[Kiddalee]: 225.Writing Exercises.Five Words.August 2007 Entry

Five Words contest, August 2007 words:

music
sleep
midnight
frustration
people


  Arnie's mother couldn't afford to give he and Connor their own bedrooms. Forced nightly to endure his brother's constant gibberish, Arnie grew to treasure sleep. Midnight after tedious midnight, he lay awake on his cot. Though morning after morning saw his grades suffer, his mother had given up on trying to discipline the gibberish out of Connor. She'd learned how useless it was, not to mention harmful, to punish him for doing something he apparently couldn't help. The school had paid a psychiatrist to assess Connor, but his mother couldn't afford any of the drugs that he had told her to give her son. So Connor kept making his noises, occasionally getting an interruption from Arnie. "You're too old for pretending. Quit being a loser!" It never worked. After one unsuccessful attack, Arnie continued to sneer, "Who do you think you're talking to anyways?" Connor stalled his tongue, and stared at his brother as though he were as dumb as a cow. "I'm talking to the Music People, Arnie," he said, matter-of factly. Wierdo, Arnie thought. He shut everything out in frustration, but still heard the babbling resume.