The banquet is not yet dismissed (#'s 11-13)

11) Business as usual. Their prior convictions meant nothing anymore. Those in the business know how it is. He woke up, ate a muffin, and smelled his right shoe. It didn't smell appealing. He made his list, as usual, and drank black coffee. The window to the south was cracked and the sun bled through the covering blinds. He whistled, as usual, Gloria, by Branigan. He checked his worn pants for further damage and noticed that it was time. A half hour had passed. His hands were chalky and tired. He went outside and, for the 612th day straight, he maintained his corpse pile. He earned money at the end of the day and was content nonetheless.

12) An old dimly-lit industrial area. The ground was dry, only slightly dampened by old poisons. Local scenery was only called as such because it existed. It was a poorly planned ant-farm of sorts. The plans were good-natured, but the outcome was depressing. The people exhibited this. The sun was red here, the vegetation hearty. It was a sign, but was read improperly. Many people left that year, and were placed in neat areas near the heavy metals filtration pond. Their remains later fertilized a large area and many other plants grew. An old man survived in the area for years and took note. He planted tomatoes there and ate them cold on various sandwiches.

13) Grandma was a horrific old woman, but he had no where else to live. Mostly his day consisted of a walk to the local store and the purchase of a sugared beverage and a caramel apple for grandma. There was a constant threat of denture damage. He'd sit in his room for hours, all alone, left to think about nothing, which he excelled at. Sometimes he listened to an America tape his dad gave him. He grew his hair out one summer and imagined that it might be possible to reach the other side of the city on foot. After all, he'd never really been that far away. His neighbor, Craig, once took the time to condition him to leave the area. Craig, in his slick business suit (he sold insurance plans to the non-dimensional), always threw out good ideas to send him off in the hopes he might never return. He was a real asshole. One morning he bought the soda and just kept walking. He imagined grandma at home watching the Price is Right in a grandma rage. It made his neck tingle. He ended up at the beach and never found his way home. He lived down there and eventually took a bus to San Jose where he lived in a bungalow with Steve Martin.