Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2014 15:56:17 -0500
From: “N.A. Booko”
Subject: Only Three Sticks Were Left . .
In the 1980s when my aunt had a stroke, she had a long recovery. 0ne part of her treatment required her to walk a certain distance and keep count of the number of times she completed the task. She chose to walk around the house 13 times. But she could not always remember how many times she had walked. She decided she would place 13 sticks at the beginning of her walk and each time she completed a turn, she would move one stick to an opposite place. All she had to do was count the sticks and know when she had completed 13 trips.
A couple of weeks ago, I decided I needed to walk more, but didn’t want to drive to a suitable location. I wanted to do it at home. Fortunately I live on a portion of old hyway 64 and it is reasonably flat and straight. There was an area about one thousand feet long that I could use, but would have to walk it back and forth several times to feel as if I had done some good. I would walk it back and forth ten times. As I walked, I sang, talked to myself or to my cats. Listened to a bird or accidently spoof a deer. I was easily distracted. When I would get back to where I had started, I couldn’t remember how many times I had completed the walk. Was it the fifth time completed or was the fifth time next? I remembered what my aunt did to keep track. I found myself ten sticks and each time I would complete the course, I would stick a stick onto my car. Into the back bumper, just under the tailgate. I tried to always remove them when I completed my walking.
Last Thursday I went to Pittsboro, drove around quite a bit and returned home. After parking, I got out of car, came around to the rear and was horrified when I saw three of the sticks still clinging to the bumper. What in the world did people think? Driving in town and ten sticks all lined up in my bumper? But then, what if someone actually saw one fall off and did not try and flag me down to let me know? What if, in some countries or some customs, the number of sticks you had up your bumper meant something? Good lord, should I have been more proud of having ten or alarmed that there were only three?
N.A. Booko
(N.A. Booko lives and laffs in Chatham County)