Sound inside

The Sound Inside 8/23/19 9
CHRISTOPHER I never said I was a luddite.
BELLA
You just don’t like email.
CHRISTOPHER It’s more hyperbolic than that. I actually hate it. And don’t get me started
about Twitter.
BELLA
CHRISTOPHER
BELLA
CHRISTOPHER
Yes, Twitter, yes.
Twitter’s for people who are terrified by the idea of solitude.
Although from what I hear there’s some interesting flash fiction happening
on Twitter.
140 fucking characters. Limitation is the mother of innovation? It’s more like
the mother of mental syphilis! Twitter’s basically cheap Haiku for the overly
caffeinated. I’m not saying I don’t drink coffee. I drink coffee. I just don’t go to
the campus cafés.
It’s the baristas who really freak me out. With their Civil War beards and
artisanal body odor and those stupid fucking doorknobs in their ears. They’re
like these New Age, unshowered, tatted-out Hobbits. A life spent perfecting
the intricacies of carefully crafted foam art. Gimme a black coffee from
Dunkin Donuts any day of the week, Skippy!
BELLA
I notice that he’s dressed a little light for the weather… a canvas gas station.
attendant jacket… worn thin at the elbows.
(to CHRISTOPHER)
Are you warm enough in that?
CHRISTOPHER I’m from Vermont, son. Snow is like my sibling.
Beat.
BELLA
So what can I do for you, Christopher Dunn?
CHRISTOPHER I just wanted to let you know how much I like your class.
BELLA
Well, that’s nice to hear.
CHRISTOPHER Yeah, it’s a good class.