Aaron Got Drunk and Stole the Moon
By Joshua Young
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Joshua Young holds an MA in English from Western Washington University, and begins an MFA in Poetry at Columbia College Chicago in the fall of 2011. He is the author of When the Wolves Quit: A Play-in-Verse forthcoming from Gold Wake Press, and teaches English Composition. He lives near Seattle with his wife, son, and dog.
By Joshua Young
Aaron is a total asshole. He thought it’d be funny to snatch the moon out of the night, but now I’m walking back from the bars and I’m tripping over everything, because the streetlights that never work aren’t working, and there’s no moon to keep things lit.
He told me he was gonna do it, said, I’m totally gonna steal the moon. All I gotta do is get my drink on and reach up there and boom!
I can see his place from where I’ve fallen over, and though it looks like every light in his house is off, and the blinds are drawn, there are spikes of moonlight prying themselves out of every crease of his room’s window. I get up and start running towards his house.
At his door, I knock and knock, but he doesn’t answer. I can hear him in there singing, “Tonight, tonight” out of key. I picture him stalking around his house, drunk, in his underwear, pretending to play drums, probably caressing the moon he probably laid on his bed.
I climb up on his roof and start knocking on his window. I’m there for what feels like five seconds, but is really more like 40 minutes, or that’s what the cops say. They’ve got tasers drawn and they’re inching towards me, ordering me to get on my knees and put my hands on my head. But I keep trying to tell them about what a huge asshole Aaron is, but I think I’m rambling and I think I get too close, because the fat cop with the red beard shoots his taser and starts shocking me. I black out, or something, because someone gutted minutes out of my memory, and I’m face down in the grass.
What happened? I ask, slurring.
You fell off the roof, the skinny cop says.
You tased me like a total dick!
You wouldn’t comply, he says, then starts reading me my rights. As he does I’m looking up at Aaron’s room, and he’s up there looking down at me, fully dressed, and there’s no more light spiking out of his room, but his right pocket glows.
He has the moon in his pocket! I yell into the fat cop’s ear as he lifts me from the ground.
The cops just yeah-yeah at me and lead me towards the cruiser.
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Joshua Young holds an MA in English from Western Washington University, and begins an MFA in Poetry at Columbia College Chicago in the fall of 2011. He is the author of When the Wolves Quit: A Play-in-Verse forthcoming from Gold Wake Press, and teaches English Composition. He lives near Seattle with his wife, son, and dog.
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I read this website almost every day and I have to say that this is by far one of (if not THE) best and most original story I've seen this year. Such a great talent!
Very Captivating, where else can I find work from this guy, his words catch me
Quirky!
Great writing, I loved it.