Beautiful World

By Mere Practice

Society is polite, people are honest, and life is good. But outside the fence that encircles the town, the wilderness runs free. Some chose to live in the fence, while others choose to live outside. When one lifelong “insider” encounters a group of outsiders, he finds himself considering if there’s more to happiness than a lack of problems.

This slow burn character study follows mostly around one person, but takes short “vacations” to the points of view of various people around and outside of town on their own journeys of enlightenment.

There is no enemy or villain. There is no great evil facing down the main hero. Nor is there even a main hero.

The impetus behind writing this story was the hundreds of times I was told, “It’s impossible to write a story without conflict.” So, as an experiment, I tried to. In place of conflict, I put questions. In place of answers, I put scenarios. And in place of a story description, I put this.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mere Practice
• Release date: Aug 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005095802

Mere Practice

I've found that the preachings of philosophers are heard only by philosophers. But a good story can be heard by anyoneBecause of this, I try to put my beliefs into my work, and hope it gets out there to someone. I've been writing for many years, and have recently decided to act on this hope with more seriousness.That being said, I am a strong proponent of the idea that all art should come out of a vacuum, so I'm hesitant to say anything at all about myself.What I will say, is that my main fascination is with how people come to believe what they believe. With the goal being to understand this, I have traveled around and learned what I could on the way.

Book preview

Foreword

Greetings and welcome to my book. It’s not a very long story, but I put a great amount of thought into it. Normally, these forewords are to tell you more information about the story, but I’d rather you go into it knowing nothing. Or it’s to tell you about what was going on with me while I wrote it, but this took place over such a long period of time, that to accurately discuss that would require an entire book unto itself, multiple volumes, in fact.

The third option is to tell a bit about me, myself. But who am I, you know… I think I’m smart. Until I meet an actual smart person, that is. And I think I’m interesting. Until I meet an actual interesting person, that is. So if I’m not smart and I’m not interesting, then what’s to tell? I will say that people tell me I’m smart. And people tell me I’m interesting. But those people are full of shit. Most people are, in fact. I’ve spent so much of my life just trying to find interesting people. But falling through a sea of egos and pride has cause me to drown on many an occasion. Fortunately, it’s only a metaphorical death. My body persists against all odds. My emotions, not so much. They were struck hard by waves of metaphors upon metaphors.

I like to think my morals are good, but how useful is that? I guess I don’t have much to say. Maybe that’s why this story is so short. A better person would have a bigger book.

But regardless, I thank you for taking the time to read it.

Thanks.

Need a Hand?

The movie theater is quiet as the people shuffle towards their seats. The crowd slowly forms as more and more enter, spreading out into the aisles. The large screen waits blank, a billowing sheet of white, held taught, sits silently before them.

With the theater nearly full, the radiant body heat clicks on the air conditioner. The dry hum drones quietly as one of the patrons feels something sticky under their foot and looks down to see a drying puddle of soda. They raise their head and peer around the theater.

Um, excuse me. Does anyone have some sort of cleaning product with them?

Every head turns to face him. After a moment of silence, one voice speaks up, followed by another.

I have hand sanitizer.

I think I have some rub on spot remover.

No, no. That won't do. I need to clean the floor. It's all sticky.

Someone from the far end of the theater shouts out towards him.

I think I may have something.

They reach into a small bag and rummage around. Flicking small objects aside, they come out with a spray bottle.

It'll most definitely clean whatever it is, but you still need something to wipe it up with.

Travis looks to the rest of the audience.

Does anyone have something for that?

Everyone looks around at each other, some shrug, some just look around helplessly. However, near the front, two people stand up simultaneously:

I'll fetch one in a minute. I can be right back with a rag for you.

They both stop and look at each other.

You wanna just go together?

Okay.

They shimmy their way through to the center aisle while the spray