Glass Preliminary Poll - Window

[Velox]

 

Vote here for your favorite Glass story; entries have been randomized. Please MAKE SURE YOU READ ALL ENTRIES BEFORE VOTING.Voting begins now and will end on July 7th at 11:59 PM EST. Entries that do well will move on to Glass Final Poll, which will be posted at the conclusion of the 10th round preliminary poll.

 

Choice #1:

 

"Magic Glass"

It's glass, but it's magical glass.

Through it you can see a garden, or maybe a tree, or a driveway. Maybe you can see another house, maybe you can see someone else's lawn, or maybe all you can see is a dumpster.

Or maybe you can't see anything at all. Maybe it's entirely blank, nothing but pure blackness.

But it could even be a jungle. Tall trees stretching their being into the heavens, creeper vines stringing about the place, animals noisy or quiet but always beautiful, gorgeous flowers and vistas of indescribable wonder.

Another possibility is the ocean. Maybe you see a beach, with endless sand stretching in either direction, the waves gently caressing the land from across unfathomable distances and flowing back out to touch the edge of the sky.

It could be a prairie, with a sea of another kind. A greener one. Maybe there are grunting bison or wild mustang, thunderstorms or great birds of prey as free as the wind.

A great precipice, with stony walls threatening you with a thousand foot drop but also promising an incredible view. A waterfall cascades over the side while a peaceful forest stands invitingly in the opposite direction.

A mountain peak looming above you, while mountain goats or grizzly bears shuffle along. Conifers stand erect like soldiers in a line, dotting the steep incline here or there while great boulders offer some variety.

Or perhaps you see a dump, an amplitudinous array of things once having a home with good people, or even the not so good, forming itself comfortably in a high peak all its own. Old belongings now staining our world with unnatural death and decay.

What if its the tropics you see? Crystal-clear ocean waves with a small island and palm-trees in the distance. The merciless sun beats down on you, but with your SPF 50 you hardly notice anything but warmth and peace.

Maybe endless desert sand stretches as far as the eye can see, while hazy lines offer spectacles of interest and dances of exotic variety. A camel or a gemsbok passes by, on an epic journey of survival.

Or the stars. A sprinkling of light spread across a handsome black carpet. Here and there a red star, or nebulae of enormous wonder and beauty. Maybe a planet, or an asteroid, comet, or meteor. Interstellar bodies on endless voyages of discovery.

All this and more can be seen through the glass.

It's glass, but it's magic glass.

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Choice #2:

"Through the Window"

Years ago, it was . . . decades, probably centuries for all I can remember these days. But some things you never forget.

And of course I can't forget that day, when my life changed forever. Not in a small way like walking a different way to work or brushing your teeth with your left hand in stead of your right. But it wasn't a big way, either, not like winning the lottery or having a near-death experience. It changed my life, not too much and not too little, for the better, or for the worse. I don't know what it will mean for you, and I don't know if it will change your life like it changed mine--probably it's the sort of thing you have to experience for yourself; but still I hope, in some small way, you'll be a little wiser a few moments from now.

I was traipsing through a woods, and wise would be the last word to describe me that day. Nothing was going right for me. I had recently lost my girl, not long after I'd lost my job; and I'm not sure the two were disconnected. I'd had little luck finding a new job since then, and even less luck finding a new girl.

The woods was the only place where the world was simple, but unfortunately it wasn't simple enough to be distracting. My feet shuffled along hiking trails, but I'd left my mind pretty far behind me in a world of commercial horror and romantic despair.

I'll keep this short. A bright glimmer of light caught my eyes, and everything else seemed to vanish, in my mind and all around me. You know how it is, when the most trivial thing becomes a sudden obsession, taking over your being. Well, it was that way with this light, only I'm not sure if you would know how powerful this was. It wasn't just my mind playing a trick on me and trying to escape from heavy thought, it was an engrossing enchantment.

I followed the glimmer through the trees. There was something warm and inviting and beautiful about it, or at least the spell made me think there was. Not that it matters why I followed, I just did, and when I came out the other side of the trees into a clearing, I gasped in surprise and delight.

Right there I found a huge glass wall, tall, broad, like a giant window; and through this window I saw the most incredible sight I'd ever seen. It was a city of gold: golden buildings, golden streets, golden-haired women. The sky was tinted with it and the sidewalks were littered with it, shining in the sunlight to take my breath away.

There was El Dorado before my very eyes, mine for the taking, here in the backwoods behind a rustic middle-of-nowhere town. All I had to do was step through the window. Dazzled, spellbound, eager greed eating away at my every nerve, I stumbled forward.

And then it was gone. There was a loud plunk and the glass rippled, El Dorado shivered and disappeared. The window was shattered. I looked up at into the very real, very black-haired face of a pretty young woman wearing an indescribable look of grim fear, of shock and relief, all misfitting the handsome smile she wore.

And you know, I only just remembered why that day was so important to me. To tell you the truth, it probably won't have the same effect on you as it had on me, because it wasn't the lake at all that changed my life . . .

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Choice #3:

"Hard to Break"

"It's easy to break a promise..."

"No come on, I did my best to get the cup for you and I di-"

"You were in the restaurant! How could you forget?"

"I didn't! Hear what I'm trying to say. I got a whole story for you."

"…spill!”

