Pages 2 & 3

Here are pages two and three of that same story.  It might not come across as much as I thought it once did, but I was listening to A LOT of The Decemberists when I wrote it.  At the time I really wanted to try to push structural difference.  While in the grand scheme of things, the mock textbook layout with footnotes might not have been entirely revolutionary, it was pretty fun to toy with.

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This is the story of a man

Alone and wandering crowded avenues

His eyes on the ground

His mind fixated on shoes

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THE LUCKIEST[1]

(LIES: TRUE, Mercy)[2]

By S.E.I.L.

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As individual as a shadow, Sidney Elvin “Ike” Liebowitz, with a clean-shaven face, well kempt hair and sideburns a quarter of an inch off of his ears, walks down a dirty and dimly lit street pondering sneakers.  His appearance is of course a representation of his permanently boring “clean cut” ways and his thinking about shoes is a recurring and everlasting heap of mind drivel that wafts in and out of his consciousness for no apparent reason.  Consciously, no apparent reason is all right, but subconsciously, Sidney’s fascination with footwear can be understood as a symbol of his incessant need for individuality.  Because for him, besides the normative daily replenishment of clothes[3], socks[4], underwear[5], and a biannual toothbrush[6], shoes are the only thing in his life that changes[7].

Rubber Soles[8]

Now, for as long as he can remember, Sidney has always worn the same style of high top Converse All-Stars but his color options are endless[9].  He owns thirty-six pair, rotating thirty to thirty-one, depending on the number of days in a month[10], with the other five being strictly seasonal[11].  For some, his attempts at individuality may seem feeble or perhaps even go unnoticed but it was all Sidney had.  Or so he thought.

[2] Sub-Subtitle

[3] He owned a pair of identical tweed suits, black, that he purchased at Sears in 1941 before he stormed the beaches at Normandy.  Miraculously the suits still fit his shrunken physique.

[4]Black argyle trouser socks.  All of them.  Silver and gold diamonds, no tears, rips, or holes. Miraculously.

[5] Fruit of the Loom size large

[6] GUM Six more just like it lie still in the package in the medicine cabinet.

[7] Sure, there are other basic things that changed, like the amount of times he would blink his eyes in a day or the number of breaths he’d take while he walked from Powell Street to Sutter, but as you can see they are far too boring to mention.

[8] Subchapter.  Actually Rubber Soul.

[9] Virtually endless.  Refer to next sentence.

[10] On the 31^st of January, March, May, August, and December, Sidney’s tangerine colored shoes prowl the streets of the Union Square district of San Francisco. The exception here is Halloween.  See 11.

[11] Stars and stripes for the Fourth of July;  Jack-O-lanterns for Halloween;  Turkeys and maize for Thanksgiving; A snowman for Christmas; And a multi-colored (egg) for Easter.