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Episode 4: Tripping

from Broken Links: Season One by David Kulma

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about

The fourth episode of this web series of stories in which a woman trips on a chair.

Go here to watch the full video on YouTube: youtu.be/ROGrc9RMDU0

lyrics

She tripped on the chair. She was walking through the room
and mistakenly placed her right foot too close to the back
right leg of the chair on her right. It was an open question
whether or not her beer and glass would survive her
unplanned horizontal meeting with the hardwood floor.
When she woke up that morning, she had no idea that
her day would take a dive in this moment. Her future
would involve ice packs, a trip to the hospital, medication,
self medication, and yelling the word fuck over and over
again to deaden the pain. Weeks earlier, she had read
about a medical study that noted that cursing upon
injury was correlated with participants giving a lower
number for their level of pain. They felt better because
of yelling shit after they hit their thumb with a hammer,
kicked a door, cut themselves on a knife, or hit their
head on a door frame. She will milk this new knowledge
for all its worth in a moment. Her date lost count of the
flying fucks after twenty-five. It is an odd thing for someone
to count curse words while another is hurt. This must
be an early date in their relationship. Maybe they will
get closer after the hospital visit to come. Her head will
hit the floor so hard she will lose consciousness for a
noticeable slice of time. And then cuss as she awakens.
People bond in stressful situations. Bystanders on the
other hand think she is a vulgar woman of no taste.

For her, these disapproving glances will make her want
to swear more. And she does. But not yet. We have
not arrived at the point of contact. She is still in the air
and will be for some time. That is, if time is still passing
as we watch her lose her balance, as she hangs in the
air unable to control all of the directions her body is
traveling in. Let’s leave her here and go back in time.
Press rewind on your mental VCR, like the actual one
you might have had decades ago, and let’s return to
an earlier point on the magnetic tape where she is
meeting her date. Should I make this other person
a man? That would be the assumption. I have tried
to avoid pronouns, and actually typed he a few times
and removed them. Would anything be gained by
having a man appear in this story? No, not really.


Alright, so she hears a knock at the door. She
yells it’s open and another woman enters the
apartment. They greet each other with a hug,
and I’ve just written myself into a problem.
I now have two women without names and one
pronoun to use between them. Anyway, she
hugs her female date. They both look awkward
but hopeful that their evening together will turn
out well. The answer to their hopes is yes slash
no. They will become closer through this trip
to see a movie about a conscious robot that
tricks a man into freeing her and leaves him to
die and then dinner at a bar the second woman
enjoys just a few blocks from the theater. But
as they walk from getting their preferred alcoholic
beverages from the bartender to their table
now free, the original woman, while discussing
how disappointed she was that this new take
on robotic amorality didn’t live up to a previous
movie of similar construct that involves hunting
down robots who believe they are human, she
loses track of how the chairs are shaped in the
surrounding tables as they walk. She places
her foot underneath one supporting another
customer, and when she raises her foot
automatically in her usual gate, her leg
hits the chair and she begins downward towards
the floor. The glass survives. She gets knocked
out. The beer is half gone. She wakes to pain
and screams fuck fuck fuck etcetera. The
other woman is scared, but after a few fucks
begins counting. She finds this behavior
humorous, and endearing in a strange way.
She calls nine one one, and knows that
their real life together begins now.

credits

from Broken Links: Season One, released June 27, 2016
David Kulma made this.

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David Kulma Rock Hill, South Carolina

David Kulma is a composer-performer living in the Carolinas.

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