Eavesdroppin' Let Down

Some might call me an eavesdropper but it’s not like I’m listening in all of the time. The truth is I’m usually focused on something else and my attention must be sucked in by a few mystifying words or an interesting bit of dialogue before any concentrated mischievousness goes down. Usually I first hear an unprocessed and muffled conversation, then the cued wonder-words, then-- then the engrossing play. This particular episode starts with a loud and excited Troy sitting in his room with Fran. Fran, sharing the room with Troy, is lying on their bed relaxing before the scheduled action-movie at 9:30 pm. An unspectacular conversation had been going on for an unknown amount of time because as I mentioned earlier I was paying no attention to it; I was merely doing my own thing in the living room---about 15 feet away from the scene. So, following the old cliché ‘I was sitting there minding my own business’, half-watching a crappy, hi-tech looking, British documentary on Killer Creatures (conniving wasps disguised as ants, malevolent jellyfish, and the like) when suddenly Troy’s deafening words focused and become clear to me, “Wait, you said I can do anything I want!” he confronted Fran. That’s all he needed to say because from that point on I was tuned into their conversation like the uncouth eavesdropper you know I am. Fran sounded groggy, perhaps her face was partially covered, “Yeah, but not that.” Troy announced “But that’s not-- you-- you’re contradicting yourself because I wanna do this one thing”. An urgent Fran replied “Yeah but not that one thing”. Troy was becoming more frenzied and with a fierce bravado explained, “Yeah, but that’s not—that’s not fair because what I really want to do is fart!”

Fuck, what a let down! I had put my moral integrity on the line to hear some lofty dramatics and instead I got a manic Troy farcically demanding his right to fart. I’d been set up. And to think that their play began so strongly.