Gemotions

The carefully orchestrated surprise, the months of planning, all rendered moot by a single phone call. *Off*. The word echoed in Arthur's mind, a constant, grating noise. He sat in his darkened living room, the unease churning in his stomach. He felt a deep, abiding fury.

He spent the next week meticulously dismantling his friend's meticulously maintained garden gnome collection. Each ceramic figure, carefully arranged, was now scattered, limbs askew, in the neighbor's trash bins. He watched the neighbor's reaction from his bedroom window, his lips curled in a tight, thin line.