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The Wonderful Winston - Part 3, Candy Gram
Content Warning: Slurs
Read Part 1 here
Read Part 2 here
Harris Nguyen is very tired. The bags under his eyes seem to pull his entire face down with them. He has messy, patchy facial hair that just screams âyes, I am indeed a boy turning into a man.â He stands in the gas stop quick-mart candy aisle. He reaches for the Peanut M&Ms, but stops when he hears a noise. He turns and sees a woman pushing a stroller. He looks back at the candy. Peanut M&Ms. He quickly snatches them and stuffs the bag quietly into his hoodie pocket. He then swipes a pack of Twizzlers, slipping them into his jeans. Harris finally takes a package of two Twinkies and puts those in his hoodie pocket, carefully placing them next to the Peanut M&Ms and clasping his hands together in the pocket so to make the act more believable, and stop the plastic rustling noises. He then takes a bag of Hot Cheetos to the counter.
âTwo fifty-eight.â The clerk never even bothers looking up at Harris. Itâs 2 a.m., after all. Everyoneâs just about dead inside. Harris hands over three dollar bills.
âKeep it.â He quickly walks out, and successfully gets past the automatic door. Success. Harris has pulled off yet another Oceanâs Eleven-style heist with efficiency and believability. Heâd personally rate this an 8/10.
Harris promised Mr. Winston he would stop stealing. He promised heâd stop doing most of the things he usually does, actually, but stealing was a big one. And Harris wanted to keep the promise, really and truly, but committing was harder than he could have ever expected. It was just so easy, and what, was the gas station going to fold because some kid took six bucks worth of junk food?
Although he did make the promise.
Five months ago, Harris broke Tommy Bautistaâs jaw. When Tommy ran to the office and Harris realized he was in deep shit, he went straight to Mr. Winstonâs classroom. He didnât really know why. Maybe it was because Mr. Winston was one of maybe two teachers in his lifetime who didnât actively hate him.
âYou gotta help me out, Mr. Winston.â
âWhatâs wrong, Harris? You got questions about the test?â
Harris looked at Mr. Winston like he just asked if dogs could fly.
âWhat? No. I just punched Tommy and it looks like heâs real hurt. I think I really screwed up.â
Mr. Winston closed his laptop.
âWhy did you punch him?â
âHe called me a faggot! Multiple times!â
âWas there a reason you went straight to violence?â
âUh, yeah, he called me a faggot. Like, five times.â
âOkay. Hereâs what you do. You apologize. Even if you donât think you have to, do it anyway.â
âWhy? Iâm not a faggot.â
âStop saying that. Let me finish. Call me in. Iâll tell them about your improvement in my class, and how I think your behavior is improving as well. And promise them it wonât happen again. Seem sincere and, even better, be sincere. I think theyâd take that.â
âTommy doesnât have to do shit? Thatâs fucked, man.â
âListen. Tommyâs an asshole, but he doesnât give the teachers and staff trouble. Youâre on thin ice, kid. And Tommy can be an asshole before heâs hit with real-world shit thatâll leave him crying, but you still have a chance. I really think you do. But not if you get expelled.â
âWhoa. Are you allowed to say that about students?â âAre you allowed to punch a guy?â
Harris sat down.
âDo what I tell you. I can get you out of this. But only if you promise to give a damn, if not in any other class, at least mine. Okay?â
âAlright. Fine.â
âGood.â
Mr. Winston extended his hand. Harris reluctantly shook it. And lo and behold, Mr. Winston was right. Harris only took a weekâs worth of lunch detention, and in return he started showing up to class. It was hard at first; Harris would barely stay awake long enough to catch what Mr. Winstonâs opening line of his Great Gatsby lecture was. His eyes would wander to the girls in class, and he could only glimpse the notes on the board when he was switching views from Andi to Jennifer. But Mr. Winston wouldnât stop trying. It really was like one of those teacher-student prestige Oscar-bait movies, but with way more dick jokes flung around. Harris came into Mr. Winstonâs classroom during empty hours, considering he didnât really have anywhere else to be, and no one else to hang out with. Every day, something new would come up.
