Choose your own adventure - excerpt

Zzzzzt click. The transistors in the television shut down and hummed to a silence as the screen turned black. The subject of attention around the room faded blankly into the rest of the furniture about the room.
Orrin returned the television remote to the chesterfield’s arm rest, face down, and he sighed. “Man, there’s nothing left on t.v. anymore, eh?”
Andrea smirked and disagreed.
“Don’t be an asshole, just turn it back on. Just ‘cause the cable’s out doesn’t mean we can’t watch my shows.”
“Yeah, but your shows are drivel. Seriously, I can’t stand any more of that reality shit,” returned Orrin. Facetiously he mocked a deep announcer’s voice. “Stay tuned for another bullshit reality series featuring Greg Kinnear, Craig Killborne, a fat Alicia Silverstone and a rubber duck in a series so lame it makes Stephen Hawking look like an Olympic gymnast.”
“Shut up!” laughed Andrea. “You’re awful.”
Orrin turned and started leafing through the daily paper. “Seriously, we should do something with our day instead of wasting it in front of the t.v. like this. At least the dip in the ratings might encourage the networks to develop some better programming. I can’t handle what’s on these days.”
Andrea wasn’t so quick to reject t.v. “Okay. So, what do you want to do then? What sort of adventure do you think you’re going to get into? At least the shows aren’t as boring as our every day lives, right? I mean, we just go to school, come home, drink a few beers and then wrestle with our homework. Like, we need some drama in our lives to make it interesting. If we don’t have that, then we’re going to go insane.”
“Alright,” interrupted Orrin. “We can go to this open house for the new bridge today,” he said matter-of- factly as he indicated an article in the paper. “Says right here that we can go and voice our opinions on the new road they’re going to be putting in. At least we can make an impact of some tangible kind instead of just sitting around.”
“Ooooh, very exciting. What do you care about the new road? Sounds stupid.”
“Ha, who cares? At least we’re doing something. We should go and just cause shit for everyone there. Protest up and down the place and make a scene.”
Andrea laughed, playing along. “Yeah, we could make the news. They’d quote us about fifty times as the only voice of dissent that showed up, and then they could call the police on us for being such a ruckus.”
“Yeah, and I could kick over a garbage can, or something,” laughed Orrin. “Ahhh, who cares? Those things are all bullshit anyhow. They set those things up to make the public feel like they’re involved in the consultation process, but they’re just going to follow the money. Who’s going to commit political suicide by listening to the public and building something that’s going to fail miserably? Forget I even brought it up.”
Andrea was liking the idea now. “No way! We should go. It’d be neat. I want to see the people who actually do show up and, like, try to make a difference. They make me laugh. The old farmers and the crotchety church ladies and their ugly dresses. Come on! Let’s go.” She got up from her seat and grabbed her car keys. She was really serious.
“I was just being a wind-fucker. I didn’t mean we should really go,” relented Orrin. Andrea snagged his arm and pulled him reluctantly to his feet. Orrin just moaned, “oaaaahhh.”

As Andrea skipped towards her car, rejuvenated with the aspirations of at least a mild adventure in her day, she was bright and playful, unlike the overcast clouds in the sky. She jingled the keys and tried to perk Orrin up a bit. He was dragging his feet, being a miserable asshole as usual. He never liked doing things that weren’t his idea to begin with. The damned thing was, this was his idea, and he was just being a dick about it.
“Come on!” pleaded Andrea.
“Let’s just get this over with,” he groaned. They hopped into Andreas dark Sunfire and started ‘er up. Orrin’s blood pressure climbed up a god-damned tree when she just pulled out of the driveway without looking behind her. She nearly hit the car parked across the road behind her, and would have required the Jaws of Life if there was a truck coming. She didn’t bother to check.
“Jesus Christ! You’ve got to check for traffic,” said Orrin. His heart started pounding up against his ribs and he just glared at Andrea, as she daftly shrugged. “Don’t be such a baby about it. We’re fine!” Then she trew the transmission into park and tried to pull away. Briefly embarrassed, she readjusted the car into drive and pulled away.
“Seriously, I can’t handle your driving,” said an exacerbated Orrin. “He looked out the window, trying not to worry about her checking her mirrors or blind spots. While she drove him nuts with her shortsighted lane changes and absent-minded maneuvering, Andrea hadn’t been in an accident before, and so he just tried to remain calm and let her do her thing. Orrin figured that he’d just distract her with any more lectures while he’s in the passenger seat.
If he could only afford his own car, he wouldn’t have to worry about this. Until then he was the reluctant passenger to her maniacal driving. He swore under his breath as she skimmed by cars parked along the side of the road. He was sure that she was going to knock a rearview mirror off a car one of these days.

Andrea and Orrin had to drive out to the next town over at a small weigh station on the highway. For some reason the municipality thought it was the most central place for everyone in the region to reach, plus there was plenty of parking. Orrin figured that it was simply because it was the most out of the way, regardless of how central.
“Ya know, if they just put this on a common route or something, perhaps more people would show up on their way home or something. Almost anywhere is better than way the hell out here. I mean, there’s nothing for miles. Just dumb farms and that smell of shit.”
“You’re so crass,” said Andrea. “Quit your complaining. This was your idea. At least it’s more interesting than television, right?” she quipped, obviously teasing him. Orrin just sighed loud enough to express dissent. He didn’t even know what he was dissenting against anymore. ‘He’s such a dick sometimes,’ thought Andrea.
“You’re such a baby. Like, why do you have to be so stubborn about everything? All the girls say they don’t have any of these problems with their boyfriends. Why can’t you just want to have some fun sometime…”
“Hey! You’d better turn here,” interrupted Orrin.
“What for?”
“Look, you’re almost out of gas. There’s a station a little ways up around the corner. You should just fill up before we get too much further.”

GO AND FILL UP – TURN TO PAGE: B2
KEEP ON DRIVING – TURN TO PAGE: A2