danny.txt

»Hey, Danny! Why don't you just go,« he asked teasingly. His little brother stood only fifty feet from him. The ideal distance, he thought. No, he didn't think. He hadn't thought for the last two years of his life. He knew.

»Why don't you just go?« He repeated the taunt, knowing full well what his two years younger sibling was thinking. Ever since kindergarten, he had been a little distanced from the world, as if he lived slightly out of phase with it. As if only a fraction of the world's truths were real to him.

He was always entranced by a movie, a comic, a sci-fi book, a cartoon. Always just sitting, never talking -- but always getting mom's attention.

»Mom said not to go over the street until it's empty,« Danny replied, having trouble getting his 9-year-old voice to be audible over the noise of the street. He looked at his brother standing against the lamp-post, wondering why he didn't come nearer. As usual, when something didn't make sense to him, he discarded it as his own silliness. That's what mom had always said.

»Look, the car's aren't gonna hurt you. Haven't you watched cartoons?« Danny loved watching Road Runner.

»It's your first day alone in traffic, do you really wanna make everyone think you're bad at it?«

»Are you sure? Mom said ...«

»Of course I'm sure.« He said it with a light, slightly worried laugh, and a shake of the head. Why would he do that? He was behaving very oddly.

»But what'll happen if a car hits me? Wouldn't it hurt?«

»I told you, it won't hurt!«

»Well, okay then ...« He pulled his bike a little forward under him, and started moving forward.

»Now,« the older brother said, with a weird intonation of his voice -- almost as if he was scared. The younger didn't know it was a cover, the older played the part too well.

»Just go!« He shouted, and started running at his brother, looking positively frightened.

It made no sense to Danny, so he turned his head to see what his brother was doing.

* * *

Mom came driving down the busy street running parallel to the one on which she lived. She'd just given her youngest son permission to cycle unaided in traffic. She wondered, absentmindedly, if she's made the right choice.

She saw the silhouette -- the sun was setting in front of her -- of a young boy at the road side, standing with a bike between his legs, looking intently at the traffic. An older boy was talking to him. He looked like he was discouraging the other from something, shaking his head a little.

The older boy, whom she now recognized as her older son, started running towards his brother, apparently screaming »No!« Too late she realized what was going on, and started swerving frantically.

* * *

He felt a sudden change in the direction of the wind. His childish cape, which he always wore, moved abruptly from the slow left-going breeze float, to a violent horizontal attempt to escape its wearers neck.

Danny moved his head quickly to the direction of the wind, and realized in that very moment what had caused that high-pitched noise. The brakes on his mother's car had little effect now, however, but gave Danny the chances of seeing his mother in sheer terror for a tenth of a second longer.

* * *

At the funeral, he was the one who cried the loudest.

© 2007 Mikael Høilund

danny_wrapped.txt

»Hey, Danny! Why don't you just go,« he asked teasingly. His little 
brother stood only fifty feet from him. The ideal distance, he thought. 
No, he didn't think. He hadn't thought for the last two years of his 
life. He knew.

»Why don't you just go?« He repeated the taunt, 
knowing full well what his two years younger sibling was thinking. Ever 
since kindergarten, he had been a little distanced from the world, as if 
he lived slightly out of phase with it. As if only a fraction of the 
world's truths were real to him.

He was always entranced by a movie, a 
comic, a sci-fi book, a cartoon. Always just sitting, never talking -- 
but always getting mom's attention.

»Mom said not to go over the 
street until it's empty,« Danny replied, having trouble getting his 9-
year-old voice to be audible over the noise of the street. He looked at 
his brother standing against the lamp-post, wondering why he didn't come 
nearer. As usual, when something didn't make sense to him, he discarded 
it as his own silliness. That's what mom had always said.

»Look, the 
car's aren't gonna hurt you. Haven't you watched cartoons?« Danny loved 
watching Road Runner.

»It's your first day alone in traffic, do you 
really wanna make everyone think you're bad at it?«

»Are you sure? 
Mom said ...«

»Of course I'm sure.« He said it with a light, 
slightly worried laugh, and a shake of the head. Why would he do that? 
He was behaving very oddly.

»But what'll happen if a car hits me? 
Wouldn't it hurt?«

»I told you, it won't hurt!«

»Well, okay 
then ...« He pulled his bike a little forward under him, and started 
moving forward.

»Now,« the older brother said, with a weird 
intonation of his voice -- almost as if he was scared. The younger 
didn't know it was a cover, the older played the part too well.

»Just 
go!« He shouted, and started running at his brother, looking positively 
frightened.

