[A Mother’s Boundaries]
BANG. BANG. BANG. BANG.
“Noooahhhh. Open this door at once! Don’t leave your poor Mother outside in this neighborhood.” Noah’s Mother had a voice that could curdle milk; and probably shatter glass if she put her mind to it. He opened one dry eye and saw a blurry 5:03AM…The bright red numbers on his old alarm clock slowly blinked; on, off. On, off…Eye: re-shut.
BANG BANG BANG!
“nOAH! If you are not awake you should be young man! Early worm! Do I need to call Fred?” Fred was Noah’s landlord; an old friend of Noah’s Father. Still lying in bed, an unseen eye-roll took place under his very heavy eyelids. Knowing his options were slim to one, Noah opened his eyes and turned to face his miniature dachshund Prince William who stared back under his little furry eyebrows…almost as if to say:
“Is this woman for real?
Doesn’t she know what time it is??”
Noah answered back out-loud to his pooch:
“I know buddy…trust me, I know.” Out of bed. Shuffle to the door. Open. He usually left his front door unlocked but he had no interest in arguing with Mother over his safety at five in the morning; or any morning for that matter.
“Guten Morgan Mother.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Maidin Mhaith? Jo Reggelt? Dobre Rano? No? How about Buenos Dias?”
“Speak English Noah!”
“It means Good Morning Mother. They all mean Good Morning.”
Noah could see he was getting nowhere…“Forget it.”
Hurling past him, opening all of his blinds…it was as if Noah wasn’t even there. One eye still closed he made his way over to his coffee machine and switched it on;
Obnoxious sounds at war.
Prince William followed Noah into the kitchen, stretched and yawned as Mother gave her sharp disapproving look. “What a spoiled dog.” she said. “So. What’s up Mother?” Noah replied.
As if ready for her Broadway performance, she spoke her lines with ease: “I went to your Father’s grave this morning. You know what today is, I bet you forgot…”
Noah opened his mouth to answer but she kept going without breaking for air. “Your Father died today four years ago. Are you going?”
Slight pause.
“You have to visit your Father Noah. When the good Lord takes your dear old Mother, you’re not going to be blessed with these reminders. I swear! If your head wasn’t attached to your shoulders you’d forget that too!”
Theatrical sigh.
“I can’t believe you made me swear! Swearing is so very un-Christian Noah! Look what you made your poor Mother do.”
Mother was pacing his apartment looking at every inch with her disapproving eye.
“When was the last time you dusted in here?”
Noah didn’t bother trying to answer.
“No matter. I’m heading over to your aunt Judie’s. You need to clean this place and go visit your Father today. Cleanliness is next to Godliness. You weren’t raised in a barn.”
Noah’s Mother walked quickly over, kissed him on the forehead and bee-lined it for the front door, slamming it behind her.
5:20AM and coffee was made.
A relatively painless visit.
Noah couldn’t bother himself with getting upset. She’d done this sort of stuff too many times to count. His Mother had no intention of changing. She saw nothing wrong with anything she did. Ever.
Wide awake.
Leash on PW
Grab his coat and cap.
Now was as good a time to walk to town as any. A doughnut from Smittie’s Dough King would make being up this early worth it.
The streets were still dark…almost a ghost town.
Only three lights were on: Street lamp. One store-front that Noah thought was still empty. Smittie’s.
The Prince, pepped for his morning walk, was smelling everything in sight at nostril level. Noah tugged on the leash and walked them both across the road to check out the well-lit new addition to town. Peering through the window, he could see an older Gentleman stocking books on a freshly built oak wood bookshelf the length and height of the wall. Front door wide open—Noah decided it looked pretty much open for business and walked them both inside.
The Gentleman was standing on a wooden wall-ladder whistling and humming ‘Stairway to Heaven’…which blasted through his headphones loud and clear. As if feeling a presence in his shop, the older Gentleman spun around, removed his headphones and smiled wide. Perfect teeth. He was a dashing dresser; very well put together. He looked at Noah and his small dog as if he knew them; the sort of look one gives to long misplaced friends.
“You look lost! Mornin’ Son, come on in! I have something for you; A free book for being my first visitor. Come on in! The water’s fine and I ain’t no biter.” Practically hopping off the ladder, he jogged to the front counter without so much as skipping a beat.
“Dog treat for the little fella?” Noah nodded his head approving the gesture of kindness.
The Gentleman pulled a meat stick from a jar of random treats and tossed it down to Willie—who was standing on his hind-legs and happy to partake.
PW had a new best friend.
“How’s life Sir?”
Initially shocked at being referred to as a ‘Sir’ Noah took a moment to reflect before laying his woe’s on his new cosmic friend’s shoulders.
“Complicated.”
Noah then looked him square in the eye:
“A bit depressing actually. You?”
With a twinkle of knowing, the Gentleman replied heartily,
“Amazing! Absolutely fantastic…after subtracting all the things no one seems to care about anyway like the fact that if an asteroid a decent enough size hits our beautiful life ball we’re all burnt toast anyway.” A curious chuckle arose from his diaphragm as he dove into Noah’s soul with a carefree glance.
The Gentleman continued, as Gentleman do:
“Alright. I think I have just the book for you…I sense you’re a fellow idealist so you’ll like this author. I’m sure of it.”
First checking the shelf near the register, then shuffling through the medium sized box on the floor next to the counter….
“Ah, here we are!”
The older Gentleman handed a book to Noah. It looked like the cover was made from recycled paper bags and all it said on it-in all lower case letters-was: ‘a book by: me’
After handing Noah the book, the Gentleman smiled as he walked back to his ladder; leaving poor confused Noah with his thoughts.
“Don’t worry sir. It will all make more sense in the end.”
As the older Gentleman was just about to put his headphones back on, he stopped and glanced over his shoulder so as to be heard clearly:
“Life is shit and then you die, there is or there isn’t meaning to your living; all I know is this, till my last dying breath I will continue to plant apple trees if only for the fuck of it my dear Sir. Every problem can be solved. It is just a matter of being brave enough to try and selfless enough not to worry about what’s in it for you at that moment. Read the book. The author is brilliant and beautifully optimistic for such a pessimist. And as for asteroids annihilating life as we know it; it doesn’t have to be that way. There is always a solution when powerfully intelligent minds set their ego aside for the greater good. But Son, we have to give these great minds a reason to fight for us…and you reading that right there, what you have in your hand, I believe is one step closer to saving all our souls. It just takes one. And Sir, never doubt that one isn’t you. Enjoy and don’t come back till you finish what you came here for. And be ready to report or I will never sell you one of my books as long as we both shall live. Have a great morning!”
Headphones promptly back on, the conversation was clearly over whether Noah wanted it to be or not. Noah turned around absolutely baffled and more confused than when he entered that oak fortress of knowledge and wisdom. Asteroids? A book to change the world?
Led Zeppelin Karaoke? None of it made any sense.
Noah slowly turned and walked out of the town’s new bookstore and headed back home. Overwhelmed with a sense of peace for what seemed like the first time, Noah was determined to understand what that older Gentleman was talking about. Smittie’s; a distant memory. New gift in hand.
“Strange Morning”, he said to his short-legged friend.
The winds shifting in his soul…a new dawning was on the horizon.
Change was a comin’
Ready or Not.
Into The Mystic, Ash 