Crayon Box Philosophy
Sometimes, reading a piece of my work, I feel sick that I could create such bilge and consider it passable prose. That’s why God made “delete” keys, right? Other times, I stumble across a piece that actually lifts my spirit a bit. That happened this morning as I listened to Chapter 7 of the upcoming audio production of Emissary. Here’s an excerpt–I hope it makes you smile.
For Longshadow, Muay Thai was not a career sport. He had no desire to hit the ring and exchange kicks to titillate a crowd of thrill seekers. He just wanted to stay fit, practiced and, if a situation required it, deadly.
The first time Dad gave him the L.I.F.E. speech was on Longshadow’s first day of grammar school.
“Son, you have no control over what sort of family you’re born into,” Dad said, using a ballpoint pen to draw the letter L on the back of the new crayon box Kirk was taking to class. “You were lucky, you got a good one. But thereafter, you learn to make your own Luck. And you do that by always having more Information than the next fellow.” He drew the letter I. “You get Information in school. You get it on the playground. You get it from reading –”
“I can’t read yet, Dad,” Kirk informed him.
“— and from listening, especially to your Family. Family is your lifeline, it’s sacred, more important than anything. When you need something, Family’s there for you. If they need something, you’re there for them.” He drew the letter F.
“What about friends?”
“If they’re good enough friends, you treat ’em like Family.” Finally, he drew the letter E. “Nothing you’ll learn anywhere can take the place of Experience, good ones, bad ones, you’ll rack up a lot of years of Experience before you get to be my age.”
“That’s why you’re so smart?”
It might’ve sounded to Dad like he was wising off, but Kirk had meant it. At that age, he believed people just naturally got smarter as they grew older. He hadn’t yet been exposed to the middle-aged idiots of the world.
Look for Emissary in audio format, also at ChartHousePress.com, with audio production by Jeffrey Hays (early 2015).
Readers, a FREE e-book of the short-story prequel to Emissary is available now at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=never+go+home+chris+rogers, or at ChartHousePress.com.
