Dead Puppy, Broken Men
add opening narration/exposition/explanation; scenario with Jared

Yesterday:

"I've felt alone my entire life. Please don't make me be alone when I'm with you," Shellie begged Jared.
"You're not alone. I love you," was Jared's reply.
"But you won't open up to me."
"It's just really hard. I've always been this way."
"But why?" Shellie desperately yearned for the answers she would never find. "You need to love yourself, or you will never truly love me. You won't be able to."
"I do love you."
"Maybe you just think you do. Saying 'I love you' doesn't make it true. You have to show me that you love me. I can't handle this much longer. Nothing has changed in two years. Nothing."
"I know," Jared begins to cry, "I'm sorry. I really am."
"Don't cry please."
Jared looks away at the black T.V. screen in Shellie's apartment. He is silent for a long time, but eventually Shellie is able to pry his entire childhood out of his sewn-shut lips. She wouldn't take silence for an answer. Not anymore. If Jared hadn't come home, Shellie would have spoken to no one all day. She liked her alone time, but depended on Jared to be her right-hand-man, her main squeeze, her soul mate, and right now -- he simply wasn't being that. He was being something else; a subject of inspection, a psych-ward patient; a lost friend, who she longed to have back.
"Thank you for telling me," Shellie said as she squeezed his shoulders from behind, comforting him with tiny pecks on his cheeks. "Things make more sense now."
Jared said nothing the rest of the night. He instead sketched photos of slimy creatures with clenched teeth into his notebook, creating meticulous lines, surrounding the figure, as if it were travelling through time and space, into a new dimension, far away from this one.

---
Today:
"Did you know that there is a lizard that can only be female, and they don't have ***, they just clone themselves?" Brannan asked Shellie, his best friend.
"I wish I was that lizard..." Shellie sighed.
"What! Why!" Brannan exclaimed with confusion and worry.
"Because. *** messes everything up. I don't know...Maybe I'm just crazy," she stammered, looking for the right words.
"It's Jared, isn't it?" Brannan asked, already knowing the answer, because he knew Shellie.
"Yeah...I'm giving him one more chance. One more and that's strike three, you're out!" She laughed nervously.
"Ooookay," Brannan agreed, "one more chance."
Eli glanced up from the TV and looked at Shellie, wondering how anyone could hurt someone so sweet. But what did he know? He killed people for a living.
"What did he do?" Eli pried.
"I don't want to talk about it anymore. I've talked about it enough. All guys are the same."
"That's not true," Brannan tilted his head to the side in pity.

"The king is here!" Andy announced, as he walked through Brannan's door with a pound of **** in his canister, which was covered in skateboarding stickers and graffiti. Everyone cheered, and Brannan stopped playing Call of Duty, put down his Xbox controller, and picked up the pack of rillos that Eli had bought prior to coming over.
"That game ain't nothing like real life anyway," Eli mentioned, as he put down the other controller and everyone hastily made their way over to the kitchen table. He walked over to the freezer to pull out some Jack Daniels and ice, then went to the cabinets for a glass, turning his army cap backwards, pouring his drink, and taking a swig.

