“Exploring life through fiction, together.”

Our daughter’s just started school. I was expecting the heart tug, the uniform battles, the tears, and the excitement. I wasn't expecting the shock of drop off. One moment, we’re walking along a sleepy street on our way to school. The next, hordes of people appear, jostling and chattering as we’re funnelled towards looming school gates. The noise builds as we get closer. Tiny child-sized comets streak past, trailing book bags and ties. My daughter shuffles between the pillars that divide the World of School from the World of Home and I walk away. Parents evaporate until, only a few minutes later, I’m on the same sleepy street. Alone.

Fiction Bite - Fancy a chat?

We ring for an hour each night and talk about your day. I know the names of your clients and their kids. When we hang up, I walk to the turned off fridge and take out the half can of beans I’ve been saving. Last time you asked, I was still on track for management. I keep imagining how I’ll tell you they made me redundant, that nobody will answer my calls, that I can’t afford to post more CVs out, that my food comes from the bins behind the strip club. But you never ask. Is that a blessing in disguise? I couldn’t tell you. Not that you’d ask.

Quote of the Week

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, one by one.” 

― Charles MacKay, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds 

Final Words

It feels like a daily dream. Maybe a nightmare. My tribal neurons yell to know all these people, to have status among them. My introvert screams against the noise, wanting to hide in the nearest bush. 

It’s huge. It's intense. Then it’s gone.

Really, it’s only striking because it happens within 10 minutes. On a longer time scale, I’d be the frog in the proverbial pot of boiling water. Which makes me wonder, what other cycles am I not noticing?

Have you come across any new cycles? What changes have struck you recently? Would you be willing to hit reply? It’d make my day to hear from you.

With Love,

Josiah

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