Abnormal Attachments

It was the perfect time, the perfect place. Max had wondered what would happen if he did this for the longest amount of time, always hoping for the right opportunity to come around and here it was. Leo was asleep on the couch in their office and his blue blanket was sticking out of his chest pocket. Max knew what to do.

He was going to replace it.

Would Leo ever notice? He always wondered whether his business partner's abnormal attachment to his blue blanket and whether or not he would realize it if it were replaced with a similar one. It was almost like a science project, just better. His question: what would a certain man named Leopold Bloom do if his precious blue blanket was replaced by a similar one? His hypothesis: that certain man named Leopold Bloom would flip out. Now it was time to experiment.

Max walked over to his desk and opened a drawer. After rummaging through some old scripts, paper clips, and pens he pulled out a blue blanket much like Leo's. Quite some time ago when he had decided that he would certainly try this out when he got a chance, he formed it to look exactly like the old one Leo always had stored away in his pocket. It had all the cuts, all the tears, everything that he could possibly imagine Leo would look for. Max then walked back over to Leo with vigilant steps and leisurely replaced Leo's old blanket with the new one. Leo only a stirred a bit but didn't wake up as Max rushed back over to his desk, placing the old blanket in one of the drawers.

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It wasn't even twenty minutes later when Leo woke up from his nap. Max sat at his desk as usual, reading scripts to musicals which he hoped to produce on Broadway. Nothing was out of place and Max was able to keep a straight face even as he was laughing hysterically on the inside. "Did you have a good nap?" he asked his business partner as Leo got off the sofa and walked over to him.

"I did." As he said this, the moment of truth came. He pulled the blanket out of his pocket and wiped away a bead of sweat on his neck with it. If Max was laughing hysterically before on the inside, he was rolling on the floor laughing now. He was sure that Leo didn't notice. There was nothing peculiar about his expression, but that didn't last very long. Right before he put it in his pocket, his eyes opened wide as if he had just seen Big Foot standing in front of him. "Max, there's something wrong," he said as the usually trembling began.

"What?" Max asked, ready to burst into laughter. He covered his face with the script he was reading in hopes that Leo would be too traumatized to notice that he was playing a joke on him.

"This isn't my blue blanket!" Leo screamed, then reached over Max's desk to grab a hold of his shirt.

"Woah!" Max exclaimed. "Leo! What the hell are you doing? Why isn't

it yours?"

Leo flung it out of his pocket again and pointed to one of the tears that Max had created. "Max, that rip is two inches in diameter. I can tell by looking at it that it isn't, and not to mention this one is much smoother. It isn't it Max! It isn't!" Tears came to the man's eyes as he began screaming. "Where's my blue blanket? Where's my blue blanket?"

Max watched Leo for a few moments, then finally said, "Leo, calm down."

"No! I can't! I can't without my blue blanket!"

It was then that Max burst into hysterical laughter. He threw his head down on his desk as he opened the drawer with the blue blanket. After taking it out, he gave it to Leo who snatched it away the second he showed it to him then threw the other one back at him. "Good one, Max, but I'll always know the difference."

"I guess," Max said. "Two inches in diameter! Who the hell remembers that?"