Small Plastic Summer: A Novel

by T. Gate Elton

 

Quote One

The games we played beat a rhythm that sang an easy secret, if you shared the language. Coded collisions of plastic on plastic punctured by metal running through wood survive somewhere inside the dark fluttering beat of my heart. That encoded truth spins through every grain of the Universe, but most clearly to my ears in Foosball; where life is lived one shot at a time.

Quote Two

"These guys are awesome," I told my wife while spinning a rod of blue men.

"But their heads are so smooth. Can they hear?" Trish teased.

"Well..."

"Can they see? How do Foosball players communicate?"

"They can sense. What do you think that bar's for? They can feel the vibrations."

"But that's only for people on their own team," she countered. "How do you feel the other side when you run parallel lives with a bar through your chest keeping you from getting closer?"

"You introduce the ball," I answered.

Quote Three

The sun was barely peaking in the early afternoon when the five of us walked out of the cabin and made our way dreamily toward the ceremony. The land rolled toward a distantly near blue intensity that seemed to dissolve into the sky. The gentle sound of the completing waves seemed to control the rate of my breath.

At the edge of a short cliff at the edge of the lawn, a winding staircase was built into the land. Paved with concrete and fitted with a metal handrail the steps led down onto the wide sandy beach where a number of white folding chairs stood.

I mingled with the Foo's at the back of the beach and we decided that after the reception it was a necessity that we return for a bonfire with some of the driftwood piled at the base of the cliff.

"Yeah, we can go skinny dipping," Gloria thought aloud, receiving nervous laughter and affirmations from the League.

"I'm down," I said, peacefully gazing into the warm summer blue.

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