|
September 2002 Storyteller Collaboration Keys by Roger "What's more reasonable; that desperate people invented God by mistake, or that God invented desperate people by mistake?" "Don't say that. It hurts me when you say that." I didn't know Leena. I knew her type. She asks the same questions over and over like a policeman or a pothead. "Why don't you believe in God?" If I hadn't come back for my forgotten keys, I wouldn't have met this girl, who refused to tell me that she was seventeen. But Leena was returning my calls. Her schedule was determined by friends and parents. She couldn't say no. Her meaningless promise that we should see a movie sometime was not backed up by a time, or meeting place. No home address. Not that she would keep or remember any appointment. Not that she would make one. "I don't know what I'm doing tomorrow," Leena said. She was calling by text message again. I discovered I'd missed her at the movies by fifteen minutes after another long, lonely day, watching a movie that should have been the anthem for lonely, misunderstood perfectionists. She had seen some upbeat, happy Hollywood spectacular film with friends at the same theater at the same time. She had wanted to get away and be alone all day. I told her we should have traded places. I don't have the right answers to Leena's questions and I don't want to. My best prospect in months was going nowhere as usual. I have not forgotten my keys since meeting Leena. At least she's still calling. |