train people are required to say shorthly with a certain drawl. it must not sound threatening, it should sound both empathetic and helpless but yet suggest strong confidence in things working out well eventually at the same time, you don’t want a panic, panicking passengers are the worst. they shout and complain and want to speak the manager, who almost always does not want to speak to them. who do they think they are? others are not so lucky; others don’t even have permission to wait for a train, let alone see the arrival of one. years of training went into that and some never reach the degree of skill and seniority required to be suitably prepared to talk to the customer.
for budgetary reasons the management had recently started to employ young ladies who clearly did not the their pronounciation right but were hidden behind enforced glass; and wore nice dresses.
shortly, said sponge, shortly.
you have a certain arrogance, said breadroll, as if you wouldn’t want a train to appear at all. your fake tan is showing as well.
want 1 inch more or 3 more inches? you decide, all for six euro. special price. be honest.
to be honest, i wouldn’t know to be honest, said sponge, my day just isn’t long enough. even now when i don’t see the office that often anymore, the outside from time to time but you know how buildings look like after a while. no way i am going to decide on that, that for sure. i wonder if i’m the only one listening to that man.
the man was slight, tracksuited, and had his hair combed over. nice watch, new car. he left without without a trace. not certain that he ever was there.
you are small, aren’t you, the man said for he was big.
that sums it up, said breadroll, what are we going to do about it. i certainly won’t be able to do anything whatsoever, that’s for sure i swear to god, if you know what i mean.
i can see where you are coming from, the man said, and that’s just your luck.
a squat lady placed herself in front of sponge.
are you the one they are all talking about? the famous one, from the internet?
yes, said sponge, i assume …
you’re an idiot, you know that?
well, said sponge.
you got that? because i won’t say it again. she left.
we would have liked to hear it again though.
but would we?
frozen with terror, should we let them terr’ists prevail? a big a question. a word has been thrown out there. sponge sit. breadroll stands.
we should be safe though, what should happen. the lad over there has a monobrow, does it make him suspicious? the other lads mumbles to himself? a brief prayer before action? thoughts of tearing the lad’s face off. dismissed thought, not good but a start. there should be a line of comfort. remining positive.
that’s pure terr’r, said sponge. they just cancelled the train.
to cancel.
to make void. revoke. annul. to cancel a reservation for instance, or to decide or announce that a planned event will not take place after all although the usual freeloaders and hagers-on will turn up any way. call off what should never have been on, to cancel a meeting with an somebody one hasn’t met. to mark or perforate (a postage stamp, admission ticket, a condom) so as to render invalid for reuse. neutralize; counterbalance; compensate for. reach out.
i will make a book one day, said sponge only with words in it. on terror.
would never do it, said block of wood, wouldn’t do it. not a compromise, seems miserly, would. said block of wood. and stood there. i could have punched him, slapped him across the face, gouged his eyes, kicked his balls, slit his nose, pulled his ears, but of course that would have been his thing, wouldn’t it. along with odd pun. i’m sick of senses of humour.
we didn’t really prepare for a special for today, did we?
no we didn’t.
i though so, didn’t i, said sponge, feeling slightly happy having made the point. we just have cake then if we find some, he knew to add.
tomorrow another day, said breadroll, and was corrected by sponge. another day perhaps but a day where we did want to do something special.
tjae such days, said breadroll.
the meeting then faded and nobody knew really about tomorrow anymore. we could do more with this subject.
nothing new nothing, the sun thought in her rare moments, i should go but i can’t. have to wait around until people are fed and go to bed again. even then some can’t keep still.
sponge hadn’t move much. breadroll a little bit more. they weren’t saying much. people passed by at normal speed and paid no attention.
i would have a question, said sponge, and answer one if you like. as most lonely people he did not reach anyone.
breadroll relaxed, not to be asked. blokk likewise, brutal. lonely.
q: what did you do in those days?
a: hung out. whatever hanging out means these days. recreationals drugs, of course. what you do. so it goes.
you’ve been away for a long time, said breadroll, a long time indeed. as if the repetition would add emphasis.
more for the rhythm, is it, said sponge.
would you leave again?
definitely, said sponge.
just because of that, said breadroll, just beacause.
exactly, said sponge, sadly, just because.
a man dressed as a santa walked by, followed by another santa and another one. block of wood counted them all.
it’s getting into season, said breadroll, always had, for a quite a while anyway.
the santas were mugging passers-by.
i wonder what their terms of employment might be, said sponge.
they usually use drug addicts for that job, said breadroll.
i wonder if their christmas party is any fun, said sponge, in their terms of fun.
there is quietness, said breadroll. we have to get to know each other.
no, said block of wood, i’m sidelined as it is and that’s because of my name. this is a little spring before a long winter. we skip summer. and autumn.
ahh, cheer up, said breadroll. there always has been talk that we might sodomise each other. as in: we. you wouldn’t want to witness or be be drawn into it.
but we could stop that thing with the offally bombing now, said block of wood. yes, says breadroll and whiles a little bit longer. i wish i could quote a few figures he says, lingers. finally kicks an imaginary can.
are we second to none you think, said sponge.
no, said breadroll, not we, third maybe or fourth.
even fifth, said sponge. breadroll approved. probably sixth, he said.
that’s not too bad, said sponge.
no way way i would want this dog putty on my slippers, said sponge, i seemed to have touched the spot they didn’t want to spare.
very sour kinda sarcasm-based sort of sense of humour, said breadroll. if we want to be a serious novel we should do something interesting. post to w.a.s.t.e. for instance just to dig it.
you know, said sponge, that’s funny. i was just thinking the same and now it’s attributed to you. that’s how historical error occur.
i had to do this line, said breadroll, and now i am trying to defuse the argument. my best.
well who says you are the understanding one, said sponge, i was a person when you were still a breakfast item and it wasn’t a breakfeast if i’m allowed a pun.
that i’m aware of, said breadroll, i think you’re not exaggerating, so, shall we skip it it?
ya why not, said sponge, that leaves us with a bare feeding occasion. if you get the gist.
barely, but steadily, said breadroll, bare feeding occasion. is that what they call it in english?
no, but they would need a shop to get stuff.
a story we are suppose to tell, said sponge aren’t we. alas the idea did not attract too much support. what d’you need a story for the man said, and feck was the general public’s response. bread and games and fun and sweets is what the general public likes and craves and the general’s will shall be an order; after all we might as well ditch the whole campaign if we weren’t to achieve some brassed medal.
she was rich, said breadroll.
yes, said sponge, but that’s over now.
way over, said breadroll.
we couldn’t go back ther, said sponge.
no, said breadroll, not possibly.
i’d love that, said breadroll. the spanish tart, or the german torte.
i didn’t know about that one.
no you didn’t.
they linger. it seems to be a nice day. cookies are nice, too. the government will not pass any law today. the weather will continue to process nicely.
did you hear about offally, said sponge. he look straight ahead. they have bombed offally.
some time ago, said breadroll. was it a hate crime after all?
no, said sponge, sectarian apparently, or maybe religious. they are not sure.
in china somebody got married, a child was born in peru and urinated on the mother’s belly straight away. the mother being somewhat overwhelmed as she had not expeted that, a russian housewife burnt the dinner, however, but this turned out not to be an overly serious incident as the husband had had a serious accident and did not come home for dinner this evening and a long row of evening in future, spent the next seven weeks in hospital instead and after being released he could only take in liquid diet for another six weeks, and an irishman with an poorly grown moustache walked into a pub and proceeded straight to the counter.
all these are very sad stories, said sponge. but i love you all.
1 November, 2007 
