Family Drama

Being around others, you get a chance to catch up on their family dramas. Everyone has them. It starts at sunrise and continues through till sleep, only to come back the next day. Family drama is how we interact with other people.

I will admit, I’ve had plenty of family drama, but now it is different. Now it is fun, even exciting, to listen to other’s families’ crisis and triumphant. Everybody has a soap opera going on and we love to listen when we are not involved.

So now I know a little more about friends who I’ve not seen for many years and perhaps I’ve told a few secrets too. How we handle the family drama is what makes us who we are.

With that said, last night I walk out on my porch for the nightly rocking chair tour. I relax with a cool drink and wait for the night to fall. It is a soothing ritual.

Usually it is the last of the day birds flying, a few breezes and a late night jogger or biker. Other than that, it is a quiet rock to end the day.

Last night, across the street, there was family drama. Two women were trying to start a car. Unsuccessfully I must admit but the drama played out before me and I didn’t even buy a ticket.

I couldn’t hear the conversation but the motions of the players relayed the plot. Neither the actors or the car seemed familiar but I had front row seat to their family drama.

A large truck came up and blocked the street with lights flashing. Now things were getting exciting. Some guy got out of the truck which usually haul cars that are parked when they were told to not park because the city is cleaning the streets and had a brief conversation with one of the women while the other was talking on a phone. The guy, in his most professional manner, tried to start the car, then opened the hood and then walked back to the truck. The women were talking to themselves and then the guy with the truck and then themselves. What declivitous plans were being laid on my neighborhood stage?

The truck gathered its chains and drove off. The two stranded women walked off as if to go back to a place they had come to in my neighborhood. Then they came back and opened the door only to find the car did not magically start again.

Another car drove up and parked. There was a brief conversation with this new guy and he repeated the same routine of flooding the engine and raising the hood. There seemed no solution to this family drama. Stay tuned till tomorrow.

I did not stay to see the finale, but this morning the car was gone.