Prologue
Tickety-tock, says the television. It is February.
-This guy...Is…A gambler...
“Worm,” as he is called after the character in the motion pictureRounders, is alone in his dorm room. He is the son of an auctioneer and waitress. “I’m done,” he says. There is not a better card player in the history of literature, standing tall amid the slyest of all card-players: Worm has no equal. Papers and books and cds and dvds are strewn about.-Micellaneous rubbish. He smiles. Just moments ago, he finished watching SMOKE, currently his favorite film. In a flash, Worm jumps to the ground, and rumaging around to find a water bottle, he grabs aknife and sets to cutting the thing in two...
“Baby?” He inquires.
“Ahhhewwwah. Da da duh-da.” Madeline Sharp just turned one.
-Man, the groundhog is overwhelming my work…When Brandon said, 'Mr. Sharp' like Sharp chedda? I almost died. That delivery. He sniffs.-Shit.Somebody needs a diaper change...He goes to Madeline to begin their ritual:
“MMMMMommagonna change yodiap-diap, yodiap-diap, your diap-diap, momma gonna change yodiap-diap so you be nice and clean!
Momma gonna change your diap-diap, yodiap-diap, yodiap SO YOU ARE NICE AND CLEAN!”
“Done my darling.”
He waves his hands. Madeline waves her hands back and forth, cooing in delight as she rises to take her very first step. And he does not notice
-Morentenyearsago. -10 words do for now...
10:15-ish
February,2005
Muskingum College
to
March,2023
Sharp’s Grove City Auction
Ali
-Smoke. Many people are smoke. If we talk about that, is it good or not?
-I want to say something. Me, myself, I was sick. After that, I went to the hospital. A doctor asked my problem. He said:
“Do you smoke?”
I said, “yeah, I do.”
He said, “YOU HAVE TO STOP SMOKING.”
-So in all, smoking is cause of disease.
Fire.
-When you work with any company, you have to do hard work. Otherwise, you will get fired. Means you are lazy. This is problem. So for everything, like school or job, to succeed we have to be good person. Where you work, what you do, we have to be nice. ‘S why I attend class on time…
-And teacher wants me to do this now…when we came, most of time our teacher gives for us class work. When he gives something, he tells us how we can do it…
Ashley
Fire. –I think the teacher is on fire today. He is giving us a lot to do. Fire can be used for so many things… make your home smell good or even help you put a tire on your car so when you go camping it keeps you warm and even cooks your food and keeps some bugs away... But is can burn your house down. It has even killed people, or sent them to the hospital. And Fire is a good way to teach kids in girl scouts…
And teacher is wanting me to do this now–But…the dark…so they can see what they are doing and see if there are any animals nearby…
Aeda
Fire.
I love to watch the fir in my fireplace with my family because it is so beautiful and so peaceful. Everynight my son comes home and asks ‘can I go get some wood to put with the fireplace? He will be so happy was are here. So I say, ‘yeah, go do it.’
Fire keeps us warm, too. Sometimes we put some marshmellowsin it, too! It is soooooo good. I make sure to put it out before we go to be because if we leave it, it might burn the house down!
The teacher is wanting me to do this now: I wanna do it nice so he will be happy. I will go home and tell my family all about it. They willl be so proud of me that I went back to school to learn more English and do good for myself. This will be the first time for me in school in the U.S.A. and English is my second language…
Heather
Smoke. –Comes from fire because where you see smoke there is usually fire. Smoke can fill the air. I smoke cigarettes and smoke comes from cigarettes. Lit by fire so naturally it will come…
Fire. –Very dangerous. It can harm you very badly. For example, you probably should not let your toddler play with a lighter. It can also be used to light a barbecue at your child’s birthday party. But it is so dangerous you should be careful when dealing with fire.
-My teacher put on a performance about fire and he narrated his performance. I light my cigarettes with fire and it is so funny that fire come out of a silly little lighter but can cause so much damage if not handled properly. Also, you shouldn’t sit there and play with fire.
-The teacher wants me to do this now so now I hafta to go back to my many words and figure out a place for that particular sentence to go because I’m not sure how the sentence (And teacher is making me do this now) fits in with fire. You know the caveman made fire….
Khadra
Smoke.
-what is Valentine’s Day?
-Guess what?It’s Valentine’s day.
-Let me tell you guys…My teacher is listening to Country. Well, I don’t think I can understand the song, but somehow I like it! It’s talking about summertime. LOL…
-Why do human beings sometimes feel the same way even though they do not speak the same language? Sometimes people are happy together, and laughing, but if you look closer they don’t even talking the same languages! That what makes human…
-Falling and getting up here…
Fire.
