Wednesday 28 December 2011

There was a bang in the middle of the

night. Lights flashed and the oven timer went off.
I had to get up and turn the timer off of course. Other people may be able to sleep throught a persistent buzzing but I cannot. I also disabled the flashing lights in the house. I did not investigate the bright flashing lights in the street. They were white rather than red or blue. There had not been any sirens either and, if there had been, I think I would have been even less inclined to investigate.
I have never been inclined to investigate anything which might be an accident. I cannot understand people who just stand and gawk at other people's misfortune. If there is nothing I can do to help then I want to move on. My father is the same.
If there appeared to be an accident ahead my father would, if possible, take a detour. If it was not possible then he would concentrate fiercely on driving the car. As a passenger I would close my eyes. I still do the same thing. I never want to know.
Someone once commented that this apparent lack of curiosity was strange in a would-be writer. The person commenting seemed to think I should take an interest in everything, observe everything and be able to write about everything I observed.
I cannot. There are things I do not understand even when I have observed them and I have no desire to try and write about them. There are other things about which I cannot write. If the time comes when I need to write about an "accident" then I will be able to draw on the memories of the accidents I have not been able to avoid witnessing. That will be enough. I do not need to intrude unnecessarily on the private lives of other people.

3 comments:

widdershins said...

but what caused your oven timer to go off? And how was that related to the white lights in the street?

Or... maybe ... maybe ... this was an alien abduction. What have you done with our Cat, you ... you ... impostor!!!

Anonymous said...

I think Cat has reappeared - unless it was her ghost in the library this afternoon. Ros

catdownunder said...

I fought off the aliens Widdershins!