Writing

Character Is

definition of character

What if I don’t want to, she asked me.
It’s a consideration, I replied. But not one that will change my mind.
When will you come back?
When it’s appropriate.
When is that?
I’ll know. Until then, you’ll have to bear with it.
Aren’t you asking a lot of a kid?
Indeed. I smiled. But it can’t be helped, and you are up to it.
How do you know that?
I know your character.
Silence.
What is character?
Ah. I paused a moment to consider. Then, character is what choices you make and how you react to the consequences of those choices as well as the choices of others that affect you.
Silence. Tug on my hand. Stop. Looking at one another.
Then I know your character, too.
I smiled again. Indeed.

I wonder what she saw

exterior bar sign
 

 

She smelled of stale dish water and cigarettes, but she wasn’t smoking. She sat on her stool at the end of the bar and grinned toothlessly at herself in the mirror.

I wonder what she saw.

I ordered a beer. I hate beer. But this place – probably didn’t have a wine that was worth drinking. Dark, smelly, with sticky floors and people’s faces all washed out by the bad lighting.

Why had I come in? What was here for me in this place with past regrets griming up the walls and leaving shadows in all the corners where old memories holed up like spiders under the counter?

The toothless woman turned her head to look at me and laughed under her breath.

I wonder what she saw.