***

He sighed, taking another swig of his pint of Guinness. They were in an Irish Pub, a special Irish Pub, that Alex and Mitch had decided to stop at. Alex lowered the drink to the bar. Out of all the places he'd visited while in the Big Apple, the Empire State Building, China Town, Times Square, and wherever else Mitch wanted to take him, this bar was high on the priority list.

However, as he stared down at his buffalo chicken pizza, which was nasty with all the added blue cheese and celery in it, he hung his head.

"We look like a gay couple, wearing matching plaid shirts..."

"Hmm," Mitch correctly responded.

His friend gave him a side glance.

"I don't care what other people think..."

"Harder to pick up girls if we're giving the wrong impression."

"Let's just get the cup and leave..." Mitch said in his easy voice. He had a casual demeanor. "...it's been ten minutes. Go find the guy."

Alex ran his hand through his hair. They'd been here for an hour now. The meal had been okay, but nowhere near the great pizza that New York usually offered. But the service... had been horrible.

"This cup, does your sister care about it that much?"

Alex looked at his unfinished beer.

"She doesn't get to come with me on these trips anymore. She's got too much work to do, responsibility, the kids."

He paused, lost in thought for a moment.

"…And so the last time she was here, years back, she talked about how she wanted the glass pint. These glasses in our hands that say, "I'm gonna make it, anywhere". But we never got it."

Mitch lightly laughed, with a rare smile on his face.

"Bah... I just love her, you know?"

Alex felt a firm grip on his shoulder. "Yeah, I know." Mitch looked him in the eye, and nodded. They both smiled in their plaid shirts, thinking it’d been a good day to wear them.

***

"Eventually our server came by, and when we told him about the glass, he told us that because he ruined my pizza by adding all the extra toppings, that we could just walk out with the glass when he wasn't looking..." He hadn't told her all the details about their trip at the bar, or at least not the parts that were mentioned about her.

"You can't do that..."

"Well that's what I told him! I'm like ... 'So you mean steal it.' and Mitch is just staring at the guy like he's an cool dude... So we told the manager about how terrible the guy's service was... guess what happened?"

"He gave you the glass?"

"Yeah. But first he fired the server. Told us he had gotten a lot of complaints and was giving his friends free food. Anyway, we got your cup... well...”

***

The breaking of glass hit the cement floor of the subway station. Just for a second, the people rushing by all stopped and took one moment out of their busy lives to see what had broken. The two young men just stood there in disbelief.

"I... I …" Alex fumed.

Mitch reached down and started picking up the main piece with the handle. It was ultimately unusable. A middle aged woman, who stood near Alex, muttered a sorry before continuing on her way.

"She bumped into me."

"It's alright, pal. Come on..."

"She's gonna hate this."

"Nah."

"It's not worth giving it to her now." Alex held half the glass in his hand.

"Yeah it is."

"Can't drink from it, just half a mug of glass... part of the quote's missing too." He said, dishearteningly.

"Yeah. But give it to her... alright?" His friend took the glass from Alex's hand, and inspected it. "I think what’s left is good enough."

***

"'Gonna make it,'" she read aloud. A small smile crept on her face as she looked at the glass that was taken from her brother's bag. She pulled her hair back and let out a choked laugh. She did like it. And somehow it was just what she wanted.

"Thanks..." she whispered under her breath, as she moved forward and hugged him.

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Choice #4:

"Windows to the Soul"

 

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. How do I know that? Um, because it was in an old book of Foxtrot comics I have laying around somewhere. Jason and Marcus are building a giant T-Rex or something and they need to study Paige’s eyes to figure out how to make it look evil. Kinda funny how things like that stick with you, huh?

 

But yeah, that’s what I was thinking about now, for some reason, as I sit here, bored, a bit apprehensive, too, for some reason. Idly I pick up my pencil and flip it around between my thumb and forefinger; its ends fly back and forth like a seesaw on stimulants. I barely notice the action, barely notice anything, really, as I just sit here in class, waiting for something to happen.

 

Well, okay, there’s something I notice, namely the girl sitting one row right, one seat forward. Hard not to notice her, really, at any given time. For a second my gaze lingers on the back of her head before flitting over to the window. Not much to see outside. A tree. Must be a bit of a breeze ‘cause the leaves are shaking a bit. The glass could probably use some cleaning.

 

My glasses could do with cleaning themselves, now that I think of it. I slide them off, turn up the corner of my shirt, wipe off the dust. Glance down at my paper as I do so; everything looks right. Except for number 6, which could really be one of two answers, and whichever I pick’ll undoubtedly be the wrong one. Oh well.

 

I fish a sheet of paper out of my backpack; might as well get some writing done. Writing about, um, um… Yeah I don’t know. Maybe I’ll draw something. Predictably, a couple seconds later, “something” has amounted to a few random lines. I slide the paper beneath my book. Back to pencil-flipping.

 

My forefinger slips and the pencil falls next to her desk. Wordlessly she reaches down, grabs it, hands it to me. For the briefest of moments I can see her eyes.

 

Windows to the soul.

 

Then I blink and take the pencil. “Thanks.”

 

She turns back around. “You’re welcome.”

 

I slide the paper back out and try again to think of something to write. Still nothing, surprise surprise. But for some reason that’s not quite as annoying as it was a few minutes ago.

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[Excelsior]

I voted for #3.

 

-Excelsior

[BBBBalta]

I voted for 3 because I didn't think my own (4) was all that great. Apparently a couple people did, though, so that's cool I guess.

[Velox]

Polling period over; topic closed.