn, and then continued on now confident that the other was not gonna stop to talk. They never saw each other again, and a day later had each forgotten the whole thing. Later that night Bill sat down and put on a big sweater, but it only made him sleepy. In the supermarket, Bill was always very careful to select fruit from only the back of the produce piles, as the fruit in the front was at crotch level to the other customers. An old man who smelled of gasoline held up an onion and said, "Big onion," to no one in particular. He smiled at Bill and Bill looked at his socks. At the checkout counter, Bill found himself behind a big guy whose T-shirt read, "Second Place is the First Loser." The checkout girl said, "How are you doing today?" Bill said, "Fine, thanks, how are you?" She didn't answer. Bill felt used. As he waited for his next bus, Bill stared at a torn shopping bag that was blowing in the wind on the end of a broken pole and anxiously sucked blood out of a sore in the corner of his mouth. Bill dropped his keys on the counter and stood there staring at them, suddenly thinking about all the times he'd thrown his keys there before, and how many days of his life were wasted repeating the same tasks and rituals in his apartment over and over again. But then he wondered if, realistically, this was his life, and the unusual part was his time spent doing other things. Bill sat down and read a celebrity interview. Then he watched the ants crawl around in his sink. That night, Bill dreamt of a monstrous fish head that fed upon his skull. In the morning, Bill felt really tired even though he'd just been sleeping. His calendar had a photo of a manatee on it for the month. It always seemed as though the manatee was staring at him. Bill sat in the living room with a giant box of crackers. He thought some food might help him get going, but felt kind of strange eating in front of the television without having it on. Pretty soon he was watching a boxing match on a Mexican channel. He'd been watching a lot of boxing lately, but didn't really know why. In the fourth round, there was an accidental headbutt that split open one of the fighter's heads pretty badly. They showed it over and over again in slow motion. Before he knew it, Bill had eaten the entire box of crackers. He felt really lousy and didn't want to get up. He had a sudden urge to talk to somebody, so Bill phoned his ex-girlfriend and told her about the manatee on his calendar. "Did you ever see the movie about the giant manatee that attacked a city?" She asked. "I think you mean giant mantis," said Bill. "Oh yeah," she said, "giant mantis."