"How much do I owe you?" Brannan asked.
"We'll talk later," Andy replied.
"I was going to tell you, I still don't have what I owe you from last time, but Alexa said there is an opening at Starbucks, so I'll be able to pay you back ASAP man. I really appreciate it."
"Yeah, no problem," Andy said disdainfully.
"I'll roll it!" Shellie yelled to break the tension, as she put down her phone, only to pick it up again to check the time. Her boyfriend would be off work soon. Would she have to text him first again? Was he even thinking of her?
"Go for it!" Brannan tossed the rillo pack to her.
As she was finishing the roll, her phone went off. Shellie believed that maybe there was hope after all.
"Nope, just my dad..." Shellie mumbled to herself and sighed.
"What's wrong?" Brannan asked, with concerned blue eyes, through his thick-rimmed, black glasses.
"It's just Jared," she said as she pushed her lips to one side and looked down at her phone.
"What did he say?” Brannan asked.
“That’s the problem. He hasn’t said anything all day,” she explained in distress. Brannan noticed she hadn’t worn makeup in days, and by the looks of her outfit, she hadn’t been doing daily yoga like usual.
“Maybe he’s just super busy?” Brannan asked reluctantly.
“HE’S busy?? No. I’M busy.” She paused as Andy and Eli raised their eyebrows and widened their eyes. Eli was confused, because she had always seemed happy whenever he saw her. "I'm in school AND I have three jobs. What does he have? ONE job. One. I think he has time to text me, thanks for your input though."
Brannan said nothing, but pressed his teeth together and opened his lips, revealing a worried look with sad eyes, toward his dear friend.
"Yeah. He just doesn't get it. I'm a fire sign and I'm full of passion! Well, partially an air sign, which is probably why I’m so forgiving and understanding. But if he doesn't reciprocate soon, I feel like I'm going to go insane! Like, really? You don't want to go see Star Wars with me? What kind of person are you? Who doesn't like Star Wars? Really though," Shellie added.
"Maybe he's already seen it and doesn't want to tell you," Brannan suggested.
"You think so? Who would he go see it with though? All of his friends have already seen it. Do you think he saw it with his ex?! Oh my God..."
"Here, take this," Eli said as he handed the blunt to Shellie.
She took a big puff and exhaled as she closed her eyes in relief.
"You know what. I'm overthinking this. He just gets anxious in public, that's all," Shellie explained and looked around for reassurance.
"Are you sure that's all?" Brannan asked as he swung his black bangs away from his face.
"I don’t know... He's really mysterious and quiet. It's really hard for him to open up, I think. He didn’t really have a dad growing up. He's gotten better at talking to me, but he's still weird around big crowds of people. He never wants to go anywhere with me. It *****. I think he's learning to get better though. Maybe he's just young, I don’t know, but I'm sick of acting like his mother, you know? Why can't he learn things on his own? We're all scared, but if you don't face your fears at some point, then what's the point?"
Andy couldn’t help but think she sounded like a nagging *****.
"You know you just partially described the personality of a serial killer, right?" Brannan asked with comedic horror on his face.
"Did I?" Shellie asked.
"You deserve better!" Brannan's mom yelled from the living room. She was watching some reality TV show that she shouldn't have been watching. She continued to Shellie, "You deserve someone who takes you out and treats you right! You're a sweet girl!"
Shellie looked down at her phone. Still no text.
"Do you want to hit this?" Shellie yelled to Brannan's mom.
"I'm good, thank you though! I've got to finish these lesson plans for the day care," she explained with a sigh.
"Aww, sounds kinda fun," Shellie said. Shellie had thought about being a teacher, or maybe a counselor, but after helping so many people with different problems, she was starting to second-guess her passion for it.
"Nice blunt," Andy complimented Shellie. He thought Shellie was kind of cute, now that he had caught Eli in Alexa's bed and was no longer drawn to her. Despite her messy hair and mix matched attire, she had things together. She had things going for her. What did Andy have going for him?
"Thanks," Shellie smiled. Jared hated blunts, but he loved cigarettes. It made no sense to her.
"So what have you been up to?" Eli asked Shellie. "It's been a while."
"Just busy, busy. School and work, you know,” she said as she took one final puff before passing the blunt on its way, into the final circulation, never to return to her. She wanted to ask Eli about his life, but knew he couldn't say much, so she just went back to her phone.
Eli looked at Alexa, "Cigarette?" he asked.
"Yes," everyone except Shellie replied.
They all went outside in the freezing cold to get a brief buzz, while Shellie stayed inside, in the warmth, jotting down new business plans for her yoga studio into her phone. She then opened one of her books, but couldn’t focus on the text, so she quickly closed it. She then sat there in jaded silence, waiting for her friends to return from their strange endeavor.

"All the girls at my work are such *******! Like, one day I think they're my friend, then the next day I'm like, who are you?" Alexas was saying to her mom in between inhales and exhales.
Brannan looked at Alexas then at Eli with a look of concern and distaste. His mom noticed his expression and gave a brief response of agreement with her eyes, quickly returning to her daughter's concerns with compassion and empathy.
"Like, Kate said she wanted to hang out and everything, then she just doesn't respond. What the Hell?"
"Yeah, you probably just shouldn't be friends with them," Brannan replied.
"I have to be! I work with them," Alexas explained.
Knowing it was a lost cause, Brannan turned toward the glass door, where one of his cats pawed at the frame. “Aw, look at Izzy,” he said, pointing.
“Awwww,” his mom replied as she sipped on white Beringer.
“Let her out,” Brannan said to Alexa, since she was next to the door ****.
“No! She’ll run away,” Alexa said.
“No she won’t,” Brannan argued, as he made his way behind his sister, slightly pushing her, and letting Izzy outside.
She looked at everyone, let out a small meow, then hopped down into the grass, under a bush, and out of sight.
“Look what you did!”Alexas said, raising her voice.
“She’ll be back…” Brannan assured her, with ****** eyes.
Alexas rolled her eyes and Brannan continued, “She just wants to be free, Al.”
Their mom watched Izzy as she scurried into the neighbor’s yard. “Yeah, she’ll be back,” she said.
Then Eli turned to Andy and said, "You trying to play Call of Duty?"
"Sure," Andy agreed, though all he could think about was how Eli had been in Alexa's sheets the week before. “I’ll ******* **** you dude.”
“Yeah right,” Eli said as he let out a laugh, not knowing that he knew what he knew.

