His Room as He Left It

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Drew's diary, and other written parts

These are links to written parts of the project. Each PDF is my "sketch" for the sculpture it will eventually be: hand-drawn letters on cut or cut, lined, and bound paper.

CW: some swear words, some mentions of sexual acts

Drew’s Diary (working draft)
Brian’s Movie Project

Alexandra’s first note to Drew
Alexandra’s last note to Drew
Drew’s game of Perfect Corpse with Alexandra

Notes from Henry
Note from Joanna
Note from Tammy
Note from Brian
Note from Alma
Card from Alma
Note from Gina Patott

Articles in the Sparkleton Crier
Publisher’s note
Arrival of Alexandra Tropine
Ball Rolls Out
Yo-yo Found in Woods
Interview with Cass Roder
Songbird Supper with Ads (working draft)
Fallen Tree Temporarily Hinders Bus
Dog Dead on Shoulder
Erasers Arrive in Error
Wooly’s on Fire for Several Minutes

Beam (a nearby town in the real world, where the Sparkleton kids went to high school and where the nearest library is)
Articles in the Beam Brawl
Drew’s Beam Library application
Response from Beam Library
Drew’s high school history report
Letter from Mr. Makebeet

References and credits

(There are some notes-to-self within. Red highlighted reminds me about consistency & to create corresponding sculpture pieces, blue highlighted are quotes that will be credited)

Excerpt from Drew's Diary

My birthday is coming up and Henry thinks we should have a girl jump out of a cake. I always liked that idea until I realized how hard it must be for the girl. I said this to Henry and I think he is probably still laughing. I said, "How do they survive the heat?" and he said "How does who survive the heat?" and I said "The girls in the cakes" and at first he said "They're insulated" in a way that was very serious and made me think it was OK after all to have a girl in a cake. But he kept staring at me so I just started back up with the baseline I was practicing (for MAIL ORDER MOTOR OIL) and tried to concentrate on that. But right at the hard part where it goes Baun bau baun baun Henry made an explosion of laughing and yelling and pushed me over on the bed and the neck of my base hit my real neck and it hurt, which he was sorry. But then he went on about how I thought it was a real girl inside a real cake inside a real oven when really it was just one of those things. How could I have known?

Note from Tammy and card from Alma

Tammy is Drew's friend who is in the Demo derby. Alma runs the rooming house. Pencil, colored pencil, and ink on cut paper

Article from the Sparkleton Crier

Lunchtime Listen: Yo-yo Found in Woods
Everyone knows the yo-yo was a popular hunting instrument way back when. For small birds, you really couldn't beat the old out-and-back. This leaves you with your tool rather than rooting around for pebbles after the kill. However, working with a yo-yo can invite trouble. Ryan Camp recalls the time he wrapped his around a tree... with a paper nest in it! Ryan shared his story from the next booth over. "As you know, a paper nest is all chewed-up leaves. They put their slobber on a leaf and chew it up and then they build a house with it." "A house full of stingers!" piped Warren Flavey. "That's right!" said Ryan, revealing his chapped elbow, which still holds several scars. This week, our boys Henry Bline and Brian Muntis stumbled upon an old yo-yo off Noname Rd. We had word from them at Wooly's Dinor, where they were each enjoying a serving of meatloaf and milk. "Gus, 'stumble' is the right word" said Brian when this reporter asked. "Ha! I still have string around my ankle. Thing put me face down in moss!" added Henry Bline. At least it was moss. The yo-yo had engraved in it a name, and we can only guess it belonged to Edith Roder, who reared our own Cass Roder, who in her time was a celebrated yo-yoer. Brian offered, "Let's give it to Drew. He's visiting this afternoon. He'll find out for sure." Whether Drew Fank will speak audibly when he tells us is another question...
In closing Henry insists on including this quip: "Okay, so, guess what I have around my ankle, guess what I have... a frayed knot! Get it? Afraid not!" 

Drew's friend Brian is applying to Movie School far away with a script about Sparkleton. Beam is like any real world town and the Bundt County Bus Service runs between the two.

Excerpt from Brian’s Movie Project

SCENE 2
Bright winter day. BUNDT COUNTY BUS SERVICE. Sparkleton passengers are on the way back from errands in Beam or the New Supermarket. DREW FANK has visited the Beam Library to review taxidermy manuals, for he still struggles with asking questions of other people. As the bus turns onto Route 918, DANA GRINT and ELISE FRAINE are in conversation about various acquaintances in Beam. 

DANA

I know so many people who think they can do it alone  

ELISE

Yes. They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zones.

DANA considers this, and then leans forward and asks Elise 

DANA

Now what can you tell them? And what can you say that won't make them defensive?

Here WARREN FLAVEY, with a knowing look at his fellow passengers, chimes in

WARREN

I know there's an answer. I know now, but I had to find it by myself!

The passengers nod their heads in agreement. RAY MINER is moved to stand as he sings

RAY

They come on like they're peaceful, but inside they're so uptight!

As RAY delivers this line, the bus jolts forward and RAY tumbles into the arms of his fellow passengers, who have held them out in order to catch him. Everyone gets a good-natured laugh out of this. 

