The Face That Stacked Five Rocks

Don't forget: ABCotD is still in road trip mode! We'll be back to our regular posting schedule in late June/early July. Thanks for reading!

Story Sent in by Kerri:

Nolan and I walked through a park in the late afternoon sun on our first date. There were several rocky deposits off the path, and we stopped a couple of times to pick some up, inspect them with our rudimentary geologic knowledge, and then put them back down to continue on. Nolan collected a few in his pockets.

He was a quiet guy, but thoughtful and kind, as he asked me more than once if I wanted anything to drink or eat. I opted, however, to wait for dinner.

When the sun set, I suggested that we leave for supper. He had other ideas. He took the rocks out from his pocket, placed them upon the ground next to each other, and tried to stack them, one on top of the other. He had a fair amount, at least a dozen and a half, mostly pebble-sized.

I asked him, "What are you doing?"

He gingerly placed one stone on top of another and said, "Making a tower in your honor."

It was unexpected, but I appreciated the thought and let him work at it for a minute or two.

When it became clear that he couldn't balance more than five on top of each other without having the entire thing fall down, I said, "I appreciate the gesture. Maybe you can keep working on it later?"

He shook his head and tried building the tower using a different configuration of stones. He also became increasingly agitated. His grunts turned to groans, which turned to "Damn it!" "Shit!" "Fuck!"

I was hungry, and he had been ignoring me to build a tower in my honor for close to 15 minutes. I finally said, "Maybe I could just meet you at the restaurant?"

Without looking up, he said, "Then you won't see the tower when it's done."

I said, "I could come back after dinner to look at it."

He said, "Some fucktard will come by and kick it over. Stay."

"I'm getting hungry. Maybe—"

"Stay!" he screamed, then smashed the precarious tower of pebbles over and threw the rest into the nearby trees.

I backed away. He turned to me with a trembling head and quivering lips. "Look what you made me do! It was supposed to be in your honor!"

I backed away some more, and some sort of sanity must have regained control in his mind, because he calmed down in a matter of seconds, closed his eyes, and asked, with a smile, "Ready for dinner?"

"No. I'm going to go." I took off there and then, and that was the last I saw of him.