22 February 2014
Late morning. You are waiting on Carol. Your
patience has gotten better over the last forty-seven some years that you have
known the woman. She is a continual lesson for you, and of course it works the
other way too, not on punctuality so much as other, many other things. Brought
a smile while you are waiting, huh. – Amorella
1128 hours. Being late was one of Mother’s
major crimes. Of course Dad had multitudes and multitudes of such petty vices
also. So do we all.
Creating self-effacing humor where there is
no doubt keeps you fresh for the other honesties. – Amorella
I know where I am.
Where is that, boy? - Amorella
Touché.
You might as well use your time. Work on The
Brothers Twenty, as you will. – Amorella
Mid-afternoon. You are waiting for Carol at
the Kings Mills Road Kroger’s after your trip from Chuck E. Cheese in Dublin. Everyone
appeared to have a good time particularly the kids. Grandma Kyum Paik was
there, Joey and Kathy with Lilly and Max; Kim’s best friend her Miami dorm
roommate and north end Columbus apartment mate, Stacey, her husband Erin and
their young son, Everret, Kim, Paul, Owen, Brennan the birthday boy, Grandma
Carol and you, Papa. Everyone shared three pizzas plus a decorated chocolate
cake from Schneider’s Bakery in Westerville.
1432 hours. It was fun and good to see
Grandma P. as well as everyone else – especially Stacey, I haven’t seen her to
talk with her since Kim’s wedding 11 May 2007. The same day and hour that Craig
and Alta’s son Erik and Mary Kay had their first son Jack.
2102
hours. I have Brothers 20 completed. It is interesting in that I had to read it
a couple of times, then I just toyed around with the conclusion like it was a
piece of literary entertainment, and behold I came up with the shadowy
conclusion, which I like, but I doubt anyone else sees themselves as one of the
walking Dead like I do.
You mean like they are not fully alive, like
you are, right? – Amorella
No. I don’t know what I mean.
Then clarify yourself boy. – Amorella
2106 hours. I don’t think we live as
human as a life as we could.
You are being a romantic idealist. –
Amorella
I think our species is more elevated
than we give ourselves credit for. It is as if we don’t want to force ourselves to grow as
culturally enriched as we could be.
Now you are depressing. Who is going to
force whom? – Amorella
2111 hours. I don’t have anything else
to say. – No wonder this planet is a graveyard.
You are name-calling the planet? I thought
name-calling was a logical fallacy boy. – Amorella
At least you make me smile, Amorella.
I’ll give you credit for that. The darkest of humor usually has a smile at its
deepest point.
Add The Brothers Twenty and post. – Amorella
***
(final) The Brothers 20 ©2014, rho
GMG.One
Robert
said to Connie, "It looks like a day of rain. Let's go to a movie."
She
nodded in agreement, saying, "I'll have to wash my hair. I'll call Cyndi
first to see if they want to go. What do you want to see?"
"Quartet"
is re-playing at the Drexel on Main, We all enjoyed the film; let's go see it
again."
Late
morning and the four are sitting in the northwest corner of Ernie's Grill,
Uptown Riverton, looking through the varied sheets of rain to the perky front
window of Patricia's Flowers pressing on the staid white marbled Citizen's Bank
directly on the other side of State Street. The sisters were finishing their
classic salads, mixed fruit cups and sharing a side of sweet potato fries while
Robert had finished his an Italian Combo and Richard his Cuban Panini. Both
were nibbling on their remaining sides of barbeque chips while waiting on
Connie and Cyndi to finish. Each had unsweetened ice tea with lemon with
Richard sipping on his second glass of caffeine free diet cola.
He
asked, "Anyone for a Graeter's ice cream?"
After
the movie," suggested Cyndi, "we can hardly finish our salads."
"That's
because you ate the sweet potato fries first."
"And,
you didn't even share them with us," grumbled Robert.
"You
could have ordered your own," quipped Connie with a smile.
"It is hard to believe that Dustin
Hoffman was born in 1937," noted Cyndi to Robert.
Smirking
contentiously from his wife's remark, Rob quickly smiled towards Cyndi,
"Not when you think back on The
Graduate, Hoffman looked pretty young when it came out."
Richard
chuckled in response and added, "We
were young back in 1967."
"You
were a quarter century," comment Connie and now we are all moving on to
three-quarters of a century."
Richard
continued, "Speaking of three-quarters of a century, how old is Maggie
Smith? She plays the grand lady Jean Horton in Quartet, and the old Dowager of Grantham in Downton Abbey."
Cyndi
corrected, "She is the Countess of Grantham."
"Whatever.
How old is Maggie?"
"She
was born 28 December 1934," said Robert Glancing down at his iPhone,
Robert said, "She was born 28 December 1934."
Connie
commented wholeheartedly, "Maggie puts her heart and soul into her work.
She is a wonderful actress." All ardently agreed.
Richard asked, "I can understand her heart, Connie, but how does she put her
soul into her work? How does anyone put the soul into anything?"
"It's
her enthusiasm, Richard, her passion."
Cyndi
quickly followed suit, "Her quintessence."
Robert
checked his iPhone, "Mostly I get references to the song, the music. I
looked up 'phrase - heart and soul' and it is still reference to the
music." He paused and tapped in more letters. "There is "Brevity
is the soul of wit,' and 'wearing one's heart on his sleeve', but that is not
what we are talking about here."
"Love
powers the heart," suggested Connie, "but what powers the soul?"
"Passion
powers the soul," stated Robert as if it were a fact.
"We
need a definition first," claimed Richard.
"No,
let's use a thesaurus, responded Robert. "Here, I have it. 'Spirit,
Embodiment or Quintessence." He sat surprised, "Cyndi's right,
quintessence."
"What's
the difference between one's spirit and a ghost?" asked Connie cynically.
Richard
was readying a sarcastic response when Cyndi swiftly connected the two,
"Like the Holy Spirit and the Holy Ghost."
"We
have argued this before," said Richard, "but let's say I agree with
you that you have a soul. Let's say the soul is without mass but that it has
energy and carries information."
"What
kind of information?" asked Robert.
"Let's
say it is electromagnetic in some bazaar quantum mechanical way."
"Richard,"
said Cyndi, "let's don't follow Alice down the rabbit hole."
"No,
I mean like light and radio waves can carry information. Perhaps this physics
can store a human self-awareness and memory. Perhaps the soul is a natural
entity? Why does it have to be supernatural?
Rob
added, "Scientists can read our thoughts with signatures of the signals
generated by firing neurons. Whether this can be worked into a container or
soul I don't know."
"I
don't think of a person's heart and soul and the physics of light in the same
breath," noted Cyndi.
“The
soul is supposed to be our spirit,” added Connie. “It’s our inner self, it
doesn’t have to be supernatural.”
Richard
grumbled, “We’ll never define the soul scientifically then?”
“It’s
intangible, Richie,” said Cyndi.
Richard
commented, “In my fiction, it’s a shell.”
“So
are you, Richie,” toyed Connie.
“He’s
a shell-game,” laughed Robert. They all chuckled light-heartedly.
“This
is just another stage,” piped Richard. “We are all a piece of entertainment.”
“For
whom?” asked Robert, “the Dead?”
***
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