It had been a few years since I\u2019ve seen Earl.<\/p>\n
For those of you who don\u2019t know, Earl is quite the character. There should be way more written about my old pal Earl, alas I just haven\u2019t gotten around to sharing the stories. (if you want to read more about Earl, you can see previous posts by clicking here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Earl, you see, isn\u2019t the easiest person to find. Between his quest to reach the PGA and his search of junk food, he\u2019s a hard man to pin down.<\/p>\n Finally, I found him.<\/p>\n I was back in the old stomping grounds not too long ago and I went looking for Earl. It seems nobody had seen him. The main issue? The two donut shops he used to love had shut down.<\/p>\n Now, if you knew Earl, you\u2019d realize that this is a travesty. Earl LOVES donuts. It doesn\u2019t matter what kind of donuts (or how you spell it \u2013 donut or doughnut \u2013 all the same to Earl), as long as he has his donuts and a fresh cup o\u2019 joe, he\u2019s usually good to go.<\/p>\n So I wandered the town. What had happened to Earl? Where had he gone?<\/p>\n Then he appeared. He was sitting on a park bench staring out into the sky. Next to him was a cup of coffee and a small bag. I quickly approached and when we used to find Earl, he had a twinkle in his eye.<\/p>\n Not so much anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cEarl!\u201d I yelled as I approached. \u201cWhere the heck have you been? Nobody has seen you!\u201d<\/p>\n He continued to stare ahead.<\/p>\n I sat down next to him to see if I could get a better feel of what was going on. I stared a little.<\/p>\n \u201cYou all right man?\u201d<\/p>\n He let out a deep sigh.<\/p>\n Slowly, he reached next to him and grabbed the small bag. It looked like it had come from one of the local gas stations.<\/p>\n He reached in and pulled out what appeared to be a donut. He turned to me and looked, then looked down at the donut, which obviously was stale. He then crunched it into pieces and let it fall to the ground. This was unheard of with Earl and his love of donuts.<\/p>\n \u201cYou OK, Earl? You just massacred a donut\u201d<\/p>\n He looked at me.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not a donut. That\u2019s crap you find at gas stations.\u201d<\/p>\n If I didn\u2019t know better, I thought a single tear had rolled down his cheek as he looked away.<\/p>\n I was confused. But it turns out Earl\u2019s love of donuts had taken a shot with the closing of the chain spots. He didn\u2019t want boxed donuts. Or ones from gas stations. Heck, he didn\u2019t want the ones from super markets and Walmart. He wanted his donuts.<\/p>\n I assured him he\u2019d have to be able to find some donuts \u2026 somewhere, right?<\/p>\n \u201cNot any more,\u201d he said as he stood up. \u201cIt\u2019s all slim pickings now.\u201d<\/p>\n Earl then strolled off, his head bowed down toward the ground as he continued his search to find the glory of donuts once again.<\/p>\n This post is part of the <\/em>20 Days of Chill Writing Challenge<\/a> hosted by <\/em>A \u2018lil HooHaa<\/a>. Please check out the link\u00a0if you\u2019d like to see others or join in. You don\u2019t have to do every theme if you don\u2019t want! And for those participating, take a moment and check out the other participants! You can see the 2016 themes by clicking here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n