A phone call to myself

☎️ RING... RING...

A skinny 14-year-old kid answers a payphone outside a convenience store.

"Hello?"

Long pause.

"Hey, Toddy."

"Who is this?"

"It's you."

"Yeah right."

"No. It's really you. I'm 54."

Silence.

"Did we make it?"

"Listen carefully because I've only got a minute."

You're not stupid.

You're not weak.

You're not crazy.

The things happening around you right now would be hard for any kid.

You're going to spend a lot of years believing that if you can just work harder, be smarter, make more money, save more people, love harder, fix enough things...

Then somebody will finally choose you.

They won't.

And that's okay.

Because that was never your job.

You're going to start businesses.

Some will work.

Some won't.

You're going to make millions.

You're going to lose millions.

You're going to surf.

You're going to build things.

You're going to help a lot of people.

You're going to have boys of your own.

And they are going to change your life.

You're going to spend decades trying to understand why people hurt each other.

Why they leave.

Why they betray.

Why they lie.

Why they seem to love you one day and disappear the next.

And one day you're finally going to realize something.

Their behavior was never proof of your worth.

Never.

Not once.

And that dog you've always wanted?

Yeah.

You get one.

A giant black Schnauzer named Toddy.

And he's going to teach you things people never could.

One more thing.

You don't have to win every fight.

You don't have to explain yourself to everybody.

You don't have to convince people you're a good man.

The people who matter will know.

The rest were never the audience.

And then maybe the ending is this:

The boy is quiet.

The older Toddy asks:

"Anything you want to ask me before I go?"

And the kid says:

"Do I ever stop feeling alone?"

Long pause.

Maybe the longest pause in the whole piece.

Then:

"Yeah."

"Not because people stay."

"Because eventually you do."

☎️

CLICK.