âMan, Daisyâs a real bitch, huh?â
Mr. Winston would chuckle. âIâm not so sure about that. I mean, consider Tomâs behavior, and how that might affect how she acts. Maybe sheâs just as pained as Gatsby is, and we just donât see it as much.â
âYeah. Or maybe sheâs a bitch.â
After a few weeks, things did start getting better. Harrisâs grade went from an F to a C-. Mr. Winston got to improve a student. And they both made a new friend.
Yep. Real Oscar-bait, prestige film bullshit.
Later on, Harris had an idea. Kissler Oaks High, for some reason, did not have a book club. So with a newfound inclination to read rather than beat up kids on the reg, Harris started one. Mr. Winston would be advisor. They met every Thursday at lunch, and the club had six core members: Kelly, Lopez, Omar, Sheila, Gretchen, and Toby. It was a tight-knit group, a collection of black sheep kids who didnât seem to belong anywhere else. The type of kids who were actively willing to discuss a novel for their precious lunch hour. This was insane. Harris had actually started a club, a club for nerds, and he enjoyed it. He truly had become what he once hated.
Harris sits on the curb. He takes out his peanut M&Ms and tears into them like some feral animal digging into his prey. He chooses out a green one, and pops it. He rolls it around in his mouth, lets the candy coating melt, and chews the soft chocolate. If everyone knew this is how Harris ate sweets, heâd probably get endless shit over it.
He looks up at the stars. Theyâre sparse, but at least he can still spot some, even discounting the satellites and occasional helicopter. He swears that he was able to see more of them when he was younger.
His phone rings. COME ON AND SLAM, AND WELCOME TO THE JAM! He looks at the caller ID. Itâs Kelly. He picks up.
âHarris?â
âHey Kelly, whatâs up.â
âWhat are you doing right now?â
â...Nothing much.â
âYou know how Mr. Winston didnât show up to class for like two weeks?â
âYeah.â
âDo you know why?â âThought he was sick or something.â âDude, I think heâs gone missing.â
Harris chuckles. âSure.â
âIâm serious.â âWhy do you say that?â âConsidering people are saying that heâs gone missing. Check the news.â Harris tries to check on his phone, but it wonât load.
âHold on, Iâm out of data.â Harris walks over to the newsstand, and picks up a paper. He flips through it and
gets to the missing persons section. In a sea of lost kids and elderly folk, sure enough, Mr. Winstonâs profile is splotched on the page. He has a beaming smile and wears a cardigan.
âHoly shit,â Harris says. He closes and opens the newspaper as if the image is a hallucination that would go away.
âWhy hasnât the school said anything about this?â His voice gets more strained.
âTheyâre late to everything. And I assume theyâre waiting on more details.â
âDetails? What details? This is happening because there arenât any details!â He slaps the paper back in its plastic container.
âYeah, I donât know man.â
âWhat are we gonna do?â
âDonât think we can do anything. The cops are already on it.â
âSure, like the cops have a healthy thirty-something dude on the top of their priority list. They probably assume heâs gone hitchhiking or something.â
âI donât know about that. But besides, weâre kids, Harris. Weâll just have to wait, I guess.â
âThis is horseshit.â
âI know. Seeya in class.â
Monday. Literature class. For the sixth day in a row, the students have had to suffer under the boot of the teaching style of a lame-ass, slow-talking, nasal-voiced substitute teacher. Harris canât even remember the manâs name. When he takes roll, itâs like the scene from Ferris Bueller, except far less funny and far more tragic.
âMark Allen?â
âHere.â
âJacy⌠Is it Jacy? How do you say that?â
âJacy.â
âJacy. Thank you. Jacy Anderson?â
âHere.â
âLuis. Sorry, how do you pronounce that? Soft or hard âSâ?â
Thursday. Lunch period. Itâs been three more days without Mr. Winston, and now the club is just seven kids gathered around an awkward circle.
