The Greatest Generation

some stuff from the new book I'm working on

"I'm not sure why I targeted him or how the notion manifested itself in my head. Maybe I was a little lonely, maybe I was looking for an answer to a question yet asked. My head hurt all the time back then. It hurt all the time. I could only hold a job for at least a week or two before it became too much of an accidental choice. The only consolution was the nightly news where I saw his smug face reading off of the teleprompter as if he had come up with it all on his own. I always emptied my wallet onto the table in front of me when I watched the t.v. My driver's license, my social security card and the change I managed to scrounge up by searching the line of payphones outside the store where I bought my clothes at when I had enough money to be a paying customer. The night that I snapped was like any other. I felt it was my purpose to kill, maim or wound the one whose voice tortured and taunted me. His name was Dan Rather. He was a fellow that I only knew from the news. I didn't like him. I didn't like him. I wanted to silence him so at least I could get some sleep..."---from The Greatest Generation by Dan Pretzer

"I felt the cold hollow horror when I finally was able to meet the man that I despised the most. His suit was expensive and so was his time. I lurked around outside his office chain smoking cigarettes and tossing them at every passing motorist in the hopes that their engines would explode. The first time I saw him in person I wasn't frightened, I felt nothing but serenity and peace for the first time that I can remember but still I wanted to punish him for his sins but I had no cross to nail him to and come to think of it I had neither the nails nor the tools make this dream of mine come true."---from The Greatest Generation by Dan Pretzer 

"You know whenever I'm asked about what I did now I usually try to come up with another excuse from the time previously and I seldom get my story straight. I tell them that I hit him across the back with a piece of wood that was no thicker than my thumb. It's always so cold in there that I wish that I was browbeat into confessing while sitting directly under the air vent, no such luck."---from The Greatest Generation by Dan Pretzer