“No Time to Die!”

by Scott Tanner | A-musing, Musings, Writer's Retreat

“No Time to Die!”

As I was undergoing one of my weekly in-house stints of chemo. Physically, I was okay. Though mentally, I was in a pretty dark space. It wasn’t like the other areas of my life were all that great either.

As I remained on a precipice, looking down into my “rabbit hole,” my phone rang. It was an old friend; he was and still is one of about five best friends. I reserve the number one slot for whomever I’m drinking with that night.

Maybe I have nothing to complain about. As I was once told and came to believe, when you’re about to die, if you have five very close friends, then you’re one of the wealthiest people in the world. Adoption of this belief was one of the better choices that I’ve ever made in my life.

When Russ called, I was trying to get my arms wrapped around the strong possibility of my dying in the next six to twelve months. A short reiteration of our conversation went down like this…

“Tanner, I need you to write that book we’ve been talking about for the last five years,”

“Russell, here I am on my deathbed, with six months to live. And you’re telling me to write a book and save the world,” I blurted.

“Then write quickly. No excuses! You’ll die soon enough. Write the book! And! I like your idea of making it an allegory.”

My friends, they’re the toughest people I know. They always kick my ass, and they always goad me into a fight. He then made himself even clearer.

“Tanner,—No time to die!”

(Continuing)

“I want you to focus on those three things we always end up talking about. You still need to touch upon all of those other points. Weave them into your tale,”

“Three things,” I asked.

“I hate it when you play dumb! Start with how The Rule of Law has Become Unruly, then move to Etatism and write about the rise of the New Multinational where you talk about big tech,” he said.

Just to get him to leave me alone, I agreed to write the book. Believing that wouldn’t have to; as I would soon be dead.

Here we are, almost a year later, and as of now, I’m cancer-free. So what am I up to? I’m writing that our book! As of today, I’m staying with the title, “What’s Next”.

And in case you were wondering and were about to ask,

“How do I feel about all of this?”

Short answer, “It’s a good time to be alive!”

It’s now been roughly six months since I started writing the novel. Listen to this…

I just recently pulled into a coffee shop. It’s next to a small local movie theater. I shifted my car into park, gave a moment’s pause, and said to myself, “God, do I really need to write that dang book? I don’t know how to pray, or how to even ask for help. If yes, just give me a sign, any sign will do! I don’t care if I see Jesus in a grilled cheese sandwich. I promised Russell that I would write the book, and now I’m stuck with that promise!”

So I then get out of my car, and as soon as I locked it,—I was startled. Do you know how you get that creepy feeling, as if somebody’s coming up behind you? And you turn quickly,—to see who’s there? But no one was there. I then looked up at the marquee, then saw what movie was playing. Of course, it just had to be— No Time to Die! The most recent and probably the last Bond movie to be made.

I then replied to God, “Thank you. I’m glad to see you have a sense of humor. Even though you’re kind of freaking me out” Still somewhat panicked, I then scurried inside to get my coffee; as if trying to hide from God—Really?

For the Sake of “It”

by Scott Tanner | A-musing, Anecdotal Tidbits, Musings, Poetry & Prose, Street Smarts, Writer's Retreat

"For the Sake of "It"

Twenty something years ago, I made my first foray into the world of selling precious metals. Going into it, I admit I had cast a jaundiced eye upon the field. I had many good reasons to do so, but more on that next time, probably in a future post.

For now, what I’m simply going to tell you is much closer to a true Short Story than a piece of Flash Fiction. It’s about an encounter I had with a new prospect. I don’t remember his name, so let’s just call him Jim. That’s okay because what lies within this story is a takeaway; and once uncovered, it’s up to you to decide what to do with it.

When Jim called, inquiring about purchasing gold. And after we talked about the state of affairs of our country, the world, the precious metals markets, and life. Our talk took a bizarre, subtle twist. The conversation took a dialectical turn onto the road of reason.

Jim talked about his divorce, which occurred some five years prior to our conversation. He mentioned how he had lost everything. The house, furnishings, car, retirement account, savings, friends, and more. Yet, as he continued down that track, I felt something was amiss.

His attitude, the way he expressed himself, was light, jovial; incongruent with the evocations of what we should have felt within the confines of a short, sad story. Initially, I thought maybe he was just glad to get his troubles behind him. No, it was more than that, so I just had to ask.

“Jim, what you went through would have devastated most people! How do you stay so upbeat?”

His reply was elegant.

“When I was a young man and had only recently left home, my father gave me some sage advice.”

“And”, I asked.

“He said ‘Buy gold; for the rest of your life, regularly, take physical delivery, sell only when you absolutely have to; and don’t tell anybody! So I took his advice. “

“That’s it,”

“Pretty much,” said Jim

“So how’d that work out for you?”

“After losing everything; well, almost everything, I went to my stash. Over the years I had accumulated over four-hundred thousand dollars’ worth in gold…”

I then offered him a job.