–Where can I go from here? How can I write this sentence? Trust myself? I can do this…If you house gets on fire…Teacher is wanting me to do this now…So when I was young I was a very shy person and couldn’t ask my teacher what I wanted to know. If you keep asking questions you might learn…
Eden
Smoke.
-Small in the classroom. Hot. Fire-truck. Fire-fighters. Hurt. 911 call. Save life. Stretcher. Oxygen. Bug. Carry. Help. Cry. Catch. Screen. Drive. Horse. Wondered. Injured. Hospital. Medicine. Family Doctor.
Fire. -Flag. Stop. Fly. Bus driver. Hair. Gallery. Yoga. Drive. Work Hard.
-Home. Cook. Pick teeth. Appointment. Now. Book. Break. Sleep. Hear. Slow cooker. Recipe. Picture. Room Number. Print. Holds. Oscar arrested.
Teacher wants me to do this now….
-Computer. Office. Love life. Music. Stranger…
I laugh to myself.
–Food…
Yazmine
Fire.
-Since I came to my first period class, I love to write anything: What’s on my mind; a person always has things on their mind, each person thinks, speaks, and reacts differently. The funny thing is, when the teacher asked me to write what’s one my mind, nothing came up. But my hand wouldn’t stop writ8ng! Pretty cool because this has to be no more than 250 words. We have to shoot for 100 words.
-This class is my favorite. The teacher is so cool and he makes learning fun. I love Tuesday nights because I get to come to school and enjoy my class. He makes us learn, as well as have our fun here!
Her finger starts to hurt.
-Sunday, before the Superbowl, I was making a dip and sweets for my dearest. I accidently sliced my finger with the knife. I wouldn’t stop bleeding for15 minutes; it hurt so bad.But I was very lucky I didn’t cut my finger off! It was my son’s fault.
-Teacher is wanting me to do this now. –Editing what I wrote, I am pretty sure…I’m about to double-check, and give my work to my teacher…
Farhan
Smoke.
-Today is February 14th, the day for lovers and love. But I am tired. Man. Smoke. The music is kind of…Classical. Smoke? I don’t smoke. And I don’t wish…The music makes me feel some great Hollywood films I watched awhile ago. Smoke…
Fire.-Might not be good for our modern environment, but it is necessary if you are living in the city or out…People were sitting in the cold, staying in the cold, so they have to use a fire…
-A place like a forest…Hunting any animals you want, swimming in any river you want…And teacher wants me to do this now: Having fun with the trees, and animals, and whole forest; I wish I could go camping before writing an essay like this…Just dreaming, as they say. Dream big! Not little. The music again. It keeps distracting me, again and again. Where were we? I hate writing but I have to do it I wish English was as easy as drinking water.
Brandon
Smoke. –My story is about smoke…
-I smell smoke. It feels...like strong. He coughs, and thinks: -I would tell her thank you... -This class is pretty good. All these classes are good.
Fire. -Right now, like fire or something like that ...
They are in the library. -I feel happy because there is no fire. It's 10:51.
Thursday. Teacher wants me to do this now ... kind of a hard question ...
He laughs. -I'm learning. Beethoven’s piano sonata no. 14 plays.
-I'm feeling sad. I feel like crying…
Misty
Smoke.
-People. Car. Tailpipe. Outside, the nasty smell of gas. It smelled nasty. I as coughing and the car backfired. Happened outside of the library. This story sounds fine.
-People leaving cars very quickly. I am in the library.
-Fire.
-I am Writing Assignment.
-The reason why we are doing this is because my teacher told me to do this.
-I am here by my staff.
-My staff is named Alison. She WAS walking around. She had to go somewhere. She is always helping me if I need help. The time is 11:05 am. Teacher wants me to do this now…
Milin
Smoke.
-I have a little bit of pain in my elbow and in my neck. I am learning for my future…
-Fire. That is how the stadium was when the Super Bowl was played last Sunday. The Patriots…The Falcons…One player, no. 34, took control of the ball to do a touchdown…who make a point!
-Teacher is wanting me to do this now… I have to learn pronoun, nouns, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions…It is sooooooo difficult to me because I do not understand, and when I do I forget the next day…I need to get out of the library because apparently there is a fire on the second floor…
Epilogue
-What of The Fire Giver?
“He’s Ryan,” says Jen Bound. She and Sharpie went together in high school. She quit, though. Now he was her teacher. The powers that be came in to interrupt class about this time.
“Hear ya, Jen.” He nods.“We’ll see.” Sharpie didn’t look up while gathering materials, instead saying “can I help you?”
“I’m from Etchevery Academy—“
Tangentially, they are but a couple steps apart. Sharpie is self-conscious; the new face staring at the work on the wipe-board.
The stranger asks:“Aeschylus?”
“Yeah, I can explain that—“
“Davis.”
“Mr. Sharp.”
They shake hands.