Adam Long

Professor Mitchell

ENGL 3200-05W

14 March 2008

Arguing Senseless

            Nightfall came upon a nice-enough neighborhood in the suburbs. Minutes ago, soft rain had poured in, and now with it ceasing, the outside trees and shrubbery were coated with hydrogen dioxide. At seven-forty-five at night, the sky was a violet-black, as the moon was shrouded beneath the clouds. It was a nice evening.        

            The streetlights helped paint a mid-sized brick house, a living space that was about ten to twenty years old, since the owner couldn’t remember the actual age of their residence. Two cars were settled in the driveway, as yellow light radiated from the windows. And if one could take some steps closer, they would notice a dim light on in the basement. The light glowered upon two people, sitting at an ordinary brown table, currently enthralled in a card game.

“And I use Chaos Emperor Dragon’s special ability to sacrifice one-thousand of my lifepoints to send all our cards to the graveyard. You lose three-hundred points per card. I believe the duel is mine.”

            “Damn you!”

            “Damn me indeed.”

            “I hate this game. You and your cheap tricks.” One of the two people threw his cards onto the table in anger. The other person, a young man with medium-length dark hair and a primped goatee, just shook his head in disdain at his colleague.

            “You just don’t know how to play the game man. You just don’t know how to play the game,” the dark-haired man stated. A brown-haired young man, his hair spiked in a preppy sort of fashion, just looked away in anger.

            “Whatever.” The basement door then opened up to reveal three young men, making their way into the storage area. The winner of the game smiled as he rose from his seat.

            “Guys, guys, glad you’re here. Take a seat,” he said, stretching out his arms to point out the available seats at the round table, some old, rickety mahogany chairs that oddly matched the table he and his other companion were sitting at. The trio grumbled a little before they made their way to the table, each sitting down in an assorted spot. After the goateed man sat down, one of the newcomers, a husky, red-haired, blue-eyed man eyed the brown cards that were arranged in a…scattered assortment upon the table.

            “Were you two playing Yu-Gi-Oh!? I can’t believe there are still people who play that crap,” said the redhead. The dark-haired man just glared at the guy.

            “Say whatever you want about the game Lil’ Mike, but just know this…the anime was badass…” the speaker trailed off for a bit, before adding, “-until they made GX.” Michael just shook his head.

            “Whatever you say Chris. No matter what you say though, I will never understand how or why to play that game. Besides…at least I have a girlfriend,” the huskily-built youth noted. He then narrowed his eyes at his peer. “And don’t call me little. I may be the youngest here, but I’m anything but, so shut it.” Chris just widened his eyes in mock anger, raising his hands in defense.

            “Ooh, I’m scared…” The two began engaging in a staring contest, until another voice broke the air.

            “Chris, Michael, cut it out you two,” the voice said, belonging to a man with shaggy, blond hair.  The duo stopped looking at one another, and turned their attention upon the male blond. He smiled once he noticed their irises were trained upon him. “Good. Now Chris, why don’t you explain why you called us all up, huh? I don’t have all Wednesday night to be here now. I gotta open tomorrow at eight,” he stated. Chris pointed at the man in understanding.

            “All right Dan my man, all right. That was just the point I was aiming for after all. I called you all here for a very important reason. And that reason is…” Chris effectively paused as he examined his friends, from Michael to Dan, and to his two other unnamed companions. He then closed his eyes as finished his sentence.

            “Jim the Imp has to go down.”

            Silence filled the area for a moment as air settled in through the concrete structure. Through the dim lighting, brown orbs peered at blue and green, and an equal brown, before settling back upon the table. One of the young men pressed his hands against the edge of his table, moving his seat back to stand up.

            “That’s it, I’m going,” replied a short-haired youth with blue eyes. Chris sprang up from his spot as he launched out his hand into a “stop” handsign.

            “Wait Tucker, wait! At least hear me out man,” Chris said. The young man known as Tucker narrowed his ovals at the petit of the two currently standing.

            “And why should I? I don’t think Jim’s that bad.”

            “Yeah, well maybe you don’t, but we do. Right guys..?” Chris scanned the table, looking primarily to Michael and Dan for support.

            Dan closed his eyes as he thought about the matter. “That’s debatable. I don’t care.” Chris turned his orbs to Michael.

            “Mike..? Come on man, you are with me, right? Right..?” Michael just observed the bearded man in slight disbelief.

            “I’d have to hear you out first. Are you even going to make your argument? Or am I going to go home and declare this evening a waste of my time, when I have better things to do?”

