Blah Blah Blah | Teen Ink

Blah Blah Blah MAG

By Anonymous

     When my mom speaks, it’s not my fault that all I hear is “blah blah blah.”

Because that is what she’s saying.

“I’m going out,” I say, and she looks at me in a sad way, shaking her head in confusion; I don’t think she understands me. I wonder why I bother announcing these things.

I slide across the floorboards of the entryway onto the porch. Rod is already waiting for me. I push aside the oleander-white sneakers on the shoe rack for the black, moth-eaten ones hidden behind them. Their soles are

so thin I can feel the texture of the ground. There’s a hole near the back. For some reason, this seems to bother Rod more than me. Once, I tried wearing the new white sneakers, but he stopped me, “You’ve always worn the other ones,” he said.

Rod has been acting distant lately. He knows I’m turning 18 tomorrow, but he treats me as if I were dying. He is a year younger.

“Blah blah,” Mom shouts to me, and I smile and wave as though I am listening. This appears to comfort her.

Rod and I walk across the street in the middle of the road where two crosswalks straddle us about half a block away on either side. A few drivers honk. I know one of them - so does Rod. His name is Collin, and he went to our high school last year. He doesn’t talk to us anymore.

“This way,” Rod says. He wants to go to the liquor store for a blue-raspberry slushy. I follow behind him, even though I know the way.

The man who owns the store doesn’t like us, so I don’t enjoy staying there for long. He hates everyone our age. I stare at a sticker on his shirt that says, “Hello, my name is:” with a sloppily written “Todd” beneath, while Rod grabs the drinks. Todd has a beard that’s long and black. It hangs so low that it brushes the buttons of the register when he rings us up.

Rod takes a sip from his blue-raspberry and hands me my white-cherry.

“Blah blah blah blah,” Todd says. He wants money for the slushies, so I hand him a few dollars. He grumbles and gives us our change. Rod and I walk out of the store.

***

“Good Morning, birthday girl,” Mom says as she wakes me.

“Morning,” I reply. She smiles.

I stumble downstairs where everyone is waiting for me, and I suddenly feel self-conscious in my Felix the Cat pajamas. No one is in the mood for breakfast just yet. They didn’t come here to eat. I notice that none of my school friends bothered to come; not that I really expected them to. I allow myself to wallow in this for a moment - before I notice that Rod is there. He is holding a box wrapped in gold paper. I smile, and he approaches me sheepishly.

“Thanks,” I say.

He lets the box go quickly, and I can’t tell whether he is handing it to me or if he intends it to drop on the floor. I catch it.

“Don’t worry about it,” I tell him - just to make him feel better.

Rod starts talking excitedly and his expression bothers me, although I can’t say why.

I scrunch my face, like I used to when my mom talked to me. I feel like my balance is suddenly off-center. Rob’s repeating the same thing over and over, but I can no longer understand him.

“Blah blah blah,” he says, and for a moment, I think he might cry.

My parents take him by the arm and shepherd him from the room



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This article has 22 comments.


i love this !

I loved this piece, its incredibly moving and creative!

on Nov. 6 2015 at 11:41 am
hunterrjordan10 BRONZE, Louisiana, Louisiana
4 articles 0 photos 3 comments
Fiction- I can relate to the poem, ”Blah Blah Blah”. When my mom talks to me I don’t pay attention most of the time. She even says, “ When my mom speaks, it’s not my fault that all I hear is “blah blah blah.” At least I’m not the only one.

on Jan. 5 2015 at 7:03 am
ScarletIce4695 GOLD, Karachi, Other
13 articles 1 photo 57 comments
So do i!!!

on Dec. 9 2014 at 1:16 am
Sharkbait SILVER, Grant Park, Illinois
8 articles 1 photo 40 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart."
-Anne Frank

So this seems like a good story, with a good idea but it does seem to be a little at a loss for explanation. I guess the idea of the blah's are that she can only hear people of her 'age', like as a child (under 18) she couldn't hear her mother, but as an adult she could hear her mother, but not her boyfriend (under 18). I suppose maybe the box is seen as a 'childish' thing, because thats kind of the idea I get from her only hearing the blah's. The only thing I wonder about is why he was taken from the room... Please correct me if I'm wrong with this explanation. Keep up the good work!

on Nov. 30 2013 at 12:17 am
theatregirl PLATINUM, Lathrup Village, Michigan
30 articles 12 photos 209 comments

