The Bliss of Ignorance

by Ian Pierce

Ever since he was a young boy, Bryce never had any close friends. He was a peculiar child. He loved to climb trees and collect bugs, he would even go so far as to steal the produce from his neighbors yards. He was always considered a unique kid, too eccentric to fit in with the other rich kids that he met at school. His classmates didn’t respect him for his wealth because they were spoiled and already had even more things than they knew how to deal with. His acquaintances would always turn out to be poorer, less fortunate kids who respected him for his status and power, but the spark of true friendship was not evident.

Bryce lived on the hill, where the rich folks thrived, a vastly different environment than the arid badlands below where the common, lower class citizens dwelled in near misery. His mother would often worry about him, wondering why he couldn’t pick better friends. She would poke at him, “Bryce, your friends are too poor! Aren’t they are all from the Flats? What will this make friends of the family think?”

“I don’t pick my friends. And besides, none of the rich kids at school like me!”

From a young age, Bryce had established a natural talent in the art of music. At the age of five he learned technical piano concertos by Brahms and Rachmaninoff. By seven he mastered all of the positions on the violin. His teacher said he displayed more virtuosity at his age than any child he had ever seen, “I have never seen this much musical prowess in such a young child, he could be great! He plays with an intensity that no normal boy could display, it is like magic, simply extraordinary!”

Bryce felt confident while playing, he perfected the most demanding pieces with ease and his instruments emitted only the most beautiful sounds. Yet after a few years, Bryce came to realize that music was still not a genuine desire of his. Bryce’s parents were hard pressed to keep him entertained, but trained him like drill sergeants in the art of music. He would practice daily, but deep down he did not love to play. He was spoiled by riches, having possessions and abilities a poorer, less skilled child could only envy and dream of. Bryce could ask for and receive nearly any material good he could think of but he wanted something new. He wanted something fun, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

Bryce appreciated the uncharted beauty within nature, it incurred a vague sense of longing within him. His father would take him for long hikes in the woods to satiate his interest in the outdoors. When he got tired, his father would take him up on his shoulders and carry him, letting him enjoy the view until he was rested enough to continue on.

Bryce’s parents would often switch him in and out of different schools to give him fresh opportunities to socialize and try to make friends. Rich kids of equal socioeconomic status were stuck up and saw nothing to gain from being friends with him. This didn’t matter to Bryce though, as he wanted to meet kids who would befriend him for who he was. At his private middle school he noticed a new boy sitting alone in the courtyard. He was unlike all the other boys and had been alone for some time now, not yet absorbed into social cliques within their school. “Hey, what’s your name?” Bryce enquired.

“My names Luke. What’s yours?”

“I’m Bryce. Are you new here? I haven’t seen you around before.”

“I just started last week. I feel hella isolated, you’re the first person who has even tried to talk to me here,” Luke lamented. “I kind of miss my friends but my last school’s counselor said I could benefit from a higher level of education.”

“What do you mean? Why couldn’t your old friends come to this school?”

“Well, I got put in here on a scholarship. My last school was kind of ghetto, especially compared to this one. I don’t think my friends would fit in here. How do you like it here?”

“I think it’s a decent place, but it’s no better than my last school, all the other kids are so stuck up that they wont even talk to me.” Luke seemed like a good kid to know, more open and less conceited than all the other rich kids at his school. Bryce thought for a second, then made an offer, Do you wanna hang out after school? You could come over to the estate after class!”

“Shit! Well, sure.” Feeling a little nervous but brightening up a bit in anticipation of having a good time, Luke responded, eager to chill with his newfound friend, “Where do you live?”

“In the hills, but no worries, my parents will give us a ride up there!” Bryce was simply ecstatic that he had made a new friend.

Bryce’s parents pulled up to the school in their Mercedes on twenty-two’s. Luke was taken aback by their arrogant display of wealth, squinting in the sunlight reflected off the expensive car. Luke managed to maintain his cool though, deluding himself, imagining that his old friends were as classy as Bryce’s family, “what do you wanna do once we get there?”

Bryce had noticed his discomfort, but played along with him as if nothing had happened, “I don’t know. What do you want to do? We could drive go-carts around the garden in my backyard! My parents said they would take me down to the racing track in Los Angeles once I turn 16, but until then I need to practice by using go-carts.”

“Dude, that sounds so raw! You make it sound like a punishment. I can’t wait until we get there,” Luke laughed.

As they pulled up in front of the house, Luke looked like he was twitching a little as if he was stunned by the sheer size of Bryce’s house. Luke blurted out an untimely comment, “Your home looks magnificent, I‘d only live somewhere like that in a dream!”

Bryce’s mother peered back at Luke quizzically, as if pondering validity of his existence. Her voice cut across the awkward silence, “ Well, here we are boys, Winston will take your bags at the door.”

“Who is Winston?” Luke asked, “I thought your father’s name was Brian.”

“Winston is our butler, he does what he is paid to do. He has been around as long as I can remember.”

What am I doing here? Luke thought to himself, I’ve never had a butler!

The two boys stepped out the car and climbed the impressive granite staircase leading to a large pair of doors. As Bryce rang the doorbell, Luke glanced behind him, shocked by the magnificent view. Luke sighted the steeple of the church near his home down in the flats and was about to blurt out something stupid but was handily interrupted by Winston answering the door.

“May I take your bags sir? And who is your acquaintance?”

“Why of course, Winston. This is my new friend Luke, we met at the schoolhouse earlier today.” Bryce replied respectfully to Winston, but now focused his attention on Luke, “Come on, let’s go race go carts in the back!”

