13 Comments

I love the dialogue here. I'm a sentimentalist, so on one side I get the one person who's horrified about the watch (in my mind it's a sister and brother and the guy's the one who needed rent, but I could be wrong. I hand on to *everything*. Even my childhood stuffed reindeer for heaven's sake. But... if you're in that situation where you need rent, well, that's more important isn't it?

1. Some, yes. A few over politics; some over just stuff. I'm slowly learning that the way to resolve arguments is usually to have explained and communicated things beforehand so the argument doesn't need to happen in the first place. (This wasn't the politics one).

2. There's a few I could think of, but probably one of my favorites comes from Agents of Shield. Long story short: major characters Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons are trapped in a containment pod while their evil selves are outside. I could be wrong, but I don't even think you have to be familiar with the plot elements they reference in order to appreciate it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQssbUu-HAw

3. Yep. Ice cream. I'm not fancy: strawberry or vanilla will do. Also a decent or even half-decent milkshake like from White Castle/McDonalds/etc.

Expand full comment

Excellent, can't wait to check out this video! Thanks as always Michael!

I had a different relationship in mind when I wrote this but I'm not going to tell you because I enjoy seeing how the same words create different worlds in readers minds!

Expand full comment

Is this the same watch from the other story about the heirloom they didnt want? Was that your take on that prompt?

Expand full comment

SE Reid wrote the heirloom story, not me! So not the same watch. I think it may have been in mind but the primary point of this prompt was the argument more than anything. The watch emerged organically.

Expand full comment

Man I would have sworn the watch was on a spaceship my memory is way off 😂😂😂

Expand full comment

Yep definitely not me, I even searched Gibberish for the word watch. It was SE Reid's story, Glossy!

Expand full comment

I’m a total sucker for Sorkin’s dialogue, so my mind jumped straight to The West Wing. He’s really top notch at writing those multilayered arguments.

Expand full comment

Good pull! I never watched west wing but i do know he made a meme of the fast paced walk-n-talk!

Expand full comment

Well if you enjoy excellent character work, the show gets an enthusiastic recommendation from me. At least the seasons which were actually written by Sorkin (if I recall correctly he went to other things for the final two seasons)

Expand full comment

While I understand rent was due… I don’t think I would ever get behind selling an heirloom like that. Did he have nothing else to sell? Maybe get another job? Maybe I’m being too harsh? I’m horrified!

I really like the back and forth dialogue here. It packs an emotional punch 🤜

Expand full comment

A little bit of context could go a long way to push this over one side or the other. I agree with you, it would be a REALLY HARD SELL! I hope the circumstances justify the decision!

Thanks, Maya!

Expand full comment

Stress= carbs. Usually in baked goods form

Expand full comment

The urgent and quotidian need, over sentimentality, was really well captured in the words and tone of such a short piece.

Each day, no doubt, millions of people make decisions like this.

Expand full comment