Favorite Quote:
"To thine own self be true," -from Hamlet, a play by Shakespeare.
"I have sworn on the altar of god eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the mind of man." - Thomas Jefferson

It an interesting story and had good concept. But I don't really understand the ending?'!?! Like what was it exact. Like I get therd a person (I'm assuming it's a girl?), she kinda doesn't pay attention to what moms say and just hears her go blah bla h blah. She has. Boyfriend (?!?) and they go out. He doesn't want her to turn 18. They hang out and run into someone they used to be friends with that they don't talk anymore (?!?') And the climax is her not being able to understand her boyfriend when he give her a present Like what was the fact that she couldn't understand her mother and then her boyfriend, symbolic of?' There's no explanation or even really emotion behind why she hers blah blah blah or a emotion reosponse beside her just saying kinda flatly that's she crying at the end of to put it into context Could u tell me? Thanks Over all I liked it. Keep writing :)

miaq96 SILVER said...
on Jul. 21 2013 at 6:07 pm
miaq96 SILVER, Karachi, Other
7 articles 0 photos 13 comments

Favorite Quote:
never run after success,be such a person that success runs after you.

interesting story with an unexpected ending...!!

Powla SILVER said...
on Apr. 25 2013 at 11:45 am
Powla SILVER, PHX, Arizona
8 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
You can complain that roses have thorns, or you can rejoice that thorns have roses.
-Ziggy-

i think the box... and blah blah, like i want to know what they said.

on Apr. 24 2013 at 8:55 pm
Flying_Up_High, Montclair, New Jersey
0 articles 0 photos 16 comments

Favorite Quote:
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Mark Twain

are you curious about the box or the blah blah?

Powla SILVER said...
on Mar. 12 2013 at 11:31 am
Powla SILVER, PHX, Arizona
8 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
You can complain that roses have thorns, or you can rejoice that thorns have roses.
-Ziggy-

*smile* but what if it doesn't really matter what's in the box? what if the whole point was that her friend couldn't talk to her anymore? :D but it is making me curious...

on Mar. 11 2013 at 8:11 pm
Jade.I.Am ELITE, Fishers, Indiana
214 articles 14 photos 1159 comments

Favorite Quote:
“If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose”
― Charles Bukowski

I wanna know! *sniffles*

on Mar. 11 2013 at 8:10 pm
Jade.I.Am ELITE, Fishers, Indiana
214 articles 14 photos 1159 comments

Favorite Quote:
“If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose”
― Charles Bukowski

*sniffles* it could be important, ya never know! I wanna know! XD

Powla SILVER said...
on Mar. 11 2013 at 10:36 am
Powla SILVER, PHX, Arizona
8 articles 0 photos 20 comments

Favorite Quote:
You can complain that roses have thorns, or you can rejoice that thorns have roses.
-Ziggy-

we're all worried about an explanation for blah blah and ur worried about what was in the box? :D

on Mar. 11 2013 at 10:05 am
Jade.I.Am ELITE, Fishers, Indiana
214 articles 14 photos 1159 comments

Favorite Quote:
“If you're losing your soul and you know it, then you've still got a soul left to lose”
― Charles Bukowski

What was in the box?!

on Aug. 29 2009 at 2:54 pm
Annabelle7614, Nunyabusiness, Georgia
0 articles 0 photos 97 comments

Favorite Quote:
This is my favorite personal quote.

I think it's good but needs a little more explanation.You show a very promising future as a writer though. Keep writing!

Jubilex said...
on Aug. 29 2009 at 1:14 pm
Awwww, that's so sad.



Wonderfully written. Good work =)

on Aug. 29 2009 at 12:06 pm
its an awesome story.....i wanna no wat happens ahead.keep it up

on Jun. 17 2009 at 9:53 pm
Elle Thompson BRONZE, Livonia, Michigan
2 articles 0 photos 39 comments
im so confuesed. the ending did too much hanging....you need to patch this up please! but i love this story.

on Jan. 18 2009 at 7:40 pm
Very interesting...I'm hooked! I want to know what happens next! Your a very talented writer-keep it up!

KatKrazy said...
on Jan. 5 2009 at 6:57 pm
I think I understand it. The main character comes of age throughout the story, and doing so she can understand her mother but not her younger boyfriend. All in all, very good.