Friday, July 21, 2006

UNTITLED EXERCISE

My name is Peter Schreve. I am twenty-one years old. I am a white male. I am six feet tall. I weigh one hundred and seventy pounds. My hair is brown. My eyes are brown.
I wear steel wire-rimmed spectacles. My eyesight began to fail me at age fourteen.
My wardrobe is limited. I have recently begun expanding it. I am currently wearing a green button-down shirt, khaki slacks, a brown belt, gray underpants, gray socks, and brown shoes.
My feet are size eleven.
I am attending a local university. I am a junior. I am majoring in software applications. My classes for this period include: ADVANCED C++, JAVA BASICS, and INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE. I am doing well in these classes. I have been doing well in my degree program. My GPA is a 3.80.
I work at a local bookstore. I have been working there for four years. I serve in a supervisory position. I am on reasonably friendly terms with all of my coworkers. I am paid $7.50 per hour. I work thirty hours per week.
I was born in Springdale, Florida. My father and mother are named Peter and Lisa. My parents are divorced. I am an only child. My mother visits me every Sunday.
I attended elementary through middle school at Springdale Primary Academy. I attended Saltsburg High. My GPA was a 3.90. I never got into trouble at school.
From age eight to age eighteen, I attended the local chess club held in the community library every Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 P.M.
I do not smoke.
I do not drink.
I do not take drugs. I have never taken drugs.
My bicycle was stolen when I was fifteen. I was given a replacement for Christmas.
I exercise four times a week.
I have never broken the law.
On Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, I run three miles between 6:00 A.M. and 7:00 A.M. I make sure to stretch all of my major muscle groups both before and after running. Then I take a shower.
My parents names are Peter and Marie. My mother is dead. She died of cancer.
On Tuesday afternoons, I go to the rental store, where I make two selections. I watch one movie that evening and one the following evening. I return the videos punctually on Friday afternoon.
When I was seven, I fell off of the porch after accidentally flipping over the swing. My mother told me not to swing so hard many times before. I received eighteen stitches on my forehead. There is still a scar. It has been suggested that I got what I deserved. My brother did not push me.
I visit the laundromat every week. The price of a single load is fifty cents less on Wednesday evening, so that is when I go. I never have more than two loads each week, so I spend exactly $4.00 per visit.
I am single.
I am an only child.
I have never broken the law. I always wear my bicycle helmet now. I have never hurt a person. I do not speed.
When I was seven, I fell off of a porch swing.
I have never murdered anyone.
I want to be a policeman when I grow up.
My parents are named Peter and Jamie. I was born in 1975 in Peaceton, Ohio. I am an only child.
I do not speed. I have never received a parking ticket. My car is a blue Honda Civic '94. My wife recently had the transmission gaskets replaced.
I remain unmarried.
Each Friday, I leave work early.

2 Comments:

Blogger Indeterminacy said...

I love the subtlties of this piece. It's brilliant.

12:44 PM  
Blogger Indeterminacy said...

I should add some more about what I liked: The piece builds a disturbing feeling of things not quite right, and the emphasis in the monologue on how the speaker has never hurt anyone or done anything wrong added an eerie feeling that something terrible had happened. The unsettling reoccurrence of the same ideas really go under the skin. Something seems serious wrong.

12:54 PM  

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