Notes - and a very rough draft of Brothers 17

         0942 hours. Time for exercises but I am taking a bath first. It is a yellow, blue and green day with a cool morning breeze. Carol is downstairs working on a tax project and Ellie, lying on a box in the sun, is up by the open bedroom windows with me.

         After noon. You have worked on correspondence, run an errand and puttered about. Three magazines came today, Discover, Motor Trend and Automobile. You did not do your exercises but perhaps a walk in the park later. Carol has been working on her decades of IRA's and ROTH IRA accounts most of the day. Facts and figures need to go to your accountant sometime this month. It has been a busy and pleasant day so far. - Amorella

         After dusk. You and Carol watched an "NCIS-LA" the news, then you watched last Tuesday's "Grimm". Carol is talking to her sister and you are wondering if you will get any writing done tonight. At least you had a nap in the late afternoon and Papa John to the rescue for supper. Such is the day so far. - Amorella

         2127 hours. I think I am ready to begin Brothers 17 but presently I don't remember anything about it.

         Just go to it, orndorff. I'll come back to you. - Amorella

         2225 hours. I just scratched up a very rough draft, mostly dialogue.

         Add and post. We'll work it up tomorrow. - Amorella

         The words just rolled out like I was listening to the two in conversation.

         What does the heron have to do with it? - Amorella

         I'm not sure but it needs to be in here.

         You added that, not me. - Amorella

         Weird, huh?

         Just drop in what we have, boy, and post. - Amorella

***

A Very Rough Draft

Brothers 17

         Robert and Richard sat on a bench with a back with their eyes towards the Park Lake Major; Lake Minor is just out of sight to the west. The large roofed picnic table area sits to the northeast between the two lakes in Riverton's favorite park with two lakes, a stream and surrounding woods. Flowers, mowed grass, a Kid's Play Area and meadowland for birds and other critters. They focused on the large blue heron fishing near the west bank. Add descript

         "We used to come here as kids, almost more fun than the cemetery," said Richard.

         "We came here with the girls our senior year of high school -- Riverton High, Class of 1960."

         "I was dating Connie," added Richard.

         "And, I, Cyndi." Robert paused. "Here we are seventy and we both have been relatively happily married most of our lives." Both laughed.

         "How did it come to this? You a retired surgeon and me a retired professor, who would have thought."

         "We were both in Air Force ROTC at John Knox. We were going to make it a career.,” said Robert.

         Richard added, "And the girls were both going for nursing degrees at Case Western Reserve in Cleveland our sophomore year.

add the heron descript

         These were intentional acts of personal will. Existential acts that kept the girls and us together. said Robert.

         "As teams. Us and them. We were here at Riverton, forever to be known as "townies" among our college friends and they were a year apart at Cleveland. At least they weren't classified as we were." replied Richard. "We four were existentialists though. We knew it, but the girls; well, they were as much twins as we were, at least unconsciously.

         "Probably why we were always attracted to one another." added Robert.

add the heron descript

         It was the Cuban Missile Crises that changed us, probably forever. said Richard. It was that October in 1962. We were juniors.

         That was an existential world drama if there ever was one, said Robert.

         Richard laughed, I was even taking World Drama II from Dr. C. that semester. remember a play, the one studied during the crisis

         add heron descript     an involuntary act followed by a voluntary act

         Just like the heron there - he moved because the fish jumped then he followed the fish, focused and see, he caught and swallowed him down.

         just like in the crisis

         just like in the class

         But we humans have free will

         All will is free

         All will is appearance of being free

         We cannot know how free we are

         But look where we are? we got where we are because we focused. We changed our minds at the end of our sophomore years not to stick with ROTC

         That's because you had a heart murmur, the physical detected it. If you were going, I wasn't going.

         We both ended up going to graduate school.

         a second blue heron lands this time nearby on the east bank fishing.

         the first one flies further south sitting perched high in an oak.

         We willed our way through graduate and medical school, both at OSU.

         I always wanted to go to Kenyon or Antioch.

         I wanted to go to Princeton.

         We married our high school sweethearts

         Sort of = both laughed

         We became who we are; as did Connie and Cyndi.

         We both loved our separate careers but what about Connie and Cyndi? What difference did it make as to which one each married?

         To us -- we can't know. But they know. The made the choice as to who was marrying whom not us. You know that don't you?

         I guess. They are the ones who had the real freedom of will, to them who each married was an existential act, but to us it was a kind of indifference.

         It is like they were the identical twins, not us.

         Very bizarre. Never thought of it like that.

         We didn't make the choice, bro. the girls did.

         It is like we didn't really care. We loved them both. -- the same, I guess.

         Still do.

         Very odd. It almost doesn't seem real does it.

         It's real enough, bro. Wait til we get home. Both laughed.

         703 words - very rough draft

***