From 0db90ab246ad32e748e5b4357e1d75ceced66d5d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kenneth Dodrill Date: Mon, 27 Feb 2023 13:05:58 -0600 Subject: [PATCH] add hotel story --- content/prose/the-hotel.md | 57 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 57 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/prose/the-hotel.md diff --git a/content/prose/the-hotel.md b/content/prose/the-hotel.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c428df2 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/prose/the-hotel.md @@ -0,0 +1,57 @@ ++++ +title = 'The Hotel' +date = '2023-02-27' +draft = false ++++ + +Last night was a chore. You might think that drinking in a five-star hotel could +never be boring or described at work, but you'd be wrong. Drinking among +politicians and celebrities can't be described as anything other than work. You +would think that the drink would be a comfort, but you're wrong there as well. +Fat men and plastic women gossip and demean each other down the halls and into +the lobbies. You begin to wonder if you are starting to become one just by being +around them. Perhaps you are pulled aside by a group and begin talking about why +or how something should happen, or why this person shouldn't have done this or +that. You turn to the bartender. What do you ask for? What is everyone else +drinking? Will you be questioned if you turn back to look? You order something +simple, you decide. You turn back around, drink in hand. Take a few sips, set +the drink down. Others do the same. + +You see, it's really all a game. It's mostly copying. But how can one copy when +one doesn't have any money? It costs money to get into this game of doing +nothing except copying someone else, who must have gotten their idea from the +person next to them. It doesn't matter, you say. These people are fake, and I'm +special. I want to use them to do my own good. But what if everyone else here is +trying to do that same thing? You had better act quickly. You better move faster +than everyone else to copy someone who isn't all that popular. You're a better +person anyways, and that person doesn't need any money for his idea. He probably +copied it from someone else anyways. He probably didn't do all the work. He +probably doesn't even want money; he's just doing it for fun. + +So, it's really just a game, but maybe you can work around the rules to try and +get what you want. However, you're still playing the game. That hits you when +you wake up the next morning. How awful, you say. What terrible people. How +could they say things like that about people they have never even met? But +haven't you done the same thing? You get up, and take a shower. You get dressed +and walk out of the door. The door to the room opposite of you opens up. + +You see a small girl. Crazy to think that an almost child can get a hotel room, +you think. "Where are your parents?", you say. The child says nothing, and +scrambles down the hall. + +--- + +It's about that time, she says. She gets dressed. There is a choice of uniform. +One has lace, the other does not. She picks the one without lace as it feels more +comfortable. She feels like her hands are starting to feel older as she puts the +blazer on. She looks in the mirror and examines herself. There is a single gray hair +poking out towards the top of her scalp. She smooths it down a little and opens +the door. In the doorframe opposite of her room is a tall man, perhaps the +oldest man she has ever seen. He has a large nose and deep wrinkles on his +forehead. His hair is shaved almost bald, and there are also many bald patches. +He has large glasses on, a red tie with a striped blue vest and a white +undershirt. He looks like someone who dresses very nice but also very sloppily +at the same time. He looks extremely tired. + +His question sinks in a little and she thinks she should've chosen the uniform +with the lace. She runs down the hall. -- 2.38.5