âSo, uh, howâs it going. What did you all think about-â Harris looks at the cover. âSlaugher-House Five?â
Sure, Harris was the club president, but he wasnât exactly a great conversation leader.
âI donât know. I thought there was too much cursing,â Sheila starts.
âShut the fuck up, Sheila. Why are you always bitching about the dumbest shit?â Lopez bites back.
âGuys, calm down. Even though Sheilaâs being an idiot right now, that doesnât mean you can all have a free-for-all Hell in a Cell action bloc,â says Omar.
Harris zones out. He whispers to Kelly: âYouâre in charge.â He walks to the principalâs office and knocks on the secretaryâs desk.
âIs Mr. Gonzalez in?â Harris asks.
âYes, what do you need?â
âTo see him.â
âLet me just call in-â
Before he can finish, Harris storms straight to Principal Gonzalezâs office. At this point, he knows far too well how to get there.
The secretary gets up.
âHey, I need to call in-â
Harris opens the door and sees Gonzalez eating a salad. He sighs, and pushes his lunch aside.
âWhy didnât John call you in?â
âWhereâs Mr. Winston?â
âHeâs out.â
âOh really? Cause last time I checked⌠anywhere that wasnât you guys, heâs actually missing. For real, missing.â
Gonzalez sighs. âClose the door.â Harris closes the door and sits down.
Gonzalez clasps his fingers together and places his hands on his desk.
âHarris. We donât want to cause more panic than necessary.â
âA teacherâs missing!â
âYes, but telling everyone wonât be productive. The police are doing their best, and we donât know the extent of the situation.â
âThe extent of the situation is Mr. Winston could be in deep trouble!â âAnd thereâs nothing we can do about it, Mr. Nguyen. It does nothing to ease the problem and Iâm afraid announcing it will only make things far worse. If youâre so inclined, though, there is something I believe you can do.â
âWhatâs that.â
âThereâs a hotline where you can call in and give any information you can. Iâm sure you have something you can give. Hereâs the number.â
Gonzalez scribbles down a phone number and hands it to Harris.
âAlright. Thanks.â
Harris leaves and Gonzalez digs into his salad.
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The Wonderful Winston - Part 2, Class of 2002
Read Part 1 Here
âIâm going on a trip, Kevin.â
âOh? To where?â Kevin eats his bagel in running shorts. Itâs too cold for running shorts.
âVisalia. An old friendâs gone missing.â
âOh, God. Thatâs terrible. Feel pretty awful you have to go to Visalia, though. You should at least stop by the beach.â
âI might.â Camila dumps a can of wet cat food in Tigerâs bowl. âRemember to feed him.â
âI will. You have a good time.â
Camila purses her lips. âSure.â
The plane shakes just enough to wake Camila up from her deep sleep. She looks outside to see the brownish landscapes and dust-covered highways of Central California. Home. The chain restaurants and flip-flops here replaced the underground kimchi cellars and stylish boots of New York City. Here, the world was just a little sadder, a little less pretentious, and a little calmer.
The pilot gets on the speakers. âFolks, weâve begun our descent into Fresno, California. Seventy-six degrees and clear skies. Weâll be at the gates in about twenty minutes. Thank you for flying with us.â
Camila gets her fat Jansport, the only thing sheâs packed. After watching a YouTube video on effectively stuffing luggage, itâs been her pride to be able to fit two weeks of clothes and amenities in a single school backpack. Practically sorcery.
Walking out of the airport, the whiff of pollution mixed with the faint hint of cow dung slaps her in the face. She forgot how unpleasant the heavy air was. After a while it becomes unnoticeable, but returning to it is akin to using a snorkel. A dirt-lined snorkel with hay filters.
Camila sees Pauly standing next to his parked car. Sunglasses cover his icy blue eyes, but she can still see them, cutting right through the dark polarization. He smiles, but not in that youthful, dumb, beaming way that showed off too much teeth and gums. Itâs normal now. A pleasantry.
