Merry Throne

2. Be a brutal man!

Marty spends the afternoon at an old-fashioned records store. This is his favorite place in town. If there's anything closet to time-travelling to Marty, it would be this place. From the Beatles to Seafret, one could instantly connect to a soul here.

He exits the records store and gets on the main street. There's a bunch of shops here: boutiques, salon, and a pharmacy. Marty stops in front of the pharmacy. He looks through the window and sees a number of customers. He decides not to enter.

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If you want to know what's inside a person's mind, check out his bedroom. Marty's dorm is equipped with the essentials of a musician: guitar, ukulele, keyboards, some CDs and merchandise. It's messy in the way that you don't know which artist his likes most, but one thing for sure is music is his life. He spends the night in the usual way. Soft music leaks from his headphone. 

The clock says it's 3:16 a.m. Shouldn't he be tired by now?

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That night he only had three hours of sleep. "Some people don't need so much sleep," he says to himself. It may be true, or it's just what he's been convincing himself to believe.

He queues up at the school canteen. The bizarre and unpleasant food doesn't help with his tiredness. 

Marty points at a pasta-and-meat mixture, "What's that?"

The caterer gives him a blank expression and spoons the mixture to his tray right away. Marty, annoyed, grabs a bun and pours himself a bowl of soup.

The place is pretty crowded. It's only after a while that Marty spots a free seat.

"Anyone here?"

"No."

Marty puts down his tray. The girl in the opposite seat notices his pasta-and-meat mixture.

"What's that?"

"I asked that lady the same question, she didn't tell me," says Marty.

"Can I take a picture of it?"

"Hm?"

"Odd request, but yea."

"OK," Marty giggles.

The girl takes out her phone and takes several snaps. She's pretty serious about this.

"What is it about?" asks Marty.

"It's about the terrible food at school (and why they always get to stay?)"

"Like a blog post?"

"An article."

Marty takes a bite of his food. It tastes funny too. He's laughing a lot today.

"So it's a term paper for sociology or journalism ?"

"It's for the school magazine. But yea I'm doing journalism." The girl continues, "What you're studying?"

"Make a guess."

Marty radiates an aura of mystery. He's shy but easy-going. One thing for sure, he looks pretty artsy.

"Film studies?"

"Philosophy."

"Wow, are you more of a thinking or reading person?"

"Hmm?"

"Einstein? 'Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.'"

"In school it's neither." Marty isn't the kind who talks to a stranger about his passion. Today's an exception. "If music counts, I do a lot of listening and thinking."