underdog's bite :: laurence jb

I don't know if I'm ready to meet our next victor. 

Nah, I'm lying, that kid looks about as scrawny as I am. Part of me shrunk when I heard the volunteer, I'm one of few living tributes you know? It never leaves the back of my mind, I'm with my uncle in the back of the crowd with the rest of the adults. When I say I'm not the only one who gasped I'm not lying -- what the hell is this kid thinking? 

That's the first thing I thought, at least. I had just started settling back into my heels, it wasn't Jasper or Jimmy, it wasn't Norbert or a Pepperwood. My boxes were ticked eight seconds before the plot twist. 

Honestly, I don't even know if it was that long! 

There's not much family in the hall for this kid, and I know that feeling. Stings a bit, something that lingers in the back of your head when you're in there. I don't wait around after the p.k. unlocks the door for me, "five minutes, yeah?"

"Six now."

"Impressive," a whole sixty seconds more. I'm already grinning as I walk through the door, tossing my old polaroid camera at the kid in front of me. "Laurence, right? Now, what do you think you're doin', bud?" And I think I get it, a bit more than I wish. I heard about this kid's mother a while back, the man I bought my goats from asked if I had money to spare. 

I didn't, our penchants don't work that way. 

Still, all the money I've got is what comes from my farm. Best thing I can offer is a beat up decade old camera. 

"You can keep that if you want by the way," the film's already replaced. Just like with Oberon - I can't tell if it's a good luck charm or not. Ob found himself backstabbed dead in an early grave (literally) and I didn't exactly come back in one piece with it myself. 

And so I'm looking at this Laurence kid holding it - third times the charm, yeah? 

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