Alexa went to the living room with her mom, and Brannan returned to his spot at the kitchen table next to Shellie. Smoke stained the air, as Brannan picked up his phone and began playing a Pokémon game. Shellie tried to act interested, but all she could think about was Jared. Eli and Andy finished shooting each other and came back to form a circle.
“Bowl?” Brannan asked.
“That’s okay,” Shellie said, “I’m trying to cut back.”
“What…” Brannan said in disbelief. He packed the bowl anyway and handed it to her.
“Naw,” Shellie said.
“Yaw! Brannan yelled.
“No.”
Brannan handed the bowl to Andy and as Andy hit the bowl, he turned to Eli and said, "Hey, so if someone sat 12 million dollars in front of you, and a puppy in front of you, and said: The money is yours, you just have to crush this puppy to bits. Would you do it?" He looked at everyone as if he already knew the answer; as if it was obvious. Andy waited for everyone else to reply first. Brannan had no intentions of replying, since he was trying to be Christ-like lately.
"No, I wouldn't do it," Shellie said.
"Are you serious?!" Eli asked with pure shock on his sun-kissed face.
"Yes, I'm serious. Would you do it?" She leaned forward, almost rocking out of the tall bar stool she was sitting on.
Brannan and Eli chimed in, "You would SO do it."
"I would SO not." She repeated angrily, hitting the blunt and blinking her brown eyes to moisten her contact lenses.
Brannan's younger sister walked into the room to sit down, and Shellie looked to her for an answer. "Would you??" She looked at her with eyes of a beggar's, pleading for understanding and empathy.
"Do what?" Alexa asked, and the boys repeated the scenario, talking with utter excitement.
"A puppy? A cute little puppy?" Alexa asked.
"Yeah, a puppy or 12 million dollars," Andy coaxed.
"I couldn't do it! I could never do that!" Alexa gasped. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t!”
"That's what I'm saying," Shellie agreed. "I'm not even a dog person, but I would grab the puppy and run! Maybe report that guy to the animal police or whatever."
"Yeah!" Alexa agreed, as she took off her Starbucks sun visor and laid it on the table, next to Brannan’s laptop, Eli’s sketches, Andy’s backpack, and Shellie’s books.
"You all are crazy!" Andy said. "If the money was right in front of you, you'd do it, no question."
"No," Alexa and Shellie both said firmly.
"You'd just have to see the money, right there in front of you, in person," he kept on going.
Eli took a sip of his whiskey, then made stomping motions with his feet and said, "Haha! Gone! 12 million dollars richer. You know what you can buy with that much money? Tons of new puppies, if you really wanted to." He laughed.
"Yeah, you could **** me and make tons of new friends, too," Shellie said as she rolled her eyes in disgust.
"That's not the same though," Brannan finally spoke. "We don't know this puppy like we know you."
"Well someone does," Shellie insisted.
"Maybe," Brannan replied.
"Someone could," Alexa said. "Unless you **** him."
"Who said it's a boy?" Shellie asked sheepishly.
"You're right. It should be a girl," Alexa agreed, "like sweet little Lola over here." She scooted her chair from the table, and beneath her feet lay her sleeping Border Collie. She got up from her seat and lowered herself to the floor, head to head with the dog. She touched her nose to the dog's nose, kissed the dog’s cheek, and patted her head before returning to her peers on the bar stools above.
Everyone went silent, and Shellie wondered if the boys felt ashamed - so obsessed with power, that they forget to love.

---
Yesterday:

"You know how I told you that I didn't really know my dad growing up?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, it's because he was in jail for a while."
"How come?"
Looking around, as if for help or guidance, Jared hesitated to say what would come next.
"What is it??" Shellie pleaded, her imagination running wild with fear and worry.
"He ***** me."
"W-what..." Shellie was taken aback. She would have never guessed this is what all Jared's anger had stemmed from. Life flashed before her like a lightning bolt. It surged through her entire body, carrying memories of her perfect childhood juxtaposed next to Jared's. She thought of all the times she had met Jared's dad. She thought of how they worked in the same office, and Jared had to see his face every single day. She wondered how deeply this must affect his life, and how little she had noticed. Had she misjudged him completely? Why were all of her boyfriends so damaged? Was she drawn to damage? What if he ended up like his father? She wanted to help him. She had to.
"But how? Or... Like, where?! Did your mom know?"
"That's why she divorced him. He used to rent hotels on the weekends and tell my mom he was taking me along on his business trips. It wasn't until I was seven... I started having nightmares. I couldn't wake up. I'd scream and yell, telling him to get off me."
"Oh, Jared. I love you so much. You know that? I'm here for you. **** him. You don't need him. Your mom is great, and your little brother loves you. I love you. It's surprising how great you turned out, honestly."
"Yeah..." Jared said, slightly offended, but also in agreement.


* note for author from author: add scene with Alexa and Lola -- Lola biting her over and over. He's hurting me, ow!! "She just let her bite her. Over and over again." She did nothing about it. She endured the pain.
Shellie teaches Brannan how to "train" his dog.. play with her, be her friend. She just wants to play. She doesn't want to watch us smoke **** all day. You have to act like a dog sometimes if you want her to love you and be good.
reference to god's of love.. maybe venus and mars
- add more in between blunt roation.. it burns too fast
- create more setting!! (vital)
- add physical fight between Eli and Andy
- add scene with brandon's dad at very beg

the journalist asked why young girls were
going missing & Eli went into a rage - it
had been happening all over town &
the town [the journalist after him
                                   through the rented loft: 'Eli!' she called out
& out of nowhere he punched her in the face;    

