The Ancient Shark Of Despair's blog

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The photos that I got back from David are of Celene. I took them of her when I first got my camera. This was when we just got here from Japan. Celene's dad sent us over her and he gave us some money to start up a life. That was pretty cool of him. He's a really good person if you think about it.

I haven't seen Celene in some time. We have a weird relationship.

The landlord came round this morning. It was nice having him here. Being on this adventure has been really refreshing. He came in and told me what he was doing today. He said that he could get me my groceries in town and I thought it was cool until his brother walked in too. His brother is really annoying.

"Hello, Shark." He said to me. I didn't respond.

The landlord's brother is my grocery kid. He has been for quite a long time now.

"Oh come on, Shark." The landlord said to me. "Speak to him. He's not going to take me away from you."

That's probably the most awkward thing he could have said at this point. I ignored them both. I didn't really have time for this. In my head I pictured Leonard Cohen smiling at them, just silently understanding all their pain.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

I've spent the day at home today. I just watched a few sitcoms. Nothing much really. I've been thinking quite a lot about the sitcom that I'm going to write. I've already got all the characters. I've got the main character, the dad. He's weird and a lot of the jokes are about him being weird, but you learn later on that he actually understands all this stuff that the rest of the family don't. He watches TV a lot so a lot of the jokes are going to be about that.

In the one episode he locks them all out of the house. He's on a bender and it's raining hard outside. He looks out of the window and sees them. He looks really angry. The family make a shelter out of some things in the garden. They even make a fire. The make a lot of jokes about what's going on and sometimes the scenes jumps to the dad and he will say something that is surprisingly similar to what the family just joked about outside.

The mother gets a phone call on her cellphone and it's the dad. He wants to know where they are. She says that they went for a walk. She's joking because of how silly the question seems to her. Everyone laughs. They go back inside and he's fallen asleep in front of the fireplace. The kids tip-toe past him with exaggerated movements and go upstairs to sleep. The mother stays with the dad and puts a big blanket on him.

In the last scene you see the kids and the mother in the kitchen. The kids are in their pajamas and they're all drinking hot chocolate. The mother is also in her nightwear. One of the kids spills their drink and the mother starts to clean it up for them. The dad walks in and he looks genuinely surprised. He lifts his arms up as if he was shocked and pretends to be angry. He asks where his hot chocolate is. He is smiling.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

I've had a nice weekend. I had pizza on Friday night.

David is definitely gone now. He hasn't been in the garden. Also, I saw the family move their stuff out with a truck. They've gone upcountry. I'm glad that he gave me back those photos before he left. They are the only copies that I have. They're of Celene. We took them in 1947. I think it was then. Also, he gave me his new address in case I want to go on another adventure.

The landlord ate pizza with me. I told him about my idea for the sitcom and he said that it was good. He said that you should always follow your dreams. The landlord is pretty old. He's at the age where it's hard to find people to stay with you. I guess his dreams aren't about falling in love. I guess you get over that though, which is cool. I think at our age all we care about is falling in love with this girl and that girl. At a certain age you realise that it's not about just falling in love. It's about making a decision and sticking to it.

I've decided that I'm not going to go on another adventure for a while. I don't think that it was fair on the landlord. He hasn't really got other people. He's got his brother, but I don't think that counts. I don't think that it counts if you are related. That's why getting married is so hard, you have to find a complete stranger and make them part of your family. I don't think that the landlord could do that anymore.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

I sat with the landlord for a bit. We were on my bed. I would look at my computer for a bit every now and again. He was telling me about all the things that can go wrong in life. He wanted me to not let my friends come round. I said that it was silly and that I hardly know anyone anyway.

“You're always saying how I need to care about people.” I reminded him. “How can I care about people if I never know anyone? The only people that I know are you. I don't know anyone.”

“Look, Shark. I'm not saying that you can't have friends. I just think that you should be more careful.” He said to me. “I think maybe you should check with me if it's okay first.”

He stopped and looked at me quietly. He put his hands on his legs and puffed his cheeks out while holding his lips together. It reminded me of how Ric would smile, how his mouth would pull apart as he tried to ignore all the pain going around.

“I don't see why I should have less friends when you spend all your time with other people. You're always out doing stuff.” I said. “You're always out with your brother.”

“Come on, Shark. I think it's a little different. I wouldn't say that I'm hardly out all the time either.” He leaned away from me. “I'm just saying that you should be more careful with who you are friends with. It's so easy for you to get swept up with people. You don't want to get into any trouble.”

If you think about it, it's kind of easy to see behind what the landlord is saying. It's really hard for people to find other people at his age. Even as friends. I think it's only natural that he's scared of me making friends. He's probably scared that he's going to lose me.

I smiled at him like I understood. There was no point arguing, I think it's better if he just thought that I agreed.

I looked up at my computer screen, but quickly looked away again. The landlord would be so upset if he saw how many people I knew through my computer. It's funny how all these things that he's scared of happening already happened long ago. He's so scared that I'm going to get a friend or two and run off. He doesn't realise that I've met so many people already and I haven't gone anywhere.

20 Jun 2007

Sometimes I get lost when I talk to the landlord. He'll be telling me about all this stuff, like how things happened some time ago. He's always telling me about a certain part of his life. There's this bit right after he was a kid that he really likes. He's just about to get married and he's working jobs and stuff.

I sent an email to Sarah. It was about David leaving. The last time David disappeared she came right to me. That was right when I met her. I figured maybe she would know more about David. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll go upcountry and visit him. I don't think now would be a good time though. It doesn't feel right.

I told the landlord that I agree with him and that his life at that one age was probably where it all happened. (I didn't really say it like that. I just repeated some of the things that he said and spun them so it sounded like I learned something from them).

He made me supper after that. It was okay. I was in the mood for something fulling. When we ate he said something about my eating a lot. He said it again later when I had a snack from my sweets cupboard. He said that I had a hole in my stomach and I almost cried.