#thefilmharpy short fiction

[thefilmharpy]

Chasing July: A Short Story

All my problems went away the day I discovered you could take people like drugs. Of course, Harold would probably have said that all my problems started that day, but what the fuck does he know?

You can take one look at Harold and know he hasn't known joy a day in his life. 

I’m good at sizing people up, it’s a skill I’ve honed over the years. I had this very strong sense about Harold right from the start based on nothing more than his gray suit jacket and shoes. 

When he was a little kid, and I was absolutely certain of this, Harold's parents had never bothered to lie to him about things like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

Little magical things like the Easter Bunny and fairy rings and your face getting stuck that way if you hold a silly expression for too long. The sort of bullshit only kids believe and need to believe for as long as they're allowed to stay kids. 

All of this had been denied to poor Harold. Wherever he'd learned about Santa Clause or jinxes and fairy rings, maybe from TV or friends at school, his parents had quickly made sure to kibosh the whole notion. 

Your parents buy your Christmas presents and your grandmother hid those eggs at Easter. The stump in the backyard is the corpse of a diseased elm tree, not a fairy ring. Your face won't get stuck that way, but you look ridiculous while making it. 

Knowing these things from maybe as early as five years old had done quite the number on Harold. You might think I've got no way to know any of that, and maybe you're right, but if you'd seen his loafers you'd probably be agreeing with me. 

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