aplus
03-22-2005, 07:23 AM
This one, along with the story I posted called "The Understanding", will be included in the 2006 edition of Out of Line, an annual book of writing with themes of peace and justice. Let me know what you think....
Excessive Punishment
Earl wasn’t very bright; his IQ hovered near forty-five. Even getting dressed in the morning was a chore. If nobody prepared an outfit for him the night before, Earl would lumber downstairs mismatched, wearing both plaid and stripes. Shirts were sometimes buttoned inside out and boots were often associated with the wrong foot. Despite his fashion challenges, he always had fun. He loved to watch movies with other people, rocking side to side while trapped in a cinematic trance. Earl could easily memorize and recite dialogue from films, yet he struggled with the concept of tying his shoelaces.
Earl had also mastered using silverware at the dinner table, but his hands rarely wielded anything more menacing than a butter knife. That was what confused the investigators. One day, he was found stained in crimson, crying on a neighbor’s stoop. Earl didn’t understand that his father’s heart had ceased beating, and he couldn’t explain why he was grasping a bloody Ginsu blade.
For this he was given an injection. To help him take a long nap, like they told Earl right before he was strapped onto a gurney. I guess that’s why laws exist, to rid our society of a thirty-year-old murderer whose final words were “I wanna watch cartoons.”
Excessive Punishment
Earl wasn’t very bright; his IQ hovered near forty-five. Even getting dressed in the morning was a chore. If nobody prepared an outfit for him the night before, Earl would lumber downstairs mismatched, wearing both plaid and stripes. Shirts were sometimes buttoned inside out and boots were often associated with the wrong foot. Despite his fashion challenges, he always had fun. He loved to watch movies with other people, rocking side to side while trapped in a cinematic trance. Earl could easily memorize and recite dialogue from films, yet he struggled with the concept of tying his shoelaces.
Earl had also mastered using silverware at the dinner table, but his hands rarely wielded anything more menacing than a butter knife. That was what confused the investigators. One day, he was found stained in crimson, crying on a neighbor’s stoop. Earl didn’t understand that his father’s heart had ceased beating, and he couldn’t explain why he was grasping a bloody Ginsu blade.
For this he was given an injection. To help him take a long nap, like they told Earl right before he was strapped onto a gurney. I guess that’s why laws exist, to rid our society of a thirty-year-old murderer whose final words were “I wanna watch cartoons.”