T'is not America, he berated her,
choking the life out her; her pumps flying -         off
in a blind frenzy kicking her  
                            *****-hosed legs to ruins until she
stopped flaying on the floor; &
Eli got the claw [no mere hammer but a magic  
             hammer & did what he'd been
thinking he wanted to do to
Rachel; Nasty as hell, the mess oozing    
       over the polished        floor: no phone call,
                heading to the airport w/ no luggag e:
******* journalist:                         [*****, cancer-riddled blonde
                             scratches her scabs & can't remember her own name - but           everyone calls her Rubie:  b/c she's always bleeding  ,
hair falling out, pining     (                                   );
         for the mad painter; a
murderer :                she wanted Eli to someday shoot her dead;
but there'd be no time for something

     so romantically sublime;          content to have her corpse
thrown on a bonfire;                          no one cared that they'd
be bones by the time future-men approached
the place is Hazrd suits::: p: Eli visits his friend in Russia & kills w/ impunity; the police look [they couldn't care less anyway )               the other way & get a nice bonus   [a great painter summers here,
                  they brag to anyone who listens             [                      
was a sprawling dark mess; there were cockroaches
the size of cars roaming the fallow woods
             surrounding Chernobyl -                          
no one in their right mind goes  near (                       )  the place or [they call im The American Painter;        drunk & sleeps w/ underage girls; his yuppy  publicist invents                                         rumors when          he hasn't ( been seen  )                ☉                    in days or weeks ;

            anywhere near it; no one except
girls apparently                             drawn to the place
by [talk of a mysterious clique who survive w/ lesions
               of cancer riddling their bodies, painting
& making wild new        music: the Last Generation :
no one even
                     knows they exist; [Eli lives on a farm in
       America in Amish country]
(Eli was always getting ghost-calls / distant relatives of Igor -
          [something always (                               ) told him who it was
                but she never spoke; it was the blonde -  
everyone thought was dead: Eli knew too much; (               ) he
kept a gun in his coat; he took                  it out[ Eli never wore the coat]                    their women stink of death 
              [hair falling out in chunks from the tattooed scalp;
          making money smuggling out         ' Chernobyl ****'                      graphic zombie ***        perversions beyond believe    
         (radioactiveperfume sprayed burns    [-] skin tearing off in sheets of rugged tattoos - they die off & don't reproduce --- committed  ]
[  hipsters to the                     death][          Ivan picked up the
                        "yeh?"            cell from his desk &     said:
a mysterious magnetic                       force: [почему ты не любишь меня?]
[[*******, Eli!               I ******* don't want to
         be alone anymore! I need u to stay w/ me - to lob -        e                 love me the way I love u -
(quack Mesmerists           [the journalist survived
          the hammer blow but not the gunshot; all went quiet; zombie lovers
          in abandoned parks kissing
Lenin & Stalin like hoary ***** old men ;
       oh, ****, yeh, daddy bear, come
& take ur baby-boy [So Igor got into the                new      scene & stood(denied three times               ) out as that guy what writes novellas for the
State; 'почему ты не любишь меня?'
                         'it don't pay', he says, 'ur lying'
       says an old *** in Russian, Igor says,
     'Bend over, old man, let my juggle
ur hemorrhoids on my ****::
'ain't u the romantic Igor surprised
         the whisky-soured *** & hailed a   rough (               )  crew over to hold the old man down &               pull a    
  train on the wheezing         pensioner;
          leaving him not a coin &
                  minus a                  few of his already    broken           teeth;  
claiming         it to be the animal spirits  
           [Eli felt like hitting Rachel w/
a hammer        (the *** heard Igor
        laughing it up inside the bar & could
[почему ты не любишь меня?]
only ***** & **** himself]      lying there (      )
     in the pissy alley; [a]       good night's sleep about due
            right then,           but he just thought it -            
         & left the room] Eli
                         of the poisoned                              earth [awakened)
[he'd do anything right                                 then for the prickly sallow-skinned skinny                
          radioactive blonde;                              gone bald &
       spindly thin as a                   piece of floss          
by the nuclear    [Eli thought if he ******
her her ***** might come clean off                                     radiation that will stay steeped [losing an arm or a leg]
[he needed her; she had to be the ugliest              woman he knew; face tattoos & piercings; scars & spontaneous
      bleeding fissures; [s             he was 24 & *****]
     24 hours a day;
there was no day
& night -death                  had no color:            (she loved Eli & he'd never set eyes on her: they had computers &
the Internet:          but no one wanted
to see their televised           as then  b           musicians tended to die onstage ::: ******* living nightmare blood
       f             gushing into the audience &
                                                .
              ­    from the audience             limbs thrown onstage;
     still in all, he wasn't going near the forest of Chernobyl;
on a plan e (              ) back to America + wife + ki=ds
in the soil for uncountable thousands of years -

