Sunday, October 15, 2006

If I could stop time.....

This week's Sunday Scribblings prompt was not inspiring me personally, so I did what fiction writers do...I made someone up:

If I could stop time. If only that argument hadn’t taken place. If only, if only is my mantra. I wander the stinking city imagining that I didn’t drop that coin down the sewer grate. The only thing that was left to me of my grandfather, of his pathetic life. I meander with no destination, no direction. I cannot go home now, not after I was so stupid.
What was I thinking, taking that thing out of my pocket on a crowded city street? A foolish maneuver. A piece of bravado that I will pay for dearly. But I know the old man would have understood, might have done the same thing. I wanted the woman in the blond skirt at the bus stop to notice me. Ridiculous, really, considering there isn’t a chance in hell she would know that the coin was from 1842. Why would I think she would know that? What was I going to say to her?
“Look, this coin is worth a lot of money. My wife doesn’t appreciate me or my coin. She wants me to sell it. You wouldn’t make me sell it if you were my wife, would you?”
I walk and I imagine that moment all over again, the reach into my pocket, the rough cold metal against my fingertips. That is when time would stop, right there, and I would keep my hand in my pocket for that extra beat before passing that bus stop and the blond skirt by. If only.

7 comments:

Kiyotoe said...

you know something.....after the day i've had with my girlfriend, I can really relate to this fictional character's real life issues.

If only i had a flying Delorian (sp).

Jerri said...

So much detail and food for thought in this short piece. Thanks for sharing.

Bibi said...

mmm...that's a big if only. And my life's full of them LOL!

Anonymous said...

That's a great turn-back-time moment. I can just picture it slipping down the grate. I can also relate to the self-flagellation that takes place AFTER that. Great writing.

GoGo said...

I can relate to this, regret that seeps in from hindsight. There are many things I wish I could turn time back on and redue. Your piece was a very viseral experience.

As for the comment on content with my ode, you are welcomed to any time. I simply offered my response of feeling defensive when asked to do a meme on feminism...it was a gutteral moment that came out well descriptive of my feelings at that particular moment.

Repeater said...

Thanks everyone. It's always the rushed pieces you don't care about that others seem to like...gogo, my comments would have been all agreement had I spoken about content!

Idiot Cook said...

Oh, yeah. I'm liking this piece. Sucked me right in. You got a whole story going here--we learn so much about the character. Nice work and nice twist on the prompt.