Untitled Project on Sibling Actors, Post 15: After Dreams

IDYLLS OF THE IDLE

Laurent is not able to use writing as a sole means for escape. The process can be mean and is always confrontational. It's often awkward and the long stretches of silence that block his creative flow can burden him. Following a scent, he attempts breast stroke underwater from one source to another. Mushy particles from a phantom carcass are carried down to the sedimentary bed. During his later morning writing exercise, Laurent still has a headache from conjuring gods in his sleep, now diminished. A man strikes a chord from the hollow in his head. 

In order to make the transition into morning softer, he takes the purple glass smoking pipe from the nightstand to scavenge any remaining weed in the bowl, or at least enough clumps of newer, moist resin. The tar-like substance requires longer exposure to the flame and a harder intake, but Laurent enjoys the slow sizzle. Luckily, the bowl is only half scorched and so he scrapes off the top burnt layer and begins working on the rest of the green bud. In the past he’s had successful writing sessions after smoking a little weed. There is a threshold of incapacity all too easily passed if he carelessly puff puffs away without allowing enough time between the inhalations for him to adjust into each new increment of euphoria and heightened sensibility. Too many levels up and Laurent will lose track of his original intention, resorting to searching through social media, arts and entertainment articles, or amateur pornography videos. The writing would not get done. At the most he would be able to pound away a half-hazard paragraph, proving later to be a laughable effort as he edits. Laurent limits himself to taking seven hits off the pipe and then brings his fingers to his lap top’s keyboard. 

Charlotte puffs at one half of a joint that she saved from the previous night. Ever since the news came about her brother Charles’ upcoming visit, Sister has spent more time thinking about her siblings and her parents back abroad. She is baffled by how deliberately uncouth Charles and how socially stunted her sister Chloe are, lamenting the second’s regressive development because she always thought her young sister to be so pretty. Both of her younger twin siblings are as attractive as she or Laurent and looks do a great deal of help. Chloe is distinguished to Charlotte from the rest of them with her delicate but arresting presence that might evoke Edith Scob’s masked angel in captivity from the film, Eyes Without a Face. Underneath her poise, however, Chloe’s neuroticism more and more gives her away. Charles, well, he’s self-assured and charismatic enough to make it through.Yikes, but why is she so weird? How can they just step back and let her fall apart like that—without stepping in? In this thought Charlotte forgets that while growing up, Mother and Father were always very involved with how all of their children formulated and nurtured their personalities. The siblings’ eccentricities are more likely related to an overstepping onto the dark matter of their organic outlines—not from Mr. and Mrs. Yardley keeping any distance from all the adolescent development. Well, Mom and Dad sure do know how to put on the pressure. I’ll give her that, the poor girl. They need to give her a fucking break and let her come visit. 

Sister reflects upon her mother and the ideas she worked into her maternal script. She wonders about Chloe, who very well may be the way she is due to how her parents eventually came to perceive the first two of their children as off-track sqaunderers, stalling out in errant and rebellious lifestyles. Or do Mr. And Mrs. Yardley deflect that sober acknowledgement with some sort of defense mechanism, ruling out that theory? Regardless, Charlotte must admit to herself how she enjoys this perception. It places her (and Laurent) into a dark, but interesting light. As if Chloe is not extravagant in her own way. She is freakishly irregular. Again Charlotte contrasts her younger sister with Charles. Is Charles really the most successful Yardley child? No, no, no. That’s got to be complete bullshit. I’m an actress who’s found work.