Tuesday, February 11^th, 2020

Climbing

“Look, I know you don’t think you’re that bad,” I said to Jack, “but you’re on a narrow ledge.”

Jack said, “When the cough is gone, I’m done with the cough syrup. There’s no ledge.”

I ignored him. It’s what friends do when one of them is making no sense. “The ledges get narrower as you go down. It gets easier to fall to the next one. Cough syrup daily, or maybe painkillers to heroin.”

“It’s cough syrup. Prescribed medicine. No ledges.”

“The good news is as you climb the ledges, they get wider. Life gets more manageable. Getting to the next one is more about growth than survival.  Now, you gonna climb out this mess now or do you have to fall down a ledge or two?”

“There’s no ledge,” he insisted. I quit arguing with him. Instead I wondered if I hadn’t gotten too comfortable on my ledge. Maybe it was time for me to do a little climbing.

Today I’ll climb the next ledge.

2020 Vision ©2017 by Ken Montrose

2020 Vision is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and anyone you might know is purely coincidental.

Other works by Ken Montrose are available at: www.greenbriartraining.com https://www.pinterest.com/kenmontrose/mt-rose/