Monday Musings / Inktober Day 25 (Splat): How Slow Can You Go?

Inktober Day 25: Splat (*Pestus Pancakus*)

All previous drawings: https://linesbyleon.com/inktober/

Monday Musing: How Slow Can You Go?

I took out the first pizza from the 500-degree oven and set it aside to cool. As I proceeded to place the second one into the oven, the pan caught on the rack, jarring it from my hand. I watched as the toppings slowly—or so it seemed to be—sliding off the tomato sauce lubricated crust and landing on the bottom of the oven.

Five hundred degrees if hot enough to melt cheese on contact, caramelize onions, and crisp the edges of oily pepperoni, not to mention making a mess that’s nearly impossible to clean. I quickly scooped up the remains with a flipper before too much damage was done. Cleaning up is a whole other story.

Some things in life look great in slow-motion. The diving touchdown catch or the flapping wings of a hummingbird. Some things in life happen slowly but are not so great—the sliding of your vehicle on an icy road as it makes its way toward the rear end of the car in front of you.

Other things seem to happen in slow-motion. The pizza incident, for one. The closing of a locked car door after you realize that the keys are still in it and it’s after hours (and also a holiday). Falling of your bike gives you a chance to reminisce on the last ten minutes of fun you had before pondering how much it’s going to hurt when you make contact with the ground while trying to formulate a plan to do a stunt-like barrel roll ending in a quick leap to the feet, hands raised, looking around to the onlookers and crying out, “Superstar!”

In reality, you know it’s just going to hurt.

Leon Stevens is a multi-genre author, composer, guitarist, songwriter, and an artist, with a Bachelor of Music and Education. He published his first book of poetry, Lines by Leon: Poems, Prose, and Pictures in January 2020, followed by a book of original classical guitar compositions, Journeys, and a short story collection of science fiction/post-apocalyptic tales called The Knot at the End of the Rope and Other Short Stories. His newest publications are the novella trilogy, The View from Here, which is a continuation of one of his short stories, and a new collection of poetry titled, A Wonder of Words.

My new book page: http://books.linesbyleon.com/