Recently, I decided that one of my new life goals was to become a professor at Harvard one day. After a day of reading a little bit of information of what it may take to reach that, I decided to listen to the pandora station of one of my favorite bands of all time, Black Sabbath. I heard the song called Supernaut (by Black Sabbath) for the first time and I was amazed by it. While listening to it, this story that I’m about to describe below played through my head. Basically, there are four Harvard professors at a sports bar/restaurant place, like Twin Peaks. One is a prominent law professor, Dr David Wilkins, the other is a corporate finance professor in the prestigious Harvard Business School MBA program, another is a mathematician and award-winning mathematics professor, and the last one is an award-winning physics professor who teaches one of the toughest undergrad physics courses in America, Physics 16. Throughout this scene (and the song) they’re having a great time on what’s likely a Friday night. Round after round of beer, intellectual discussion that gradually weakens as the alcohol flows, and overall cutting loose and having a good time. The Harvard prestige is not left behind at such a scene. At one point, one or more of the professors whip out an American Express Centurion Card (AKA “black card”) out of their wallets. It adds a level of mystique to all of it, because while it’s known that teachers and professors can make good money, it’s unheard for them to have that kind of wealth and income level that is needed for the Centurion Card. This means they don’t just make good money, they make a lot of money. It adds a “wow” factor for some, makes others wonder, and everyone else doesn’t care. As the song ends, so does the scene. I could never really come up with a good ending. My question is, how can I turn the above into a good, enjoyable short story that still goes great with the song?
I love Supernaut! It's possibly my favorite track by Sabbath. Just the way Iommi comes back in at the end of the interlude . . . it's like a fist to the gut. The song's about drug use. No surprise there. "I want to climb up on a mountain on the moon . . ." There couldn't be a more 'Ozzyish' thing to say. So there should be some kind of drug angle, IMO. Maybe there's some sort of new drug out there that the others are speculating on? Undergrads are taking it for alertness or something, with bad consecquences. The others wonder how things got so bad so quickly, because the scene was always rather harmless until this year. The story ends with implications of who's designed this. You might have to change your rich prof to a chemist or something.
The dialogue is what I’m having a hard time getting down. The scene in my head playing out (as the song is playing) is just laughing and good time-type stuff. And yes Supernaut is one of the best of all time! I like Symptom of the universe too!
