The Thought Dial

by Paul Vitols

Sixteen-year-old John Pulkis faces disaster: he’s got two tickets to the Doobie Brothers concert at the Vancouver Coliseum in eight days—and he’s lost them! It’s not about the money, although that was plenty—fourteen dollars, a month’s allowance. No, he needs those tickets, for only they will give him the courage to do what he otherwise cannot: ask Sue Nielsen for a date.

As a would-be astronomer, he decides to apply the scientific method: a systematic search, complete with graph paper. But as the tickets continue to elude him, his thoughts turn dark. He starts to wonder what the options are for cowards like himself, and remembers his socials teacher talking to the class about suicide. . . .

Loosely based on real-life events in Vancouver in 1975 and dedicated to the memory of an inspiring high-school teacher, The Thought Dial is a reminder that teenage life can be passionate—and the stakes can be high.

25 pages, Kindle Edition

Published December 22, 2017

About the author

Paul Vitols ("Vee-tolls"--Latvian for "willow") was born in 1959 in Vancouver, Canada, to two refugees who met at an encyclopedia salesmen's Christmas dinner.

He showed an early obsession with letters and words, which manifested in, among other things, the defacing of some of his father's books. In school he turned to filmmaking, and competed in provincial and national student film festivals. Nonetheless, the career he imagined for himself was in space science. But by age 20 he realized that, for better or worse, he was a writer, and he dropped out of university.

Paul's love of film led him into scriptwriting, and in 1992 he, with writing partner Warren Easton, broke through with a children's TV series called "The Odyssey," about a comatose 11-year-old boy trapped in an alternative world run by children as a police state. The show, known for its edge and humor, received many international awards and was broadcast in more than 50 countries.

At the same time, Paul was also at work on a novel, a literary thriller called "Truth of the Python," in which a hypnotherapist inadvertently regresses a neurotic young client to a past life as the Greek philosopher Pythagoras. Paul, after some close calls in the world of print publishing, finally brought it out as an e-book in 2011.

His current project is The Age of Pisces, an epic of the birth of Christianity, which he is calling a "literary series"--the e-book equivalent of a TV series. Episode 1, "The Mission," will appear before the dawn of the Age of Aquarius.

Along the way, Paul has also practiced journalism, copy writing, editing, and technical writing. Indeed, to keep writing and creating he has also begged and borrowed, but not stolen--yet.

He lives with his wife Kim in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Reviews

[Ivona Kafedjiska · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot was not exceptional since it is by no means unique. We have read many stories and seen many movies on this topic: a teenage boy with relatively low self-esteem struggles to ask the girl he likes out and he decides to impress her in some way (he bought expensive tickets for a concert) so that she would accept to go out with him. Nevertheless, the writing was at times very amusing and focused on what the main character was going through which made the story an enjoyable read after all. Of course since it is a short story nothing is really portrayed in depth, but it does have a nice and comprehensive flow. The ending was bit sudden, I would have wanted maybe a few more lines or pages, but I guess the author imagined it this way. I would recommend this narrative to people who like to read something easy and relaxing before sleeping or while traveling.

[Donna Frances · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story is of a boy-John-that would like to ask a girl out-Sue; to a concert namely-he must have a reason to approach her, somewhere to take her, an excuse for talking to her.
Therefore he buys some concert tickets & formulates his plan of action.
The plan goes awry when he loses the concert tickets. They must be at home, there is no where else they could be.
Hi smother advises him of ‘The Thought Dial’ in order to find them. The thought dial is numbers 1-9, plus 11 & 22. Numerology John concludes. His mother advises him to think of the ticket he wants to locate & the first 3 numbers that come into his head she then calculates them consults her book & tells him where the concert tickets will be. He finds them.
John has spoken to Sue few times before-he is partnered with her in science class. She takes interest in an equation written in his notebook-N=R*fpneflfifcL. I googled this equation myself as I was intrigued it transpires it is the Drake Equation. An equation to calculate intelligent life other than on our own planet.
I enjoyed this story greatly-John is an intelligent scientifically minded young man-which may be why he thought through so many variables in asking out a girl-the factors involved, the potential outcomes.
I was also intrigued by ‘Mr Watsons’ theory of life-John’s teacher & am inclined to agree with it.
A horizontal axis representing the length of a person’s life & a vertical axis representing the problems in someone’s life.
A very interesting short story, for those of a more curious nature.

[Chandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay..so this book, is one of those books that made me feel "I wish there were a few more pages, just a few more!". When I started this book, seeing the name I almost thought it was a science-fiction type. After I started reading, I found out it was something else. I had a short journey through a teen age boy's mind full of stress relating to some tickets. parties, dances, guns and so many things, kinda reminds me of typical Western teen-age people trying to figure why they are like what they are. Alas, just when I thought okay it's interesting...baam..the book ended. I really wish there were a few more pages about our hero's thoughts, more like thought bombs with dials. Quite nice for short reading breaks though!

[Kerstin Vollbrecht · Rating 2 out of 5]

Teenage boy John had bought tickets for a concert that it's about to take place in eight days, to which he wants to invite Sue, the girl he is interested in. In order to gather the courage to ask her out, he feels that he needs the tickets in his pocket, but unfortunately he's unable to find them.
This is a short story about the act is finding the before mentioned tickets and the reflections, insecurities and emotions that experiences our young protagonist reflecting about the situation of asking out the girl he likes. It's a story about everyday situations in the lives of children growing up and maturing, though it wasn't an exceptional plot or story, it was nice.

[Robin Atkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great short story about a teenage boy, named John Pulkis. He has 2 tickets for a concert of The Doobie Brothers and guess what, he has lost them. He struggles to find them and uses science.

The Thought Dial is a fast read and you stop to think about how hard life can be as a teen or how difficult it is for some teens to fit in with their classmates or society and how everything is a right here, right now situation. Solve it or I will just die.

I liked this short story and I do recommend it.

I received this ebook free for a fair and honest review via the author and BookTasters.

[Faiqa Ziya · Rating 4 out of 5]

It didn't have an extraordinary plot, it was not unique but it captured my heart.
This book grabbed me from the start and didn't let me go until the end, and it was because of the way the author wrote this, it had emotions- small but still there to be felt.
John is no extraordinary kid, he's a normal kid just a little too shy. But I related to him because of my nature of being shy, I really liked him.
We've all felt the feeling of anxiety at thought of asking someone out and making it perfect, I'm sure of it.

It's a short, sweet and light read, anyone can finish it in one go so if you're looking for a light book, go for this baby! I personally recommend it!

[Daniel Pezely · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this author frames his characters and their stories in a distinctive way that ultimately offers an opportunity for using it as a lens into one's own life. This story fits that pattern, and I very much enjoyed reading it and reflecting upon it.

Less about the plot than the portrayal, perhaps we each have a comparable story in our lives— or aspects of one— that this story asks us to consider for meditation.

There's a purpose, if only we can recognize it as such. A series of anomalies becomes a pattern only in hindsight. Then, the effect may be correlated with its cause.

That is the mindful meditation that this story evoked for me.

[Arcanian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book free in exchange for a review

It is a short story about a teenage boy trying to work up the courage to ask out a girl he likes. He buys (and misplaces) concert tickets as a motivation to s.pur him to action.

The story is well written and captures the emotional immediacy of every action and setback in teenage life when it feels as if the fate of the world constantly hangs in the balance. I thought the sudden mood shifts and dark thoughts coming on the main character and just as easily dispersing capture well the combination of urgency and emotional immaturity.

[ana darcy · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars
this is the story of a boy who buys tickets for a concert in order to ask the girl he likes out but he loses the tickets. He uses even scientific methods to find them. We can read the struggle of a teenager with acne and little self-esteem who is not able to faces his problems one at a time.

[Rahimah Rahim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like how the plot is simple. However part of the story was difficult to understand. Some reference was hard to decipher. Maybe you can write a simpler reference. There was also a lack of emotion displayed from the protagonist. For example, when the protagonist felt nervous I couldn't really feel that he was nervous like it was only stated he was nervous not shown.

