A Moment in Time

Martin Gerber was a small man, always dressed in a white shirt, grey pants, and a rather ugly green tie with pictures of golf clubs covering it that his wife had gotten him. He did not like golf, or any sport for that matter, but it had been a birthday present, and he had little care for fashion, so he wore it exclusively in appreciation as much as apathy. Large black-framed glasses were the only thing that stood out on him, though they were not really large so much as they only seemed so on his face. His accounting job and routine schedule to and from it completed the picture of an uneventful life.

 

  Now, small, unassuming men need not have small, unassuming minds. And an observer might believe Martin to have a fantastic intellect, or imagination despite his appearance. They might believe such a thing as they stared at Martin drinking a cup of tea on the bench in front of the bookstore where he spent his lunch hour, his line of vision fixing on nothing in particular for very long, inevitably ending up somewhat north of his dull brown shoes, and they would be completely wrong. There were no great gears turning under his thinning hair and no big ideas bursting out of his tightly-shut mouth. He had little to say on any subject outside his work, of which he was not that interested in discussing, and did not feel inferior because of this. Everything was as it should be in his eyes. One had to be economic not just in action but in thought, and if anything he said could be classed as a real opinion, it was that people wasted life on pointless thought. In this way, he largely ignored everything superfluous to his little corner of the world.

  

  His most effective way of accomplishing this was a decision to never consider anything outside his home and office too closely, which, on this particular Tuesday, he went against. It was a normal day in all respects; he had finished with his numbers and was on his way to the bookstore, stopping first at the cafe next to it for his tea. What made him stop and examine the bench was the sign placed on it stating that it was wet with varnish. Wet. With. Varnish. For some reason he could not process the meaning of those words and stared at the bench uncomprehendingly, realizing after a minute that he had never actually looked at the bench he sat on every day, thinking of it as a thing with a name. It was just something hard he sat on. Now he could not stop looking.

 
  Not only could he not comprehend the words, but the bench was something utterly alien as well. What was it? Tentatively, he reached out and gripped the backrest, then pulled away from its cool, sticky surface, wiping his hand absently on his white shirt, leaving a crimson stain. Martin did not notice the manager of the bookstore looking at him from the door, nor the woman behind him trying to decide if she should attempt to get by him or not. He did not notice anything but the bench with his handprint on it, and could not stop wondering why it existed. The only thing clear in the quickly forming fog invading his mind was that he would not be getting back to work.

 

Reviews

[M. L. F.]

I like this... It was well written and I don't often say that of fiction I read here. Good job. I love your motto about us all learning. We should write every single day, and read. Never stop learning and growing. That is what makes us better, right? Thank you for sharing your work with us.
..Misty

[Alan B.]

Thank you for reading and the kind words. I'm actually paraphrasing Ernest Hemingway in my motto. He's one of my favorite writers and gave great advice.

[M. L. F.]

Ah, Hemingway. The greats. I enjoyed the read. I plan to read more of your work tomorrow. The sun is rising here in the Netherlands, and I have to quit writing and go to bed. Nice to meet a fellow fiction writer, ( in training )..
..Misty

[ThyFilthyNoob]

Very good story, I can easily picture the man's appearance here. The only thing I found odd was the font honestly everything else was superb.

[Alan B.]

Thank you for reading and commenting. Forgive the eccentric font; I've just always been partial to the old typewriter aesthetic.

[Cyprian Van Dyke]

I liked the way you spoke about the life of this person. The bench left me puzzled, but the story was interesting to read. Tyfs!

[Alan B.]

Thank you for reading. The bench is left to your interpretation, but thank you for leaving your thoughts on the piece.

[Cyprian Van Dyke]

Ah, you're most welcome!

[Char'els Beanland]

Warm greetings Allen B.

I have to say, I am intrigued by your story telling. very smooth and flows wells. You start off with a simple minded hook that quietly and gently sets in place. Your descriptions and rhythm flows well and moves the story along.
Bravo!

BUT, Lets try "Times New Roman, font 12", so it is easier to read online shall we. Thank you.
the style you choose is for news paper print (ONLY) You want to use this when you are making a point in said news paper article and most publishers might argue with you on that. Just saying here.

NEVER GIVE UP. . EVER.

[Alan B.]