It made no sense to Danny, so he turned his head to see 
what his brother was doing.

* * *

Mom came driving down the busy 
street running parallel to the one on which she lived. She'd just given 
her youngest son permission to cycle unaided in traffic. She wondered, 
absentmindedly, if she's made the right choice.

She saw the 
silhouette -- the sun was setting in front of her -- of a young boy at 
the road side, standing with a bike between his legs, looking intently 
at the traffic. An older boy was talking to him. He looked like he was 
discouraging the other from something, shaking his head a little.

The 
older boy, whom she now recognized as her older son, started running 
towards his brother, apparently screaming »No!« Too late she realized 
what was going on, and started swerving frantically.

* * *

He felt a 
sudden change in the direction of the wind. His childish cape, which he 
always wore, moved abruptly from the slow left-going breeze float, to a 
violent horizontal attempt to escape its wearers neck.

Danny moved his 
head quickly to the direction of the wind, and realized in that very 
moment what had caused that high-pitched noise. The brakes on his 
mother's car had little effect now, however, but gave Danny the chances 
of seeing his mother in sheer terror for a tenth of a second longer.

* 
* *

At the funeral, he was the one who cried the loudest.

© 2007 
Mikael Høilund

wrapwrapwrap!.rb

require 'rubygems'
require 'stringray'
 
class String
  include StringRay
  
  # Constantizes a string, changing it from snake_case or 'space case' to
  # TitleCase, however necessary
  def constantize
    str = self
    str = str.gsub /\s/, '_'
    str = str.gsub(/(^|_)(\w)/) { "#{$2.capitalize}" }
  end
  
  def /(o)
    File.join(self, o.to_s)
  end
  
  def indent spaces
    if spaces.respond_to? :to_s # duck,
      self.split("\n").map {|s| [spaces, s].join }.join("\n")
    elsif spaces.respond_to? :to_i # duck,
      self.split("\n").map {|s| [(' ' * spaces), s].join }.join("\n")
    else # goose!
      raise ArgumentError, "#{spaces} is neither string-ish nor numeric-ish"
    end
  end
  
  # Simply returns an array of two string pieces split at +length+.
  def split_at length
    self.scan /.{1,#{length}}/
  end
  
  # Wraps a string, *intelligently*
  def wrap width, min = nil
    raise ArgumentError, "#{width} is not numeric-ish" unless width.respond_to? :to_i
    min ||= (width.to_i * 0.75).to_i # Default to about a third of the full width
    raise ArgumentError, "#{min} is not numeric-ish" unless min.respond_to? :to_i
    
    
    self.inject([""]) do |wrapped, word|
      #puts "word: #{word.inspect}, current line: #{wrapped.last.inspect}"
      # If we're still short enough to fit the word, do so
      if wrapped.last.length + word.rstrip.length <= width
        #puts "- new length #{wrapped.last.length + word.rstrip.length} (#{wrapped.last.length} + #{word.rstrip.length}) is less than #{width}\n\n"
        wrapped.last << word
      # Else, if we're less than minimum width
      elsif wrapped.last.length < min
        #puts "- new length #{wrapped.last.length + word.rstrip.length} (#{wrapped.last.length} + #{word.rstrip.length}) would be more than #{width}"
        #puts "- current length #{wrapped.last.length} is less than #{min}\n\n"
        bits = word.split_at(width - wrapped.last.length)
        wrapped.last << bits.shift
        bits.join.split_at(width)
        bits.each {|bit| wrapped << bit}
      # Else if neither can fit on current line, nor is line short enough; and
      # the word is short enough to fit on the new line
      elsif word.chomp.length < width
        #puts "- new length #{wrapped.last.length + word.rstrip.length} (#{wrapped.last.length} + #{word.rstrip.length}) would be more than #{width}"
        #puts "- current length #{wrapped.last.length} is more than #{min}"
        #puts "- word's length #{word.chomp.length} is less than #{width}\n\n"
        wrapped << word
      # If it can't fit on the current line, and it can't fit wholly on a line
      # by it's own
      else
        #puts "- new length #{wrapped.last.length + word.rstrip.length} (#{wrapped.last.length} + #{word.rstrip.length}) would be more than #{width}"
        #puts "- current length #{wrapped.last.length} is more than #{min}"
        #puts "- word's length #{word.chomp.length} is more than #{width}"
        bits = word.split_at(width)
        bits.each {|bit| wrapped << bit}
      end
      
      wrapped
    end.join("\n")
  end
  
end

File.open('danny_wrapped.txt', 'w') do |f|
  f.write File.read('danny.txt').wrap(72)
end