Strangers

When I started this damned thing, I never had any intention of it becoming prolific. So far, so good. My good friend Laura had won a “Prolific Blogger” award recently, and I send my congratulations. She has recently granted me the “Creative Writing” award (God knows why). I don’t think I’ve been very creative in damn near thirty years. I just keep rehashing the same stories. But since I’m clever, and have oodles of charm, I can pull it off quite well.

The thing that keeps me writing though is people. Not my friends or family, at my age most of them are dead anyhow. Instead, it is the people I happen to meet from day to day either at the grocery store, the post office, or coffee shops. One of my closest friends, Adam Richards, and I met at a coffee shop.

Yesterday, I was walking into my favorite little coffee shop and out came a group of damn rowdy kids, not one over fifteen. They came out yelling, “Oh my God! It’s fucking Theo! Hey Theo! Do you remember us, do you?” Normally, maybe it’s my age, I would try to figure out how I know those dam rowdy kids, but instead, I said nothing, and shooed them away with a scowl. I assumed Adam was in the shop and seeing me walk down the street, coached those damn rowdy kids into harassing me. Instead, Adam was late, and my curiosity grew to find out if I really knew those damn rowdy kids. I quickly walked back outside to find them getting on their bicycles, preparing to ride away. “Hey there! How do I know you?” They laughed, one yelled, “You don’t!” and they threw up their middle fingers as they rode off. I, without hesitation, threw up my own middle finger, and lit a cigarette. Despite being a retired college professor and novelist, this was my reaction. Oh well.

Today, I met a young woman at the post office. Since we were at the post office, we were standing in a line. She was mailing a birthday present, and I was buying stamps. We got to talking, and she told me that she had just quit her job. I congratulated her, and asked her ex-profession. Human Resources, she said. She told me that she was sick and tired of firing people. “Oh you’ve worked here your whole life?” She said. “Well, you’re fired. Sorry! Oh you’re child has a terrible disease?” She said. “Well, your family just lost their health insurance. Sorry!” She was the most interesting woman I have met this week. She wasn’t older than thirty-five: A spring chicken! I hope she will find something she enjoys more, or at least that these American companies will decide to start hiring people again instead of firing them. Then perhaps, my HR friend may find some joy in her work. Who knows.

Do you enjoy meeting strangers as much as I do? Do they help with your writing? Now with all these computers laying around, how does one find characterization inspiration?