[stylist] short story

[Vejas Vasiliauskas]

Hi,
We haven't written short stories in quite a while, so I decided I 
would post one that I wrote for class last year.  I then expanded 
upon it a bit later to improve on it.  I've attached it and, for 
these who can't read attachments, will try to paste it in the 
bottom of the e-mail (if the whole thing doesn't go through I'll 
send a part 2).
The assjgnment was to create a character and write about them.  
My title comes from the fact that millions of families look fine 
from the outside but not from within.
The last thing I have to say is that I hope I created a good 
character even though my family aren't like this.  However, I 
knew someone for many years who is like this character, and the 
way he talks about his family gave me a pretty accurate idea.
Any suggesttions welcome.
Vejas
A Typical Day for Millions
by Vejas Vasiliauskas
  Carl pounds on his front door, wanting to be let in.  If he 
wanted to, he could pull out his key, but he doesn't feel like 
it.  It is 4:00 PM on a cold September evening-colder still 
because he misplaced his coat, though what he will probably say 
if asked is that one of his daughters took it.  Usually he 
doesn't get home until 6:00 but there is a sports game that he 
desperately wants to watch.
His wife, Anna, comes running to open the door for him.  "Hi, 
Carl.  I didn't know you were going to be home early."
He ignores her and runs into the TV room.  His daughter, Malena, 
is watching cartoons, and another daughter, Dana, is playing with 
trucks.  Carl, who has always felt that cartoons are stupid, 
snatches the remote from Malena without even saying hi and 
switches the channel to the game, then yells, "QUIET!" His 
daughters, frightened, run away and Carl smiles with glee.  He 
plops down on the couch, flips off his shoes, and even goes so 
far as taking his socks off, creating added stink in the room.  
He spreads his large body on the whole couch, to make sure nobody 
else can sit there.  If his pals are there, he'd move for them to 
make room, but he has that luxury of being by himself.
Anna comes over.  "You forgot your chips, Carl," she says, 
handing him 3 bags of jalapeno chips.  Carl just grunts in 
response and begins crunching on the chips loudly.
Two hours later, the game is over, and it's time for dinner.
"You made me spaghetti, didn't you?" Carl asks.  "Because you 
better have."
"Of course I did, sweetie," says Anna.
"And did you use parmesan and mozzarella cheese like I said?" 
asks Carl.
"Of course.  What else would I use?"
"Well, you could use cheddar, if you wanted.  That would be 
interesting."
Anna is surprised at how helpful her husband is being.  That's 
rare these days.  "Really, Carl? That sounds amazing!"
Carl repeats it louder.  "You could use cheddar if you wanted 
to." Then he adds, "But then, I'd have to kick you out of the 
house!"
Anna stiffens, and Carl smiles.
Carl lumbers up to get a cold beer from the refrigerator.  He 
comes back to the table and begins eating.
The conversations begin.
"Mommy, I'd like to be a goblin for Halloween," Malena says.
"Really? That would be wonderful."
"Can you get me a costume?"
Before Anna can respond, Carl, probably influenced by the bubbles 
in his beer, lets out a long, loud burp.  He doesn't excuse 
himself; he only does that out in public.  And if any of the 
females said "Excuse you", then Carl would definetly have made 
sure that their head would be added to the next batch of 
spaghetti.
"We have a rock concert today, honey, remember?" Anna asks.  
"You've been looking forward to it all the time."
"Of course I remember!" Carl says, insulted.  "One of my pals is 
in the band.  Hey Anna, you really overdid the sauce.  It's 
disgusting!"
"It's really not that bad," Malena says.
Oops.
"I said, it's DISGUSTING!" repeats Carl.  "But since you like it, 
I'll..." He interrupts himself, then pours all of his sauce on 
his daughter's head.
When Carl and his family arrive at the concert, they decide to 
join a mutual friend, Stanley, who is also there.  Stanley, who 
has known Carl for a while, shares his love for music, but has 
always been stone-cold sober.
"Hi," Stanley says to the family.  Then he turned to Malena.  
"What happened with the spaghetti?"
Before Malena can respond, Carl answers for her.  "Oh, it was 
nothing.  She spilled it on herself by accident, and you know, 
there was no time for her to shower, so she's just like that." He 
turns to Anna.  "Can I get you anything to drink, honey?"
Anna knows this isn't sincere.  But she loves it anyway.  "Could 
you get me a root-beer?"
"Of course! And I must not forget my 2 BEAUTIFUL daughters!" Carl 
is really overdoing it.  "Would you 2 lovely ladies desire 
rootbeer as well?"
They do.
During the concert, Anna becomes emotional about the lyrics of 
one of the songs, for personal reasons.  She tries not to, but 
she eventually does, cry.
"What's wrong, honey?" Carl asks, putting his arm around her.
This isn't the Carl Anna knows from home.  At home, he would have 
called her a "sissy", and much more.
Carl gets his wife a tissue, which she uses, then clumsily drops 
on the ground.  He even goes so far as to pick it up for her.  At 
home, if Carl dropped his own tissue he'd probably step on it, 
smashing it into little bits for Anna to pick up.
When Anna and Carl get home, they update their blogs.  They 
actually have rival blogs.  Anna's is called "Housemaid Married 
to a Pig." There, she pours out all of her woes.  She states 
everything Carl did that day, and how unfair life is.  She used 
to have supportive friends who read the blog whom she would 
e-mail, but they all got tired of the fact that Anna always 
complained and never followed their advice or did anything to 
better her life.  Anna also can't spell (or won't spell-check), 
which gives Carl more ammunition.
There are usually four or five comments on Anna's blog during 
each entry.  Since she has lost friends, most of them are usually 
from sympathetic Google searchers that don't know her very well.  
There is also always one comment from Carl himself, criticizing 
her even more.  Anna, whose only ability on the computer is to 
write the blog and read e-mails, has never seen these comments.
What Anna doesn't know is that Carl has a blog too.  It's called 
"Pig Democrat." He always waits for Anna to finish so he can 
comment on her blog, and then he updates his blog.  He always 
makes sure to spell-check because he wants to make himself seem 
intelligent.  Carl will not only write about how bad Anna is, but 
he will also write about casual things, such as the weather, and 
get into political debates.  He is basically open to any 
political debate with a friend.  He allows any friend to disagree 
with him on his blog, though he always has a comeback for it and 
always tries to make that comeback twice as long.
Anna thinks to herself that it didn't used to be this way.  Carl 
used to be a lot nicer, and sometimes he still is.  He has often 
apologized after making comments, but he has never been willing 
to change, always making excuses for himself and siting 
depression for his anger.  She thinks part of this behavior, 
which started last year, has to do with the fact that his back is 
constantly giving out-and then she thinks sympathetically of what 
the poor man must go through every day.
This is just a typical day for the poor family.  Little will Anna 
know that tomorrow, her life will be thrown upside-down again; 
Carl will be killed and smashed flat like a pancake after 
crashing his car, and she will become sad, not able to think for 
herself.  She will then feel a sense of longing for the life 
before.  She will miss her provider.
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