I've been contemplating a huge psychological issue this week as I drove twice across the State of Washington after my daughter's wedding this week. Now I'm sweltering in her non-airconditioned home pet-sitting while she and her husband take their honeymoon cruise and suddenly I am moved to contemplate the issue further.
Have you ever started a thought with the phrase "I just know he's going to..." I know I have. There's an old story about a man who had a flat tire on a country road at night. He looked in his trunk and discovered he didn't have a jack. Inconvenient, but all he needed to do was walk to the next farmhouse and ask to borrow a jack. He could see a light in the windows and thought it looked friendly. The farmer would say sure and to please bring the jack right back. Or better yet, he might say, "Let me give you a hand with that," and drive the man back to his car and help him change the tire.
As he walked toward the farmhouse, the light in the window went out. "Oh, dear," the traveler thought. "He's gone to bed. Now he'll be irritated that I woke him up. He'll probably want to be paid for loaning me a jack. Well I'll show him. He's so unneighborly, I'll offer him a quarter.
Then he'll probably say, "A quarter? You wake me up in the middle of the night and want to give me a quarter? A dollar! That's what you need to give me." I can't believe the gall of this farmer. He wants a dollar to loan me a jack for ten minutes. I'll tell him! "Sure, I'll give you a dollar! Not one penny more you old skinflint. Your jack is probably rusty and won't work anyway!"
By the time he got to the door, he was all worked up. When he knocked loudly and angrily, the old farmer poked his head out the upstairs window. "Who's there? What do you want?" The traveler with a flat tire was so worked up by this time that he shouted out, "Just keep your stupid rusty old jack, you miserly skinflint!"
Of course, there's a reason I've thought of this. I've been wondering how much our own imagination of the terrible way things will turn out in a story prevents us from enjoying the story as it's written. I know I do it. I start reading a story or watching a television series or a movie and there comes a point when my expectations jump ahead of me and I think, "I can see where this is going. There's going to be a lot of angst and someone's going to die and they'll have a huge fight and they'll break up and he'll cheat on her and he'll lose his job and and and...
Sometimes I put myself back in my kennel and relax so I can enjoy whatever comes. Sometimes I close the book, turn off the TV, or get a divorce. Oops. That might have been a really nice story!
I guess that's enough random thoughts for the day. Enjoy your Sunday!
By the way, want to borrow a jack?