âMister Worldwide!â Camila screams, running towards Pauly.
They hug, and Pauly laughs. The guffaw isnât so annoying anymore.
âHow long has it been?â Pauly says.
âI canât even remember.â
âYou wanna stop somewhere to eat?â
âNah, I had like a million almonds on the flight.â
âSounds like an ordeal.â
âOh, it was.â
Winston sat on the couch with Camila. Winston wore his glasses perched just a little too low on his nose. He had a streak of gray hair running down his head. He always seemed to wear some kind of plaid or flannel. He was vegetarian. Essentially, he was as obnoxiously hipster as any 18-year-old kid in the farm districts of California could be.
Camila and Winston had been dating for about three months now. They were convinced they had something real, like most lovestruck high-schoolers did.
âWhat are we gonna do?â Winston said. His scrawny legs were on the coffee table. He nervously bit the rim of his red solo cup.
âWhat are we gonna do about what?â Camila said.
âYouâre going to NYU. I donât want to lose you.â
Camila rubbed his back. âYou wonât lose me. We can always chat.â
Winston smiled. âThatâs good.â He picked up her cup. âRefill?â
âDuh.â
Winston got up. Pauly stumbled onto the couch, and spilled his drink on the carpet.
âShit.â Pauly let a nasty burp rip.
âDude, are you okay?â
âI donât⌠I donât know.â
âDo you need something?â
Pauly dug his head into his hands. âI regret not saying it.â
âWhat?â
Pauly looked deep into Camilaâs eyes. Looking into Paulyâs pupils, youâd swear you could just look right through him. Forget mirrors of the soul, these eyes were tunnels. Pauly started leaning in to Camila. His face got far too close to hers.
Camila pushed Pauly away.
âWhat the fuck are you doing?â
Seemingly out of nowhere, Winston tackled Pauly to the ground, and punched him with force no one would have ever expected out of the frail theater kid. The others gathered around to witness the slaughter.
Screams of âFuck him up!â and âBeat his ass!â and the occasional ironic âGet him a body bag!â filled the house.
In the chaos, the âClass of 2002â banner was taken down and torn up into a cloud of blue lint. And for a month, Paulyâs face was plagued with a deep purple and crimson bruise.
Pauly and Camila drive to Visalia in a car much nicer than anything on the road in at least a 50-mile radius. Camila looks outside at the dust kicked up by zooming masses of cars.
âSo what are you doing now, Pauly? You ever make that video game?â
âNah. I work in software security.â
âShit, that sounds harcore.â
âNot really. I just make sure computers keep running okay after a hack or virus infection.â
âInteresting.â
âItâs really not.â
âYouâre right.â
âHow about you? Livinâ it up in Manhattan?â
Camila chuckles. âIn a sense.â
âWhat do you do?â
What do I do? She thinks, leaning her head against the window.
âIâm writing some stuff. Pieces about movies and TV.â
This is⌠technically true. Occasionally, Camila would post angry tweets reacting to specific episodes of Orange is the New Black and write strongly-worded open letters to the filmmakers of Heathers. Yes. Multiple.
âNice. Very nice. Howâs Kevin?â
âKevinâs good. Kevinâs great. Heâs probably home taking care of Tiger.â
âTiger?â
âThatâs our cat. Heâs black, so itâs kind of funny that I named him Tiger, cause most people name their orange and striped cats Tiger. I thought it was funny, anyway.â
âYeah, thatâs funny.â
It really doesnât seem like he found it funny.
Twenty minutes of silence passes. As Pauly drives, the cars and buildings get more sparse until finally they reach the worn-down Welcome to Visalia sign. Pauly takes a sharp turn into an empty parking lot.
âWhat are you doing?â Camila asks, confused.
âOpen the glove box.â
Camila does, and discovers an Altoids tin. She opens it, revealing a compressed bit of beautiful, stinky marijuana.
