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Sunday Morning Post (A Prompt Challenge)

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Happy Sunday kids. I’ve got a prompt post that was issued by yours truly. I shared it with the two other members of the Holy Trinity, The Notorious Q at A Dalectable Life and KC Sunshine at Table For One, so’s they could join in the fun if they feel like it. It’s simple as Simon, really. Take yourself back to the year 1985 (Yes, it’s a hat tip to Zemeckis) and explain to someone from that time what 2018 looks like. My post went in an entirely different direction than I was expecting it to go, so there’s not as much in the way of details as I imagined there might be. This post became about perspective, and how valuable a thing it truly is. 

I’m speaking on the particulars with my old friend Danny, who was taken from the world in the summer of 1985. It was much too soon for him. It was much too soon for all of us. Life always seems to steal the people you can least afford to live without, and now I find myself picking up the pieces of years that never happened and piecing them back together again as if a mosaic. Thirty three years that feel like a smoky mist.

“It’s been so long . . ” I say.

“Well . . I don’t understand time the same way you do. This is eternity, the shit lasts forever . . like velcro,”

“Yeah, how does that work anyways?”

“Velcro?” Danny asks with a sly grin.

“No . . . asshole,”

Danny laughs before tapping open a box of Reds. He wrist shots his Zippo torch and takes an elaborate tug as he ponders my question.

“What? You smoke now?”

“It can’t kill me,” Danny laughs.

“Hey, remember the time . . .”

“Yeah I do,” Danny says, cutting me off at the pass. “I was never so sick in my life!”

“You never forgave Joanne for that shit,”

“She gave this impressionable young pup the run of her Daddy’s wet bar and her pack of smokes. That girl was bad news, but you wouldn’t listen,”

“Hey man, that was your fucking lesson to learn. The dude who never smokes or drinks, decides Hey why not do both in the same night because I don’t know any of the girls here and maybe vomiting all over myself will make me look more appealing,”

“Screw . . . you, man!” Danny laughs so hard that he spits.

“I can’t believe Patti asked about you after that,” I say.

“Marc . . it’s like this. The bad boys appealed to her, but she was in need of a good man,”

“Well played!” I say, clapping my hands exaggeratedly as Danny takes his bows.

“So . . did Patti take it hard? Me dying and all?”

“We all did,”

“I’m talking about Patti here,”

“She never married. She became a nun,”

“You serious?”

“Of course I’m not fucking serious!” I laugh.

“No respect for the dead, tell you what,” Danny smiles.

“Things went from horrible to worse after you died. There was a grand jury investigation. Me and Matt went off the deep end there for a while and Shereen moved to Florida. I followed her there for a quick minute,”

“It’s all frying pans and fires with you!” Danny says.

“Name of my game, and I’m the one to blame,”

“Okay, since I’ve been lousy with the details since I left, seeing as how they don’t matter any longer . . what’s say you give me some dope on the state of the world. Was Orwell right?”

“Yes and no. Technology is a high wire act in 2018. We use it for everything while hoping we never reach the point where it starts using us. That old Tandy computer you had . . it done made babies. There’s a thing called the internet, and now you can chat with people from around the world. And it’s all about mobility now . . we carry our computers with us and they fit in a small bag. Not that we need ’em all the time, since our phones do everything,”

“You carry your phones?”

“Landlines are antiques. Water fountains too since everyone uses bottled water now. Newspapers and magazines and pizza delivery . . you get it on your mobile devices. We even have Dick Tracy watches!”

“Who’s the President?”

“Trump,”

“Huh,”

“Yanno . . that doesn’t sound nearly as ridiculous to you as it truly is. Okay . . lemme try harder. America’s Dad, Bill Cosby is a convicted rapist serving time. Joe Paterno, turns out . . wasn’t a Saint. He was taken down in a child rape cover-up at the school.  Communism died, and then it came back as something even scarier. Terrorist attacks are happening all over the world, all the time. Kids don’t fight after school anymore, they just brings guns in and kill other kids,”

“Alright . . shit. Sorry I asked,”

“The world’s in a very shitty place, Danny boy,”

“Nah. The world’s just fine, Marc. It’s just some of the people in it who rearrange the furniture and mess up the entire living space,”

“Fucking stardust has game! You were never this philosophical on the A side of things,”

“That’s what eternity will do to a guy,”

“Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of good. We had a black President. The internet has made the world smaller, and for the most part, warmer. And while Prince, Bowie and Freddie Mercury went much too soon, their music is still kicking,”

“See? Good shit happens if you take the time to look for it,”

“You’ve got perspective,”

“Well, I remember all the good times. There’s this one night, we were heading home. We had summer jobs waiting on us in the morning and Marianne decides that going into town is the greatest idea ever. It was closing in on midnight and it was breaking the rules, and nothing made more sense in that moment”

“Shit, I forgot all about that . .”

“I think about it all the time. Going over the Queensboro and the city was just getting down to business, and we were listening to Queen and screaming our lungs out and chasing forever and it didn’t matter that we were never gonna catch it. All that mattered was the try,”

I don’t have the heart to tell him that the city he remembers ain’t there anymore. And it doesn’t matter, now. All that matters is the moment he’s holding onto, and all I know is this.

I want in.

 

 

 

 

55 thoughts on “Sunday Morning Post (A Prompt Challenge)”

  1. Tour de force, Marc. Your conversation took me to a place where I had the same loss. It was in 1965 but if I were to try and update my friend I wouldn’t know where to start. We lost a lifetime together and that is about all there is to say. This was delicious. Thanks.

