The Misfit Party, Scene 1
By Nate Feldman
Josh was sitting at a table in the corner of the Seaside café, his favorite place to enjoy some freshly made coffee, homemade waffles and fruit, and do some of his writing and artwork.
Prior to coming to the café, he had done a jog on the boardwalk by the sea. The sight of giant blue waves crashing to shore and the sound of seagulls squawking overhead was very soothing for him. Josh always enjoyed winding down from his workouts with some coffee and a snack from the cafe.
He was working on his latest project, a story about a young pirate that carries a sickle instead of a sword, and who prefers playing sports instead of raiding areas for treasure. He called it The Lonely Pirate.
He pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was a quarter to six. Jim, a former university classmate of his, had promised he was going to arrive around 5:30. Josh began feeling some trepidation. This was the fourth time in the last couple of months that he had tried arranging a get together of some sort with Jim, and so far, it was the fourth time Jim hadn’t arrived. Josh took a deep breath and began losing focus on the Lonely Pirate story.
While Josh was sitting there, a peculiar looking man with spiked blonde hair, wearing a black and red plaid shirt and corduroy pants walked up to his table. It was a former college classmate of his, but it wasn’t Jim. It was Aaron. Josh bumped into him all of the time at the café and Aaron always stopped to say hello.
“Howdy sir!” Aaron greeted Josh excitedly. “How are things?”
“Hi Aaron,” Josh said looking up from his laptop, sounding a bit annoyed. “I’m all right. How are you?”
“Amazing! Things are going absolutely fantastic!”
Josh was a bit bemused. This was the same answer Aaron gave him all of the time. It didn’t matter that Aaron hadn’t found a full-time job in over 10 years of looking for work, or that he had tons of student debt he had managed to completely ignore over the years. He was always “fantastic!” no matter what.
“I’m glad to hear that,” Josh said with a tinge of sarcasm in his voice. “What makes things so great!”
“Well, let me think,” Aaron responded, another seemingly pre-recorded response he had. “I’ve come up with a couple of great inventions!”
Aaron was a bit of an oddball who always had some new invention that he was sure would transform the world. The last time Josh had seen him, he had invented an “amazing” new food item. It was banana and jalapeño pancakes that he was going to serve with his own homemade hummus and barbecue sauce.
“Tell me about it,” Josh asked, checking his phone again to see if he had any message from Jim. There was still nothing.
“So…,” Aaron began, “people love Golden Retriever dogs.”
Josh nodded. He had a Golden Retriever at home.
“And people love cats.”
Josh also had that.
“So, I’ve decided to find a way to breed them together to create a special new dog, cat hybrid called a GOLDEN CATIEVER!”
Josh was too stunned for words. For a second, he was sure Aaron was joking, but knowing him, he wasn’t so certain.
“Ummmmm, I don’t think you can actually do that,” Josh said.
Aaron just made a high-pitched laugh, somewhere between a giggle and a cackle.
Josh stared at Aaron who just stared back while making no sound whatsoever. “You’re serious about this?”
“Absolutely,” Aaron responded excitedly with a giant grin. “All great journeys start with a single step.”
“I guess,” Josh replied. He messaged Jim. It was now 6:00 and no sign of him.
Aaron told him he was going to sit over at another part of a café so he could brainstorm how to get his new ideas into action. Josh wished him luck. When Aaron was away he made an exasperated sigh. The combination of Aaron’s eccentric behavior and Jim’s callous indifference was a lot to handle. Several more minutes passed. Still nothing from Jim.
Josh looked across from his table to a man sitting at the opposite corner of the café. He was also working on some writing project on his computer and checking his phone. He also had a despondent expression on his face. Josh presumed he was likewise waiting for someone who wasn’t showing up, and while Josh felt empathy, he was also a bit relieved he wasn’t the only person going though this experience.
Josh waited until around 6:30. By now, he was beginning to accept that Jim wasn’t going to arrive. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do.
Questions:
*Where is Josh in this story and why is he there?
*Based on this story, how does the writer describe Aaron, the person Josh talks to at the cafe?
*What happens by the end of the story?
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