FREE SHORT STORY: OSCARS 2012

OSCARS 2012
by Georgevine Moss


Bill Forest, nicknamed the Gambler, was born on Oscar night. That year the movie that won best picture also got a Razzie in the same category. But that was a coincidence. Today, Oscar night 2012, Bill stands six feet tall and broke.

Sunday, Feb 26 2012, 15:00

Bill followed Iron Mike down the stairs. Iron Mike, a former bodybuilder still on steroids and loan shark Mickey D.'s little helper blocked Bill's entire view. Bill didn't want to think about Iron Mike. Like shitting, it was an involuntary but necessary body reaction. He thought Iron Mike could probably bend iron pipes with his bare hands. Not that he had to. He probably did that for fun. Working for Mickey D. he most likely had to break arms and the occasional leg, not pipes. Bill continued walking down the low-ceilinged corridor, hunched and scared. He had brittle bones.

Iron Mike knocked on the door and when he got the signal he grabbed Bill by the arm and threw him in the room. Mickey D's office was dimly lit. He sat behind a big desk, a bare light bulb hanging over his bald head and a cigar smoldering in an ashtray by his side.

"So you are the Gambler?" Mickey D. said. He sat back in his chair and let the smoke clear off his face before taking another drug from his cigar.

Bill stuttered. "Th-that's right, sir." He never stuttered. "I don't know what you might have heard about me, but I'm good for it."

"You mean, I don't have to worry about losing my money?"

""Th-that's right, sir." That damn stutter. "I'm good for it."

"How much?"

"Ten thousand. I got a sure thing for tonight."

"The Oscars?"

"Y-yes, sir. A sure thing."

"I love the Oscars. Did you know I used to do stand-up before I got into this business?"

Bill glanced at Iron Mike. If he was a cop this would have been a sure sign of a set up. But he wasn't a cop. Iron Mike flashed him a smile. Bill turned away and looked at Mickey D.

"No, sir," he said. No stuttering. Great.

"A good one too. Just no decent pay, that's why I walked. Now the Oscars. That's the real thing. I'd host that for free. Can you imagine me, dressed to the nine's doing a monologue?"

Bill didn't know where it came from. He saw Mickey D. in a wig and a fake thin moustache like that guy from The Artist but, you know, looking like Mickey D. He struggled not to laugh.

"I'd kill it." Mickey D. said. "Those monologues they do? They suck. Listen to this."

Mickey D. got up and walked in front of the desk. With cigar in one hand and the other aimlessly beating at the air he began "acting".

"In a business with very few standards," he said. "We can all attest to the fact that the best part of the Oscars is the after parties. So let's make this as quick as possible. OK, people? Think like a cat not a dog. No one works for free. Thanking anyone is like licking the hand that has already fed you. Ask yourself. Would a cat ever do that?"

Iron Mike burst laughing. Bill got the hint and laughed till he drooled.

"Funny shit, right?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"You know what? I like you. I'll give you the ten G's." Mickey D. opened a drawer, picked a wad of cash and started counting. "Ten. Here it is." He dropped the money on the desk and sat back in his chair.

Bill hesitated.

Mickey D. took another drug from his cigar and let the smoke loose. "It's all yours," he said. When the smoke cleared, a wide creepy smile appeared on Mickey D.'s face.

"Th-thank you, sir. You won't regret it," Bill said, pocketing the cash. " 'Undefeated' will win best documentary. It's a sure thing."

Mickey D.'s smile faded. Bill dashed for the door. Iron Mike was strong but apparently he was slower than a deadbeat horse.

Bill got away and placed his bet. What do you think? Will he get lucky or break a leg?

DISCUSSION TOPIC: MENTAL ILLNESS AND OTHER TRAITS

MENTAL ILLNESS AND OTHER TRAITS
by Georgevine Moss

Mental illness has many forms. It can be temporary or life-lasting. It can be mild or severe. It is divided into many categories, each one with many different symptoms and as many different causes. It is a condition of the mind, and as long as everyone agrees that each mind is unique, then no one condition can be the same.

These days, physiology and socio-environmental elements are both considered as contributing factors in the manifestation of mental illness. Here, strictly from a layman’s point of view, we will reference the phenomenon of the HIKIKOMORI to address the latter and use it to spark a debate about the need for social change. We will also refer to the SCHIZOTYPAL PERSONALITY as an example of the former, and try to make a connection between the two factors.

The Japanese term Hikikomori is used to describe the individuals, teenagers and young adults, who have chosen to live at home, in isolation, for a long period of time, shunning social interaction, due to various personal or social reasons.

Two reasons cited for the emergence of the Hikikomori in Japan are interrelated. One is the educational system and the other is the economy. Simply put, the educational system is very demanding from start to finish (school to university) and then there comes the point where a flat economy and a bad job market leave these individuals without a clear goal in sight, without purpose in life, and a feeling of disappointment.

One could argue that these conditions aren’t unique to Japan. Students today face tremendous pressure in order to have a chance at higher education, a chance they might not even get despite having worked hard. Global economic conditions aren’t exactly shining a bright light on the future for them either, cutting dreams and desires short with impersonal ease.

Two differences between Japan and other countries could be found in culture, as in cultural pressure to excel, and length of time, when talking about the pressure resulting from a bad economy. But can we not say that the possibilities are there for the Hikikomori to become a more widespread phenomenon?

On the other hand, what if the Hikikomori condition is more than an expression of social pressures on specific individuals, more than a form of mental illness? What if it is the breeding ground of a shift? A shift where one’s life goals and his very purpose of living as perceived by the previous generation change? A shift that once is in gear will affect everyone?

