{"id":1876,"date":"2013-02-11T00:34:54","date_gmt":"2013-02-11T00:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/?p=1876"},"modified":"2014-01-03T18:34:43","modified_gmt":"2014-01-03T18:34:43","slug":"late-for-the-window-by-sandra-gould-thompson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/late-for-the-window-by-sandra-gould-thompson\/","title":{"rendered":"Late for the Window by Sandra Gould Thompson"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"carsbus\"<\/a><\/h1>\n

Late for the Window<\/h1>\n

by Sandra Gould Thompson<\/p>\n

Carol got on the bus, sat down, and quietly wept.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs everything okay?\u201d asked the woman next to her. \u201cIs there anything I can do for you, Honey?\u201d
\nCarol looked at the woman, who appeared to be the quintessential \u201cbag lady,\u201d and said, \u201cI just can\u2019t do it anymore. Look at everyone. They use their cell phones, text phones, headphones. They\u2019re all being busy looking busy. They don\u2019t want to dirty their lives with anyone else. I think it\u2019s just time to let go.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman placed her hand on Carol\u2019s and asked, \u201cHoney, you\u2019re not thinking about taking your own life, are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol sniffled,\u201d I have to make the pain stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman sighed, looked out the window, and said, \u201cOkay, but first, let me ask you a question. If you kill yourself, what makes you think that things will be any better on the other side? Will it be any better there or far worse? Are you sure you can make the window? Did you know that astronauts have to take off at a particular time so they won\u2019t miss the point they can leave Earth\u2019s gravity? It\u2019s called the \u2018window.\u2019 If they miss it, they have to head back to Earth until there is a new window of opportunity. In death, you may also have to depart in time for your window. I think that if you miss that window, the suffering could be unbearable, with no opportunities for change. For how long, is the most horrific issue. Now, I\u2019m not a woman of religion, so whether it\u2019s a heaven or helll, I don\u2019t know, but you best be positive that you will make that window.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol blinked. \u201cI never thought about it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman smiled and said, \u201cSweetie, none of us has any guarantees of happiness here. Look at me. I know people think I\u2019m some psychotic street hag, but I choose to live this way. I have the means of living in mainstream society. It\u2019s just not for me. These others find their own ways to survive. Some by \u2018being busy looking busy.\u2019 Hey, some of us just drop out and do best as we can. You\u2019re not at the mercy of the wind, Dear. Make a choice as to how you want to live. Change if you have to, drop out of the mainstream, and if truly unbearable, break beneath it. If you get to that point though, remember what I asked you. Weigh it well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carol managed a smile and said, \u201cThank you so much. What\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter does it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill I see you again?\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman smiled and said, \u201cI guess that will depend upon the road you choose. Oh, here\u2019s my stop. Gotta\u2019 run, Sweetie. They\u2019re giving out free one-day-old bread at the bakery today. Can\u2019t miss out on what life hands ya\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

###
\nSandra Gould Thompson is a B.F.A. graduate in Visual Communications from Syracuse University. Prior to her writing career, she was a medical illustrator with contributions to many medical textbooks and journals. She is now moved to illustrate with words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carol got on the bus, sat down, and quietly wept.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1876"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2352,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1876\/revisions\/2352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.everywritersresource.com\/shortstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}