Two sides of the same coin

Many of us propel ourselves through life in a low, strong simmer... Not boiling, but not ever still. As city creatures we have been living this way for years, many of us not even realizing it.

Simmering our way through life causes two behaviors that on the surface seem to be unrelated, but are two sides of the same coin. The first...we're all disposable. If you meet someone online and say the wrong thing, you're a psycho. Asshole, stalker, pathetic are just a couple key strokes away. So, without a second thought, we dispose of people. We don't think of it that way, we just move the email conversation to the trash box and forget about it. Go on an unpleasant date or two? It used to be that they'd call three times and if you didn't call back, it was over. Now it's two, or in some cases one. Nobody wants to be caught standing alone, played for the fool. So we dispose. We're happier that way, our lives rid of all those undesirable elements, the pesky one called "risk" that seems to have gone the way of young people knowing how to compose complete sentence. And as we do this, we stay at a low simmer.

I have a few things that make me boil. I hate it when anyone calls me a liar. I'm so brutally honest that I don't understand when people question me. I'll be the first to tell you that your face is so ugly, it looks like your neck threw up. Joan Rivers? I don't remember. Another, I hate it when cabs honk at me. I chased one down on foot the other day and screamed at him. The validation was like good cocaine. There are others, like strangers touching me, people trying to enforce their own made-up rules on me, and the big one...wronging my friends or loved ones in any way. I like to...right the situation the best I can without harming anyone or getting arrested. Yes, I can be a real cunt. I call it assertive.

Both of these have spurred story ideas, one small and the other big.

1. Short Story: Through a series of unconnected, serendipitous events, a man encounters people he thoughtlessly discarded as in moved to the trash, or didn't call back any more. He experiences severe regret, mourning missed opportunities having disposed of wonderful people. There would be one single case where he'd protected himself. But only one. I think I could accomplish this in about 10,000 words.

2. Screenplay, working title Simmer: A Brant sees another stranger on a train, Oleg, held captive by an annoying woman who won't shut up. This is one of Brant's peeves. He shoves his way through and shuts the bitch up. Brant and Oleg disembark, striking up a conversation about all the things other people do that they hate. They embark on a trail of vindictive payback, i.e. throwing a man through a supermarket window who cuts in line, capturing and torturing a nun, first with soap, then a cucumber, and then accidentally killing her. This is a dark comedy about payback, our bumbling protagonist and his sidekick getting in way over their heads.

So, as we propel ourselves though the fabulous, simmering river that is Los Angeles (or whatever other city you live in), we should consider, for longer than the fraction of a second our gnat-like attention spans allow...who we are about to toss. And if you don't, go bitch to someone else about being lonely.