It’s easy to get caught up in the game, the game that chews you up and gurgles you and spits you out if you’re lucky. Realizing this, the piece did its best to avoid the big hand, the hand that rolled and craved, more than anything, for a landing on Boardwalk.
An intense fear gripped the piece whenever this hand reached for it. It knew others endured the same frenzied flights away from the hand’s grasp. Some got swept up by it, and others hopped out of the way, but they were all afraid of it.
It came as a relief, a tremendous blessing and a breath of calmness, to encounter another piece that shared the strong desire to get off the board altogether, to hop onto the floor and roll somewhere safe, down a vent or under a couch. Even being eaten by a dog or taken as cheese by a mouse might be preferable to the alternative.
Annihilated by an overwhelming sense of dread, bursting with an energy inside it, the piece began to grow, and stubs sprouted from it, stubs that grew to limbs, limbs that reached the floor and hands large enough and strong enough to slap away the monster.
You’re smart. Smart enough to see where this is going.
A logic puzzle:
A -> B -> C
Show what the letters mean.
Melted remnants of the pieces dripped through the cracks in the table, aroused doubt in their integrity. The searing hot plastic hit the floor in gobs, and began to burn through it, eating away at the wood, and the certainty in the strength of the pieces grew again. Doubt. You.
This is meaningless. The pieces have no point. Stop.
He awoke, heaving, sweating. Sirens wailed outside; the window’s shade faded; his awakeness was sensed. Taking a moment to collect himself, wanting not to faint, he touched his feet to the ground for stability, where they felt immediately cold, because the ground was cold, for just a moment, before the presence of his feet was noticed, and warmth began to spread out beneath him.
He breathed deeply. Something must have gone wrong, he realized, with the system. What aimless dreams! Devoid of entertainment, of clear meaning, bringing nothing but sweat and stress! He turned his attention to the cranny where his head had laid a moment before, and inspected it for signs of trauma. No dents or scratches; an electrical malfunction, then. Annoyance overwhelmed him. Good money gone to waste! A top-of-the-line model, a company installation! Nothing but the best, and here it goes breaking! Not a month into ownership! What a short span of pleasantries for such a grand cost, so much trouble, so much time, so much faith placed in what should have been a reliable system.
He shook his head and forced himself to stop thinking about these things; all they did was rile him up. The room felt the sweat on his brow, and began cooling to compensate, and the hairs on his forearms stood up and then relaxed as the temperature began to ease his irk-fueled overheatedness.
Comfort in all but sleep — an appealing proposition, if one forgets to consider the sheer volume of time spent sleeping. A third of his life at least. He knew he’d have to call the company later and get this resolved in a timely manner, else he’d have wasted too much time, money, and would-be comfort to maintain a stable state of mind without a higher-priced compensation system. There was always a way to spend more, to up the system’s potential and ease his own concerns in the process, and the thought that this increased spending might become a necessity quickened his heart-rate and wetted his brow and pushed the system closer to its maximum output. He had to get out of this room!
Breathing deeply to avoid a swift cycle of positive feedback, he headed for downstairs and prepared to start his day; the stresses of work, at least, would be compensated for by the company’s payroll. He would soon be free to accumulate stress to his mind’s content, and this thought calmed him greatly, provoking a small, relaxed smile as he began to brew his coffee and warm his feet on the hardwood.
An intense fear gripped the piece whenever this hand reached for it. It knew others endured the same frenzied flights away from the hand’s grasp. Some got swept up by it, and others hopped out of the way, but they were all afraid of it.
It came as a relief, a tremendous blessing and a breath of calmness, to encounter another piece that shared the strong desire to get off the board altogether, to hop onto the floor and roll somewhere safe, down a vent or under a couch. Even being eaten by a dog or taken as cheese by a mouse might be preferable to the alternative.
Annihilated by an overwhelming sense of dread, bursting with an energy inside it, the piece began to grow, and stubs sprouted from it, stubs that grew to limbs, limbs that reached the floor and hands large enough and strong enough to slap away the monster.
You’re smart. Smart enough to see where this is going.
A logic puzzle:
A -> B -> C
Show what the letters mean.
Melted remnants of the pieces dripped through the cracks in the table, aroused doubt in their integrity. The searing hot plastic hit the floor in gobs, and began to burn through it, eating away at the wood, and the certainty in the strength of the pieces grew again. Doubt. You.
This is meaningless. The pieces have no point. Stop.
He awoke, heaving, sweating. Sirens wailed outside; the window’s shade faded; his awakeness was sensed. Taking a moment to collect himself, wanting not to faint, he touched his feet to the ground for stability, where they felt immediately cold, because the ground was cold, for just a moment, before the presence of his feet was noticed, and warmth began to spread out beneath him.
He breathed deeply. Something must have gone wrong, he realized, with the system. What aimless dreams! Devoid of entertainment, of clear meaning, bringing nothing but sweat and stress! He turned his attention to the cranny where his head had laid a moment before, and inspected it for signs of trauma. No dents or scratches; an electrical malfunction, then. Annoyance overwhelmed him. Good money gone to waste! A top-of-the-line model, a company installation! Nothing but the best, and here it goes breaking! Not a month into ownership! What a short span of pleasantries for such a grand cost, so much trouble, so much time, so much faith placed in what should have been a reliable system.
He shook his head and forced himself to stop thinking about these things; all they did was rile him up. The room felt the sweat on his brow, and began cooling to compensate, and the hairs on his forearms stood up and then relaxed as the temperature began to ease his irk-fueled overheatedness.
Comfort in all but sleep — an appealing proposition, if one forgets to consider the sheer volume of time spent sleeping. A third of his life at least. He knew he’d have to call the company later and get this resolved in a timely manner, else he’d have wasted too much time, money, and would-be comfort to maintain a stable state of mind without a higher-priced compensation system. There was always a way to spend more, to up the system’s potential and ease his own concerns in the process, and the thought that this increased spending might become a necessity quickened his heart-rate and wetted his brow and pushed the system closer to its maximum output. He had to get out of this room!
Breathing deeply to avoid a swift cycle of positive feedback, he headed for downstairs and prepared to start his day; the stresses of work, at least, would be compensated for by the company’s payroll. He would soon be free to accumulate stress to his mind’s content, and this thought calmed him greatly, provoking a small, relaxed smile as he began to brew his coffee and warm his feet on the hardwood.
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