call•me•jonah

jonah was lying on a picnic table again. this time in trinity park by trinity river in fort worth. he was reading a book called CULTURE SHOCK! CHINA. the guy writing the book didn't seem to like china very much. or maybe china wasn't such a great place. or maybe it was and he wanted it all for himself. it's hard to say for sure what the guys motives were. but he wanted the book to sell no doubt. he wanted to make a living no doubt. support his asian wife and his kids (if he had any). but he didn't say a lot of nice things about china. suppose that's the point though. it wasn't like it was a lonely planet guide or something.
Jonah began to regret reading the book at all. even though it said some very useful things, if he ever found himself in china. but maybe he'd rather be surprised, even by the unpleasentries. maybe he'd rather find out for himself. probably a character flaw he thought.
for lack of an audiece. jonah often speaks to himself inside his head. long monologues in an empty theater. for sake of added interest i have invented a friend, an acquaintance really, to the scene. someone who soothes jonah into sanity. for sane people converse with other sane people. insane people converse with themselves.
and so we find jonah sitting alone at the picnic table in the park. he chose this table because not only was there relatively little birdshite, but it was also in the shade. a virtual necessity on a texas summer day, even a pleasent mild one like this. it didn't bother him that he was sitting in relatively close proximity to the children's jungle gym upon which many mexican children clamored, shieking like monkeys while their mothers pushed strollers around in circles brimming with now-quiet-angel-babies soon future-monkey-children.
but for jonah their shrieks were distant enough to be forgotten. fased out along with the buzz of tires on pavement and honking of horns from the nearby streets. some escape into nature this.
"...but it's ok. most things are if you let them." jonah spoke to the young man who, passing, had sat down across the table. saying almost simultaneously "nice day," and "watcha reading?" "a book."
and the conversation continued. though rather stilted. jonah found that talking to another real live human took more effort than talking to himself. people sometimes take jonah's short replies as hostility. sometimes they are. but usually he just doesn't know how to reply any other way.
earlier, when jonah said "but it's ok." he wasn't actually talking about the park. he was talking about life in general. having a terrible mind for details, he often found himself philosophizing in the most egrarious generalizations, a trait he was quite aware of but as incapable of changing as a cripple his lame legs. that's one reason he kept a journal. to remind himself of life's peculiarities. those delicate moments lost to his memory were kept safe in a lockbox of scribbled lines on cream colored pages. often when he found himself retracing these lines with his eyes, images would return to him as if from a dream. of places and people long forgotten, of emotions long dead.
"so you're going to live abroad?"
"i dunno, maybe."
another personal trait, jonah noted to himself, all too aware of his own character. the inability to commit. but of course he could not commit. nothing is set in stone. even you must admit that it was also quite possible that jonah would not live abroad. in fact, you must admit that the only explanation for the future are those very words that jonah uttered : i dunno, maybe. the future is as certain as dice in middair. common sense prevented him from making a definitive statement about the future. well common sense and a lack of faith.
jonah wasn't sure if he enjoyed this boy's company or not. he had been perfectly content lying on the table reading to himself in the shade. but i put him there. i don't know why. just curious how jonah would respond i guess. he'll probably leave if jonah doesn't figure out something to talk about. some common interest. trouble is jonah isn't interested in a lot of common things.
what do children talk about? back before there were current events and celebrities and gossip and sports?
i don't know. jonah didn't know. he hadn't had a conversation with a child in many years.