ELISE, singing now

They trip through their day and waste all their thoughts at night.

The bus has turned down Wider Road and is about to take a left onto Sparklehampton Bend. DREW gets up from his seat where he has been watching, wordless. He steadies himself and when the bus pulls up in front of SPARKLEHAMPTON REST HOME, he descends into the snow, turning back to see the passengers continuing their song. 

RAY

Now how can I come on, and tell them the way that they live could be better?

EVERYONE

I know there's an answer. I know now but I had to find it by myself.

The bus door has closed and DREW watches the bus roll away, swaying with the passengers on the chorus. He shrugs his shoulders and enters the rest home.

(Adapted from Terry Sachen, Mike Love/Beach Boys, I know There's An Answer)

Article in the Sparkleton Crier

Erasers Arrive In Error
A truckload of insertible erasers arrived last week at the grounds of PP & P only to be turned away for lack of pencils to put them in. It seems that even after all this time, news of the factory's closing never reached the Erie Eraser Co., which manufactures the small, soft, pink erasers. Pennsylvania Pen and Pencil's role in pencil production consisted mainly of the manufacture of the wooden barrel and the lead encased within it.

[diagram]

The pressed tin crown that grips the eraser was also made at the factory, but the erasers themselves had to be brought in to Bundt County from elsewhere. In 88 years of operation, PP&P drew upon only two companies for this: Rubbit Co., which folded over 2 decades ago, and Erie Eraser, which supplies the erasers to several pencil factories in the Northeast. 

Marcus LaPonte, rig driver for Erie Eraser, attempted to deposit the load of erasers at PP&P yesterday around 11 am, but found himself alone at the loading dock. There was no-one to receive his order or sign his papers or offer him a cup of coffee. So he turned his truck around, proceeded out onto Rte 918 and followed the rusted sign for Sparkleton, where he pulled over on Bundt Street and made his way to Wooly's Dinor. The large, parked truck attracted many curious folks over to the dinor, including this reporter, and Mr. LaPonte's story was heard:

"I'm a new driver, I've only been driving for a year now. This route was Gary's before, and I don't know a thing about it, just following the protocol. What he (Supervisor) told me was, 'Take these erasers and bring them down to PP & P'. So I did. But now you tell me it's closed for long as it has and I tell you I'm flummoxed because I know this was Gary's route before and he never did mention about it getting closed." 

Mr. LaPonte then asked to use the telephone to call his supervisor for some clarification. The supervisor, a Mr. Greig, was out to lunch. When the crowd at Wooly's heard this news, Ryan Camp piped up with "Well, if you can't beat em, join em!" and shuttled Mr. LaPonte over to the counter for some meatloaf and milk. 

Mr LaPonte's departure went unnoticed by the lunch crowd, however, due to an eruption of flames behind the counter. (see “Wooly’s on Fire for Several Minutes”)

Sparkleton Crier, in progress. Pencil on cut paper

Excerpt from Drew's Diary

I just got home and have to right this down. We were at the Caliper Lounge. Julie and Joanna took me for my birthday but Beam kids were there. I think they only come cause it has a dirt floor and they think that is funny. By the time we got there, they had already made a mess by kicking up dirt from the floor. 

When we came in the girls told everyone it was my birthday and Frank said, "It's on the house" and they sang happy birthday to me. It was nice. We played darts and Frank let me help him and Russ deep-fry legs cause tomorrow is Leg Nite. But the Beam kids peered and whispered and made us uneasy. So we sat down again and played hangman, and Julie was going to hang me because all I had was 

_u_ _e_     _i_ m_u_e

and I couldn't get it, and now I get it and it's too late. 

Here is when one of the Beam kids came over and slapped the back of my head. He said "Happy birthday, Drool!" which kids used to call me in high school, so I was used to it but Julie said "no" that it wasn't meant nicely. I have never seen her make a face like that. She was mad, and Joanna too, but I didn't know if I should be mad or not. It was my nickname. Maybe he was being brotherly. I don't know because I don't have a brother.

But then he went over to Pop Corbin and pointed at his overalls. He said, "You in the sack race, old man?" and "It's like a baby's bib" and "Is there a flap in the back" and Pop said, "It's not what you're saying, it's how you are saying it". And they looked at each other real quiet. Then Pop breathed in and said "and don't you hit the boy". The Beam kid laughed but Pop breathed in again and raised his arm and punched him square in the face! I've known Pop all my life and I never, ever seen him do a thing like that. The kid fell backwards and his friends stood up from their table all at once, and Julie and Joanna stood up, and then everyone stood up, and then I stood up, and suddenly there were chairs flying and tables knocked over, Beam kids were chucking cups and ashtrays and elbowing the grown-ups. 

The girls were in the middle, pushing over tables so the kids couldn't get at us, and Pop and Russ were chasing them around the room towards the door. There were wings and batter on the floor, and I thought I should do something but all I could think of was to put on another song, and my hands were shaking, and I put on Crazy Train, and when I turned around the whole room looked like an ant war and it made me laugh but that's all I remember from inside the bar because then a cup hit my head…

(all misspellings are intentional)