Great thanks for reading Mr. Beanland. I always liked the way this type of print looks as it reminds me of old typwriters. but I will take your advice to heart and use Times New Roman on the next story. I am attempting longer pieces now and hope one day to be published. Your suggestion of some of my stories fitting in old time radio is very interesting, and I hugely appreciate any other advice you might want to give. Thanks again.

[Char'els Beanland]

You could always use both when it comes to the font.
Imagine that you are a journalist in the 1930-50's, A cub newspaper reporter by the cool and hip name of ("Al-Be", seeing you on the front page article) working for the up and coming newspaper The Redwood Tribune in northern California in the city of x x x . The editor has assigned you a new story on a piece. Your a personal interest story writer and you go out to certain people to do an interview. They are the men and women who came from the dust bowl of America. The children are the first generation to live in the California area.
Just outside of the great Redwoods there is a camp of small homes being built and had been there for some ten years +/- of the aforementioned people.
1.) who are you going to interview?
2.) why, what is the motivation for the interview?
3.) what is the odd or strange and unsettling thing that happened there you are thrust into by this simple interview. The editor does not know you have stumbled on a intriguing story but you go with your gut feelings here and take the chance.

You can go at this in different ways.
1.) Start things off with the new article and then you explain it afterwards.
2.) You start things off with you speaking to yourself about what you are to do and you fall into the story and in the end you explain things with ending it with the newspaper article.
3.) The boss ie the editor is pulling your butt through the ringer for this stunt but your explain what happened trying to convince him of the worth of it. then you introduce the new article to him and both of you figure things out while he reads it.

When I say newspaper article I mean that you use the news paper type to set the story apart form the story you are writing about it. Thus you have two things happening at the same time. Past and present, questions and answers, arguments and explanations between two people and maybe some girls who feel kicked to the curb by your actions but in the end sides with you and helps you points things out you did not consider at first.

This may sound like it is a lot but with your style of writing it would fit.
First; 30 pages. Write the main story of what happened, odd, spooky, scary or strange.
Second; 30 pages. Write the back ground or the world around which it occurred -people, city, times, etc.
Thirdly; 30 pages. Write the interaction between you and the boss - good, praise, butt chewing, yelling, what is it?
Put them together into a small story. Limit it to 100 -120 pages long.
Now you have worked on three different views and three different parts but it is one story. Think "Stephen King" style. Or "The Left Behind" series. The author simpls moves from one scene to another back and forth between three situations or two. It is a different style to use but it works well because you keep the reader wanting more or "What is going to happen next, but they have to wait because they have to read what is happening to this others peron first. Think, constant mini-cliff hangers.

Example: The names Al-Be. I am reporter for the Redwood trib. I came out of San Francisco with a chip on my shoulder to prove myself in the field. I got stuck here in this small town when I ran out of gas trying to escape the insanity of the big city life. The city was still being rebuilt form the earth quake circa. 19xx. Those who had power to make things move did so. those that wanted power either worked for them or ended up in the bay water as fish food. I was staying in a small home of a window who was barely making it with her two children. The eldest worked for a farmer and the youngest trying to figure why she had hair growing in strange places. The father had died a few years back from "Black lung" -That's the dust turning into concrete and he died not being able to breath anymore. Poor sap. I wouldn't wish that to happen to my worst enemy.
The boss had given me the duty of finding out of what was going on with the children of the dust bowl transients other wise called Homeless and destitute. and see if I could make a human interest story out of them to be able to help them.
What I found out chilled me to the bone and I rally do not think the newspaper will go for it. But the more I spoke with them and the more I saw what was happening to them the more I knew I had to print their story.

13 June 19xx
Police reported -

Shoot use one of the stories as a base in this for that matter. Just thinking here.

Now you finish it "Al-Be"

[Char'els Beanland]

Sorry (One of the stories) I mean that you have already written and post here.

[Alan B.]

That sounds like it would be a very compelling way to write a story. I`ve read some horror stories by H.P. Lovecraft that have that style. And I like the idea of alternating between the newspaper articles and the reporter`s point of view. I never attempted a story like that but I`m thinking of ideas for how it could go now. Great suggestion!

[Char'els Beanland]

Hey. No problem sweetheart . . See you in the funny papers. yea