novel 83 - 10. the fireplace

by nick nelson

part ten of ?

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it was getting cold in the old house beside the abandoned highway. ima joker, seated in the enormous stuffed armchair in the middle of the room, stared at the cold dark fireplace. we should build a fire, he announced for the third time . with what? meiinda nightingale asked acerbicly. do you know how? sally turk aded. ima glanced at quintessential robinson as if for help, but quintessential, seated on the floor below the cracked window, ignored him. good question, ima replied wearily to sally. they lapsed into silence. outside, a dog barked. it did not sound like a very big dog. i wish that was a wolf and it howled, ima said. why? sally asked. it would make things a little more dramatic. nobody responded. after a while, quintessential got up, stretched, and went out the front door. where is he going? melinda asked. nobody answered. is he coming back? sally asked. you ask too many questions , ima pronounced. meliinda looked over at sally. sally and melinda wondered if ima was going t o get up and follow quintessential. but he made no move to do so. he continued to stare at the cold fireplace. the minutes crawled by. quintessential did not return. finally they heard a car coming down the highway. that had better be koji, ima announced. melinda laughed. what if it is not? sally asked. to be continued

novel 83 - 9. new assignment

by nick nelson

part nine of ?

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suddenly omar’s phone rang. simultaneously gena’s phone rang. gena stopped looking for her keys. omar stopped watching gena looking for her keys. stop what you are doing - you have a new assignment. gena looked around the parking lot . omar had gotten out of the dodge el dorado and waved to gena, go ahead, the voice on her phone told gena. gena went over to the dodge el dorado and got in the front passenger seat. omar got back in the operator seat. it all happened in a matter of seconds. charles dunwoody had been watching the whole scenario from his seat at the window of the bar . charles turned on his phone. it was in text mode. behind the bar, elsa flowers stopped talking to herself and warched charles out of the corner of her hawk eye. proceed to the junction of highway 73 and south river road . junction - you do not hear that word much any more, gena observed conversationally. omar ignored her and started the dodge el dorado. they left the parking lot and headed down the highway.. were they looking for adventure? excuse me? were omar and gena looking for adventure? i am glad to see you are paying attention. but, no, they were following instructions, as i am. koji lightyear continued down highway 91 in his blue ford f-150. his phone rang. next

novel 83 - 8. what about

by nick nelson

part eight of ?

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thank you. wait, i have some questions. what about albert brown? what about charles dunwoody? what about elsa flowers? what about ima joker? what about them? you have not mentioned them yet. all in good time, soames, all in good time. so you will get to them? and by the way, my name is not soames. sorry, i must have been thinking of one of the seventeen people i interviewed earlier this morning - or all of them. i grudgingly accept your abject apology. now, back to albert brown and company. i told ypu, all in good time. the time is now. you are very persistent. that is just the way i am. maybe that is why you are lonely. who said i was lonely? is that not why you are here? yes, now that you mention it, i guess it is. you are lonely, and you are exploring the concept of loneliness by writing a novel under my watchful eye with the help of a i. that is a lot of words so it must be true. are you lonely tonight? about the same as usual. let us return tp omar and gena in the parking lot pf the hotel superbe. next

novel 83 - 7. sunset

by nick nelson

part seven of ?

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ursula vanderleffer and willoughby xenophon-st john met for cocktails at sunset on victor widespan’s private beach. the sun was going down in a magnificent red and gold chiaroscuric conflagration over the purpling waters. ursula’s petite raven - haired handmaid was spreading ursula’a fabulously costly hand-woven beach towel over the sparkling sands. willoughby xenophon-st john waited in the wings, making no attempt to conceal his rapidly growing impatience. how do you like it so far? it’s great. shall i continue? go for it. back at the hotel bar, gena harris and koji lightyear were putting their heads together. are we all set? yes. good. without looking at his watch or phone, koji waited exactly fifteen minutes. he got up and left without saying another word to gena, gena took another four minutes and nineteen seconds to finish her margarita. then she too got up and left. night had fallen fast, as it did in the tropics. omar plunkett watched from his dodge el dorado as gena approached her lexus at a leisurely pace. come on, lady, get a move on. when gena finally reached the lexus, she dropped her key on the pavement. the clock was ticking. omar cursed like a chief financial officer at a board meeting, which he had been in several of his previous lives. gena could not find her key! how are we doing? keep it rolling. next

novel 83 - 6. different

by nick nelson

part six of ?

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people are lonely for different reasons . some people are lonely because nobody likes them. other people are lonely because they do not like anybody. here are ten examples of people who are lonely because nobody likes them. a). albert brown because he thought he knew everything, b). charles dunwoody because he was always sneaking around c). elsa flowers because she was always talking to herself. d). gena harris because she was ignorant. e). ima joker because he thought he was funny but he was not. f). koji lightyear because he was fat. g). melinda nightingale because she was a snitch. h). omar plunkett because he was always arguing. t). quintessential robinson beause he never looked anybody in the eye. j) sally turk because she wore too much perfume. ok, that’s ten people who are lonely because nobody likes them. now what? write a novel about them. wrte a novel? how much time do i have? half an hour. can i use a i? of course, how else are you going to write one? can i have a cup of coffee first? you can have all the coffee you want while a i writes the book. next

novel 83 - 0. epidemic

by nick nelson

part zero of ?

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there is an epidemic of loneliness in our society today. um. it says so right here on my phone. where else would it say it? loneliness is a greater existential treat to the planet than climate change. it says so right there on your phone, huh? it surely does. does it tell you what existential means? it means something exists. i knew that. anyway, to cut to the chase - what does that mean? chase what? chase manhattan. the way i see it, if loneliness is a problem, it is the easiest one to solve in the history of the world . so you have solved it? i think so. don’t keep me in suspense. there are eight billion people in the world, right? i think it is up to nine, but go ahead. so if one of them is sitting in their lonely room being lonely, you just introduce them to another lonely person in their lonely room, and they can have a nice conversation. problem solved. i don’t know. i think most people that say they are lonely are looking for a little more than that. of course they are. but there must be enough who really want to just talk to somebody to make it worth somebody’s while. but - isn’t basically that what people do on line now?. no, they do just the opposite - they argue and slag each other. what does that tell you? i think we should go see mister brown. maybe, if he will see us. next

novel 83 - 5. first contact

by nick nelson

part five of ?

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hello, badperson86. my name is joshuajericho89. are you new to loneliness? yes, i am new to the app loneliness. but i am not new to the reality of loneliness. that is why i am here. do you want to talk about yourself? no. what do you want to talk about? anything but myself. that covers a lot of territory, i guess. can i ask you a question? please. are you interested in the history of pharmaceutical psychopathology? you mean am i a junkie? no, are you interested in the history of pharmaceutical psychopathology? i can not say that i am. what are you interested in? nothing much. can i ask you a personal question this time? go for ii. do people generally find you boring? yes, very much so. are you boring because you say boring things or because you do not say much of anything? i guess you could say it is a combination of both, depending on an evershifting combination of factors. you really do sound boring. of course i am boring - why else would i have signed on to this app. there are many reasons for people to be lonely. such as? next