Gary and Tom

This story was originally published on Medium.

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I'll tell you the story about Gary and Tom. We will start with Gary. See, Gary had lived in this area for quite some time. He was born in the area, grew up in the area, and eventually when he decided to put down roots of his own, he stayed in the same general area. His parents had lived here, their parents, and so on. Gary found a spot to call his own. A nice, cool, dark place underground.

The dirt floor of the earth made an excellent ceiling. His home was vast underneath it. He had much room to himself. But not too much room. He didn't want to infringe on the room of others. Others in the area had similar underground homes. Everyone had realized the dirt floor made such an incredible ceiling. Their parents before them knew this. And their parents' parents, and so on. And though there were many similar homes, Gary still cherished his own and secretly thought it to be best.

Big enough to feel spacious but small enough to feel cozy. He was never cramped and he was never floating in a space too big for him. Days and weeks and months went by and he never tired of his home. He could crawl through the ceiling whenever he wanted, go get food, take in the daylight and the sights, socialize, donate portions of his food to those in need, and then return home to rest. Gary would crawl through the ceiling and get tasty meals whenever he was hungry. He loved to eat. Call him a foodie, if you wish. He just enjoyed a tasty meal. It wasn't a thing he went around talking about to everyone. But it was quite apparent to anyone who ever saw Gary eat ravenously. But he loved to share his most excellent meals with anyone he encountered. Whenever obtaining a meal he purposely got a portion larger than he needed just so that he could find hungry stomachs that wanted to have their taste buds elated.

One day, Gary was eating a salad and admiring his home, when there was a jarring rumbling all around him. It stopped briefly and then started again. He held onto his salad for dear life, romaine and arugula clutched in his palms. The rumbling continued on and off for several minutes, dirt cascading from his ceiling above, and then it all stopped. Gary's heart was beating so fast. He kept expecting the rumbling to start again. He didn't dare move until he knew it was over with. Finally, after several minutes of still and silence, he was satisfied.

He took another bite of salad, being scared always made him hungry. Then, he carefully crept up towards his ceiling and crawled through it, up onto the dirt floor above. He realized that the rumbling was from someone else building their own home. Right above Gary's. Gary didn't make his presence known. He hid. But he watched. A man named Tom was having a house built right above Gary's home. Construction workers in orange vests helped him to erect walls and fashion corners of rooms-to-be.

Tom had a confidence about him, telling the construction workers what to do, even though he didn't seem to know as much as they did on the subject of building a house. But that didn't deter him. Gary crept back down into his home. The rest of the day was quiet. But the next day, Gary had to deal with rumbling and shaking on and off. It got to be too much, so at one point, he left his home. He needed a break from all the noise. When he returned home, more of the house had been built right above his home that he loved so much. Gary bit the inside of his cheek as he stared at this house. But as soon as he crawled back down into his underground home, he was filled with joy. He sunk into a cozy spot, serenity washing over him. His home was untouched, the atmosphere brought him peace. Life was good. Whatever else happened in the world could happen… he wouldn't be fazed. This was his life here. No outside influences could affect his place, his space, his self.

Rumblings and shakings intensified over the next few days. Gary ignored it some days. Other days he had to leave. He wouldn't let the rumbling affect his life and his mindset, but the noise was unbearable at times. Some of his access points to exit his home were blocked off and closed up. His ceiling and sunken in but remained intact. The sight of his home being altered, of his ceiling deteriorating, it was quite a lot for one individual to witness. Removing himself from the situation was best for his mental health. But once he returned in the evenings, Tom and his workers would be done and Gary could enjoy a cozy night in as he always loved. Peace to make the corners of the lips spread… and to make the eyelids heavy… and to nourish the soul. Gary still had that plenty of nights. After a few more weeks of the chaos, it stopped. Tom's house was finished, built atop Gary's home. Luckily, Gary still had some access points through his ceiling to get in and out of his underground home.

Days went by. Occasionally, Gary would hear Tom thumping around upstairs. His ceiling would quiver… never like before. But it would be sparingly and so he ignored it. Weeks went by. Months went by. Gary had never interacted with Tom. As far as he knew, Tom never even noticed Gary. Gary wasn't keen on making any introductions. He had come to peace with Tom living above him but he didn't need to interact with him in any way.

More months went by. Gary continued with his usual routine, leaving at his usual times through the ceiling and his limited access points to go get food during the day, drop off meals to those he saw along his travels, and then return home at night. One afternoon, he had gotten food and was about to return home when he saw Tom outside with some people, pointing out the access points Gary had used to go in and out of his home. Gary hid. Tom was angry. Tom was screaming to the people about how ugly they were. Other people in the area came by and Tom was screaming to them as well. He was saying that he didn't like the look of them and he felt it was bad for the foundation of his house. Gary couldn't hear what other people were saying. No one was as loud as Tom.

Gary waited until everyone had left the scene and then snuck back into his house. Days passed. Another day when Gary was retrieving food and returning home and Tom was yelling about the access points that Gary used. Gary hid once again, wanting to avoid confrontation. Tom bellowed at some people about the access points. "Hideous." He called them. Gary scoffed. If Tom didn't like them, he probably shouldn't have built a house here. The access points were here long before. Tom continued complaining to the other people. Gary heard one of them say, "They live down there." To which Tom replied, "Can't they live somewhere else?!" Gary scoffed so loudly he had to cover his mouth. He was afraid Tom might hear him from his hiding spot. But luckily a person spoke up and told Tom, "There's no way to do that." Tom was agitated. "But doesn't it affect the foundation?" The spokesperson responded, "Maybe if it were more holes, but…" Tom fired back, "They're still hideous!"

Tom and the people walked away briefly and Gary seized the opportunity to dart into his place through an access point. As they were walking away Gary heard Tom ask, "What are the options?" As Gary nestled into his cozy home he realized he was upset by all of this. And he didn't want to be upset. So, he controlled his breathing. He thought of happy thoughts and he admired his lovely home. He was at peace once again. His home really did calm him down. It was his life.

Days later, Gary awoke to strange noises. He was confused and half-asleep. He slowly scanned his home, trying to find the source of the noise. Suddenly, a green tube was shoved through one of the access points in the ceiling. Then another. Then more popped through the access points that Gary had closed off. They were opened back up with these foreign green tubes. A slow hissing like a snake emanated… and a gaseous cloud began to billow out of all of the tubes at once. Gary didn't know what it was. It smelled sour. It scared him. He looked for an access point to escape through but all of his current ones were blocked with the tubes. He decided he needed to make another one, but he lacked the energy, he lacked the ambition. His heart rate slowed. And he collapsed.

Gary died. Tom had hired people to gas Gary. Something I forgot to mention early on in the story. Or maybe I didn't tell you purposefully. You see, Gary was a gopher. What I did tell you was that Gary lived there first. Gary and his ancestors had lived there for a long time… a long time before Tom. I did tell you that Tom didn't like what Gary was doing to the earth below his house, but Gary existed there long before Tom did. It was made clear that Gary had nowhere else to go. And he was there first. But it still upset Tom. Even though it didn't really affect Tom's life. Even though the worst of it was that "he didn't like how it looked" and that's it. The worst part about Gary's access points were not life-altering to Tom. They did not harm Tom or upset the balance of his life. They were just "ugly" in Tom's opinion. And even though Tom wasn't there first, it upset him. It upset him enough to have Gary and others like Gary killed… all so that he didn't have to look at something he didn't wish to look at. Because Tom was an asshole.

But I made that part clear, didn't I?

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