I was at work in Anderson, yesterday. I'd set about trying to find a specific file. In a box that smelled like mice had been using it for a restroom facility, I came across a file which contained several stories that I have promised to share, starting today.
I pulled out a folder with Bud from Married With Children printed on it. Inside, I found this particular story:
[1996]
I was at the keyboard. I had just finished talking to my sister, Grace and the adrenaline pumped through my veins. I was electric! So, I sat at the keyboard, music played from my son's stereo. And it happened! I began to write!
Not dry, forced junk but deep, soulful writing. The words came to my mind as if an outside force were spooning them into my brain. All Heaven and Earth could have disappeared on that morning and their disappearance would have gone unnoticed. Inspiration was mine. The rock was working!
I wrote for what seemed to be minutes but was almost 2 hours. Suddenly, the telephone rang. It was Philip's cousin. She and her family were coming by for dinner. She had called to make sure that was still the plan. I was so out of it that I barely could grasp what was being asked. I had to deliberately concentrate to make the correct words come out of my mouth.
I got off the phone and tried to recapture the lost mood. No luck. So, I go to print up these marvelous pages of thought put to paper. I highlight the words on the computer (a big mistake) - push one button and every single word disappears! Gone! Vanished! Lost forever; back to that point were all good things go when they die. I could have puked!
In a panic, I start pushing lots of buttons, thereby losing any chance to reclaim what was mine. This made everything worse.
The phone rings. I answer. It was my daughter. She's in a good mood and tells me that she's had a brilliant insight!
"Mom, you and Dad are the opposite of Lucy and Ricky!"
So I'm thinking and say "What do I have in common with Ricky Ricardo?"
"No, Mom, you're the anti-Lucy" she says.
I then tell her how I, this day, lost the meaning of it all in seconds. She gives me suggestions, including:
"Sit down and write down on paper, everything you can remember about what you wrote."
I tell her that I have to go. My mind was shot. I was bereft.
Later that same day, I started thinking about that phone conversation. "The Anti-Lucy? What does that mean? How would that apply to Philip and me?" Then I think about how Philip is always including me in all his "projects". I'm always working for a way to not be in his "projects"....that's anti.... "Yes, she's right! I am the Anti-Lucy!"
Philip (speaking in broken Cuban accent) - "Oh Lucy! You want to be in the show?!"
Me (Lucy) "No, no, I don't want to be in the show! Waaaah!"
My daughter is a genius!
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