Monday, July 24, 2006

Sunday Scribblings "Thief"

Sunday Scribblings

This week the prompt for Sunday scribblings is “Thief” I think most people have a fear of being ripped off or robbed. What we don’t tend to realize is that often times we rob ourselves of more than any criminal could ever take from us in a million lifetimes.
We rob ourselves from the opportunity to be happy. We allow too many other things to simply get in the way.

Work, school, that story you have been working on….

The could haves,

The should haves,

The might have beens and the wish I hads.

Loves lost, the job you almost had, the one that got away. The crappy job you still have.

What might be…..

We want so badly to let that pain go, and yet in some perverse way we need it to stay. We steal glimpses into the past when we hear a song playing on the radio that reminds us of a certain someone each and every time we hear it. We steal glimpses into the past each time we pass the bingo hall where Granny used to spend a lot of her time.

Oddly enough at the time we were too busy focussing on thier flaws to appreciate them. Oddly enough, at the time we were too busy wondering when Granny would be done and we could just get the hell out of there. We go through life worrying about the past, and the future so much that we allow the ‘now’ to be stolen from us time and time again. Truth be told, perhaps we actually give it away. We spend so much time worrying about what is 'wrong' that we don't bother to appreciate what is 'right'.


Old Mr. shackleford looks up from his garden to see what that sound is. He curses as he sees a number of military F-16’s streak by rattling the ground he is standing on so hard that one of his tomatoes falls to the dirt beside him.

“damn showoffs!” he screams holding up his hoe to the sky in a menacing gesture.

Tobi Jenkins yells and screams at the driver in front of him doing 33 miles an hour in the fast lane. He weaves in and out of traffic trying his best to get home from work in time to make it to the party.

Anna Jergenson steps off the scale, shaking her head. She looks into the mirror and hates the reflection staring back at her. She despises the child bearing hips, the stretch marks, and the 15 pounds that simply won’t go away. She can't hear those around her telling her how beautiful she is. Thier voices are constantly drowned out by the reflection in the mirror asking if she will ever be able to get her pre pregnancy figure back.


Janice Tobin, wants to scream as she cleans up the new puppy’s latest present for her in the middle of the living room carpet. She curses the day that Gene talked her into getting this mutt. “It will teach Adam some responsibility” he had said. Yeah right, look who was here cleaning up the damn mess.

Allan Gentry, slams his hand on the table and demands his waiter go get a manager immediately. When the manager arrives he tells him that “medium well is supposed to have a trace of pink in the middle, just a trace!” In spite of the free desert and the apologies of the manager he vows to never return to a place that can’t cook a good steak correctly and storms out.
Life goes on.....

Time passes......

Things change....

Things stay the same.....


Amy Johnson holds her little boys hand. She bravely fights back the tears as the bugler’s rendition of taps fades away on the summer breeze. She bravely fights back the tears and cringes each time the 7 impeccably tailored soldiers fires off a round in tribute. The tears finally come when Colonel Jefferson hands them a folded up flag and asks them to accept it with the thanks of a grateful nation.

Life goes on.......

Time passes.......

Things change......

Things stay the same......

A car pulls out of traffic onto the shoulder and turns its hazard lights on. A young woman gets out, walks along the shoulder to an area just in front of a deep drainage ditch. The hustle and bustle of life goes on all around her as she dutifully clears out the weeds and debris around a small bouquet of flowers and a plaque placed there by the side of the road.

Life goes on.......

Time passes......

Things change.......

Things stay the same.......

A young woman with an hour glass figure that all the guys love cries into her pillow and asks God over and over “why me?”. The words of her doctor echo in her ears like shouts off the Grand Canyon walls. “Unable to conceive”

Conceive,,,,,conceive,,,,,,cieve”

“There is always adoption,

Adoptionnnnn ,,,,,,doption,,,,,doption”

Life goes on.......Time passes......Things change.......Things stay the same.


Mrs. Tobin is holding Adam’s hand and they are standing underneath the old oak tree in the yard. The blue rubber ball that provided them with countless hours of ‘fetch’ is in his other hand. She watches as he lovingly places it at the base of the wooden cross. Turning his tear streaked face up to her, he asks, “Mommy, do dogs go to heaven?” “Yes honey they do.” And they can poop on the carpet any time they like.


Life goes on......Time passes.......Things change.......Things stay the same.....

As he is watching television, Allen Gentry sees a story breaking on the news. Authorities have found two children who had been locked in the basement with almost no food for months at a time. As the mal nourished children are led to the back of a waiting ambulance and whisked away he can not help but to think, just a trace of pink indeed.

For more Sunday Scribblings please visit http://sundayscribblings.blogspot.com/

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6 comments:

christine said...

Very beautiful writing! I enjoyed that immensely.

paris parfait said...

Excellent post. Really clever! Thanks for sharing these home truths.

sundaycynce said...

WOW, BD, I loved this!!! Such deep thought and such an original take on this not-so-easy to write about prompt. Thanks for writing and sharing.

briliantdonkey said...

Christine: Thanks for stopping by and commenting again.

Paris and Sundaycynce: Thank you for stopping by and the nice comments as well. I am glad that you enjoyed it. It(this post, and my writing in general) is quite raw and in need of a lot of work but it is always good to hear someone enjoyed reading it in spite of all of that.

Thanks again,

Rob

Kay said...

Some of these ring so true. Well done!

Anthony Rapino said...

Very cool.

I wanted to come by and thank you for your kind words about my interview and blog. I'm adding a link to your blog on my page.

Cheers.

-Tony