User:Sirwilhem/sandbox

Plot Summary
The science fiction novel is read from a first person narrative through the account of the protagonist, Belt Magnet, or sometimes called “Billy” by his father. Starting off from childhood memories in an area of Chicago and developing friendships in school using derogatory family phrases to defend one’s honor or to get a laugh from a crowd: “Shut your pie-hole, cake face,” became an instant hit among the kids in school, mainly because of the new blonde-haired rich kid in town, Jonboat. It was such a hit, the two decided to make t-shirts to distribute while providing a scrupulous explanation as to why and how the shirts will look the they look. Arguing down to the specific grammar to be used on the shirt or if there would be too much grammar to be added onto the shirt. This back-and-forth of grammatical contemplation is a mild metaphor for the mental insight of Belt’s life struggles. He breaks down the thought process of any and every situation in the story to provide the reader with a firsthand account of his intrinsic thought processes. Belt’s father liked to go fishing with friends and would leave Belt behind, because he did not really enjoy fishing, for days at a time while forgetting to leave money for his son to live on. This is where the reader learns of Belt’s smoking of Quills habit that he justifies as a memorial to his mother. Learning about both the childhood and adulthood major events of Belt, the reader understands his home life had much to do with the way he turned out. Belt Magnet was an author of a book called, No, Please Don’t. It was not a big hit, but is mentioned throughout the story. Belt even meets a big fan that reads his book like Belt used to read the books he idolized when he was younger. He is pleasantly shocked to find out someone appreciated his work in anyway, even if it wasn’t the way he meant it. Belt continues to focus much on life’s meditations revolving not only around family, but friendships and intimate relationships as well. Father and son bonding moments through a philosophical explanation that adheres to a vital significance of concepts pertaining to the likes of pain vs. suffering when scraping one’s knees as a child, Belt’s father tells him that he does not have control over the pain, but can control his suffering. His dad then takes Belt home to patch up his knees and order pizza. Experiencing an unspecified psychological disorder that led Belt to demolish swing sets with a bat or an axe, and sometimes hear the occasional cry of a seat-belt, brought him to a trial study to provide him with his pet curio. Belt makes promises to swing sets in order to help them when they were suffering. Whether it was to appeal to a crush of his, Stevie, during a party and getting detained by the police or trespassing on an older woman’s property to destroy gardening tools on her driveway, Belt would hear voices from inanimate objects, or “inads,” telling him end their misery. The newspapers eventually got word of the swing set “Murders” and ran with a story letting everyone know of Belt’s actions. No one ever pressed charges against Belt because he agreed, after having his father talked out a plea with the police, never to do it again and to feel terrible for doing it. During the time of these events, Belt’s mother began having uncontrollable fits of smashing plates or slapping Belt in the car after suspecting he lied to the police officers. His mother later came to feel an understanding of Belt’s feelings as she related them to her childhood, but still made Belt promise never to put any more objects out of their misery. This was all before him and his dad found out his mother had a tumor growing in her brain. The novel takes a turn to find a solution for Belt’s mental issues with hearing voices from non-living objects, where they find a trial study that leads Belt to procuring his curio. The “cure,” meant in the literal and metaphorical sense, was a newly engineered pet that would help patients cope with particular disorders. This curio was a robot made of flesh and bones that the majority of people, beside Belt and few others, believed were not sentient creatures. Belt has a significant attachment to his unique curio, Blank, and is one of the first in the world to own one. There are times when Belt chooses to show off Blank and other times when he refuses to let anyone see it. The trial doctor asks Belt these questions to find out why does what he does. There are also hints of times in the past when a bank teller tries to sell Belt on his curio’s independence and other times when a specific author is mentioned about writing a book on how to train your curio to do what you want them to do. Many people view the curios as entertainment, but the reader already knows Belt does not view them the same way everyone else does.