replacements

[zefrank]

here's an excerpt from Smoke, by Chris Avellone

you may replace, add to, or delete any part of it...a word, words, a sentence, but the first and last words should remain untouched and don't add anything to the front or back...


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It all started at Shoop's. The thing between Kyle and me. He (Kyle)
was busy taking aim with one of those slender tipped red darts, rocking
it back and forth in his hand, squinting real hard at the dartboard, so
you really couldn't tell if he was aiming or too drunk to see what he
was shooting at. He had the dart clutched kinda funny in his fingers,
too, like he was aiming for the floor, but it was this trick he did
with his hands to make the dart fly straighter. I'd almost forgotten
about it. I watched as the dart left his fingers and thunked into the
bullseye. "Not bad," I said, smirking a little. Kyle walked over to
retrieve the darts with that slow walk of his. I reached for the
pitcher again and refilled my glass. Behind me, chalk scraped on the
blackboard as Kyle tallied up his points. "Your turn," he said, in
that dead tone of voice he always uses. I could barely hear him. Even
without the background noise in Shoop's, Kyle had a real quiet voice.
He didn't look at me when he passed the darts off to me. He just pulled
a pack out of his shirt pocket and tapped out a cigarette, fishing in
his pants for his lighter with his other hand. "You smoke too much," I
said, trying to coax him out a little.