Good morning everyone. This is one of those mornings where you wake up and the air feels like it wants to rain and the sky looks like it want’s to rain and the pressure in your sinuses wants it to rain, but you know deep down in you heart that it just isn’t going to rain. well actually I feel it right between my eyes. It’s not going to rain. It just wants to pretend. So I’m just going to take some sinus tablets and ignore it in favor of a writing prompt. Are you in? Good, let’s begin.
Huh. I’m going to have to think about this one.
Tuesday, December 21st: No one noticed the switch.
No one noticed the switch. Looking back Stan realized he shouldn’t have been surprised. There was very little about what he did that was noticed by the others. They were, as always, focused on their worlds. As long as what he did held no impact on them, they took no notice.
Stan often wondered about his place in the family. He often, when smaller, suspected he was adopted. It wasn’t wishful thinking on his part. He was never a fanciful sort of child. He didn’t long for a better life. He counted his life to be pretty good all things considered. He was taken care of. He had a roof over his head, food in his belly and never went wanting for much of anything that he truly needed even if he didn’t always get everything that he wanted.
In general he counted himself lucky. He believed that if he had been adopted, his adoption left him in a good place. Looking at the family photographs though he had to concede that there was little chance he had been adopted. He had the Stuart family chin, eye shape and hair color. He was physically a match in size to the other men in his family. He was clearly a product of this gene pool.
Yet he seemed to lack the innate drama that seemed to fuel all of those around him. For the others in his family, life was filled with moments of spot lit glory or debilitating personal tragedy. A school play was a chance to shine. So was asking to read a newspaper article to the rest of the family in the living room. A business deal gone right was the sign o glorious empire building, while a deal gone wrong was cause to cry and moan either at the disfavor of the fates or a thwarting by enemies.
It wasn’t until Stan reached high school and began visiting the families of his friends that he realized that most people didn’t view others in the categories his family members seemed to create. In each of their worlds others were either their as supporting characters or as enemies to overcome. Occasionally others were merely there to illustrate a positive aspect of the primary player’s character.
Stan tried to avoid those roles when possible. He was very happy with his role as supporting character. He often hoped for a role small enough that in the movie credits of their life he would be mentioned as unnamed background player. It was often exhausting playing a bit piece in their dramas. Over the years he managed to work his way out of the cast and now often served merely as audience.
Lately, he had begun his own plans. Ones that didn’t involve the others. He wondered as he quietly set about working on his own life, if they would, when they finally realized it didn’t involve them, ignore it as inconsequential or if he would be considered one of the great thwarting enemies. The switch had been the first real test. While his planning was contained in the private space given over to him, the time was moving past planning and into action. When no one even noticed the switch, a tight coil of tension began to unwind inside of him and he thought he might just get away with enacting his plan without causing major drama.
Ten til Midnight 