»
Main Forums
»
Passions in Prose
»
Kismet
| Passions in Prose |
|
Kismet |
|
Mysteria 
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada 
|
1,260 words Charlie approached the last house in the block. “Well, after this one I’ll call it a day,” he thought. “What a day this has been, hot, stuffy, frustrating, and not one of the calls I’ve made could really be called a prospect.” Just the same, on average days he liked meeting the public, and the sale of a set of encyclopedias gave him some worthwhile satisfaction, as he liked to think of himself as a crusader for education. Yet this other voice seemed to ask him, “Was it worth it Charlie? “ He had all that slogging along the streets, being rebuffed by indifferent women, and yapped at by obnoxious dogs. His wife Mary was such an understanding sort, contently unruffled by feast or famine in the weekly sales he made. He often wondered how she made a go of it. Jack, his son was a helpful kid and had gotten a job for this summer with a surveying crew to make enough money to start himself at university in the fall, so with a family like his, life really wasn’t all that bad. He recalled, almost chuckling the first time he had met Mary. “Actually it was my straw hat that did it. It was at the cliff lookout one summer’s day, and I was mounting the steps to look at the view from the platform at the top. Boy, what a lad I was in those days. Cream flannel pants, white shoes and a multicolored blazer. I didn’t have one of those clips they sell to fasten my hat to my blazer lapel or it all wouldn’t have happened. As I came up the last three or four steps the wind caught my hat and blew it across the platform almost to the feet of a young lady standing there admiring the view. Another young lady was the only other person on that platform, but evidently was no friend of the first one. My apologies followed and I got into a conversation with her, later accompanying her back to town on the bus. After Charlie had rung the bell at this last house on the road, and had juggled his brochures into a convenient position for his opening sales pitch, an elderly gentleman opened the door. Before Charlie could say anything the old chap said, “Won’t you come in, it is quite warm today and I am sure you would like to sit down instead of standout out there?” The old gentleman led him into a large study and showed him to a comfortable chair. He introduced himself as a Dr. Cyril. “You might say that I am a writer, but more particularly a student of the laws of chance as they affect the course of human life. I have studied this a lot, and think that in human affairs we have more than one chance in our lifetime and may make a choice, for better or worse, as we see fit, of course. “You know,” he went on, waving his hand at a large bookshelf, “I have been fascinated by the might-have-been, especially in history. Now there is a book I wrote on the theme that had Napoleon win the battle of Waterloo, how different might have been the history of Europe since those times. Instead of a lot of states continually warring with each other there would have been unity and the world would have been very much more advanced than it is today. Still this is only one of my fancies, one man’s opinion, you might say. I suppose you can recall that at some time or other in your life you came to a point where you had to make a decision of some importance, and you cast the die one way or another?” Charlie answered as best he could, rather non-pulsed by all this garrulity. “Yes, Doctor, that must be a very fascinating subject and I am sure there must be something in it.” In the meantime the Doctor had brought a drink into the room, saying, “You must be quite hot with all that walking, just have this cool drink and you will relax a bit, we can talk in a minute. Excuse me for just a moment.” The drink seemed very refreshing as Charlie started to relax in the large chair. Through the open window birds could be heard singing in the leafy garden. Everything seemed at peace here, and he must have drowsed off for a moment or two. Though foggy, he found he was mounting those three or four steps of the lookout again and his straw hat went sailing over towards a young lady, one or two who were admiring the view. He apologized and retrieved it, getting into conversation with her. As they left the lookout together the other young lady looked at him rather reproachfully, he thought, and he imagined that she thought he had rather contrived the whole incident. He now seemed to be some sort of business executive in an office, and reached into a drawer for a bottle of pills. His secretary brought him a glass of water, and he swallowed two of the pills as he wiped his brow. “What a life this is.” He thought, “Ulcers and business troubles galore. Heaven knows how long I can stay in business the way things are going. I haven’t much comfort at home, Enid is running around at all hours of the day and night spending money I don’t have. Wallace piled up his car again this week, and there will be huge amounts of cash needed for college after the summer is over. It’s a wonder I don’t just end it all. Still, that would just be donating my insurance for another wild spree.” Charlie heard a step near him. The Doctor had reentered the room. “Have a nice nap?” he asked, “I thought I’d leave you a minute or two longer when I looked in last. It really does you good to have a day like this. Well, what was the nature of your visit by the way? I’m afraid I really neglected to ask you, or perhaps I didn’t even give you a chance to tell me?” he beamed. After such kind treatment, Charlie hardly liked to push a hard sales talk, but when he explained it all, the Doctor said that a set of encyclopedias would be just the thing for his patients and visitors, and not to say the least for himself as well. So on accepting the Doctor’s cheque, Charlie arranged for their delivery and thanked the doctor for his kindness, and then he departed. The doctor very carefully poured the liquid left in Charlie’s glass down the drain and rinsed the glass out thoroughly before putting by the sink to re-wash for the next visitor. “Well,” thought Charlie as he walked back up the block to his car, “Perhaps there is something to the old Doctor’s thesis. Maybe you can take the wrong fork in the road, but believe me, I am darn sure I took the right one. I wonder if Mary remembers that lookout, or even if there was another girl there at the time? I think I will take her out to dinner tonight on the strength of this last sale. I never realized what a wonderful family I had until today.” Slowly Charlie drove past the doctor’s office, and he wondered what Dr. Psy. meant. Oh well, whatever he was it was a pleasant sales experience and he had never felt more refreshed. Mysteria © 03/2003 |
||
| © Copyright 2003 Mysteria 1997 - All Rights Reserved | |||
|
SPIRIT Senior Member
since 2002-12-29
Posts 1745California Desert |
Interesting post. I thoroughly enjoyed. |
||
|
Larry C
since 2001-09-10
Posts 10286United States |
Sharon, Yup, a lot of truth in this write. Fun reading. Well done.  If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again. |
||
|
Kethry Member Rara Avis
since 2000-07-29
Posts 9082Victoria Australia |
Mysteria, very, very interesting philosophy about the choices we make and you told it well. I was held in thrall to the very end. It must have been that refreshing drink I just had. Kethry Here in the midst of my lonely abyss, a single joy I find...your presence in my mind. Unknown |
||
|
Flower Member
since 2003-03-15
Posts 240California |
This was great reading material. Love reading all these great writes. |
||
|
Mysteria
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328British Columbia, Canada |
Wow I sort of wrote of an idea I was thinking and twisted it around to become this period story about fate and choices, and didn't even realize you nice folks read it. Thanks so kindly. I love writing quick little stories every now and then, and glad you enjoyed. it. |
||
|
|
⇧ top of page ⇧ |
|
| All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format. | ||
