Friday, February 15, 2008

Lost Story Found in a Cheap Shoes Shoebox

A story lost for so long no one knew it had been lost. Accidentally found buried under a pile of other old nearly forgotten memories in the bottom of a tattered shoebox. A shoebox for cheap shoes that had been stuffed high up on the topmost closet shelf for so many years that no one remembered putting it there. A cheap shoes shoebox that suddenly became a precious treasure chest holding whispers from the past, moldering in the darkness of the rarely used closet. Whispers of things and people once loved and cherished that had been relegated to the cheap shoes shoebox crammed in between musty blankets on the top shelf of the closet in a spare room. Whispers liberated as the crushed lid of the cheap shoes shoebox was lifted and the light of discovery illuminated the jumbled contents. Pictures, crumpled notes, silly momentos and sundry junk that must have been valued by someone somewhen. And at the very bottom of it all, the folded yellowing sheets of the story lost so long ago. The story of a man who no longer drew breath but still lived in the heart of the finder of the cheap shoes shoebox of whispered memories. The finder became the reader and relived the words of the writer and read about a man... her father... she thought she knew and discovered a part of him she never suspected or experienced. The reader tasted the salty flavor of the warm tears of mourning she didn't realize were flowing and held the lost story to her breast. Grateful for the opportunity to breath life into her father again through the words of a lost story found in the bottom of a cheap shoes shoebox long forgotten till then and written by me twenty-five years ago.

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8 comments:

GeologyJoe said...

that story describes my whole blogging philosophy.
That in 25 years from now it will be re-discovered in an internet shoebox of sorts.

nice post T.

Bonez said...

Thanks GeoJoe. This was generated from an incident that happened to me yesterday in which a lifelong friend informed me she found one of my stories that was about her father written 25 years ago. She had never read it until a day or so go as it had been misplaced in a shoebox all these years.

Marloes said...

Absolutely beautiful Tony! I almost held my breath while reading it.

Bonez said...

Thank you, Marloes. There will be more spontaneous creativity coming from me in the near future. Thank you for your support and encouragement.

Unknown said...

"...that story describes my whole blogging philosophy.

That in 25 years from now it will be re-discovered in an internet shoebox of sorts."

If I can pull your legs on this one...remember to prepay the hosting (smile).

Fun aside, it's a nice piece. We all hope an pray that all this could not be so final...that many years from now when we are no longer that someone, somewhere will be touched by some legacy we have left behind!

Bonez said...

I agree, JollyJo. I was fortunate enough to have experienced this before I was gone :) The person who found my writing was a lifelong friend and best friend to my little Sister (nearly a little Sister herself). She was given the story by my Sister years after her Father's death and never read it before it ended up shuffled amongst other mementos and crammed in a shoebox. My first job was working in a cemetery with her Father. The story was a college assignment to tell a story from an adolescent's POV. The resulting story was called "Mr. Purk's Pick" and that's all I will say for now.

CW FISHER said...

Post "Mr. Purk's Pick!" We'll start a fire and T can tell us another one. Really, I'm fascinated by gravediggers.

Regarding the shoebox... that's really what a blog is. I was disappointed in my own shoebox recently when I started reading my own crap. What crap! Too long, too pretentious (I like just a pinch of pretension). But all of it editable to make it edible.

Thanks for this, Tone.

Bonez said...

Oh, I don't know about posting "Mr. Purk's Pick" since that was so long ago and I was never really "happy" with it. But I will consider coming up with a new gravedigger story just for you, CW ;) Granted, in my current twisted state of consciousness it will be something quite different than "Mr. Purk's Pick"... [haunting music continues in background]

Well, get back in that old shoebox of yours and edit some of those editable edibles and repost them here on Bonez! Pretty Puh-leez?!?