            “Oh come on, you so do not. What’s better than playing a round of Yu-Gi-Oh!?” Michael rolled his eyes playfully.

            “Your sister, that’s what.” Chris glared at the guy, and was about to say something scathing, when the remaining unnamed member of the group decided to speak.

            “He’s got a point Chris. Your sister is hot,” a young man added. Chris just narrowed at the eyes at a guy who shared the same hair color as he did.

            “Shut up Jared. No one talks about my sister that way, you hear me? No one,” said the bearded leader. His co-worker sighed dejectedly, disappointedly.

            “Fine.” Tucker tapped his left black sneaker upon the cool grey floor as the quintet sat there under the dim lamplight. He sighed before he took a hand to scratch his hair.

            “So, are we going to get to business or what..? I’m starting to get bored,” he admitted. Dan nodded his head in agreement.

            “Me too…Chris?” Half of the group looked to the adult, and his mouth slightly gaped open as everyone’s eyes slowly gazed upon him. He then clamped it shut as he realized just what he was doing.

            “Oh yeah. Let’s get back on topic. As I was saying…” he trailed off for a moment, looking around the table, “-before I was rudely interrupted by my man Jared here—Jim the Imp’s reign of power has got to end. I’m tired of the guy ordering us around hand and foot, and being paranoid about every little thing during every little second. It annoys the crap out of me,” Chris finished. Jared raised his hand. “Yes Jared..?” the young man asked. The black haired guy scratched the back of his head with his free hand.

            “What does ‘Imp’ mean again…?” Chris irritably sighed as the other three men shared a chuckle.

            “Well Jared, if you must know, ‘Imp’, instead of just describing Jim’s little stature as we all know like a certain ‘demonic’ creature, Christopher also means…impotent,” Michael answered, stealing Chris’s thunder. Chris didn’t seem to mind though as he looked to his companion.

            “Thank you Lil’ Mike,” he said.

            “For the last time-“

            “Anyways, I hate the guy. I hate how he always asked if we taped the back wipers of the cars right, or if retracted the wraps on this car, or the blower on that truck…it frustrates me to no end.”

            “Well then, maybe you should just quit this job then. We DO work at a car wash after all,” Dan emphasized. “Why are you still here then?”

            Chris sighed before he formulated a reply. “Because I’ve been here the longest…that, and I’m pretty sure I’m due a raise soon.” He observed his peers before he continued on. “Don’t you guys have any quips against the guy, even the littlest ones, at all..?” Jared just raised his hand again.

            “I know I sure do. I hate it that when we close, he wants me to take extra time to clean all of the dust out of the vacuum filters. It then takes forever to get done. I hate it,” he mentioned. Chris offered the guy a soft smile.

            “Thank you.” Jared returned the smile.

            “Well, someone had to say something. Don’t you guys get tired of when he says ‘Everyone should know to put their car in neutral, take their feet off the brakes, and leave their hands off the steering wheel. It’s that easy’..? I mean, that guy just doesn’t understand…people are stupid,” noted the dark-haired male.

Michael inclined his head before tilting it to the side a little. “You got a point there Jared. People ARE stupid. I hate it when I’m loading them, pointing to the damned sign that has the directions outlined, with a frickin’ guiding light that helps highlight each direction, and they STILL don’t manage to follow instructions. The rollers come up, they jump the track. It pisses me off to no end,” said the redhead. Tucker offered the group a hint of a smile.

“Me too,” stated the short-haired youth. Michael smirked.

“Yeah, I think we can all agree on that at least.” Everyone nodded their heads concurrently. As everyone did such, Dan poised his left index finger as he observed his group members.

“I agree with that, as much as I don’t want to admit. But everyone, we need to keep in mind that Jim is trying to do a good job. He was appointed manager at a time when our previous one struggled to satisfy our customers. Don’t you remember how bad customer complaints were during the weekends BEFORE Jim was hired..? I don’t know about you all, but I do not want to go back to that,” argued the blond. Tucker just closed his eyes.

“Oh yeah, how could I forget? I hated dealing with customer complaints.” Jared nodded.

“We all do. It’s just a part of our job,” he said. “Oh, do I miss our hour and a half lunch breaks during weekends when Daniel was king. That was awesome,” added the noir-haired man. Chris grinned.

“That indeed Jared. See, that’s what I’m talking about. At least Daniel had compassion for us. He knew all the crap we had to go through. And now with Jim, we only have half an hour lunch breaks on weekends. That does not cut it when you load for five hours straight,” Chris butted. Dan just shook his head as his bangs swayed in his face.

