Time - May 20, 2012

[note: this was written during a writing exercise: we had 20 minutes to write something inspired by the word "time". This is the result, unedited, exactly as it appeared when time ran out. You can read all of them in the waves category]]

Time - Squiddy Geiger - May 20, 2012

A whistle blew. "TIME!"

The players looked over at their respective coaches to see who had called the timeout. Nobody had, it seemed. Jerry sighed. "Great," he mumbled. "Another Patron Saint time out." The others just laughed.

Jerry sighed again as one of his players disappeared, and was replaced by a complete stranger. He frowned at the player, who of course had no idea why Jerry was frowning. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the strip of paper that explained what the new player's name was and his strengths and weaknesses.

Nobody else noticed the substitution. In their eyes, the game was contiguous. Only Jerry clung to a timeline that transected those of his players. The Patron Saint ensured this was so. He gave his orders to the players around him, just before the whistle blew to end the timeout.

Play went on, with five more players flickering and being replaced, once in mid-play. As was the norm, they finished the game as victors. And once again, Jerry refused to discuss the game. All he said, as they entered the locker room was, "Great game, boys!"

He desperately wanted to discuss the game, but couldn't. Nobody else had seen the game Jerry had seen. Paul Santos, the Patron Saint of the school athletics program, had seen to that. Jerry hated it, but couldn't say anything because, well - who would believe him? As far as they were concerned, the same players who started the game had finished the game.

One of these times, he'd stand up to Santos. One of these days, he'd get to see a full game played, and remember it the way everyone else did.

Not today, though. Not today.

Posted by Squiddy at May 20, 2012 08:45 PM | TrackBack