Contemporary story
On

My Friend Luke

I have a friend who must be the sweetest, shyest person in the world. His name is brittle and ancient (Luke), his age modestly intermediate (forty). He is rather short and skinny, has a thin moustache and even thinner hair on his head. Since his vision is not perfect, he wears glasses: they are small, round and frame-less.

In order not to inconvenience anyone, he always walks sideways. Instead of saying 'Excuse me', he prefers to glide by one side. If the gap is so narrow that it will not allow him to pass, Luke waits patiently until the obstruction -- be it animate or inanimate, rational or irrational -- moves by itself. Stray dogs and cats panic him, and in order to avoid them he constantly crosses from one side to of the road to another.

He speaks with a very thin, subtle voice, so inaudible that it is hard to tell if he is speaking at all. He has never interrupted anybody. On the other hand, he can never manage more than two words without somebody interrupting him. This does not seem to irritate him; in fact, he actually appears happy to have been able to utter those two words.

My friend Luke has been married for years. His wife is a thin, choleric, nervous woman who, as well as having an unbearably shrill voice, strong lungs, a finely drawn nose and a viperous tongue suffers from an uncontrollable temper and the personality of a lion tamer. Luke -- you have to wonder how -- has succeeded in producing a child named (by his mother) Juan Manuel. He is tall, blond, intelligent, distrustful, sarcastic and has a fringe. It is not entirely true that he only obeys his mother. However, the two of them have always agreed that Luke has little to offer the world and therefore choose to ignore his scarce and rarely expressed opinions.

Luke is the oldest and the least important employee of a dismal company that imports cloth. It operates out of a very dark building with black-stained wooden floors situated in Alsina street. The owner -- I know him personally -- is called don Aqueróntido -- I don't know whether that is his first name or his surname -- and he has a ferocious moustache, is bald and has a thunderous voice. He is also violent and greedy. My friend Luke goes to work dressed all in black, wearing a very old suit that shines from age. He only owns one shirt -- the one he wore for the first time on the day of his marriage -- and it has an anachronistic plastic collar. He also only owns one tie, so frayed and greasy that it looks more like a shoelace. Unable to bear the disapproving looks of don Aqueróntido, Luke, unlike his colleagues, does not dare work without his jacket on and in order to keep this jacket in good condition he wears a pair of grey sleeve-protectors. His salary is ludicrously low, but he still stays behind in the office every day and works for another three or four hours: the tasks don Aqueróntido gives him are so huge that he has no chance of accomplishing them within normal hours. Now, just after the don Aqueróntido cut his salary yet again, his wife has decided that Juan Manuel must not do his secondary studies in a state school. She has chosen to put his name down for a very costly institution in the Belgrano area. In view of the extortionate outlay this involves, Luke has stopped buying his newspaper and (an even greater sacrifice) The Reader's Digest, his two favourite publications. The last article he managed to read in the Reader's Digest explained how husbands should repress their own overwhelming personality in order to make room for the actualisation of the rest of the family group.

*

There is, however, one remarkable aspect to Luke: his behaviour as soon as he steps on a bus. Generally, this is what happens:

He requests a ticket and begins to look for his money, slowly. He holds up one hand to ensure that the driver keeps waiting, unsure of what to do. Luke does not hurry. In fact, I would say that the driver's impatience gives him a certain amount of pleasure. Then he pays with the largest possible number of small coins, which he delivers a few at the time, in varying amounts and at irregular intervals. For some reason, this disturbs the driver, who, apart from having to pay attention to other cars, the traffic lights, other passengers getting on or off, and having to drive the bus itself, is forced to perform complicated arithmetic. Luke aggravates the problem by including in his payment an old Paraguayan coin that he keeps for the purpose and which is invariably returned to him. This way, mistakes are usually made in the accounts and an argument ensues. Then, in a serene but firm manner, Luke begins to defend his rights, employing arguments so contradictory that it is impossible to understand what point he is actually trying to make. Finally, the driver, at the end of the last tether of his sanity and in an act of final resignation, chooses to throw out the coins -- perhaps as a means of repressing his wish to throw out Luke or, indeed, himself.