“That sounds great,” Luke chimed, who was regretting the absence of his old friends less than ever.

The two boys raced around the lightly banked track. Luke was having the time of a poor boy’s life but Bryce was trying his best to enjoy himself and had to make an effort to not outmaneuver Luke.

Bryce’s mother shouted down to them from the upstairs balcony, “Luke, I think your mother is here!”

Bryce was instantly disappointed, “He has to go already? Damn, that’s hella weak!”

His mother became infuriated at his mischievous choice of vocab, “Where, Bryce, did you ever learn that kind of foul language?”

“Alright Luke, I guess you better go then. But next time, we’ll hang out for longer.”

“Don’t sweat it man, I’ll see you soon enough.”

Bryce walked Luke out the front door, even catching a glimpse of his mothers run down looking 97' Toyota Camry, “Later man, I’ll see you at school!”

Luke shouted out the window as his mother’s car disappeared down the winding mountainous road, “Yeah dude, you should come chill at my house tomorrow!”

~

Bryce went back into his house expecting to start his homework, but was quickly deterred by an oncoming tirade from his mother, “Bryce, what in the world was that language earlier about? I can see where this friendship is taking you, and it’s not in the right direction!”

“I’m sorry, but look on the bright side, I’m planning on a studying session at Luke’s house tomorrow after school! Is that alright with you?”

“Yeah, but you better practice some music tonight before you get to your homework. You wasted enough time frolicking with Luke.”

Bryce pulled out his violin, contemplating what his mom thought of his friends. He hated how she would always disrespect his friends like that, she always had something to complain about. He pulled out sheet music to Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in D, one of the songs that had been eluding his grasp recently. He played it slowly, to perfect the tone of his music, listening to the sounds he produced, and gradually picked up the tempo playing it faster each time through. It was such a difficult piece that most professional musicians could not imagine playing it. Why should he? He worked on it until he was satisfied for the night and went onto his homework. Bryce was a pretty sharp kid, so he vanquished it with ease. He was tired out from such a long day and felt as if he had never been more ready for bed.

~

At school the next day, Bryce skimmed through his classes, not really interested in them at all. After the last class of the day, Bryce found Luke meandering aimlessly through the courtyard.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Not too much, do you still want to come over?”

“Yeah, that sounds cool. We could work on homework, or something.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we will find something to occupy ourselves with.”

Luke’s mother’s car was even smaller on the inside than it had looked from outside Bryce’s house. This car smells like a mixture of cigarette butts and wet dog, thought Bryce, quickly checking himself and realizing how condescending his thoughts were.

They got over to Luke’s house and Bryce felt like he had to be as genial as Luke had been the previous day, so he tried to toss out a compliment as he glanced up at Luke’s shabby looking flat surrounded by a block of other nearly identical looking houses, “Your house looks pretty homely dude.”

“Oh thanks man!”

If Bryce hadn’t been looking the other way, he could have caught Luke blushing from the sting of his comment.

“Dude, my mom was flipping out cause of how we were talking yesterday, it was some weak shit. That had me hella stressed out.”

“Damn dude, that is some bad news. My mom is about to take off for her afternoon job though, so we will have the house all to ourselves. We can play video games or whatever. Anything to help you take a load off man.”

“Man, I hate video games, I literally have like all of them, and a home theater system on my wall. That shit gets old pretty quick. What else could we do?”

“Well, do you smoke? I have a couple plants in the back I have been growing. I got some fat buds that have just been cured as well.”

“Huh,” Bryce paused for a few moments, “I have never tried it, but one time probably couldn’t hurt.”

“Oh for sure, that’s what I like to hear!” Luke disappeared into his room for a minute and reappeared with a formidable looking four foot bong.

“Damn, what is that?” Bryce enquired, wearing a confused facial expression.

“Dude it’s a bong, but it has like three percolators built in. Sounds scientific, but it really just means that it rips super hard.” Luke packed a sizeable nugget into the bowl, and passed it over to Bryce, “Dude you gotta get greens since this is your first time smoking. This is my best shit right here bro.”

Bryce raised the bong to his face and Luke told him when to inhale, kneeling on the floor as he lit the other end of the bong. Bryce felt like a train hit him and was quickly subdued, falling back onto the couch behind him. He didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but soon his parents arrived to pick him up. They hadn’t gotten any work done.

“Alright, peace out then Luke. I feel whipped from just that one hit”

“Yeah, it was some heavy indica. I hope you have a good night. Later man.”

Bryce’s mom asked him whether he had finished all his homework, and almost automatically, he lied, “Yeah, me and Luke made some pretty quick work of it.”

Back at home, Bryce went straight to his room. He was bored, but felt even more restless than ever. He felt lost. He didn’t know what to do. He took out his violin and admired it’s beauty, realizing how much he had taken everything for granted in the past.

He had everything a poor boy could have desired...except for one thing. Bryce played his violin, expecting to be just as good as he was the night before. He expected to be brilliant. He expected too much of himself. His intonation was awful and he wished he had never picked it up that night. He realized so much. He realized how he had been so stuck up and introverted his whole life. He realized that in his small, twisted, materialistic world, nothing truly made him happy. His parents didn’t care about him. They just wanted him to be a prodigy so they could have bragging rights. Luke just wanted someone to abuse drugs with. He didn’t really respect him as a friend. No, Bryce realized why he always felt a longing for something so undefined. He just needed someone to care about him and love him for who he really was. Bryce realized that regardless of all the things he had done, no one appreciated him for who he was. So he wept, for the first time since infancy. For his failure to fit into society. For having tried so hard but always coming up short of what he really needed, Bryce wept, alone.