Show and Tell

Now he takes his stored up anger

and his mother’s guns

the ones he shot with her

and the one he shot her with

and drives to the school

that he attended when he was a kid

to kill the kids who laughed

at stuff he didn’t get

and the teachers

who taught him to read and write

and watched him wait to get out

And he never brought the guns

but he thought about it

over the years that weighed upon him

as he wondered why he never

left the school

or the fear and shame

but only the school room

and school yard

and kids and teachers

where he was headed now

with his stored up anger

Now he takes his stored up anger

and with his mother’s gun

blasts away the doors that lock him out

and walking down the hall

remembering being locked out

feels the power he never felt

in all those days of watching others

laughing at stuff he didn’t get

and laughing at him

or looking at him

or looking away from him

And he never brought the guns

and they never knew who he was

and now they look at him

and they scream

and blood is everywhere

and he wonders what they feel

and each time he pulls the trigger

he remembers those school days

waiting for show and tell

and he never brought the guns

but now he has

2012

Chapter 6: Pigeon hunting in NH slow

[Go to beginning]

Instead of heading directly back to the airport, Rove told his taxi driver to take him to the Red Arrow Diner; a cup of coffee and soggy piece of pumpkin pie at the Science Center didn’t cut it. On the way, he texted Reince Priebus, “Pigeon hunting in NH slow.”

As Rove slid into a booth at the rear of the diner he saw a photo of Barack Obama on the wall at the end of the bench. Obama had come through the diner during the 2008 election, along with every candidate except McCain. Had to hand it to Obama. He was a was savvy politician.

Rove ordered a ‘DinahMoe’ from a incurably cheerful, young waitress, who seemed not to recognize him, thumbed through messages on his BlackBerry, and paged through the day’s issue of the Union Leader.

A story about Republican state Rep. J.R. Hoell of Dunbarton co-sponsoring a bill to allow guns on university campuses caught his attention. Hoell was arguing that as long as UNH received taxpayer money, they were a ‘subdivision of the state,’ should abide by the Second Amendment, and overturn their prohibition against firearms on campus.

Rove made a note to himself to think about how to better use the whole gun rights issue to his advantage in 2012. Maybe he could manufacture a rumor that Obama was planning to reinstitute the automatic weapons ban once he was reelected. Hell, he probably was. He quickly typed the outline for an Op Ed and emailed it to Chris Stirewalt at Fox.

Rove went through his email and text messages and finished scanning the paper as he wolfed down the huge DinahMoe steak burger that was a favorite of Red Arrow patrons. No wonder Americans are fat, he thought, as he polished off the last of his french fries. Before he left for the airport he took an interior photo of the Red Arrow with his smart phone and twitted, “Thanksgiving on the road at Red Arrow; work, work work.”

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.