Your Future Finds You

9/22/14--A Satirical Short Story

Sitting on the bench beside the old oak tree in front of the old fountain in the middle of the park sat Destiny Risk, as had she sat the day before that, and the day before that, and many, many days before that. Each time a child would pass by she would extend an arm and ask if they would like to feed the geese with her, and each time a nervous parent would decline, ushering their child away from the strange old woman. Each time a couple would pass, Destiny would call out to them, asking them to come nearer so that she may see what young love looked like and pass onto them good luck for their future, and every time the two would walk off, looking over their shoulder and laughing about the old woman and her meaningless endeavors. Each time a confused looking person passed, she would pat the seat beside her, telling them to sit, to feed the birds, and to listen to the water as it filtered through the fountain, yet each time that confused person would decline, saying that it was their business and theirs alone, as they walked by.

So Destiny Risk sat there, on her bench beside the old oak tree in front of the old fountain, and she waited, and she waited, and she waited, but no one came to see her, no one would talk to her, few would acknowledge her.Yet still she stayed, hoping, praying, waiting.

One day, as the sun began to rise, and the people began to wake, began to go about their daily routines and walk through the park they found that the old woman was not sitting in her spot on the bench next to the old oak tree in front of the old fountain in the middle of the pack. No, rather, she was quite gone indeed. So now, with no little old lady occupying her square on the chessboard, so to speak, they found within themselves a hollow spot, which they had not realized had been in them, until now. They came to notice that maybe, just maybe, they had taken the lady for granted. But, when something is not really personal, if you share no true, tangible connection with something its easy to remember to forget. And so, like every other sad, impersonal thing, they forgot, and they moved on.

That next morning, as the sun began to rise, and the people began to wake, to go about their daily routines and walk through the park they found nothing. They just kept walking. They passed the ducks as they called out for bread, turned away from the fountain as it sprinkled its water, and looked past the bench that sat vacantly, and somewhat lonely, beside the old, dying oak tree, for they chose not to care. Yet somewhere, in spirit, a childlike Destiny ran around the world feeding the ducks near other trees in front of other fountains, calling out to the children, out to the couples, out to the confused, and they heard, but they did not understand. Because now, people don’t remember how to understand and often they do not want to anyway.