Excerpt from Ventilate :: Ventilate Short Stories Essays

Excerpt from Ventilate Virge, waited impatiently, choking on the thick haze of smoke that was created by illegal tobacco cigarettes. Virge hated the stale smell of cigarettes; he remembered the fit that his mother threw when they banned them. "What did they call them?" he wondered out loud. "Cancer Sticks?" But there was no cameras here, very few people even knew about this place, only people like Virge. He remembered pretending he was a spy when he was younger. He and his parents would go out to dinner and he would insist that they had sit near a wall with a view of the door. Virge did this now, but he had a lot more reason too. The bar had low ceilings painted black. Black pyramids of acoustical deadening material occupied the space in-between the concrete I-beams that supported the floor above. Track lighting with tiny halogen fixtures speckled the ceiling, one per table, giving ample light over the tables but keeping the room dark. This reminded Virge of pictures he had seen of stars in the sky. But they were only pictures; he had never been able to see the stars through the thick haze of pollution that held steady vigil above the city. Old music played in the bar, Pearl Jam, Virge recalled. A band his father, used to play in the car during trips. Sometimes the bar keep Doug, a fat old guy, would announce he was going to educate his patrons with some high culture. This would be followed by some classical music he called the blues. Virge always thought Doug was a fuckchop and he never quite understood that music. Virge was waiting for his agent, Pip. Pip was his connection to the cash paying clients, and he was useful in that respect. Virge didn't trust Pip, he didn't trust anyone for that matter, but he found that blackmailing Pip bought him a lot of loyalty and a level of trust for Pip that he didn't have with anyone else. Finally, Pip slithered into the chair opposite of Virge. "Where the hell have you been!" Pip looked around anxiously; sweat glistened on his forehead. "We got trouble Virge. That stuff you hacked last night has pissed of some really big people." Pip took a deep breath and reached under his coat and pulled out a ziploc bag of hand-rolled cigarettes. "No one would touch it. Excerpt from Ventilate :: Ventilate Short Stories Essays Excerpt from Ventilate Virge, waited impatiently, choking on the thick haze of smoke that was created by illegal tobacco cigarettes. Virge hated the stale smell of cigarettes; he remembered the fit that his mother threw when they banned them. "What did they call them?" he wondered out loud. "Cancer Sticks?" But there was no cameras here, very few people even knew about this place, only people like Virge. He remembered pretending he was a spy when he was younger. He and his parents would go out to dinner and he would insist that they had sit near a wall with a view of the door. Virge did this now, but he had a lot more reason too. The bar had low ceilings painted black. Black pyramids of acoustical deadening material occupied the space in-between the concrete I-beams that supported the floor above. Track lighting with tiny halogen fixtures speckled the ceiling, one per table, giving ample light over the tables but keeping the room dark. This reminded Virge of pictures he had seen of stars in the sky. But they were only pictures; he had never been able to see the stars through the thick haze of pollution that held steady vigil above the city. Old music played in the bar, Pearl Jam, Virge recalled. A band his father, used to play in the car during trips. Sometimes the bar keep Doug, a fat old guy, would announce he was going to educate his patrons with some high culture. This would be followed by some classical music he called the blues. Virge always thought Doug was a fuckchop and he never quite understood that music. Virge was waiting for his agent, Pip. Pip was his connection to the cash paying clients, and he was useful in that respect. Virge didn't trust Pip, he didn't trust anyone for that matter, but he found that blackmailing Pip bought him a lot of loyalty and a level of trust for Pip that he didn't have with anyone else. Finally, Pip slithered into the chair opposite of Virge. "Where the hell have you been!" Pip looked around anxiously; sweat glistened on his forehead. "We got trouble Virge. That stuff you hacked last night has pissed of some really big people." Pip took a deep breath and reached under his coat and pulled out a ziploc bag of hand-rolled cigarettes. "No one would touch it.