Point No Point
August 24, 2011
Each morning he would get up and make coffee and take the manuscript of the new book out onto the deck. After an hour of working, he would stop and make more coffee. Then he would again sit down at the small table in the corner of the deck and pick up where he left off. The book was called The Venn Diagram of Them. He smiled when he thought of this title. The publishers would probably not like it. Too esoteric, they would say. Too abstruse. They would definitely want to change it. But this off-kilter title was growing on him. And its characters were already family. He knew things about them that only family would know, could know. He cared about them. But Jesus, there were so many secrets. These people kept so many secrets. A simple unencumbered emotion was a small miracle. But they loved as best they could. …no se puede vivir sin amar… What more can one ask?
He hears the screen window slide open, feels a soft brush of lips on his cheek, and smiles. He looks up and watches as his wife slides into the hot tub in the corner. She does not bother with a swim suit. There is no need here. He studies the deep-brown tone of her skin, the curve of her hips and the careful ease of her entry into the water. He looks up and out across the strait, toward America, but this morning there is only the mist. The mist weaves around the firs and lingers as fallen whiteness in the upper boughs. There are only hazy grey ghost images of trees. He can hear that the tide is out. The beach below their perch is louder when the tide is out. He takes a sip of coffee and goes back to work on the book with the unwieldy title.
3 Comments
1. Stephanie Laskoski had this to say: Aug 27, 2011 ~ 08:51 ~ #
Thomas,
If a book can be called “The Solitude of Prime Numbers” and become a hit, surely there is room for “The Venn Diagram of Them.”
Love it, actually.
Steph
2. Thomas Trofimuk had this to say: Aug 28, 2011 ~ 14:05 ~ #
Steph,
It’s growing on me. And it’s the perfect title. Just need to be completely certain that it is the title before picking it as a hill upon which to do battle. Ha!!!
I’m going to e-mail you off-net…
talk soon
Thomas
3. Stephanie Laskoski had this to say: Aug 31, 2011 ~ 20:00 ~ #
I think it’s a hill to die on. Yes, email me!
Steph