LOOKING AT LIFE THROUGH A ZOOM LENS

By DHMcCarty

“Where do you get all of these stories, Benny?”

“Livin’. Lovin’. Dying a little inside.”

“You sure have lived some kind of life.”

“Not really any different than any other man or woman that walked this life. Our lives are just a million small stories piled end to end and tied up with a red ribbon. Or maybe barbed wire.”

“You’re talking about your life now. My life was getting up, feeding the kids breakfast, packing them off to school then getting dressed so that I could make it to work by 9:00.”

“You ever talk to the lady at the convenience store when you’re paying for your gas? Ask her how her day is going?”

She smiled and took a sip of her coffee.

“I don’t have time for that. I’ve got twenty minutes to get to work.”

“Leave 15 minutes earlier. Smile and wave to a traffic cop. Slip a thank you note into the security guards breast pocket. He thinks you don’t even see him.”

“But you remember all those things. You write them down and put a smile on it.”

“What’s Stephanie’s birthday? What year did your Dad pass away? What color was the corsage that Harry Hardon gave you for the prom? What was your second choice name for your son when he was born?”

“But all of those things are important. That’s family and friends. And his name was Henry Harden not Harry Hardon.”

“Yeah, but Harry Hardon is funnier and a lot harder to forget.

Leslie, I can’t argue with what you say. Family events are important. The corsage wasn’t family, just a milestone in a young girl’s life. You made it important and filed it away in a safe place in your cortex. What if you did the same thing for every little moment? Gave every chance encounter a life of it’s own and filed it away.

Believe me, there’s room up there.”

“I get what you’re saying but that doesn’t explain the writing. Your writing puts a smile on my face. It reminds me of events in my own life. I can’t do that.”

“Les, what if you put a tape recorder down on the table and then took it home and typed it up. That’s a story.”

“Yeah, but who would want to read that?”

Benny grinned.

“Theres someone reading it right now girl.