i wonder what charlie is up to.
meticulously counting the loose threads on his sofa while muttering the expiration dates of the items in his refrigerator: four thousand six hundred and five, cheese, may 15 2014, five weeks three days four hours and eleven minutes
four thousand six hundred and 6 milk, four days tirteen hours and a minute
on his hands and knees with his back to the television, "nick @night" is playing full house but he zoned out of it before the theme song even finished
he hears a noise outside, it's just the wind moving the leaves on the tree by the window, but it
startles him. he crawls into the corner of the dark room and picks up his meth pipe. with shaking hands he folds the tin foil and places the drugs above the fire. he inhales the smoke as the live audience laughs at one of the jokes made on Full House
he can't even see the tv and hasn't been watching but something about the timing causes him to burst out into laughter with the audience
a small misguided part of his brain convinced him that the audience was laughing at the same thing he found funny: which was that one of the threads of his couch was probably counted twice, but it didn't matter because another thread was probably skipped...overall the average count should be undisturbed! "HAHA," gasps charlie as he coughs out the smoke, "they can't stop the truth
The wind blows again and charlie puts his pipe down on the carpet of the otherwise unfurnished living room. he runs to the door and opens it with a rapid swing looking for a perpetrator. when he sees that the noise was just the leaves blowing he stands in his open door, feeling the cold wind against his face. He stands there for what feels like fifteen s seconds, but he stood there without moving all night until the sun rose the next morning
the wind stopped moving at about 4 AM and as the day began to brighten charlie transitioned into a state of harmony with his door frame and welcome mat which he stole from his neighbors
the mail truck drives by at 7AM and drops a package off at the neighbors front step. He waves to charlie, who is standing like a guard on watch in his door frame. Charlie doesn't wave back but he says audibly to the mailman, "I want to know what love is. I want you to show me." The mailman eyes up charlie head to toe. Unshaven, disheveled, ragged jeans, but with a smart face.
Charlie shivers as the mailman stares at him and slams his door and runs inside. He powerslides on the carpet to his pipe in the corner
the mailman shakes his head and gets back into his truck as charlie peers out the window while loading his pipe
The phone rings. Charlie picks it up. "Charlie? Can you hear me? It's your mother. I'm coming by later today. I need money." Charlie hangs up the phone and opens his refridgerator. April 16, 2014. January 6 2014. December 1 2015. Charlie takes the ingredients and makes an egg sandwich.
Charlie inhales his breakfast on his couch while watching dora the explorer. He writes a note to his mother and puts it on the front door: "Dear mom, it's been a rough week. Everything I have is in the drawer in my room. I'm going to work. I love you." He twitches his hand as he signs his name at the bottom, goes to his room and checks the drawer. There's a
crumbled ten dollar bill and quarters on the bottom. He takes the quarters and heads outside to grab his bike
He rides his bike through the early morning fog to the laundrymat downtown. There he meets his friend sitting outside on the curb. A homeless woman names Ruth who is still sleeping next to an empty bottle of gin. He parks his bike and sits beside her, putting his arm around her and snuggling close..
Ruth shivers and opens her eyes to see charlie beside her. "morning babey," she says, and charlie smiles. "he hands her two quarters and gives her a kiss on the cheek. He goes into the laundrymat and browses the machines for a coat. He checks to see if anyone is watching and steals a bright green coat, goes outside and give it to ruth.
charlie licks his lips and can taste the grease from ruth's cheeks. He spits on the sidewalk away from ruth and says, "going back to sleep, babe? can you spare a cigarette?"
Ruth says "i'll give you half of this one" as she pulls one out and lights it. Charlie and her smoke on the curb outside the laundrymat
Charlie gets on his bike and pedals to the public library. He smiles and waves at the librarian and she says, "how's your mother?" charlie smiles and says "she is excellent, Clarissa. Thanks for asking." Clarissa notices charlie tweak a little more than usual as he heads through the lobby towards the public access computers.
Charlie logs on with his library card, a charity clarissa offered to him when she discovered he had been sneaking in from the fire exit to use the computers a year before.
He opens the only browser he knows, internet explorer, the blue e which he remembers his father years ago, and types in the address bar : "www.anonchats.com. Please enter a nick C-h-a-r-l-i-e
leaning back on his chair, charlie picks off an old piece of gum from udnerneath the desk he is sitting at, inspects it while rolling it in his fingers, then pops it into his mouth and begins to write his mindless ramblings on anonchats that few listen to
New message: <UnfoldedNapkin> Hey charlie. Are you a methhead ? it's pretty obvious that something's wrong with you, we can all tell based off the retarded things you type here sometimes.
charlie reads it again, he shakes his head, swallows the gum in his mouth and reads it again. charlie gets up from the library chair, scowls at clarissa as he storms out of the library and heads home on his bike
it's been a few hours since he last had a hit. When he gets home his mother and ruth are yelling at each other in his kitchen.
Apparently Ruth stole all his smack and sold it already. His mother is having withdraws and needs a hit, and so does charlie. Ruth is sneering at his mother, taunting her with rude gestures when charlie walks in
His mother goes up to him and smacks him hard on the face. "Ten dollars? what did i raise a lazy mexican? You're worse than your father. And this one," she points at ruth, "she is a dirty street rat who is using you like a parasite and you're too pathetic to realize it
Ruth jumps on charlies mother, who is weak from her old age and decades of meth abuse charlie quietly walks to his garage where his secret stash of meth is hidden He brings it out as his mother and ruth are wrestling and they immediately stop and look up.
Charlie prepares the drugs for the three of them and says to ruth, "I don't have any more." ruth says "that's ok baby I can go see rodrick tonight" Rodrick sometimes will give ruth a pinch of meth if she sucks him off before hand
charlie winces and nods, looks at his mother as she lights his pipe He thinks about what unfolded napkin said. he wants to change. he apologizes to ruth and his mother and says, "I'm leaving town for good. " you can have my house
the end
