Jonathan Carroll's Blog, page 15

The Crazy Cafe

I love the crazy café. It’s not crazy every time I pass by, but very often something is happening in there that makes me smile and slow a bit so as to enjoy the moment. I’m always hoping the door is open so I get the full blast effect of what’s going on inside. Joyous laughter, heated arguments, loud music, dogs barking and sometimes running out onto the street pursued by their laughing owners… Often couples are dancing around in there with big smiles on their faces. Much of the time all the...

The King of the Doorstep

photo by Lee Jeffries

He sleeps on the steps of the school across the street. I don’t know why he’s chosen that spot because the steps are narrow and there is not much of a roof overhang above to protect him from the elements now that hard Fall has arrived with its cold and rain. Every afternoon he is gone I assume because someone from the school shoos him away. But he is back at night, his small stash of possessions crowded around him — his blanket, his food, cardboard carton of wine or cans...

Pursuit

A yellow balloon caught in a gust of wind bounces fast across the ground in the park.
A few feet away, a big man chases after it, a small girl just behind him screaming “Get it! Get it!”
The joy on both their faces.

Pursuit was originally published in Jonathan Carroll on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

One Empty Table

Once while on a book tour I was taken to a very elegant restaurant in a great European city. The place was full of beautiful glittering people eating delicious food — except for an empty table in a prime spot by a window, set for one. After we were seated I looked around, impressed as hell. What a special place, what a clientele! In vivid contrast, the empty table obviously stood out and I mentioned it. My host smiled and said that table is always empty. It is reserved for a world famous dire...

Eight Treasures

We all enjoy those websites like Engrish.com that show pictures of signs in foreign countries that scramble English in hilarious ways. But there is a Chinese restaurant in my neighborhood that daily posts its specials and changing menu on the front door. The wording is always interesting.Today when I walked by it was “Eight Treasures and Rice.” Nothing more, nothing less. As a rule I don’t like Asian food but who wouldn’t want to try eight treasures and rice even not knowing what the ingredie...

The Hat Says Multitudes

There’s this hat. I saw versions of it in different tumblr photos and after a while thought “Maybe that’s for me.”So I tracked down a version and bought one. I have tried it on maybe six or seven times and each time it looks worse with whatever I wear. It’s so “not me” that it’s kind of surprising I would even imagine myself in it. So what was I thinking when that little insistent voice inside my head said “JC you’ve got to have that hat.”

The last time I tried it on I had a mini-epiphany of s...

Something to Declare

An interesting detail I learned today that would fit in a story or a screenplay: A friend’s son works as a baggage handler at a major European airport. When he took the job one of the first instructions was to always wear gloves but more importantly to wash your hands continuously throughout the day, even if you have worn gloves at all times. It was an order more than an instruction. Moreover, the bosses highly recommended you shower after work in the locker room or immediately upon arriving...

An Audience of One

On a nasty rainy windy cold nothing Fall day, I’m walking down the street thinking only wet thoughts. My mind matches the weather. At a corner I stop to look both ways for traffic. Across the street walking towards me is a girl of about seven or eight in a bright pink raincoat. Suddenly she leaps high in the air, clicks her heels to the side like a dancing pro and landing, throws out both arms. She says loudly to the world or no one in particular “TA DA!”

When we pass moments later, I give her...

The dumb of joy

A man rides by me on a bicycle. As he passes I see there is a little boy of about four or five standing straight up on a small platform right behind the man, holding onto Dad’s big body and grinning. Neither of them wear helmets. The kid is ecstatic, but the old protective father instinct in me thinks what the hell is that man doing? If he turns too hard or brakes suddenly, his son will fly off into ten kinds of disaster. But the kid is so obviously happy to be there. But it’s so dangerous. B...

The Liar Inside Your Head

All memory lies. It paints nice colors over the ugly or disturbing things. Or it cleverly distorts them; bends and twists them, so that they fit better into the convenient history we’re all continuously writing and amending of our lives. No matter who you are, your memory is always and for everything an unreliable witness. Never trust it to tell the truth about who you are or how you got here.

The Liar Inside Your Head was originally published in Jonathan Carroll on Medium, where people are co...