Eli was tapped for a Motherwell
bio-pic despite having no acting
experience beyond bullshitting
drunk girls at the bar; but his co
star who would play Helen was
a seasoned pro; the script had
Oscar written on the bottom of
a check to give the ill-fated mess
the green light to go into pre-
production; Milky Toes wanted
to see his farm; Eli didn't care
but the actress' mother pulled the
artist aside to explain that her
daughter was fragile,  meaning
not a ******;  fragile also didn't
mean frail - so Eli drove Mimi
as was sometimes called to his
spread in rural Pennsylvania; O
Eli! it's beautiful said the Coke
bottle-shaped platinum blonde w/
two black eyes & arm in a cast;  
ur mother said u're the fragile type,
he broached directly; 'my doctor
says I can break every bone in my
body & heal right up', she said
proudly as he led her up the hill's
trail to the spot where he turned
paint into money; the dark ground
flecked w/ every imaginable color;
Milky Toes wanted to make Eli a
star but Eli was already a star; his
last show making the cover of the
latest ARTFORUM; Milky never
read ARTFORUM, her technique
being to directly address her costar's
*****; he stepped over to where she
folded her legs beneath her & sat;
staring him directly in the *****; Eli
understood method acting; he'd
studied it himself but never once
thought himself an actor; Eli was
real & raw; traumatic even, paranoid;
strangely drawn to the earth w/ a yen
to rejoin it & become one w/ the
***** worms & succulent roots of every
plant that grows & every animal that
*****; w/ no warning,    turning &
dropping his trousers, Eli bent over
& flipped a flat **** onto the bridge
of her nose: when he turned to face her
she was smiling: 'is that all u've got?'
he smiled back at her & dropping to
the paint-devastated grassy hillside,
Eli kissed the **** off her face; Milky
Toes closed her eyes & lay back; the
air all around them filled w/ the strong
odor of every different kind of ****

Eli got in while Becky was at market w/ the kids;
the buggy was gone & no one but Rusty his neighbor
saw the Uber pull away from the      wooden     fence
& Eli walk with his head cast down;
he had the letter from Leonard
          telling him no one could now he had anything to do w/ the missing
                       Russian girls;
the cops were                  barking up the wrong tree,
Leo's favorite American expression;
Eli went inside &   went to his stash of corn liquor,
but then Rusty was at the door;
girl always barefoot (             ) in nothing but overalls;
not as Amish as all that;
her dad was a Mennonite                               & Eli
once      turned her onto                    some high-grade          medicinal ****
& told her all about the Medici's iron            rule
                    over the Renaissance;    the Enlightenment
brought Fascism the way              the French revolution
brought Napoleon    -   [Eli heard the buggy pull up to the house & hurried Rusty out the back door & across the field
where she stumbled & landed (                 ) flat on her face in the desiccated poppy patch he had polluted                          with pigments of every shade
& sparkle &              when Rusty rolled over       r       on her back
         the afternoon sun shone down;      shone down &    
she glittered in the fading sunlight; [         ,          ;          ]
Eli was trudging to the very spot where she lay,
after helping Becky         bring a few things in;
seeing his old neighbor half his    age sprawled on the ground
skin & overalls      sparkling like a rainbow        from all the loose pigment -
spread among the poppies; even bees  -
were day-glo blue & some were green & purple,
some red & artificially             yellow like some            tiny canary
[Eli didn't go back         into the house until hours later];
Becky was irritable b/c it was that time of month - red
& Eli didn't seem to care -  she knew where he was  [but she had no thought about Rusty; barely seventeen &
       probably gay - or so people said;
      [Rusty was not gay, at least not today, at least not w/ Eli right at the moment; the sun                        vanished replaced by stars' rays        ;        [Rusty finally made it home; her folks were old & asleep;
                         she'd meet Eli in the field again -
             [Eli read Leornard's note &   setting a match  to it     watched it       burn;  the paper cinder   withering            away to nothing
over the Ben Franklin [             ]                 stove;        
but given the way she felt,                  didn't dare go
up the hill; she didn't know what she       would say
but she knew it'd end in an argument
& she didn't want      the [stress=0]        right then ...     ;

Eli Bevier woke that morning at the crack of dawn, in the most distant state. The bed in which he slept wasn't of much comfort as he was used to his own bed. Eli was at a Military Hospital in Paris, he was discharged due to severe injuries he sustained in France during World War II, where he would spend the next six months recuperating. Though he tried to find comfort there, nothing really distracted his mind from thoughts of the army and what was happening in the world. Towards the end of his stay, he would often go on strolls to the nearby shops and offices to mingle and see what was of interest.
However, the one thing that kept a smile on his face was one of the nurses he had met while at the hospital. He thought she was elegant, funny, and charming as she had a way with her words. She was really kind and always tried to strike up a conversation as much as she could with him but was always sort of busy and they were never formally introduced. They did however write letters to each other, as he had in future relationships, she had told him that her grandparent’s farm was in the same city as Eli’s parent’s house. He loved that because he knew he could have a chance to wait for her and they could continue and meet once they both are sent home.
This never happened though as he later received word that the hospital in which the nurse was stationed in was hit by an enemy fire and bombed. He hated never knowing what could have been with the nurse. The hurt was so true but he knew life went on and as so he should too. When he would go back and recall this memory in later years, he would often feel bad at the situation but always remembered what his father had once said to him as a child, “There is never any use in crying over spilled milk.”

