The exercise:
Write about: debt.
Today managed to pass quite quickly without too much of note actually happening. That seems to be occurring a lot lately.
Mine:
Shawn was not a fastidious man. It seemed as though there was not a favour he would not agree to do, nor a person in his town he was not willing to do it for. He could be counted on to lend a helping hand at any hour of the day, with no apparent consideration of himself.
"Thanks man, I owe you one!"
How many times had he heard that? How many times have you or I heard it?
But the difference between Shawn and us is that he took that casual phrase very, very seriously.
You see, his office at home held a large red book in one of its dark corners. And in this book Shawn kept precise, detailed notes of all the favours he had performed and who he had done them for. No held door was omitted, no carried grocery bag forgotten.
It took many years, but eventually Shawn had the name of every townsperson inscribed in his book. Real, physical proof of all that he had done for those people. His day had come at last.
One might be surprised to learn how much can be accomplished when an entire town is in your debt.
3 comments:
Sounds like a pleasant day where nothing notable happens :) I got home and had to deal with work emails all evening because of the time-zones between here and Australia. Roll on Christmas!
I'd say it takes real dedication to get an entire town in debt to you, but I admire Shawn, and I wish I could do the same thing myself. I really like the idea of the book too, I can picture it really easily.
Debt
Charles Asciugimento, Head of Building Security, was trying to look sympathetic. His lips were turned fractionally up, and his eyes were half-lidded, and he was mentally telling himself, over and over, that he shouldn't jump to conclusions and assume that the woman talking to him was stupid.
"I can't tell the difference!" she wailed, her eyes reddening with uncried tears and her hair losing its bouffance and draping itself blondely around her shoulders. "How do I tell what debit is and what credit is?"
Charles gave up his thoughts and assigned her to the "stupid" category.
"Drop the i," he said tersely. "Debit becomes Debt, which is what you're now in. Credit becomes Credt, which sounds like cretin, which...." He forced himself to stop, and the silly woman started crying.
"I'm in debt?" she said, sniffing heartily and honking like a goose.
"Yes," said Charles. "You've managed to give away two-thirds of the shop's takings for the day."
"But you can catch the people who took the money, right?"
"No," said Charles. "I'm here to catch you, which I've done, and then see that building security is maintained."
Down-grading
Ever rising
Bankers say
Trust us.
Greg - ugh, when your work day does not end when you get home, it is definitely time for the holidays to arrive.
Fun little scene, with many great details bringing it to life :)
Morganna - pretty much. Good work expressing that so succinctly!
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