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II. Joshua

by Eli Skipp

joshua's knowledge of computers eventually becomes obsolete, and with them, so does he. now given
decades to fill, joshua will age in the grizzled way he's always dreamed of aging. his facial
hair, which waxes and wanes, will get all salt-and-peppery and fold inward with the stress lines
he's been building since childhood. he will look constantly concerned, as though his very
tautened brow is the definition of "foreshadowing." he will purchase a double barreled shotgun, a
rocking chair, a basset hound, and a distinct and cultivated sense of racism. he will locate
himself a wife with an unimpressive name and rounded hips and an inability to produce children,
and move into a neighborhood that will likely go downhill within the next few years.

he will teach himself words and phrases such as: "boy!"; "goldurnit!"; "the whites of his eyes,";
"fifteen miles!"; "them colored folk,"; and "git off mah lawn." he will learn to cry in a way
that makes everyone else cry whilst he remains a pillar of wizzened strength. his knuckles will
become knobs of scar tissue good only for whittling and shining boots. eventually everything
around him will go to seed -- everything he knows and loves will die either before him or at the
exact moment he dies. his porch and rocking chair will crumble, his basset hound's hind legs
will give out, his shotgun will rust over, his unimpressive wife will sag and whither, until he alone
is the center of a vortex of pain that is essential to his archetypal character.

03/05/2010

Author's Note: Joshua wants to be Clint Eastwood in Gran Turino when he gets old.

Posted on 03/05/2010
Copyright © 2025 Eli Skipp

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