The Magnificent Kornblatt

by Todd Schindler

read parts  1,  2

3.

"Benjamin," Daniel started, "Hannah and I were talking…and, well, let me ask you this: Don't you get lonely out here by yourself all the time? I mean, you don't seem to really talk to anyone—except me, that is. We thought it might be a good idea for you to be around people more."

"Human company is overrated," Kornblatt muttered, staring at a fixed point on the ceiling. "I'd rather speak to sparrows like the good man from Assisi. Just as Saint Isaac the Syrian bespoke—what a fraud—the glory of Christ's church is the life of the solitaries."

"We're having a dinner party this Friday, Benjamin, and we want you to come. Not many people, ten maybe, but I think you'd enjoy it. You know, there's a whole world out there."

"A world?" Kornblatt mused, with a twisted smile. "Where?"

"You know what I mean, Benjamin."

"There's a world right here," he said, sweeping his hand to encompass the room. "There's a world in my lint-filled pocket, kind gentleman." He walked over to the large piece of plywood and banged it three time in succession. "This is a world as well, I think." And then approaching Daniel, he tapped him lightly on the head. "There might be a world in here."

"Thanks, Benjamin. Will you come?"

Kornblatt pondered the offer. He sighed. "As you request sir, I will be present. But I am not unaware of what these fatuous gatherings entail—a bit of blather about the weather, pap about X's pension fund and Y's root canal, yes, utter banalities, and some idle remarks about recent cinematic offerings to round out the whole ridiculous affair."

"And salad," Daniel offered, smiling.

Kornblatt laughed. "Yes, salad."

"Good, so it's set," Daniel said, struggling to his feet. "Well, I'm off to work. We'll talk later, okay?" And he left the room.

"Huh," Kornblatt chuckled. "Idiot."

That day, Kornblatt began his work. He laid the plywood board on the floor and examined his materials: ten boxes of C&H sugar cubes, five toothpick containers, two bottles of Elmer's glue, a long sheaf of sandpaper, several sharpened pencils, five tubes of paint with brushes, and a new Exacto knife. "If this is what they demand of me, the leeches, this is what they'll get," he said to himself.

part  1,  2

part  4

Todd Schindler, a former child star in Mexico, is a filmmaker and writer. He currently lives in New York City.