Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Careful of the Quiet Ones

I go into a co-worker's office.  A quiet co-worker.  The kind who only speaks when spoken to.  A person who only opens his lips the minimum required to produce speech. 

Taking the lead, I initiate small talk, inquiring about the co-worker's recent vacation.  He and his family had taken a train trip to the World Series of Barbecue in Kansas City, Missouri. 

     "How was it?"

Storm clouds pass the co-worker's brow.  He shakes his head.  It turns out national barbecue competitions are serious business.  It's all about Watching Barbeque.  And Watching Barbeque had not been the plan.  All of that talent.  All of that roasting meat.  All of his family eating Subway sandwiches for lunch.  The co-worker also confided that the the 30-hour train trip en famille has cured him of his love of train travel. 

The story is painful and absurd.  I say, "That would make a great blog post."

The quiet co-worker replies, "You're right.  I've been a little dry lately.  Maybe I'll use it." 

OMG

This silent man has a blog.  At first he didn't want to give me the URL.

     "It must be naughty!"

     "Well.  It's not that naughty..... I let my parents read it."

Josh has been blogging since 2006.  He wants to be a writer!  He is a writer!  (except for those otherwise occupied hours from 9 - 5.)

So quiet. 

All of those unspoken thoughts, shared only on the World Wide Web.

2 comments:

  1. very lovely. But what does this mean that on your birthday, you aren't writing about YOU?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Today's you're birthday and you're writing about me? Then I'll repay the favor on November 2.

    ReplyDelete