Sunday, August 7, 2011

Best Dad Evar's Bookshelf #GBE2

Today our hero, Best Dad Evar, reclines on an unmade bed, reading. His position seems uncomfortable, so he shifts a bit from laying on his side propped on one elbow onto his back with his head resting on a contour pillow. Unfortunately this particular contour pillow doesn’t quite fit *his* contours. Beside the bed is a bookshelf stacked two deep with paperbacks and inspirational tomes.
“Best Dad Evar, I’ve noticed something about your bookshelf.” The narrator’s voice interrupts Best Dad mid-sentence.
“What’s that?” Best Dad replies. He’s grown accustomed to this omnipresent narrator and grown to like him a bit.
“Almost all these books are bookmarked.”
“Yeah. So what?”
“Well, almost all the bookmarks are less than a third of the way through the books.”

“You’re right.” Best Dad sighs deeply and places a bookmark into today’s partially read fiction. He wasn’t really that into the story anyway. He continues, “I guess you could say that it’s because of my grown up version of attention deficit disorder. I can’t stay interested in any book long enough to get halfway through it, let alone finish it.”
“Well that’s too bad-” the narrator starts, but Best Dad interrupts him.
“I do the same thing with TV shows.” Best Dad says, pointing at the small TV on top of the bookshelf. “There are some that I like a lot for two or three episodes. But somehow I always seem to lose interest.”
“What happens?” the narrator asks, not daring to ask a more detailed question for fear of getting cut off again.
“I don’t know, but by the fourth or fifth episode, I often just say ‘meh.’ It’s not that they’re bad shows. Some of them are good. I just can’t stay involved. Either the characters annoy me somehow or the plot’s not engaging enough.”

“This short attention span affects your career as well.” The narrator presses.
“It defines my career. I’m forty one years old and I can’t even count the number of jobs I’ve had.”
“True, but you have had one job for four years and another one for three years. That's a long time.” The narrator helps with a bit of positive spin on these facts.
“I guess, but even within those two jobs, I had individual projects that were much shorter. I had cases at my consulting firm job and loans and borrowers while I was doing mortgages. So even though the jobs remained mostly the same, they were actually constantly changing. That kept things from ever getting boring for me. Don’t you think that’s a problem, being consistently at risk of boredom?”

“Perhaps.” The narrator says diplomatically. “But you have had one constant in your adult life, one person you’ve always maintained your interest in. One decision you’ve never regretted.”



Best Dad Evar smiles, knowing without hesitation what the narrator is referring to. He nods. Then he pushes himself into a standing position and wanders off into the living room to settle into his regular spot on the couch. The indentation on his side of the sofa is paired with one on the opposite cushion which is soon filled, as always.

11 comments:

Jenn said...

This was fun---I really enjoy your Best Dad Evar series :)

Darlene ~Bloggity Blogger~ said...

I like this. It made me smile...

eeyorn said...

Ahhhhh....very nice :-)

Claudia Moser said...

Nice indeed!

Angela Parson Myers said...

Good build up, and you didn't insult the reader by being too obvious in the conclusion. The symbol you selected for the long-term relationship was a bit unexpected, therefore excellent. Well done.

Celeste Neumann said...

It was nice to hear at least something (or rather someone) can capture your undivided attention so long. ;)

Anonymous said...

Wonderfully done! I love these posts of yours! :O)

Kyle said...

Thanks folks, I'm enjoying writing this series. Should be more to come as I have a concept for how to continue this and keep it fresh.

Unknown said...

Lovely post!! Brought a smile to my face as well!

Kathy
http://www.thetruckerswife.com/

Mojo Writin said...

Aww, that was sweet. Fits perfectly with the theme.

Anonymous said...

Very nice! I love the way your story unfolded!