When winter comes, Luke always travels with the windows wide open. The first to suffer as a result of this is Luke himself: he has developed a chronic cough that often forces him to stay awake entire nights. During the summer, he closes his window and will not allow anyone to lower the shade that would protect him from the sun. More than once he has ended up with first-degree burns.

Because of his weak lungs, Luke is not allowed to smoke and, in fact, he hates smoking. In spite of this, once inside the bus he cannot resist the temptation to light up a cheap, heavy cigar that clogs up his windpipe and makes him cough. After he gets off, he puts away his cigar in preparation for his next journey.

Luke is a tiny, sedentary, squalid person and has never been interested in sports. But come Saturday evening, he switches on his portable radio and turns the volume up full in order to follow the boxing match. Sundays he dedicates to football and tortures the rest of the passengers with the noisy broadcasts.

The back seat is for five passengers. In spite of his very small size, Luke sits so as to allow room for only four or even three people on the seat. If four are already seated and Luke is standing up, he demands permission, in an indignant and reproachful tone, to sit down -- which he then does, managing to take up an excessive amount of space. To this end, he puts his hands in his pockets so that his elbows will remain firmly embedded in his neighbours' ribs.

←2

Luke's resources are plentiful and diverse.

When he has to travel standing up, he always keeps his jacket unbuttoned, carefully adjusting his posture so that the lower edge of his jacket hits the face or the eyes of those sitting down.

If anyone is reading, they are easy prey for Luke. Watching him or her closely, Luke places his head near the light so as to throw a shadow on the victim's book. Every now and then he withdraws his head as if by chance. The reader will anxiously devour one or two words before Luke moves back into position.

My friend Luke knows the times when the bus will be fully packed. On those occasions, he consumes a salami sandwich and a glass of red wine. Then, with breadcrumbs and threads of salami still between his teeth and pointing his mouth towards the other passenger's noses, he walks along the vehicle shouting loudly, 'Excuse me'.

If he manages to take the front seat, he never gives it up to anyone. But should he find himself in one of the last rows, the moment he sees a woman with a child in her arms or a weak, elderly person climb on board he immediately stands up and calls very loudly to the front passenger to offer them his seat. Later he usually makes some recriminatory remark against those that kept their seats. His eloquence is always effective, and some mortally ashamed passenger gets off at the next stop. Instantly, Luke takes his place.

*

My friend Luke gets off the bus in a very good mood. Timidly, he walks home, staying out of the way of anyone he meets. He is not allowed a key, so he has to ring the bell. If anyone is home, they rarely refuse to open the door to him. But if neither his wife, his son nor don Aqueróntido are to be found, Luke sits on the doorstep until someone arrives.

Options

Introducing your ereader mobile app!

Manybooks

Get The Best Reading Experience

App linkApp link

Rate this story:

Average: 3 (3 votes)

Comments

Submitted by admin on Wed, 08/25/2004 - 16:27

Permalink

seems more like a character description from the first draft of a novel that would be far more annoying to read than the intention of the author to make this character. I dont understand others applauding an amateurish writing style.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 09/12/2004 - 01:54

Permalink

Im a HS student and my eng teacher(a head marker in HSC)believes sometimes the best stories are those that do not have a plot, yet are very descriptive. Well done! this is an excellent piece, despite some comments by a few ignorant individuals.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 09/12/2004 - 20:04

Permalink

I myself love short stories, and have written quite a few. This one, though, is, I belive, something similar to what I would write if I could. The complexities of the human mind are so vast that even the simplest things such as "Riding a bus" or "waiting on the curb for your friends to arrive" can tell a whole story in a short glimpse. The fact that luke is so humble in himself makes him interesting alone. He is rare of a person to see, and would be called a freak in our world today. I know that if I saw someone like this that I would think he was, but then, unlike many others, I would think differently and try to understand, if we came into contact, why he does what he does. It would just be interesting to know. Wouldnt you like to know why? Someone thats like that isnt humble for no reason. When I finished the story, I thought of a little man, non-framed glasses, (etc of description), sitting on a stoop, in the cold, arms crosed and shivering, not caring about anything except when his wife, son, and arab would get home. This to me seems to be a person of overwhelming carelessness of the world. Newayz, good stroy lol.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 09/12/2004 - 20:05

Permalink

Good story.

