Less than two hours into the new year, Will Parkinson had already broken 8 of the 12 resolutions he had made. He was well on his way to rationalizing the others away as well, figuring that the resolution only needed to take effect sometime during the year to count as a win. And the list was a pretty ambitious one anyway.
He sat in the dark on the sofa in Stacey’s living room, smoking a cigarette and drinking a gin and tonic. Stacey, smokes and drink knocked three resolutions off right there.
Will’s legs were pale against the leather of the sofa, made luminescent by the blue glow from the streetlight through the slits in Stacey’s window blinds. He reached down to the floor to where his pants lie crumpled near the leg of the coffee table and pulled his list out the front pocket. He moved slowly, not wanting to make a lot of noise for fear of waking Stacey. She was in the bedroom, sound asleep like he figured he ought to be. But his mind wouldn’t stop running, so he had retreated to the living room to smoke and think.
The list scratched into the paper in his unsteady hand read:
01. Quit smoking – it’s just stupid.
02. Only drink in groups – lest you develop a problem.
03. Stop sleeping with women you do not love.
04. Never drive after drinking – also just stupid.
05. Exercise.
06. Be more careful with money.
07. Think before you talk.
08. Eat healthier.
09. Control your temper.
10. Sleep during the nighttime, not the day.
11. Find a job you can love.
12. Be nicer to people in general.
There was another item on the list, now obliterated by a crossing-out so thorough as to render it completely unreadable. Apparently the scratching was effective even if the list as a whole was not, as Will could not recall what the deleted item might have been.
He took another long drag from his cigarette, rubbing his hand along his unshaven jaw as he exhaled a plume of smoke, which caught the light from the window and danced through the air in a way he found quite pretty. Just another reason to like smoking, he thought.
After the peal of midnight, and the rounds of congratulations and kisses at Jeffrey’s party, he said some stupid things to the host, in clear violation of #7. He then proceeded to get angry about a perceived slight and insulted an innocent-bystander friend of Jeffrey in retaliation, putting a dent in #9 and #12. He shattered #4 by offering Stacey a ride home. He wasn’t drunk, but still. The list didn’t say “drunk.” Stacey smoked, so #1 flew away even before she invited him up with her to break #3.
He didn’t feel so bad about #3. He may not love Stacey, but he at least liked her, which was still a step forward from a lot of his encounters lately. And she certainly didn’t seem to care much whether or not love was involved. Afterwards, as she drifted off to sleep and he did not, he slid into the living room to mix himself a clear violation of #2, while he suffered through the consequences of failing to live up to #10.
Technically speaking, though, he had gotten some exercise. And he hadn’t spent any money since midnight, so maybe the list wasn’t a total loss. If he ate healthy tomorrow, or found a new job, maybe he could put this whole thing back on track.
6 comments:
I only had time to read the first para and skim the rest (I'm supposed to be working on my own novel!).
But I just wanted to say that it's really tightly written, looks like a compelling story, and I already like the character.
Looking forward to reading more.
haha i like the character
that's me with new years resolutions
Nice, punchy way to deliver the character and yes, I like him. What has he scratched out though, must read on and find out.
I really enjoyed this and would definately want to read more. Loved the resolutions and the breaking of them. There is fantastic increase in pace as he breaks more and more of them, which I found very clever - sort of like the poem (the Night Mail?)
Hope you don't mind a dyslexic pointing out one typo - only obvious as there seem to be no others - unlike my WIP: his pants should lay and not lie - I think?
Great work you.
I adore this character. I would like to see him succeed with his resolutions, in particular with numbers 1, 3, and 11.
Thanks, Ben. Not sure how you found this blog, which I had forgotten existed, but this was a chunk from a Nano project in 2006. I think if we caught up with Will today, his list is a bit smaller. You mention #3, and he's no longer making that mistake by the end of the book. Numbers 1 and 11 might take him a little more time than the year he has in the novel, but by mid-2012, he's on a better path, I suspect.
Anyway, thanks for reading. If I see more responses come this way, I might be tempted to start posting little bits of this again, to see if it's worthwhile.
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