The Clumsy Interloper

Authors Note: This summer I plan to do a writing exercise called “character work” were every week I write about someone I witness in the wild and imbue some minor backstory while I practice my descriptions. Then I’ll feed it into AI for the title image.

GRIT COFFEE PATIO (EXT DAY): He looked mid-forties with olive skin and short cropped curly black hair that conceded salty temples. He wore a five o’clock shadow at 9am and a grey t-shirt with the words “Get in Loser // We are doing Science” bracketing a cartoon image of Albert Einstein, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker and Professor Hubert Farnsworth in a convertible. Black running shorts with white trim and mahogany Birkenstocks peaked out from under his table.

Both an Apple laptop and notepad open in front of him – his hands occasionally crossing over the other like a concert pianist might do to strike the right chord. Double finger scrolling with the left hand while the right added notes to the manual ledger. An elder Millennial to be sure, recipient of an analog childhood but during middle school he greeted the unnerving electronic squeal of a 28-baud modem with fascination. He is an early adopter on most emerging technology, despite not having a smartphone until after college, still handwriting first draft outlines longform and preferring the smell of a new paperback above all else.

He furrowed his brow sharply, creating impressions on his forehead that resembled a cascading flock of seagulls on the horizon. His right hand, wrapped in a fist, pressed tightly against pursed lips removing the color beneath his hairy knuckles. The contents of the screen appeared to transfix him while his eyes toggled back and forth like a dot matrix printer. His ardent gaze succumbed to no distraction, looking through his computer as if it were a portal to another dimension.