ANIMATION SHORT
It was a regular morning in x?x, New York State. Ben had
been up early, as usual. He switched on the old transistor radio before
manoeuvring his wheelchair in close to the table. He was having his usual
breakfast, toasted bagel, washed down with strong coffee and a cigarette. He
glanced through the newspaper while he ate. Not much going on in the world
today. He always saved the sports section till last, preferring to read it
slowly as the morning passed. He looked at the clock. It would soon be time. He
pulled his robe tighter before moving to the front room. It was late fall and
getting colder. Ben knew he’d have to hold off on the heating for another
while. His state pension didn’t stretch far these days. He looked at the clock
as he settled into his usual position. The room was almost dark, the only light
coming in through the half-open slats of the venetian blind. Ben liked it this
way. It made him feel less conspicuous, invisible. Though relatively clean, the
room had a cold and dreary atmosphere. The sparse furniture was old and shabby.
Dusty old newspapers and books stacked here and there were the only indication
of habitation. The clock read 8:25 a.m. as he fumbled in the drawer of the side
table.
The sidewalk outside his house began to fill with school
kids as their parents dropped them off. Bens house bordered the school at one
side, and it became a daily ritual for him to watch the kids arriving and
leaving. Having gradually lost touch with his friends, and with no family, Ben
had become something of a recluse. Since his accident had left him almost
housebound, he’d lost interest in trying to socialise, preferring to cocoon
himself in his own little world. He got his daily newspaper delivered each
morning, and the convenience store on the corner delivered his groceries, so he
hadn’t much need to go out anyway. He felt he was doing a sort of civic duty by
watching the kids. Some of the parents barely waited for their car doors to
close before they sped off. Others were more concerned with their morning chat
to even notice if their kids actually went in through the school gates.
What Ben couldn’t have known though, was that his
observational duties hadn’t gone unnoticed. In fact he was gaining an
unpleasant reputation as a creepy old man. Not having had children of his own,
Ben didn’t realise how his actions might be misconstrued. People had noticed
how the blinds twitched as the kids come and go. And they became more than a
little suspicious when it was realised, from the reflection of light on the lenses,
that Ben was watching through binoculars. Some of the older kids had taken to
throwing stones, or eggs, at his front door. Other times they’d ring his
doorbell and run off. Ben assumed that kids did this to anyone, as pranks. He’d
done it himself often enough as a kid, and so he had no reason to suspect an
ulterior motive.
As Ben settled into position on this particular morning, a
newsflash came over the radio. A brown bear had been sighted in the
neighbourhood and it warned people to stay indoors, until the local park
rangers had the situation under control. It wasn’t uncommon for bears to enter
inside the town limits from time to time. They never usually did any more harm
than maybe knocking over a few trash cans. Over the years they had become used
to humans, and wise to the fact that there was always some form of food to be
found wherever there were people. Still, they were wild animals, and it was
always better to be safe than sorry. Ben looked down at the mask on his lap. He
remembered fondly the days when he wore it as a young man. When he was strong,
and fit. He could probably tackle a full grown bear back then. He looked over
at a framed picture on the wall. He saw his reflection staring back at him and
his eyes began to fill with tears. Who was he trying to kid, he was washed up.
Old, feeble, and crippled. Still, he was determined to watch over the kids. He
liked to think that if he’d had kids, there would be someone out there who’d
look out for their safety when he wasn’t with them. He began to wonder if he
should go out onto the sidewalk, with the baseball bat that he kept beside the
front door. Maybe not, after all, he didn’t want people to think he was crazy.
He picked up the binoculars that were resting on his lap and
began his daily vigil. The school bus was coming down the street, right on
schedule. Something moving caught his attention to the right of the bus. A
trash can was rolling across the front yard of a house opposite the school
gates. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the bear trotting after it.
