Years ago. my ex-wife and I were talking about ‘characters.’ Do you know any?
Characters are people who live in their own colorful definition of reality and have a hard time fitting into the black and white world most of us share.
I know a number of characters – a guy who was one of New York’s best safe crackers in the ‘60’s – a woman who believed she was John Kennedy’s illegitimate daughter – a man who became a pet groomer to find the reincarnation of his dead dog – well, the list could go on – I LOVE characters! But the discussion took an unpleasant turn when she said I was a character. Me?
“You’re kidding!” I said, “I’m not a character.”
“Characters never think they’re characters.” she said.
“Wait a little minute here, “ I said trying to get my thoughts together.
I thought of Johnny, a 65-year old guy who moved to Washington Square Park in Manhattan in December so he could be homeless and live in a cardboard box. When I asked him why, he said, “Franco – that’s New York! If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere!”
Then there was Christine, an ex-dancer with whom I was talking about “looks”. I said, “I know I’m no Brad Pitt.” She immediately sat up, seriously looked at me and said, “Why did you bring up Brad Pitt?”
Of course I said, “You know Brad Pitt?”
She laid down again and said, “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Now THESE people are characters! I’m not a character.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, “There are a lot of good people who are characters.
“Yeh, well – what about YOU? How many people walk around deciding who’s a character and who isn’t, hmmm?”
“I see we can’t talk about this any more,” she said. And then she stood up and walked out of the room. What a character!
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