Prompting Yourself To Write 35
Write About a Used Cane...
( Set a Timer for 15 minutes, and write non-stop. )
***Written on 4/28, while at lunch at Phillippe's the Original, in LA, a couple hours after having reluctantly bought a Cane, as suggested by my Orthopedist who thought I should consider getting one, and use it in my left side to take the stress off the right ankle which is always painful, in the aftermath of my breaking it, and healing, due to Early Onset Arthritis of the Joints....
My name is Watson...I'm a Cane, a Leopard Spotted Mapplewood Cane with a smooth brown, hardwood, Derby Handle.
I'm light brown, with dark brown spots and, after 50 years of service I can safely, proudly, say that I've just about seen it all, & been places no Cane has been before.
My employer is 102 yrs. old, now, and gets around only a little slower than when I first met him, but I remember that day like it was yesterday.
I'd been hanging around the Horton & Converse Pharmacy in W. LA for weeks, waiting to be "Discovered", just like dozens of my compatriots shipped out to LA, & Hollywood, the "Land of Opportunity", "The Big Chance", & "Dreams of Stardom Come True"...
Every one of my neighbors on the shelf had dreams of being the Cane of the next "Charlie Chaplin", or used as a prop in the lates Sherlock Holmes film, or TV Movie, or Mini-Series...
Yeah, right, silly dreamers.
Me? I was more realistic, & settled in to patiently bide my time.
I wasn't goint to rot, or accidentally get snapped in half, like my some of my wooden counterparts might, so settled in for the long haul, figuring that when the right person came along we would both know we wer right for each otehr, & I'd be set for life.
Finally, one day in late April 2012, a middle-aged White Man, in a snazzy black fedora, with American Flag, & Don't Tread on Me pins, & a cute winged, and & haloed, Cat one, too, walked hesitantly up to the display, and looked with askance at my companions, and I.
Oh no, I thought, a Newbie!
I'd heard stories, most of them horrific, about the fate of Canes in the hands of the inexperienced but, but there was something about this man that struck my fancy, & as I watched him fondle, & examine, the others, I just had a feeling, & so waited to see how things developed.
Finally he took me in his hands, & gazed at me in amusement, & curiosity, & I gazed right back at him.
I didn't exactly see what was so amusing, afterall this was not just HIS future, but my own, as well, that was at stake.
At last he called someone over to help him take measurements of the distance from wrist to floor, & then of me.
He took me for a brief spin along the floor, the first time anyone had been so bold, & forward, since my arrival in the store, from the time of my birth, for that matter.
While he seemed hesitant I felt at home with his firm grip upon my handle, & for the first time began to think I'd found "The One".
When he walked up to the counter, & smiled at the clerk, I knew I was right.
We left the store, hopped a bus, & metro train, to Union Station, he took me up the stree to a restaurant called Phillippe's, where he had lunch.
It was here, as he took a notebook out of his bag, that I got my first inkling that my new companion was a writer of some sort.
When we left to return to the train station he finally decided to attempt to use me...
I promptly slipped from his grasp, & went clanking to the pavement, earning my first tiny stitches, "Battle Scars" I call them for the Ladies, on my beautiful wood handle. :-D
My 1st thoughts after shaking off my dizziness, & headache, was "Oh, brother, this can't be good!" :-D
My mood didn't improve much when we got to his home, & I was introduced to 2 very curious Cats...
50 yrs. hav gone by, & I, and Kiril The Mad Macedonian, have been through a lot together, most of it good, & he, & his many cats, have written much that they are well known for.
His regular work life lasting longer than he was given to believe it could, & his long writing career now over, he lives in retirement where I, his current 2 Cats, friends, & family, watch over him, & keep him company.
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UPDATE - 5/12/12
In the 3 weeks since I wrote that piece I've had little opportunity to use the Cane, due to having to use both my hands to carry something, or push a shopping cart, but when I did I have felt uncomfortable because I don't feel disabled, knowing I can walk all day, despite pain, and can even ride my bike, and even run a little bit, for crying out loud.
Change is coming to my life, and this Cane, if I continue to use it, is just the beginning.
For now, I will hold off, until I can settle in to a new life, and find a new regular Physician, and just focus on continuing my physical exercise regimen, at home, and the gym.
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