Elsewhere

elsewhere : somewhere, formerly, remote, outside, away, gone, abroad, hence, removed, far off, parts unknown, otherwhere, not here, away from ……

When times get tough or when the flu sets in or when I’m waiting in line to get my driver’s license renewed, I try to go elsewhere in my mind. I look forward to seeing the places you will go.

Kevin Tully

“Sebastien and Darcy met on the campus shuttle bus in college. Sabastien was attempting to pick up Darcy. His intentions were not dishonorable, considering the times, just transparent. Darcy wasn’t interested, but she thought his line was creative and moved over so he could sit down.

They became good friends through their junior and senior years, then drifted apart, as so often happens. Darcy married an orthodontist. He was the son of communists. Sebastien married an artist. She became known for the artwork she created for a well-known counterculture magazine. They both had loving children and comfortable lives.

One bitterly cold winter day Sebastian got up and offered an elderly lady his seat on the subway. This was a very generous thing to do. His knees were of almost no use anymore and his back caused him great discomfort. The elderly lady thanked him. There was something familiar in the way she leaned her head to one side as an element of her gesture of gratitude. It jarred something in his memory. “Excuse me, do I know you?” said Sebastian.

Looking up, searching, into his eyes, the elderly woman, smiling, said, “Maybe, it would be nice if you did.”

“My name is Sebastian.”

“Nice to meet you Sebastian. I am…” she paused, looking straight ahead, “I, I am Mrs. Collin’s.

“Nice to meet you Mrs. Collins.”

A group of drama students, sitting a few seats down, were practicing lines from a new play.

“To be where I am, and not. To be where I am, and not.

“To be where I am, and not.”

“Things have changed, things have changed, things have changed….”” From Elsewhere By Franklin Cincinnatus