comedy

My hand instinctively grabs the remote and navigates to the next episode of “Doctor Magician, MD.” I pour myself a bowl of cereal, a late breakfast, as the credits play. Cliché items used in magic tricks are interspersed with medical tools and surgical equipment.

I had been sitting on my couch for the last half a day, a blank sketchbook taunting me the entire time. Outside the window, the sun had set, reminding me of all the time I’ve wasted getting nothing done. Not one idea has come to me. I’ve got nothing. I’m a fraud. I’m a failure. I bet this never happens to real artists.

As I walk to the counter to pay, I curse an effigy of Kara in my mind. Maybe she’ll get a nice big zit just asymmetrical enough she can’t ignore it. Haha! Take that, Mental Kara! The guy at the counter beamed as I approached. Is he taunting me? Could he be psychotic? What if he’s just pleasant?

We pull into the mall and park. Kara leads me to some of her favorite department stores. As we walk around the shopping center, I can’t help but think about…

“No! Absolutely not!” I’m jolted from my slight doze by the yelling from my roommate, my mind only now registering I’m in my computer chair and not my bed. Kara…