written by Matt Tompkins | illustrated by Rachel Lesser
So Colin asks me, “If you could have lunch with any one person living or dead who would it be?”
“Wouldn’t you have to choose someone dead,” I say, “because I mean come on wouldn’t that be amazing to bring someone back from the dead wouldn’t that be wicked but wait though would they still be dead but dug up and woken up like would they be all gross and worm-eaten and rotting or would they be at like the prime of their life and healthy ’cause that makes a difference or wait what if you choose someone dead but you didn’t realize you have to die to have lunch with them and then it’s too late to change your mind because you already made your choice and it’s final and you’re dead now forever or wait how ‘bout this what if you choose someone historic like Winston Churchill or MLK or JFK or Gandhi but you don’t specify what age to bring them back and you find out you’re having lunch with them as a baby so really all you’re doing is spoon-feeding them pureed peas or like giving them a bottle and yeah sure it’s Gandhi or whatever but really it’s a baby so what’s the point right so maybe I should just have lunch with somebody living instead like a Victoria’s Secret model or Barack Obama but oh jeez how intimidating right I’d be too nervous to eat and probably embarrass myself what would we even talk about anyway so then maybe I’ll just choose you Colin that sounds pretty good I think yeah do you want to have lunch with me?”
And Colin shrugs and shakes his head ’cause I definitely missed the point but he’s like, “Okay sure yeah whatever Dewey let’s eat.”
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About the artists:
Rachel Lesser is an illustrator, painter & graphic designer in the Jersey/NYC area. She loves comics, pizza and getting free stuff. She graduated from UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS and is currently continuing her studies at SVA in Illustration.
Matt Tompkins has an e-book, Studies in Hybrid Morphology, available from tNY Press. A chapbook, Souvenirs and Other Stories, is forthcoming from Conium Press. Matt lives in New York with his wife, daughter, and cat.