‘Well, I wouldn’t say I’m a sheep, but uh…’ Rodney let the thought drop off as Constance went on. Somehow he wasn’t surprised that she was a writer, or a feminist. She was a kid, a good amount younger than him anyway, and he figured he was too old to really get wrapped up in that sort of thing.
‘Oh, no, no, sure, uh, I mean – I don’t, uh, I don’t really have a…’ He quickly cleared his throat. ‘…an opinion on that… sort of thing. I’m not biased, I mean. That sounds – I’m sure you’ve got your hands full.’ He let out a bit of a laugh then, tucking his hands back into the back pockets of his jeans. He was being honest when he said he was unbiased, but he honestly was pretty sure girls like her wouldn’t exactly like the fact that he was a veteran. Sure, he didn’t agree with it, and he hadn’t really experienced many of war’s atrocities before he was medically discharged, but it was as if saying you were in Vietnam was putting a big red bull’s eye across his forehead.
‘I’m uh… – a computer technician, myself,’ he went on to say, as a means of properly introducing himself. ‘Over at uh… over at NYU? It’s a really interesting field, actually, but I’m sure uh… I’m sure a girl like you wouldn’t, uh…’ This thought he, too, neglected to complete as he watched Constance writing in the front cover of the novel, before she offered it to him, and he took it, inspecting the cover a moment.
‘Oh, uh… – Yeah,’ he told her, nodding a few times and giving the description a quick glance-over before he met her gaze once more. ‘…Groovy, ha. Thanks, uh, Constance. I guess I’ll go uh… buy this then.’ He gestured over his shoulder as he backed up, tapping the book against his chest a few times. ‘I’ll give you a buzz. A…a… ring. – I’ll call you.’
She was turned back to the books, listening to him speak for a while before looking over at him. Con smiled at him, nodding. “It’s okay. Sheep can be freed from the herd and thrive on their own. Or find a new one. Being a sheep isn’t a bad thing. If i wanted to insult you, I would. But I don’t believe in tearing others down. Only enabling them to see things as they truly are.”
“i do. But it’s worth it. Standing for something is the most fulfilling thing you can do. And fighting for it...that is something all its own. You should join us, sometime. Really see what it’s all about.” She looked over at him, still facing the shelf and chuckling. Something about him made her feel drawn to him, like he was a lighthouse and she was a ship lost at sea. There was a mix of energies to him, that radiated off. And one of them was darker, not sinister but something that had seen some troubles.
His story intrigued her, and she nodded as she looked up at him. “I am interested in that stuff. Technology is important, it is the advances that keep up growing and thriving. We just need to learn to coexist with nature, and not over run it. HUman beings are destructive creatures.” She nodded then smiled. “You should show me sometime.I love knowledge, about anything and everything.”
With that, she grabbed another book and simply slid it under her shirt. Another part of her hippie ideals. “Very groovy. You don’t have to buy it, capitalism will ruin us.” A soft chuckled escaped her lips as she leaned up to press a soft kiss to his cheek. “I look forward to hearing your voice again, Rodney Shapiro.”
tangentwithtanner
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
gummygunk
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
