George’s business was fashioning glasses, in an off-the-main-drag shop called Making A Spectacle. An absence of customers produced a series of thoughts. He wondered how many leaves had a tree. He went by guesswork: trunk to branches, branches to twigs, multiplication, manifestation, magic. He had passed a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, when he was interrupted by the bing that indicated an open door. A man stood before him. “I would like a pair of round tortoise,” he said. George sighed and failed to meet the man’s gaze. He had inherited the business from his older brother, now deceased, and felt daily how poorly he was living up to Nick’s example. He wanted to promise himself that he would do a better job the next time, but instead he simply vowed to count a smaller tree.
©2020 Ben Greenman/Stupid Ideas
No comments:
Post a Comment