BLAKE LAWRENCE
Sydney / Artist, Performer & Manufacturer
Self isolating, but have to go to work twice a week in a warehouse with a small team.
I’m walking home from work and I pass under a bridge. A man is placing Cheetos in a line up the path. On the stairs he places single cheese balls on each individual step. When I pass him he gives me a wry smile. I feel unnerved because it looks like he’s trying to lure something or someone off the path.
It’s raining and I’m walking home again. The man is in the same spot, lining up Cheetos. A teenage boy is standing nearby, and I can hear them talking, but they stop as I pass, and avoid eye contact. I say something under my breath but I don’t understand my own voice.
I’m walking again, from where I don’t know, and the neighbourhood is unfamiliar. Still I know I’m headed home. it’s raining again. The man is in the same spot, there are no Cheetos, and he looks right into my eyes. I say something as I pass, but don’t understand the words. The look on his face makes me think that he knows me..
I’m walking home. It’s raining. It’s a different day, and I feel that I am further past the bridge, in suburbia. A man stands on the road in the middle of an intersection. There is no traffic and no one else around. He looks drunk, and I feel that he has bad intentions. I pick a fight with him. I act tough, hoping to scare him away. I say something I can’t understand, and his face looks confused and upset.
Two teenage boys approach us, and I encourage them to join me in pushing the man around. They do. We laugh. We are saying things I can’t understand now, though I’m certain we have become the aggressors.
I am walking home, it’s raining. I approach two boys fighting in the street. One puts the other in a headlock and looks up at me. “You need to shoot this cunt”.
I fumble with the gun in my hand, I aim at the sky and pull the trigger, it doesn’t fire. I pull back the slide and hear it click, I fire a shot into the clouds. I pull back the slide again and chamber another round. I point it at the boys head and fire. A blank.
The boy stands up, and is wrestling free of the other. I pull back the slide and hear a round hit the chamber again. I shout something I don’t understand.
I shoot the boy in the neck.
(21/3/2020)
It’s raining and I’m walking home again. The man is in the same spot, lining up Cheetos. A teenage boy is standing nearby, and I can hear them talking, but they stop as I pass, and avoid eye contact. I say something under my breath but I don’t understand my own voice.
I’m walking again, from where I don’t know, and the neighbourhood is unfamiliar. Still I know I’m headed home. it’s raining again. The man is in the same spot, there are no Cheetos, and he looks right into my eyes. I say something as I pass, but don’t understand the words. The look on his face makes me think that he knows me..
I’m walking home. It’s raining. It’s a different day, and I feel that I am further past the bridge, in suburbia. A man stands on the road in the middle of an intersection. There is no traffic and no one else around. He looks drunk, and I feel that he has bad intentions. I pick a fight with him. I act tough, hoping to scare him away. I say something I can’t understand, and his face looks confused and upset.
Two teenage boys approach us, and I encourage them to join me in pushing the man around. They do. We laugh. We are saying things I can’t understand now, though I’m certain we have become the aggressors.
I am walking home, it’s raining. I approach two boys fighting in the street. One puts the other in a headlock and looks up at me. “You need to shoot this cunt”.
I fumble with the gun in my hand, I aim at the sky and pull the trigger, it doesn’t fire. I pull back the slide and hear it click, I fire a shot into the clouds. I pull back the slide again and chamber another round. I point it at the boys head and fire. A blank.
The boy stands up, and is wrestling free of the other. I pull back the slide and hear a round hit the chamber again. I shout something I don’t understand.
I shoot the boy in the neck.
(21/3/2020)