The Hometown Hero

[munsi]

At the corner of the bar he sits, head down, nursing his beer.

The scholarship had come, but while he’d been on the starting lineup that first year the scouts had paid him no mind.

In hindsight, he should’ve paid more attention during the actual classes.

Still, the mill wasn’t bad. His old man had worked there 40 years and seemed happy enough.

He finishes his drink, waves for another and, when the bartender arrives, clears his throat.

“Did I ever tell you about the time…”

“Yeah, I remember.”

“Oh.”

He swallows, beer and sadness, and returns to his thoughts.

[Varda]

Wow. A perfect little scene snapshot, complete with a nice little emotional tug at the end.

I've always found it sad when I meet those people who look back on high school as the "best" time of their lives (as if everything afterwards is just one long downhill); this drabble reminded me of those folks.

[strawman]

They are outnumbered by the folks who, like this guy, think of college that way. Their mistake is in thinking of life's graph as the "Fun Scale".

No, you will never again be able to live off parents and government offering free money that you won't have to repay until you graduate and make partner in your first year, strangers offering free booze, drugs and sex, professors willing to give a passing grade in Comparative Porn 501, just to keep his tuition commission.

Your first shock may be running into Tom Baker when you graduate. You wonder how you never ran into him while you were in school. Tom doesn't think of his college years as the best time of his life, because he was an Engineer, which you think means he drives a train. Tom had to work his ass off on Friday nights and listen, tortured, to you and your friends' drunken laughter passing under his window.

Tom paid a heavy price that one time he slipped up. It was painful getting that tramp stamp removed from his booty. The one with the little heart, and his slogan, "Delayed Gratification".

It had hurt like hell getting all those letters in that little heart, but Tom thereby learned a most valuable engineering lesson: Design the container after the product.

The funny thing is, Tom is now having the time of his life. Strangers now offer him free booze, drugs, and sex all the time. But he knows that those Cons always end on Sunday, and he's got to go back to being a superhero on Monday.

[Varda]

Strawman, your unauthorized biography of Tom... yes. Just, yes. Have you ever considered this might be a superpower? Someday I'm gonna hire you to write mine.

[strawman]

Someday I'm gonna hire you to write mine.

Don't wait too long. I have a stiff obit surcharge.

[Varda]

Someday I'm gonna hire you to write mine.

Don't wait too long. I have a stiff obit surcharge.

You really don't want to mess with Zombie Varda.

[Flintknapper]

Depressing, but it kind of reminds of a lot of the people I grew up with in highschool. For a couple of years they were the talk of the town, but as they have gotten older life has passed them by. They don't have bad lives, but they are living in the past thinking about what their lives were like rather living for today.

[strawman]

Funny how that stock market ticker goes up and down, isn't it?
It's always sad to read those "Whatever happened to..." child actor stories.
Imagine Jaleel White thinking THAT guy was his high point.

97 Steve Urkel - Then and Now.jpg (11.59 KiB) Viewed 3176 times

[Scattercat]

You can't tell me it wasn't awesome having no responsibilities other than to pass classes, though. I used to have five roleplaying game sessions in a row every weekend, starting midday Friday and rolling through to early Sunday morning.

[strawman]

True dat, on the fun graph.
Also true that Tom was struggling to wrap his imagination around differential calculus at 2 AM, while having to listen to us rehearse our drunken prequels to all-nighter arguments about Painguin, Velasquez, Squid Vicious, and Crab Louie.

It's a perverse and ironic justice that we now continue to role play, while Tom supports us with his taxes.