Here is a snowy, slippery, spiral fire escape.I read Slaughterhouse 5 while I was giving plasma today. I got to the part that said:
Billy answered. There was a drunk on the other end. Billy could almost smell his breath - mustard gas and roses. It was a wrong number. Billy hung up.
That whole answering a wrong number thing, reminded me of a story an old lover told me about his parents. His mother met his father when she answered a party line back in the day. He originally called for someone else, but quickly forgot about her after talking to his mom. She was a beautiful Swedish woman who had had many suitors at the time. His dad was a short Chinese man studying engineering.
My ex said that his mother chose his father over all the other men because she knew exactly how her life would pan out with the other men, but had no idea where she would end up with his dad.
After many moves and degrees and advanced degrees and a marriage and two children who she loved and fretted over, a divorce after she found her husband having an affair with their close friend's daughter, starting a gallery with money from said divorce and ultimately retiring to Mexico; I would love to ask her if the gamble on the unknown had been worth it to her. Of course, we all know that the "safe" choices that she rejected in those other men, could have turned into something completely different than she imagined too. I doubt there are any really safe major life choices out there. Shit comes at us out of nowhere and all we can do is brace ourselves and wait for it to hit or be aggressive and meet that shit head-on. So it goes.
8 comments:
Churlita,
"So it goes"
Love Kurt Vonnegut.
rel
I love the look of spiral staircases, but yes that one looks a bit slippery and dangerous.
I had a nice little chat over the phone one time with a guy who was given a wrong number by another girl. He started flirting with me then, but I was in college and not really concentrating on boyfriends at the time.
Now with caller ID on my cell, I tend not to answer numbers I don't recognize. Maybe there are some missed opportunities there :-)
Another interesting wrong number story:
My husband's uncle is a prof at the Univ of Iowa. One early morning about 3am, he is wakened from a deep sleep by a phone call. The caller is speaking Italian. Our uncle is a native Italian speaker. The caller says he heard our uncle speak in Italy and really wants to come to the U of Iowa to work with him.
Our uncle, befuddled with sleep is answering in Italian. Who are you? You heard me speak? You want to come to Iowa?
After several more questions, they figure out the caller was after ANOTHER professor at the University of Iowa who's name is eerily similar to our uncle's.
What are the chances?
Whoops - that last post was Mnmom.
Sorry.
Oh, that's a great story and a great question. Absolutely, those safe choices had no guarantees, but I tend to think the valuable/important part of the equation is HER choosing to be free of expectations. That's the liberating part, the way of thinking that had to have made her life a full tilt adventure.
I like that picture a LOT.
Great post.
I haven't had many interesting wrong number stories.. I have some one call me and say they knew what I was wearing which is creepy.. but I found out it was a male neighbour who only wanted one thing.. and it wasn't my number..lol..
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