The First Line - två korta

Sen skickade jag även in ett par stycken som jag skrev för några år sen:

Bedtime story

       "There must have been thousands standing in the rain that day." She looked up at him.

       "What?" He seemed to be looking for something, stopped and turned to look at his wife in the bed. "Do you want to have sex tonight?"

       "Why do you always do that?" The smile on her face had gone.

       "Do what, dear?" He found his night shirt under a chair and put it on.

       "Oh, don't call me that. You know I hate that."

       "Yes, dear. I know." He grinned whilst jumping in under the covers. "So, do you want to have sex or not?"

       "I was trying to tell you about an important historic event. Did you listen at all?"

       "Of course, something about rain." He turned to pick up his book on the bedside table.

       "You are truly impossible."

       "Yes, dear." He waved the book at her. "Sex, no sex?"

       "What do you think?"

       "No sex."

       "Correct." She sighed looking at him making himself comfortable with the book in front of him. "You annoy me."

       "That must be annoying for you, dear." He smiled, keeping his eyes on the book.

       She wondered for a while whether she should tell him. Going through the scenarios of what might happen in her mind. How he would react. Did it matter?

       "I had sex with somebody else."

       He sat up suddenly. "What did you say?" He slowly turned to look at her.

       "I had sex with somebody else." She smiled.

       "What do you mean? Sex?"

       She took the empty glass on her bedside table and went to the bathroom to fill it with water. "Yes, you know when two people take their clothes off and..."

       "Yes, yes, yes, I know! But what do you mean, with somebody else?" He had a shocked look on his face still.

       "At Doris' and Mark's party last month." She came back and put the glass back on the table. Looking at him she continued. "It's not really working between us, is it?" She curled back in under the covers.

       "So you just went out and did it with somebody else. I think we're working just fine, dear."

       She smiled. Shook her head and turned around to sleep.

       He came in really close to her and whispered in her ear. "I had sex with somebody else, too, at that party. So there!" Before she had reacted he turned around.

       They would stay quiet for a long while. None of them getting any closer to sleeping. Both thinking.

       "You know." She hesitated.

       He turned over on his back and looked over at her. "What?"

       "It was a costume party. I never saw your costume. Did you see mine?"

       "Nope." He put his hands under his head.

       "I didn't think much about it then, but..." She hesitated again. "There was something that I recognized, but couldn't really put my finger on it."

       "What on earth are you talking about?"

       "Who did you have sex with?"

       "I don't know, she was in a costume. That was sort of the idea."

       "I know, for me too. But what costume was she wearing?"

       "Are you finally feeling a little jealous?" He raised an eyebrow and smiled at her.

       In less than a second she flew out of bed and disappeared into the wardrobe. Rooting around in there for a while, and then came back out holding a costume.

       "Do you recognize this?"

Och den andra:

Time for celebration

       "There must have been thousands standing in the rain that day. Up to that day, and not since, have I ever seen such a rainy day." I turned from the window and looked at him. "Do you remember that day?"

       I was in the middle of the re-caption of his life's story. Soon about to get to the end and the best part. The part I had been waiting for my whole life.

       I grabbed the chair by the window and put it next to the bed. I sat down and looked at him, and I smiled. It was as if the purpose of my life came to be so clear just in that second. Of course, I had looked forward to this day for many years.

       We have been friends for as long as I can remember, he and I. Played with the same buckets and spades in the same sand box outside the same apartment building. In fact, my mother and his mother had always told us stories of how we spent the first few nights together in the same room at the hospital after being born at almost exactly the same moment, him just minutes before me. Always a little better, even then.

       "That was your biggest night. That show was incredible. Thousands and thousands in the audience, and every single one loved you. Still do, I assume." I smiled. All but one. "The rain didn't stop them." I laughed at the memory.

       We were both in a band in school. The best band in the whole wide world. That was the name of our band. I know, it sounds lame, but come on, we were kids! He did vocals and played bass guitar. I played the drums. We used to laugh and say we would stick together forever. If one of us would go on to bigger and better things, we would bring the other one along. To cut a very long story short; that didn't happen.

       After college I went into the - as it turned out - incredibly boring world of engineering. He on the other hand struck it big. Really big. He sang something walking home from somewhere and a talent agent happened the walk past. That's luck. But not for me. Never for me.

       Some people said he was greater than the Beatles, ABBA and Elvis put together. I had never really cared much for his music. Mike "The Mike" Palmer. I hated the nick name. I mean, "The Mike", how stupid is that?

       I looked at him lying there on the hospital bed. For a fragment of a second I felt sorry for him. But that feeling went away as quickly as it appeared. I stood up, leaned in close to his face. "I'm going to tell you a little story."

       There was nothing there anymore. No responses to any questions. Some movement in the eyes but the doctors said that was muscle reflexes. I took some pleasure in seeing him like this, I must admit. For once in our lives I was the one talking and he was the one listening. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

       "The day you had your accident. I celebrated. Yes, you heard me. I celebrated. For the first time in your life something went badly. I celebrated. I always came in last, but at least I will beat you in living longer." I smiled and put my hand on his forehead. "Do you remember how we said we would never split up and conquer the music world together? What happened to that? Huh?"

       I grabbed the extra pillow and put it over his face. Held it there for a while. When the machines started beeping I let go and put the pillow back. Ran for the door and met the people dressed in white coming in. Hysterically I called out questions like 'what's happening' and 'is he going to die'. A nurse pulled me aside and try to calm me down.

       When they all left the room the machines were gone and so was he. I sat down and wondered if perhaps I had gone into the wrong line of work. The smile on my face grew big and before I could stop myself I was laughing.