One evening he was walking past an old style shop, in which he saw the most extremely magnificent camera. At that time Camera’s were just beginning to dawn upon the world and develop into a greater extent. The shop keeper’s daughter, Margaret Wilkins, noticed him right away and worked up the courage to come over and talk to him. He on the other hand was oblivious to the fact that she had noticed him due largely in part to him being marveled by the camera and the items in the store. When he turned and saw Margaret approaching him, he felt a feeling.
That feeling we have all felt at one point or another. Stirring up inside as if you were some sort of melting ***, You know the feel. When you see a most beautiful and wonderful girl and you know that within you lies a special place in which only she can reside and your heart skips a beat. He didn't know what this feeling was, but one thing he was certain of was that he liked it. He knew that he had to think of something quick but his mind went blank and could not produce the slightest idea. “Hello there Welcome, May I help you in any way?” said Margaret.
But Eli just gazed at her as he tried to get a word out of his mouth but ended up getting lost in her gorgeous eyes. Again she asked “Is everything okay, sir? Do you need any assistance?” at which point Eli came to from his trance-like state and looking at the camera he was holding said “I apologize for being a goof just now, It’s just that you have such a wonderful eyes, I can only wonder as to the type of person you are, great I’m sure. Anyway, I’m Eli. Eli Bevier. I’m really interested in these items you have for sale. “Especially this camera.” he stated as Margaret walked over to his table and overlooked the camera, “It’s quite alright and thank you for the delightful compliment. Yes, as you can see we stock a fine selection of old world items and antiques. I myself fancy photography.” To which he replied “Is that a fact? You’re kidding! It’s apparent that we share at least that in common! Do you own any yourself?” he said as Margaret took the item over to the register and rang up the price.
“A couple, there’s this one that I have always wanted to get but haven’t gotten the chance, It was called the ‘Columbia Optical Co, Pecto 1’ it’s a neat little contraption. It’s really nifty it’s got a great lens and it’s just the perfect size for me”. “Thank you, you seem very kind, I hope to see you again sometime. I have an idea! May I have your address so I can maybe write to you? I might be stationed at different places so I might not get many chances to come back here.” He stated as he collected his things. “Why, thank you. You’re so kind yourself. Yes, that would be quite alright.” She wrote down her address and handed it to Eli. “Well I guess this is my cue. Bonsoir Mademoiselle!” he said and hurried along back to the hospital for he knew it was getting late and it would close its doors soon.
Two nights later, on the evening of the ninth of may, News had reached the hospital which said Eli was discharged and was going to be sent home immediately to which he took kindly to the news as he personally felt he wasn't ready for all that war going on. He had caught a flight back home to California early the next morning and was home by the end of that week. He was overcome with emotions when he returned to his life. His parents were proud of his achievements and for his service. Over the next few weeks, Eli did nothing but devote a majority of his time in job seeking, at first he didn't seem to have much luck as it was a time of despair for his country. The economy was barely beginning to make a recovery from the devastation and the wide-scale impact that the stock crash had left. He managed through it all by always remembering to write and send Margaret letters and cards. He enjoyed their talk’s, they would send poems as well. He soon found himself missing the woman so much, since she lived in France, he often contemplated re-joining the service. All the while the war still bombarding cites across the ocean and the globe itself, civilians were dying at a much more rapid pace as well as soldiers and enemy troops. Day and night the soldiers were on guard as many attacks would come without warning.  Back home, not finding much luck with work, he decided to pursue the army once again. He was accepted to serve again, and was sent to Spain for a brief period of time, after which he made his way back to Paris in an elaborate effort to track down the old style nostalgia shop and see Margaret. It was tough but Eli managed to find her and they met up on more than a few occasions, he had rented out a flat in the nearby neighborhood. The next few months, they met up and talked, and went out and just spent time talking among each other. By this time it was 1944 and the war was just about done. The young couple had made plans to stay in France and marrying, raise a family. He loved the idea. He couldn't wait to get out of the war and begin a new with the woman he loved. And as fairy tales go, they stayed put and eventually settled down having two children and owning various business and even a farm. He loved the decision he made and the person he chose to love, he couldn't have had it any other way.

Evy was a Hasidic    beatnik
who smoked *** &  listened
to Coltrane; her best  friend
Becky was Eli's third  wife;
Becky never suspected the
affair, when Eve went into
the field to watch Eli paint;
she'd come back w/ paint all
over her back & her  dark  clothes
.                       ruined; Becky never got it;
she had a household to run
while Eli was out in the wild  poppy field
making a       fool of himself
before God &                         getting paid;
Eli married her      precisely b/c
she was so clueless; Becky
had been an art major; she &
Eve going to the same  college;
Eve lived on a settlement in Israel & only flew
in a couple of times a year;                      Eve
always left Eli w/ visions of                      the
Holy Land; her sweaty flesh
reeking of stolen land &  Arab
death in the desert; her people
inheriting the crimes against
humanity perpetrated by their
spiritual forebears the  Nazis;
Evy wore her hair in dusty dreads
that she wore down to her ***                   but that
she always ******* in a wide scarf
when ******* Eli on the ground;
Eli saw Eve as an exotic Semite
from an ancient nomadic race; she
saw Eli as a painter shown in                   blue-chip
galleries around the world;                   Eli himself
knew he was fraud, too influenced
          by the decadent blank-page movement
of his Nihlist Russian friends: Eli
lit a joint & looking up at the dark sky,
decided to call his next painting
'The           Golden                   Calf';           for Evy