Submitted by admin on Thu, 09/23/2004 - 02:25

Permalink

I loved this story. Fernando uses such imagery. I seek out Sorrentino stories. The one criticism I have of this one is that I think Lukes defintion of societal rebellion be a little more subtle on the bus. Having said my piece however, I want more Fernando. He is very gifted.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 10/01/2004 - 15:09

Permalink

What is interesting about Luke is his repressed passive aggressive personality. Serretnino uses the bus, the bus driver and the unfortunate passengers riding it as the only place Luke is free enough and safe enough to express his deep anger and frustration at being/feeling powerless and invisible. His antics on the bus are amusing yet sad in a "Waiting for Godot" fashion. I didnt find the story pointless but I too wondered why the arab had a key to his home and he didnt. I also wondered about the author (who we know nothing about) and his relationship with Luke. How did he and Luke meet? Luke is so invisible it seems he is incapable of being anyones friend.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 10/04/2004 - 21:06

Permalink

I loved it. It probably was the best one I read this month. Made my brain think, really gets you going after a long day. I think it beats TV, and that it is alot coming from a couch potato from me. I starting to think some of these stories are becoming alive!

Submitted by admin on Wed, 10/20/2004 - 11:39

Permalink

Its the oft repeated, biggest-of-all-stories, "Whats it all about?". We all know Lukes; we all do our own version of Luke. Tiddlers in big ponds, Jobsworths in every walk of life, Stephen Kings Dolores Claibourne: "Sometimes, all a woman has left is being a bitch". We understand Luke. We know, without Sorrentino typing the word, that the salami is THICK with garlic. Sad.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 10/22/2004 - 08:11

Permalink

I found this story very true to life. Luke is bullied by nearly everyone except when he is king and an unknown on the bus. It is rather like a bullying boss at work, nearly in every case hell have a dominating wife and be henpecked at home. Yes, there are millions of Lukes

Submitted by admin on Fri, 10/29/2004 - 01:25

Permalink

its nice in some kind of way...but maybe because of my youth somehow my perception of what this story really means is somehow chaotic and confusing...i get tidbits out of this...but none of others...but no doubt that it is well written...maybe because it has no definite description...its what probably makes this story interesting and thought provoking...would you agree?

Submitted by admin on Fri, 11/05/2004 - 07:30

Permalink

I thought the story was funny - but pretentious. Theres an amount of laziness to absurdist writing; you always wonder if stories like this have no plot intentionallly or because the author couldnt be bothered. ("Thats not the point!" fans of Sorrentino was cry. Fair enough.) It was funny... but the start was perhaps a bit slow, and the ending a bit of a throwaway. Why is he not allowed a key? (Though it lends credibility to the empowerment of the bus ride.) Interesting though.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 11/12/2004 - 02:58

Permalink

I like black humor writers and I love Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. novels, too. I like this story because it is amusing in the surface and it also makes me think about how some people compensates about their own deprivations.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 11/22/2004 - 16:38

Permalink

Im suprised that no one has yet commented on what I found to be my key "?!" moment...who is the Arab in relation to Luke, other than his employer? Why would he be able to help him get into his house?

Submitted by admin on Fri, 12/17/2004 - 04:36

Permalink

This story puzzles me. At the beginning and at the end of the story, we are made to believe that Luke is a timid type, not eager to thrust himself foward or inconvenience others. But right after that, there he is making a nuisance of himself on the bus and being a general pain in backside. Contradictory? DEFINITELY! Where was the writer taking us with this?

