In the Land of Second Chances by George Shaffner

Author:George Shaffner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Workman Publishing
Published: 2004-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

The Doctor’s Dilemma

WHEN I GOT to Starbucks, Mr. Moore was already sitting in the corner booth nursing a big, fat frappuccino and reading a skinny little book. He seemed all wrapped up in it, so I went to the counter and ordered myself a peppermint mocha that tasted like coffee with a hotel mint in it. As soon as I returned to the booth, he jumped up and said, “Hello, Wilma. Please have a seat.”

I slid into the opposite side and said, “What are you reading?”

“Oh,” he said. “It’s a book by Hesse, an interesting item called Demian.”

I never got to go to college. At the age of nineteen, I was raising a baby girl, holding down a full-time job, and keeping up a house for a man who would black out whenever he heard the words cook or clean, so I’ve never read Hesse. If you would have asked me who he was, I would have guessed that he was a TV comedian. Better yet, I would have asked Loretta. She would know the right answer. That woman has read more books than two college professors. I asked innocently, “What’s so interesting about it?”

Mr. Moore answered, “He had such an optimistic view of human potential. He was convinced that we were on the edge of greatness, but humanity’s next great leaps were the Depression and World War II. I’m not sure that we’ve made any real progress since, either.”

Well, what do you say after that? I’m sure that I don’t know. With considerable relief, I watched Mr. Moore dog-ear the page he was reading and put the book aside. He said, “My apologies, Wilma. Sometimes I seem to lack the intestinal fortitude for philosophy. I’d probably be better off watching TV.”

It occurred to me then that I had never seen Mr. Moore in the parlor at the Come Again, which is where my only TV set is. I said, “Do you watch any television?”

“I used to, but not anymore. Too much violence, too many commercials, too much artificial ‘reality,’ and too much repetition, especially too much repetition. I prefer the radio and a good book. When I listen to the radio or read a book, the song or the story appears in my mind. I can read in silence, too. There’s a lot to be said for silence.”

Well, I have another question for you. What do you say to a man who has just said that there is a lot to be said for silence? At the time, I had no idea so I just smiled and waited for him to go on. Naturally, he stopped right there, so all of a sudden we were two talkers short of a conversation. I don’t know about you, but I have never been into body language much either. I think people should talk to each other and it makes me uncomfortable when they don’t. I gave up and said, “I’m glad you got to meet my Mona.”

“I am too, Wilma. She seems like an intelligent, caring woman.

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