Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Going Out with a Bang
The next day at work I got a call from someone wanting to make reservations at the rehab. I explained that we don’t take reservations, but I could help him schedule an evaluation.  He wanted to schedule one a week or so after New Year’s Eve.  I tried to explain that waiting was never a good idea. “I want to go out with a bang,” he said. “A big bang!”

Shame on me, I got frustrated and asked, “What kind of bang were you looking for?  We have the sad but almost comical bangs, like the drunken lady who trimmed her own bangs down to a quarter inch. We have the bang sound of breaking your wrist while trying to pee in a mailbox variety.”  He laughed.

I added, “We have dramatic bangs, like the bang of a gun shooting a guy in his own foot.  There’s the bang of two cars colliding. You might like the bang of a door slamming after you say something you can’t unsay or apologize away. And there’s the ever popular banging someone you shouldn’t.”

“You’re no fun,” he said, realizing I wasn’t joking.

“Wait, there’s more. We have silent bangs, like doors closing on opportunities missed.  Do you have kids?” He said he had three little girls.

“It’s not really a bang, but more of a click, when doors close in tiny hearts as they learn not to trust adults too busy chasing addictions to keep their promises.  Strange as it sounds, many kids who grow up with an addicted parent marry addicted people they can’t trust.”

“So what do you have any openings after January 4th?” He asked. I fought the urge to bang my head against the desk.

Today I won’t go out with a bang.

Dogged Determination ©2018 by Ken Montrose

Dogged Determination 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/

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