Nobody else seemed to have noticed. He had to do something. This could be his
chance to prove that he was still worth something to society, and himself. He
placed the binoculars on the window sill and headed for the front door. He
picked up the baseball bat and then stopped. It had been a long time since he
was out on the street. Was he being stupid? Could he actually do anything to
help? Well, He wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing, and thinking about it
was wasting time.
It took Ben longer than he thought to get reach the
sidewalk, he was really out of shape. The bear had spotted the children getting
off the bus by now, and was ambling towards them. Fearing for their safety, Ben
mustered up some extra strength and raced towards the bus. He couldn’t figure
out why nobody else had seen the bear yet. Suddenly he heard a scream, then a
woman yelled at the kids to get back on the bus. ‘Thank God’, Ben thought to
himself, ‘they’ve seen it’. He felt the baseball bat moving at his side, as it
slipped and rolled to the ground. ‘Damn’ he thought, ‘no time to stop for
that’. “Quick”, the woman yelled again, “everybody get back on the bus, it’s
that crazy old guy in the wheelchair…. someone call 911”. Ben was too
preoccupied with the bear for her words to register. He was now between the
bear and the school bus. He knew he wouldn’t stop the bear, especially without
the bat, but he might distract it long enough for the kids to get to safety. The
bear was now only feet away. It reared up on its hind legs, growling and baring
its yellowed teeth. Bens heart was bursting from the exertion and adrenalin
rush. The bears two giant front paws crashed down on his head.
The door of the school bus swished open and the woman
stepped down onto the road. She approached Ben gingerly. A large crowd had now
gathered around them. Bens head had fallen to one side. His eyes were closed
and his chest was still. After gently shaking his shoulder a few times the
woman realised something serious was wrong. She checked Bens neck for a pulse.
Her expression said enough. “Oh my God, I think He’s dead”, she exclaimed. “Oh
the poor man”, said another woman. “Silly old fool shouldn’t have been scaring
folk like that”, said someone else. The sound of a siren could now be heard
approaching. “Hey, do you see that mask on his lap”, said a large Hispanic
man,”I know that mask”. “Yeah, me too”, said the man beside him, ”it’s the mask
of ‘El Toro’ ”.
Ben’s newspaper landed on his front porch the next morning. ‘Yesterday’s
hero dies of heart attack’ read the front page headline. Inside the house his
radio was still on. The newsreader announcing the story of a local pensioner
passing away. He relates how “the late Benjamin Fernandez was one of America’s
greatest wrestlers. Under the stage name ‘El Toro’, the bull, he won a total of
eleven national title’s. But he was even more revered for his kindness and
generosity. Witnesses at the scene claim that he was behaving erratically,
appearing to be rush towards the school kids with a baseball bat. Though
strangely, he had veered away from them at the last minute, as if defending
them from some imaginary threat. Whatever the reasons for his behaviour, ‘El
Toro’ will always be remembered as one of our greatest wrestling legends”.
THE END
What I like about the story is the fact that it's more about the readers/viewers emotional response, as opposed to making it funny or amusing. Hopefully the initial response is of a sad, lonely old man. He then seems weird or creepy as he watches school kids from his window. Then we see him as a recluse, living in his own dream world, where he sees himself doing some anonymous civic duty. Finally we realise that he conjured up a scenario in his imagination as a cry for attention. Having him die at the end was just my own self indulgence (there's just too many happy endings out there), though it does make the ending more dramatic. The 'El Toro' name is a reference to our group story character who was a superhero known as 'The Bull'.
I got someone to read the story and they pointed out that the bear being in Bens imagination was not immediately obvious. As this is kind of crucial to the twist I'll need to adjust that part. I'm not sure if I'll even go with this story as I'm not sure that it's interesting enough. Maybe I can apply the gist of it to another setting. I'm thinking of a toothless old lion watching over the prides cubs, getting grief from the young lionesses who normally mind them. Then the twist - he heroically dies while saving the cubs. That's probably a bit too much like 'Creature Comforts'
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