AcmeShorts

It was a bit 'Cat's In The Cradle', but I went to see my first student at his job in the big building on the other side of town. I was his piano teacher for years and I thought I would surprise him for lunch. He wasn't pleased to see me or maybe he was just stressed about his big important job, regardless, he shook my hand and led me down the hall to his office where his assistant was running a young intern's hand through the shredder. Her bottom lip was making an horrible quiver. Saliva dripped off of it. It was bloody unsightly that spittle on that lip. I turned and looked at my former student, cracking his knuckles and wringing his thumbs. He looked back at me over his glasses. I gestured that I wasn't there to take his turn. He could be next to jam a body part into the shredder, or sharpen a finger in the mechanical pencil sharpener. He advanced on the intern, her face pale, dilated pupils swerving like she was stuck in a dream. He picked up a letter opener and stuck it in his own thigh. He inhaled deeply then pressed it slowly down until it stopped. He hissed a complicated passage from Bach as he drove the letter opener into the big bone in his leg with a crack. Scarlet sweat stood out on his brow as he looked up and whispered to me, "This next part coming up, this is my favorite."