Submitted by admin on Thu, 01/06/2005 - 22:06

Permalink

I would like it if Sorrentino provided some hints of why Luke is the way he is. how is it that his son is more controlling than himself? how did he end up marrying this loud, shrieking woman if he is so timid. not only would this add depth to the story but it wouldnt leave the reader so confused as to what he is trying to portray.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 01/11/2005 - 22:56

Permalink

Juan Manuel is Arabs son. So he naturally hates Luke. Manuel will go to the fancy school because Arab pays for it. I like Luke and understand that he has a good side and a evil side. He only works overtime because it is better than being home. He will even take less pay to keep his job. He knows his family is well cared for. osray

Submitted by admin on Fri, 03/04/2005 - 01:13

Permalink

This story is scary accurate. Luke is a sponge; he married a lion tamer. Its one of those relationships that you hear about but never see, hes treated like a child by his wife and son because he has no personality and no way to stick up for himself; hes a sponge that goes to work and back every day. The last paragraph said alot more about him. The arab obviously has keys to his house, its easy to conclude that its an affair, and yes Luke knows about it and does nothing because he knows hes a child. The reason I said this is scary accurate is because I know someone with these traits. Sorrentino put into words what I always think. Though Ive never seen him in a crowded bus, he always says "who cares, Ill never see these people again". Funny? Sounds more ghoulish to me.

Submitted by admin on Tue, 03/08/2005 - 08:01

Permalink

This story drew me in at the begining and I looked forward to seeing how this little man survived in life, but as I read on I felt that the author didnt really understand such a character and the tale became absurd. I suppose this was meant to be? I feel a bit cheated.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 04/11/2005 - 10:42

Permalink

Nice story indeed, it leaves enough to twit the mind to fill in those questions. Luke may be a comfortable excuse hired as well to hide the wife being a mistress of the Arab. Or it may have been later on that an arrangement with the Arab was made to shag his wife to be able to pay for his sons studies. A twist at the end to tease your mind to work. -- DPL Baguio, RP

Submitted by admin on Wed, 04/13/2005 - 11:43

Permalink

This is an interesting character in need of a story. I have to wonder about the dedication of a wtier who goes to such trouble to outline the characteristics of a protagonist and then cant be bothered to write a story. Some people may argue that the bus scene is actually a strory, but it is apparently habitual behavior that is meant to illuminate the character. If you were to right a few paragraphs describing the dinner of a man who always has the same thing, say, raw steak, every single day, this would also not a story make, however stange a habit it is.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 04/15/2005 - 18:28

Permalink

I actually felt quite sad at the end of this story. The tale of a man who receives no respect from those who should respect him and so he resorts to antagonising strangers. His power only lasts for a short while on a bus journey but when he returns to what should be his haven, no one is home. How sad!

Submitted by admin on Sat, 04/23/2005 - 03:06

Permalink

he ate the sandwich because it gave him bad breath, and everyone on the bus would have smelt it as he ran shouting "EXCUSE ME!" - thats why he ate the sandwich. this was an interesting story, and i can see everyones point of veiw. it was pointless, but engrossing. it was meaningful, but delibarate. and i think thats what makes a short story. something you can a feeling for what happened before hand, and you are left thinking about what will happen after.

Submitted by admin on Wed, 06/29/2005 - 21:59

Permalink

Does the Arab live near Luke?I didnt get that part.The story does have a point I think.It illustrates how Luke concedes to his wifey his son and the Arab and then takes his life out on everyone else.It would seem he is a very bitter man.Mabye this is why they inckude the arab at the end saying that the door can only be opened by those who he doesnt for on ereason or the other treat horribly

Submitted by admin on Fri, 07/01/2005 - 15:20

Permalink

This guy is Walter Mitty! The ending seems slightly pointless but nevertheless characteristic. After all, you never really know someone until you cram them onto a crowded bus.

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.