The possibility is plausible. Social standards, practices and expectations have changed to a high degree. One may only consider the advancement of technology and its integration into daily, personal and professional, life to see a great part of that change. As for education and work, society has moved from the need for basic education to the need for higher and higher forms, and from unskilled labor to skilled labor etc. All these changes seem like a logical progression, natural advancement. But at the level we find ourselves today what is the next logical step?

If we only consider the educational system and the dire economy as reasons for the existence of the Hikikomori we could make the possibility seem even stronger. First, let’s, very naively, try to bring down the educational system as a reason behind the Hikikomori phenomenon.

If you search for a person to tell you of a difficult experience he had to go through that made him better at dealing with similar situations in the future it is very likely that you will find one. Traumatic experiences make you tough. To some degree at least, you would agree that that is true.

By that logic, a high pressure educational system renders young adults more than capable of dealing with the pressures and responsibilities of the life after. In fact, life after school would be more likely to look better in terms of benefits and rewards, and thus less stressful. But then comes the life after, and there’s no future, no stepping stone you can use to move forward, to engage and become a part of society. Not only that, but personal goals seem to be amiss or non-existent. What’s next? What if a change is needed, a change in expectations of what the next step should be, or even a radical change that starts from the beginning of the natural line of progression (i.e. education)? What is the next step in this natural line of advancement? And is it something strictly personal or something so broad as to warrant a social change?

Lastly, what if the Hikikomori aren’t “weak” or impaired in some way due to their physiology, but instead are in some way more advanced because of it? What if those people are the ones who, before all others, are capable to understand that a different course is needed? An insight that gets them stuck?

A 2012 Scientific American article talks about the existence of a gene variation-based link between creativity and eccentricity. Due to this variation, high intelligent people with schizoid personality, for instance, process information differently which may lead them to incredible insight. So what if?

For more information on this last subject you can check a related article, titled The Link Between Creativity and Eccentricity.

Free Short Story: The Last Christmas before the End of the World

The Last Christmas before the End of the World

by Georgevine Moss


There was only one week left for Christmas. Benny swooped up his six year old daughter Grace from the playroom and tricked his teenage son Mark into coming to the basement with promises of letting him have the car for the weekend. Yes, he was that desperate.

Everything was going from bad to worse. Everything he tried to fix at home collapsed in his hands, his work…he didn’t even want to think what was happening at work. Even his wife Annie seemed to be in a rut of bad luck. She had been dieting and exercising for weeks now and the results were non-existent. What the hell was going on? Maybe there was nothing he could do about everything else that was going on, but the moment you diet and don’t lose any weight is probably the moment the world is going to end.

He took the kids to the farthest corner of the basement and sat them down on the floor as if the ending was near.

“Come on, dad. What do you want? I’ve got stuff to do,” Mark said.

Mark was already annoyed. Benny couldn’t tell if this was yet another bad sign. Mark had been permanently annoyed for almost three years now. Other parents had told him this was normal. Some other people had told him that medication might be good for him. The internet didn’t make things any better either. According to his research his son was either a psychopath or an angry teen in need of…love, was it? He didn’t know. His research was inconclusive of what such a teen might need. Looking on the internet for answers wasn’t a total waste of time though. After reading a medicated teenager’s story on the Huffington Post he was certain that going down the pill road was a definite no, no. And it had nothing to do with cost. Imagine that…

“Kids, what I’m about to tell you is really important.”

Grace gasped. “Are we going to die, daddy?”

Where did that come from? Should he start worrying about Grace too now? “What? No. No, we aren’t going to die. Why did you think that?”

“Mark told me that bad stuff is going to happen in the world and we are all going to die.”

He should have known. Of all the things he could be doing Mark seemed to take particular joy in reading weird stuff online and later recount them to Grace. Was THAT a bad sign? “Well,” he said. Before going on he threw a glance at Mark. He didn’t do it as a way to disapprove of Mark’s actions he just wanted to see if he was smiling. He was. “Bad stuff has been happening all over the world in 2011 too Grace so…”

Grace interrupted him with another dramatic gasp. “We are going to die?”

“No. No.” Shit. What was he thinking? “Grace,” he said. “I don’t know what is going to happen in 2012 but no one is going to die.”

Grace looked at him like a puppy. Not a confused, can’t-tell-I’m-looking-at-my-own-reflection-in-the- mirror puppy, but a really smart puppy that just wants to play with you. “No one?”

Trick question, trick question. “No one.”

“Not even that really old lady with the cane and the fake teeth and the tubes we saw at the hospital when we went to visit grandma?”

Mark burst out laughing.

“Grace, don’t interrupt me again.”

“OK, daddy.”

“According to the Mayans though…” Mark said.

“Mark. Stop it. If you want to read about the 2012 apocalypse check out Wikipedia, but keep your mouth shut.”

No one spoke. Not a bad sign, but weird. Benny finally tackled the serious issue at hand. Christmas. “As you both know in a few days we will be celebrating Christmas.”

Grace grinned. Benny preempted her with a serious stare. “So,” he said. “All of your grandparents will be visiting us this year and I really need you to act your best.”

“What do you mean, daddy?”

“Your mommy is feeling very stressed with her work and…other stuff, and I—we all need to help her with everything, just this one week. OK?”

“OK, daddy. Will you help her cook?”

“Um, no.”

“Don’t worry, daddy. I will.”

This was a bad idea. He shouldn’t have said anything. “OK…Mark?”

“Fine.”

What? No argument? What was going on? Should he be afraid? Benny wasn’t afraid, just worried. Maybe the world wasn’t going to end, but with the way things were going he wasn’t all that excited to wish anyone “Happy New Year” come 2012. What was worse was that he was the one he had to take the kids shopping today. Kids, toy store, Christmas and small budget didn’t bode well. In fact, it sounded more like one of those IQ test questions. Which one of these words doesn’t fit in?

Benny, Mark, Grace and Annie wish you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!