    Liked by 3 people

    • John,

      Yeah, I could’ve written twenty five posts on all the many things that stand between then and now and STILL not gotten it all in. But then I slowed it all down and just imagined a face to face conversation with my old friend, and all that mattered were those special memories we take with us into forever.

      We are simpatico, you and me. Love you for getting me this way.

      Peace

      Liked by 3 people

    • Monika,

      It is amazing isn’t it? To think of how much life has changed, and how it just does NOT feel as if it was that long ago! That was such a great year for us until it became the worst year of our lives. Life is some strange ride, tell you what.

      Love and peace to you sistah!

      Liked by 3 people

      • Right back atcha, Marco. As I look back at the 80’s I was newly single raising two kids, going to school at night, working and living in a big city and trying to figure out what I was meant to do with my life. That, my friend, was a seriously deep pond! ☮️

        Liked by 3 people

          • That’s it! Yes, they used to sponsor the women’s tennis circuit.
            Yep, they were doing their damndest to send us to early graves right along with the Marlboro Cowboy and Joe Camel. Of course, they justified their Hollywood come on’s by saying their ads were tame compared to the old Mad Men who used to sell the baby boomers on cigarettes for breakfast.

            Liked by 2 people

  3. I loved the memory, the angle, the perspective, and the wisdom that two old friends still share even despite the decades and realms that separate. I’m still thinking on this, moving between which emotion will form my point of view. Thanks for the perfect read this Sunday afternoon.

    Liked by 1 person

    • KC,

      I feel the presence of this dude in all the most unexpected places. Or something will occur to me out of the ennui and I have to think there were cosmic ingredients involved. And don’t get me started on the times when I’m thinking back on some stupid shit we did and a song comes on that nails that time but good.
      It’s best we stick to coincidence as being the reason. 😉

      Liked by 2 people

      • I hear you. Though I’m not sure I believe in coincidences. I think spirits like people are with us when we need them, when we don’t know we need them, and even, yes, when we can’t see them, but we can feel them.

        Liked by 2 people

        • Indeed, and that was my point. I think coincidences are a comfort level thing for many of us. To explain the unexplainable. It’s hard for us humans to admit that we don’t know what we don’t know.

          Personally, I love the not knowing. I actually find comfort in the idea that there is something else, somewhere else.

          Liked by 2 people

  4. I can imagine the same kind of conversation 20 years from now…u & ur friend – u never know what’s gonna happen – the world evolves toooo fast 💨
    Hilarious, warm, touching, sad – love it, wonderful post

    Liked by 1 person

  5. Dearest B,

    You took this to such a fantabulous place. I love how you introduced us to your friend, that we found out you lost in that previous post, and had such a beautiful, yet natural conversation with him. And without going into the über crazy that 2018 is, still gave a glimpse.

    How in the name of hell am Ii gonna come up with something decent NOW?

    Christ, you set the bar so high.

    Lotsa love, always,

    Q

    Liked by 1 person

    • Q,

      Oh, you always come up with something that it bettah than hot buttah . . so there is that.

      And on the Danny front, yeah . . I can imagine a conversation would go just that way. He was a different cat alright, and I don’t have to tell you, it doesn’t matter how long a person is gone from us. They never leave.
      That memory of going across the bridge feels like it happened five minutes ago. I like to think the vastness of the universe means there are planets in which a single day of our lives exists in perpetuity. Thank God that night is far enough away that my voice ain’t breaking any glass!

      Much love and thanks to you sweet thing.

      B

      Liked by 1 person

      • You are definitely one of my biggest fans… and I thank you for your belief in me.

        I can attest to that. I think of Patricia, Roxanne, Brenda, to name just a few friends that came into and left my life. They are still there.
        I agree. Wait? It wasn’t? 🙂 That is a beautiful thought. A day that exists in perpetuity….
        Voice breaking glass? Wait, what?

        Love, always. It’s what gets us through the madness…

        Liked by 1 person

        • When you got game, you need fans to cheer you on sometimes. You know us writers, needy creatures that we are, 😉

          Yes, life rules have it that we move on. And we must, and do. But we take things with us, people too. It’s not dwelling, it’s just knowing what mattered then will always matter.

          Planets that live single days over and over again, I like thinking of it that way.

          To love. And don’t forget the vino, because that stuff helps too . . .

          Liked by 1 person

  6. How timely on Bill Hicks’s Birthday. Maybe he and Danny wherever they are know each other. I didn’t know him in 1985. I didn’t even know me drinking and drugging. Let’s call them my Queen Years. Like the idea of…what would you say to them now. Heart felt dialogue. The old…what if he were still here to actually talk to. Sigh Oh Danny. Oh Bill. Pick up. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I just read a story that’s right up your…5 Heroes of the Week…alley….Did you write about this, how Kid Rock paid off 81 grand worth of lay-aways so people could get their stuff out before Xmas? What a great story, made me think of you right away.
    There’s nothin’ like music money. It multiplies like melodious mice, so for him to sprinkle it around for such a good reason leaves me here giving the power salute. Kid Rock fucking Rocks.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Dear Marco,

    It looks like it’s all been said. But I’ll say it anyway. This was bloody brilliant. I love the way you introduced us to Danny as you shared memories and current events with him. Magnifico, my friend.

    Shalom and Happy New Year,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 1 person

    • Rochelle,

      Bloody brilliant, eh? I’ll take it, every last tasty morsel of it!

      When these people leave us, there is a void that never gets filled. It’s up to us to spell the void, if not fill it. Because their impression lives on, inside of us.

      Shalom and Happy New Year to you

      Marco

      Liked by 1 person

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