- endfrags in a new day -
In the gray prelight just before dawn, a sad old man wanders through the dim streets and tries to tell the passersby that he’s the mayor of this fine city.
A kind old lady in harlequin finery stops spraying graffiti for a moment and takes his hand. He asks to be taken to his mommy and begins to weep.
A witch on the roof of a tall building turns to another witch as the smoke billows out from the streets far below. The sun is rising.
She says to the other: Like a rat without a tail, I’ll do, I’ll do and I’ll do.
A butt-naked protester plants a flower in the barrel of a guardsman’s assault weapon along with a kiss on his lips. Maybe the flower grows lush leaves and a strange new iridescent petal. Or maybe that’s only the DMT kiss which the guardsman’s just received spreading throughout his limbic system.
A policeman reaches for his billyclub, but some wild scamp has replaced it with a thick latex dildo. He double-takes, then laughs like a drain and forgets completely what he’s doing. The street urchin he was about to scourge takes off and rounds a corner to safety. She’s laughing too.
The TV cameraman turns the lens from the reporter as she speaks about the damage inflicted overnight, and focuses it on a young child skipping through the wreckage of a schoolyard.
The child’s singing a strange new song in a language unknown to them. It’s like a cryptid’s lullaby, or the birthsong of some new species.
A young woman sits on a shore as the sun climbs over the sea. She looks over to her younger friend who’s gazing at the sunrise, and skipping in an odd little dance like an Irish jig.
The young lady hikes up her skirt, and finds the beach sand cool and satisfyingly gritty on her cock.
AMATEUR
- THE END -
Lambrini Girls - “Help Me I’m Gay”
Help me I'm gay
Yeah, everything I do is for the male gaze
Pray for my soul
Because everything about me is apparently a spectacle
Kneecap - “Better Way to Live”
Underneath all the thundering there's magic
And if there's a better way to live, I've gotta have it
Because I think all day but when I drink I'm okay
It gets further away every time I try to grab it
Tá an t-am ag dul anonn
Is tá an saol seo i bhfad róghairid
[Time is running out - this life is far too short]
AMATEUR - the bookclub chat
OVER TO YOU
We’d very much like your comments and critiques of Amateur, so that this final chapter becomes your space for expression and opinion about the story as you’ve experienced it…
Is there anything that you would change about it?
Was the mix of noir genre with other styles and genres satisfying?
Is the story satisfying, or is it a thin allegory?
Too violent? Too flippant? Too strident?
Too disrespectful of any group or any vulnerable collective?
Leave your comments and critiques below - all shades of opinion welcome !
Thank you for reading Amateur
Your friends
Murph & James
No; yes; no; satisfyingly dissatisfying; the world is; I can’t speak for everyone but I give the authors the benefit of the doubt, especially on this platform and with this audience, not everything was meant to be mass produced whatever and that is a gift
I loved this. You guys did such a great job.
I have to confess that for a minute I thought there might be like a Fight Club type dissociation going on because Ronnie is a nickname for Veronica, but I’m glad I was wrong. This was perfect, honestly.