Becky knew Eli ha taken another wife
leaving her alone on the sprawling
farm, Eli Jr. doing most of the chores,
selling **** at the crossroads &
trying to **** his sister, Becky Junior,
who was too young & clueless for him
to get very far & she loathed the aroma
of ****. Eli's youngest Joshua already
evincing signs of effeminacy, Becky
attributing it to Eli's long absences; she'd
conjured in her head her wayward spouse
drinking & reveling with naked women,
rock star groupies and movie strumpets;
having flown over to see for herself, she
knew she was right.   Hearing Eli had
married again brought an inexplicable
sense of relief, & taking up her needle
work, Becky sat in the porch rocker
waiting for her two oldest to show up
for supper. Becky Junior stuck doing
Eli's chores while he ***** little Emma
from the next farm over; I'll not be
gettin' ina heaven, Eli Simple! the girl
scolded. Eli Jr, grinned, 'English Heaven,'
he said, 'That's where my father is.'
the girl's face paled & her pink mouth
swung open, "That rightly be hell!
I seen the little lit-up boxes they all
be talking to now. Some's got wires
comin' right out they head, like men
from Mars..." Emma was talking while
Junior rolled a blunt with a corn husk.
Men from Mars & little boxes - u've
got some imagination, missy, he said,
blowing the smoke at her; coming
beside him, they lit up the barn with
the pungent odor of Jr.'s Homegrown.
It's them English, She railed, Turnin'
theyselves into robots! Shut up, he said
at last, My dad throws paint on canvas
& he's good at it too, so I don't need...
feeling the vibration in his pocket, he
knew he to take the call. Here, smoke.
I've gotta go take a ***. He went out &
Emma lay back smoking contentedly,
giving herself the chills with thoughts
of evil English robots all connected by
wires. Figuring she'd keep, Junior went
down to the crossroad & didn't get back
until after sundown. Emma was gone,
but left a note scrawled on notebook
paper: 'I went home to supper emma'.
Feeling peckish himself, he picked up
the fat roach she'd left & lit it with a
kitchen match, smoking as he walked.

The explosive ending of the Atomic Bikini vs. The Hydrogen Bombshell
being the most spectacular ever filmed demanded a sequel; Ivan nor Igor wanting any part of it. Eli was then contacted by DEVIL STUDIOS with
the option of taking the directorial reign. Eli instantly agreeing cheered
his wife no end, as she would be responsible for the deep tans of the cast.
How to follow up on a film that ends with double nuclear explosions set
off by the Atomic Bikini's revealing her white body's untanned *******
& blinding the Hydrogen Bombshell with a twin blast of red ****** rays causing the Bombshell to split her tights releasing a space shattering quiff ... & something, something; end credits played over a blaring death metal anthem. The Uk already on board, knowing Eli's more sedate temperament began noodling on acoustic instruments & spare percussion. The Hydrogen
Bombshell would have to be recast. A script about the Atomic Bikini
contracting breast cancer was swiftly rejected. The slender skirted exec came from the airport to the farm via limo & tried to trod the stone path
in her stilettos, tripping & falling in the mud on her hands & knees. Eli &
the band watching from the living room window; It was Eli's wife Becky who rescued the woman, as the woman-of-the-house, the first Mrs. Simple
thought it her duty to put on good manners towards a guest. Setting the girl
in a comfortable rocker, Becky prepared tea on the iron stove. The Exec
looked at Eli as the band made it out the back door. "What can I do for you?" he asked. "There's been a mistake," she said.

"You're right. How can I top space-time exploding?"
She grinned. "We wanted your son. Eli Simple Junior."
"That makes more sense. He can do that. I'll get him."
Bringing the woman a cup of sassafras in a teacup
Becky had made on her own kiln, the woman sat up
& sipped. "You're covered in mud," Becky politely
noted. "I noticed," said the woman. "Let me get you
some fresh things," said the Amish **** & walked
from the room. Eli Jr. was not in his room; outside
getting ****** with the band, who he considered all
his uncles, his father knowing Ivan & Igor since he
was a small child; the band came later, but how they
came; the Uk were the Beatles of the Warsaw Pact.

In the West their music was seen as loud, crass &
bombastic, & early on sometimes illegal on account
of content of its effect on its brawling, rioting fans.
In the East, they could pay off the police & the show
would go on; it doesn't work that way in the West.
They needed a corporate affiliation so their product
would be protected by an army of copyright lawyers.

Eli came back downstairs to find the woman naked;
Becky beside her holding a traditional Amish smock.

"You'll look good in that," he said.

She wasn't shy about her pale physique, a scrawny
titless kid about twenty-two, legs way down to the
splayed feet & toes, toenails painted pink & sweaty.
"Put this on honey, before those animals get back,"
Becky urged mildly knowing a naked woman would
give the rock stars carte blanche to involve the police.