Pauly pulls out a glass pipe. âIâm not going into Visalia sober. I hope you werenât planning on it either.â
Camila chuckles. âYouâre a goddamn genius.â
#novel#long form#long reads#literature#young adult#high school#The Wonderful Winston#Fresno#Visalia#writing
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The Wonderful Winston - Part 1, Camila
This was a long-form thing I wrote a while ago, but never got around to finishing. Hopefully on tumblr, I actually, you know, finish someTHING. Enjoy.
Chapter 1: Camila
The gigantic glass pane humble interior designers would call a âwindowâ overlooks the aggressive Manhattan city lights.
Itâs 3:08 AM.
Camila, in her fleece doberman-patterned pajamas, sits cross-legged on her bed. Her face reflects the bright iPad screen like a cold fluorescent surgeonâs light. Another night, another BuzzFeed video. The city is always alive, and Camila seems to have taken that vibrancy to heart, as seen in her own solo bedroom party.
Tiger, a black cat, lays across from Camila curled up in such a way that it wouldnât be surprising if he uncoiled into an active helicopter rotor. He shoots a what the fuck are you doing look to Camila.
âLeave me alone, Tiger.â Camila taps on the next video. This oneâs about Australians trying Thai food for the first time, or something. Sheâs lost track. Tiger proclaims his boredom with an annoyed yelp, and leaps off the bed. When Camila married Kevin, this isnât exactly what she imagined. Maybe it was what she should have expected, considering her idea of a âperfectâ marriage came from decades-old sitcoms. To be fair, it didnât seem like Claire Huxtable sat in the wee hours of the night reading whatever the 80âs equivalent of listicles were. Mr. Huxtable was usually there, and not off in Madrid, or Hanoi, or Minnesota to talk about board game manufacturing with other old white businessmen who talked very seriously about which faces to add to âClue.â Kevinâs wedding vows should have read âI, Kevin Markovski, take you, Camila Maldonado, to be my lawfully wedded wife, like Elyse Keaton in Family Ties, to have and to hold, from this day forward, long after our hippie days and our transformation into the perfect white-bread, Michael J. Fox spawning family, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. Or at least until the Scrabble people have an emergency meeting.â The home phone rings.
Camila looks up, startled. No one calls the home phone. Not even her mom. Who even has this number? She crawls towards the arcane device, and after a few obnoxious rings, picks it up.
âHello?â
âIs this Camila?â Itâs a familiar voice. She canât quite place it, but the tenor is undeniably rooted in her past.
âYes. Who is this?â
âItâs Pauly.â
Pauly. Of course. She remembers her most visceral account of him, the Cuban kid with buzzed hair and striking blue eyes. The Pitbull jokes were endless. She remembers his loud and grating, but charming, guffaw. She remembers his drunken episode as he tore down all of the cheap paper decorations put up by the prom committee in a weird attempt to impress his crush with crazy antics.
âPauly! Whatâs up? Shit dude, long time no see!â
âYeah, yeah.â Thereâs a sadness in his voice.
âWhatâs going on?â
âYou remember Winston?â
No shit I remember Winston, she thinks. I havenât suffered a traumatic brain injury yet.
âOf course! Why?â
Pauly takes a deep breath. âHeâs gone.â
ââŚWhat?â
âHeâs missing. The cops and volunteers have been searching for two weeks. No trace of him.â
âOh my God.â
âYeah. Lydiaâs taking it pretty hard.â
âI bet. Yeesh, what do you think happened?â
âI donât know, but it looks bad.â
âIs there anything I can do?â
âI was actually wondering, itâs kind of a stupid idea, but if you wanted to come down here. I know itâll be a long flight, but just for the sake of one last hurrah befo-â
âYes.â
âReally?â
The truth is, adulthood proved to be a disappointment. After years of wishing to get to the big city, the truest symbol of âmaking it,â life here was a downgrade. Farmland and pseudo-suburban bliss defined a happy childhood. And even if sheâd never get that feeling back, at least sheâd return to what encased her once-lovely life.
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