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The Skinner Co. Network
FPSE10 - The Exchange Student's Short Stay
[ Music ] Welcome to Flashpulp, Special Episode 10. Tonight, we present the Exchange Student's Short Stay. [ Music ] This week's episodes are brought to you by the Bear Crawling Podcast. [ Music ] So you know how you're flipping channels at night and you come across that late show with one of your favorite comedians on it. You know you're going to get a couple of things thrown at you, right? You're going to get those jokes that are just kind of off the cuff and fresh and they make you laugh. You're also always going to get that guest on there, but that's not really why you tune in, is it? You tune in for those moments where the host and the guest connect and the energy is just so strong, you get pulled in and become a part of that electric experience. That's what I do here on Bear Crawling Live. I focus on those experiences. It's not just about who I'm talking to, it's not just about me either. It's about us and the experience that we have together. And we do it every Thursday night at 9.30 p.m. Here on Noah Genestry, bearcrawlingnation.com/nas and knowagendacheck.net with an easy to find replay Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m. Come experience the ride along that is a Bear Crawling Live show. (music) Flash pulp is an experiment in broadcasting fresh pulp stories in the modern age. Three to ten minutes of fiction brought to you Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings. Tonight, a Skinner Co.'s lead narrator has found her throat infected with a terrible burning. We briefly interrupt our current Thomas Black Altale to bring you a short urban legend concerning the cultural barrier. To learn more about this urban myth of questionable origin, visit wiki.flashpulp.com. The exchange students short stay. Written by a charity Skinner, narration and audio production by Jessica May. (music) Told throughout the American Northeast and in areas of the Midwest, the tale of the exchange students short stay is often told in whispered tones at high school-age sleepovers. On a crisp autumn Friday morning, a host family, sometimes named with tailors, although just as often ascribed to any local clan known for taking in foreign students, receives an unexpected knock at the door. In two weeks, they were expecting a bespeckled lad from Tokyo, most often given the name Suzuki, but now the boys on their doorstep. The visitor, whose black tie now hangs off kilter and who sports a tea staying on his otherwise crisp white shirt, immediately attempts to explain his situation. But his English is limited and much of the useful information comes from his hand signs. After an extended game of charades, the tailors suss out his story. That he arrived at the airport expecting a warm greeting, but found instead no one. That he managed to direct a cab driver to the address printed on his shabbily photocopied school form, the only bit of text that Father Taylor finds readable on the sheet, but only after a long and lonely wait. He concludes by noting that the cab is still waiting, and that he has not had an opportunity to convert any currency to U.S. dollars so that he might cover the fare. Despite his trouble, the student seems ashamed at a sudden arrival and in turn the family return his embarrassment. The taxi is paid for, and confused calls are made to the authorities in question. Answers, though, are slow in coming. The intended room has been prepared for weeks anyhow, is in truth perennially prepared for the next arriving exchange, so he is led to his bunk and by dinner has begun to assimilate into the family. Answers us to the mix-up are slow coming, but in the meantime Suzuki begins to attend class with the tailor's daughter, Amelia, who is herself getting ready to depart for Japan. Amelia welcomes the excuse to practice her dialect skills and the two quickly strike up a friendship. The boy, however, is slow in making other friends and often seems to sulk when outside the girl's prisons. As the first week closes, Amelia finds herself oddly drawn to the moody outsider and makes increasing efforts to push his attention onto a topic beyond homework and approaching chores. Suzuki acknowledges her advances, although timidly and only with the greatest of hesitation begins to be seen regularly holding her hand. Though they live under the same roof, Amelia's parents are pleased at the teen's slow approach and see little harm in the short-term romance. By the end of the second week Suzuki's presence seems an everyday fact. He assists regularly with a preparation of dinner, cleans up spotlessly, and is humored in his love of jeopardy. On Thursday evening, however, after several mentions of an ongoing headache, the boy shyly claims he feels unwell and retires early. The next morning, his voice full of fatigue, he makes his apologies through the closed bedroom door and insists he bows at a class for the day. As the tailor's depart for work and school, the house empties, only to refill that evening. Cares are taken not to disturb the ill youth, and the hush throughout the home makes the knock of the door all the more startling. Standing in a crisp white shirt with a black tie, which has been knocked slightly askew, is allowed by the name of Suzuki. He apologizes for the interruption, but must say that he had expected his new host family to meet him at the airport. It is soon discovered that the body within the guest room is no longer breathing, that he has, in fact, utilized the tailor's prized meat knife to slit open his own belly and extracted as much of his own intestine, in the tradition of sapuku as he might. The dead boy's true identity, it is always said, was never discovered. [Music] FlashPulp is presented by FlashPulp.com, and is released under the Canadian Creative Commons attribution non-commercial 2.5 license. Text and audio commentaries can be sent to Skinner@skinner.fm, or the voicemail line at 206-338-2792. But be aware that they may appear in a future flashcast. We'd also like to thank the Freesound Project, found at freesound.org. For a full listing of effects used during the show, as well as credits for the users who provided them, please check this episode's notes at flashpulp.com. And thanks to you for listening. If you enjoyed the show, please tell your friends. [Music]