“Yeah, but the man’s only being productive Chris, cut him some slack. An hour and a half is too long for a lunch break in my opinion, and besides…you know the amount of traffic we get on Saturday. Last Saturday alone we almost did twelve-hundred cars. That was a new record! If we didn’t have you, me, and Mike here, could you imagine how amuck things could’ve gone..? I don’t even want to imagine it.”

Michael hid his orbs as he visualized the scene. “Me either. Dan’s right Chris, Jim is a LOT more efficient in the way he manages us than Daniel ever was. And he tells us orders because he’s our boss. He also needs to keep the office and the tunnel spic-and-span for when David comes around, which was one thing Daniel NEVER did,” he stated. Chris just shivered in his seat.

“David…ooh, that guy just gives me shivers. I hate it when he comes around,” he said.

“Yeah, well at least when he does, we can expect to get paid soon afterwards. He is the owner of the car wash after all,” Dan reasoned. Chris sighed.

“That makes me remember when Angie still worked here. You remember her guys..?” He paused for a moment as he viewed the round area, taking note of his co-workers’ expressions. Their irises all seemed to be in a slight haze as the memory of their former female friend. The goateed man smirked to himself. “She was a sight to behold, wasn’t she..? How come we don’t have any women working at the car wash now?” he inquired. The room was still in a dream from the mention of the girl. Michael just shook his head as he snapped out of his daze.

“She was Chris, I’ll give you that man. But having a general girl our age working with us at the car wash is…impractical, don’tcha think..?” Michael looked around the table for any sign of confirmation that the other guys could give. Jared sat still, while Dan nodded his head in understanding.

“It is Michael, it is…and to add to that, the reason why is because our job isn’t exactly the cleanest job in the world…when doing things such as cleaning the tunnel or taking out the garbage, you can’t exactly rely on a girl to get the job done…it just isn’t going to happen,” Dan said. He then slightly chuckled as he rested his eyes for a moment. “Besides Chris, I know the real reason why you’d want girls our age to be working with us…and I admit, it would be nice.”

Chris lightly smiled in response. “See, at least there’s one thing we can be happy to agree on.” Dan nodded.

“I agree. Is there anything else you can say?” the yellow-haired man questioned. Chris pondered for a minute before deciding to speak.

“Well, what about shifts..? Jim’s been working us on days that we should have off,” Chris mentioned. Everyone seemed to quiet down at that mention, and a grin began spreading to his face. It looked like the young adult finally had something credible to argue about as he scanned the table, as the lamp above the five jiggled a little.

Until Michael moved his lips that is. “I was sick recently, and Jared here needed to take a weekend off to go see his dying aunt. And that was when it was just you, me, and Dan, Chris. Now that we have Tucker here, our team has been really solid lately, right Tucker..?” Michael lightly elbowed the guy to the side, only to find that the short-haired youth didn’t react. The other young men took notice. “That’s weird. Tucker..?” The redhead then leaned in to take a closer look at his co-worker…

Only to find that his ovals were still. “I think Tucker fell asleep with his eyes open,” he deduced. He then shrugged his shoulders before returning to the matter-at-hand.  “Anyways…as entertaining as this debate may’ve been, I think it’s over. You lost Chris,” Michael stated. The elder of the group rose from his seat.

“Oh come on, I did not! Is anyone with me..? Jared, Dan..?” Chris asked. Jared smiled.

“I’m with you Chris,” Jared answered. Dan just shook his head in disdain.

“And I’m not. Mike..?” he just looked to the big guy.

“I’m with you. And Tucker..? Tucker..?” Michael finally decided to rouse the guy out of his state of slumber by shaking him violently. Tucker fidgeted as he finally awoke to his comrades.

“Oh, sorry guys, I zomped out. What did I miss?” he asked. Michael just sighed.

“Are you for or against Jim..? Make it quick.” Tucker’s irises mused upwards for a second, before coming back down to earth.   

“I guess if I had to make a decision, it would be for.” Dan then smiled.

“Good, then this case is now closed. I think I’m going to head home,” he said. Everyone else but Chris nodded their heads in unison.

“Me too,” others mumbled amongst themselves as they began rising from the table. Chris just sat there, zoned out as the others began making their way out of the basement. They began filing out, one by one, before it was just Jared. He looked back to the guy who shared the same color of hair that he did.

“Sorry Chris. Later,” he said, before shutting the door upon the young man.

And as Chris was left to himself, he managed to look out towards the brick wall ahead of him. An evil smile came to his face.

“Just you wait guys. One day I’ll be manager. Just you wait.”

The room then dimmed to black.