The rock stars did return, with Eli Jr., who'd never
seen the woman before, but as she was dressed more
or less as any ordinary Amish maiden he couldn't be
bothered with her. Eli realized the strangest thing,
not introducing herself she took gently took his hand
& led him out the door alone, the guys all looking
on in silence as was Becky watching the angelic duo
exit the wooded hovel like a pair out of a fairy tale.

Eli Jr. didn't talk much, ever, & didn't say anything
walking along hand-in-hand with the nameless girl
who also not speaking, was completely new to him.

Hey Eli you're a pretty cool guy,
But I'm just a little too shy to say hi.
Hey Eli you're a pretty cool dude,
And if I am I don't mean to intrude but maybe someday it could be you and I

Hey Eli I know that on you I can rely
I found that out last July
You're there for me when I cry
Hey Eli thanks to you
You're there when I need a rescue

Hey Eli you helped make me new
So Eli here's to you
This was for you, Eli

Eli tended toward mothering his louche
friends, not that he was any better. He
had a bank account that never tapped out
& his pals were so low rent no one ever
saw any money; worthless rubles & rupees
or priceless dollars & Euros. He had a
name that was as good as a meme. Eli
Simple. The leading blue-chip painter of
his 'generation', a somewhat elastic
designation.
Eli had no 'generation'. Ivan & Igor
had busted out of the confines of mere
State censorship by publishing nothing
or producing the cheapest squalor. They'd
made a fortune. [ZOZO] One way or
another either Ivan or Igor are related
to Eli, whose fortune was made on the
auction house circuit; priced as invaluable,
Eli Simple's work stood beside such esoteric
notaries as David Hockney, Francis Bacon,
& Jean Michel Basquiet; He could get any
price he asked for anything whatsoever, his
imprimatur guaranteeing a fortune. Gold-
diggers were not Eli's type. He liked women
who had nothing & could care less. That was
their charm. A female body was enough
of a chore. He'd been raised Mennonite &
always hungered for more. He'd made it to
the top on Wall Street, Fifth Avenue & Holly
wood
w/out breaking stride & w/ only minor setbacks
that seemed enormous at the time. Accused of
murdering an A-lister's father dampened his
popularity but not his budget. He was huge in
Europe & Asia; a bankable Blockbuster. In
America no one cared about Art w/ the Royal
Capital 'A'. He had never had an American
retrospective, never even been offered one.
That got Eli's goat just than & furious, he
attacked the girl. Then he called his dealer.

Lone Eli was a boy
who was awfully coy
and knew few who
were like him too.
Whilst searching for aid,
poor Lone Eli paid
the price of being
lonely and blue.

His heart grew weary,
building with fury,
for the friends that he
would never know.
Gathering his strength,
measuring the length,
off to the cliff
he would go.

With one last thought
for the decision he bought,
his fear would
certainly trump.
Feet on the ledge,
pushed to the edge,
Lone Eli decided
to jump.

As he made his peace
with all of his grief,
he drew in one last
breath of fresh air.
With a final gasp,
his mind could grasp
that, probably,
no one would care.

Lone Eli began
to lean forward and
off in the
distance and fog,
in his time of need
his valiant steed,
came running.
It was Buddy, his dog.

“Buddy! Hey pup!”
He said standing straight up,
“I thought I told
you to stay home?
Buddy, I swear… Wait,
what you got there?”
and at his feet,
Buddy set down his bone.

As Lone Eli stared
at his companion who cared,
he knew that he
could never pay
back his best friend,
who in the end,
helped Eli to fight
another day.

The band's bass player & principle songwriter,
William
Williams et al... saw Eli sitting alone at the bar;
He knew it was Simple b/c Eli Simple always wore
impenetrably dark shades; so did 99% of the faux
hipsters -
but still too terrified, "star struck,"
by the great painter already drunk & sobering up
the more he drank: Finally, getting his girl to approach
the artist, not "His" girl; a groupie that stuck to the
Uk's all tour; Eli didn't know her from a brick: She said
she'd do anything for no reason & the painter liked the
sound
of that.    Will watched them go off into black shadows
& after so long,  figured they weren't coming back.
He'd blown his chance to meet Eli Simple.

Eli had the habit of taking his chippies
"under his wing,"; he'd done w/ TT &
Hel, & a few others, he couldn't recall how
many or many of them at all ... some didn't
muster up, some died; some would have an
unforeseen blind
date w/ Leonard ... This one was chatty ...
when he absently set a thick vinyl platter
on the vintage turntable, common n Russia
& cranked the volume on DEATH POWER;
she became naked before his very eyes ...

They didn't talk for hours;
but they made a lot of
noise; but not a sound
could be heard ... over the
screaming neo-metal;
when the music abruptly
ended, she aught herself
loudly panting; Eli had mixed
something with his liquor
that made his body limp
but is **** as rigid
as a metal pole; she liked him.
He was rich, famous & cute,
& a Blackout Drunk ... & She
Snuggled His Taut Body, ||||||||
there on the floor. She nearly
leapt out of her skin when the
hypermonotonous metal blared
out again as the needle swung
back to the disk's beginning;
Reassured, she nestled beneath
Eli's arm, chunky, droning pitch
soothing her where she lay ...