[Manal Jamaleddine · Rating 5 out of 5]

How could a short story, with very few main characters, be so rich in experience, so deep in emotions, raising so many questions about science and myth, life and death, courage and cowardice..
A one day read, but a week of further reflection..

[EmioÑa Hammam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories are the trend of the century, since everything moves quickly. I liked the story a lot. It has a deep thoughtful idea about how teenagers feel and think. It is a short good read, that you won't regret.

[SmolSaknussemm · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is easy to read and the way we get to experience the thoughts and emotions of the protagonist during his predicament really "shines". The plot itself is not particularly innovative but the writing style is quite enjoyable

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally published at my blog: https://bookishpuffcorn.wordpress.com...

The Thought Dial is a short story by Paul Vitols. Based on the synopsis I thought of it as a typical love story of a guy who wants to ask a girl out but can’t. Well, it really is like that. The guy has low self-esteem. He doesn’t believe he could ask anyone out but there’s this one girl that caught his eye.

John is described as a teenager who has a huge crush on this girl named Sue Nielsen. The story revolves around the concert tickets that he lost. He needs the tickets for he’ll use them to ask Sue out.

Basically, it’s a story of finding the tickets and asking the girl out. John used the logical and scientific approach since he would be a future scientist. But then there’s the thought dial. Another method he used to find where the tickets are.

The ending also left me like, “wait, what?” It’s quite unique though. And surprising. Overall, I rate it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

[Naema · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free in exchange of a review.

To say this book is something new concept would be wrong many books have been written in such manner. A teenage boy trying to woo his crush by buying her something or doing something for her is a very old concept. But adding a mathematical twist to it is a new thing.
But still it didn't appeal that much to me.

Its an extremely short story which really confused me at points even though its a short, short story it did end up confusing me. I was like what when it ended. Because it just was so not what I was expecting. The characters were flat to the point where, what they were feeling just wasn't coming across for me, for example he was nervous, the sentence stated he was but was he actually feeling it was what it lacked.

All in all I would say it really didn't affect me like I expect a book to actually affect me when I'm reading it. I just read it. It didn't have the quality which would make me invest in the story.

[Bianca Sy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

"Well I mean really. If information comes from the future, why bother living through it? The only particles that travel backward in time are tachyons, and they’re hypothetical.”

I do admit there was a time that I wanted this short story to be in a script format as this could be performed in a skit. But all over, I have imagined the story like a short film—being played in front of me with a narrator in the background.

What I did like:
The opening of the story was very creative. (It really caught my attention!)
I saw John Pulkis busy creating a sketch on her study table stuffed with books (even it is not mentioned there) believing he could bring discipline to the task by applying the scientific method.

The first part made me think of him as an artist—a nerd artist—which made me adore him especially his interests in science stuff.
(He must be really intelligent. One of those zero-point-nine.)

His thoughts too, and how the author connected the events of his life to mix with the character's emotions.

Though I did not expect the topic about suicide would appear that fast, I do understand how John would ever think of that and letting himself becoming even more distressed.

What I did not like:
The information about the book his Mom handed to him so she could help her son find the tickets, left me wondering.
I think it's not just that. I think the book needs to have a background story too. Where it came from, how did it helped Ellen (John's mother), etc. etc.

Why read this:
* I have found it interesting. Especially the numbers and the stories being connected which makes it not boring for me.

* A few lessons appeared. Not all were said directly, but they develop as you read on.

---
I, therefore, conclude that I am impressed.
I recommend this for everyone to read. Who knows the realization you can get here could be used to save a friend or a loved one?

[Daffola · Rating 5 out of 5]

a very nice story to read . A teenage boy who plans on asking a girl out and taking her to a concert. When i read it i got curious to know where the concert tickets that he had lost were and if he would find them or not . I just wanted to read more and more...the tone of this story kinda reminded me of that in the gift of the Magi even though their plots are different .