Heightened Moments

 

When my husband and I moved to this neighborhood (three and a half years ago), I joined Next Door to see what people were writing about. Today I decided to conduct an experiment and see how we stack up against the rest of the country for exciting times in our neighborhood.

Nationwide posts:

• A woman fell flat on her face leaving Target in Sun City, California, but was helped by fellow shoppers until the ambulance arrived
• A family's lame, very elderly dog was found and returned in Columbus Ohio by police who had to carry the dog inside
• White swans jazzed up the Charles River in Dover, MA (my favorite)
• Firemen put out a snow plow fire  in Mamaroneck
• Someone is celebrating his birthday in Huntsville Alabama at seven a.m. (I'm impressed!)

My neighborhood:

Around here people are reporting garage thefts, attempts to steal catalytic converters, lost pets, found pets, and recommendation seekers for a variety of house repairs.

The lives aren't small, but some of the details can seem, well. Not exactly dramatic, right? Fiction, movies, teleplays and theater are so very different, making us think life has to be made up of heightened moments all the time.

Well, it isn't, but--

Maybe these notices are the beginnings of stories--for writers, playwrights, screenwriters. The woman who fell on her face has been fighting with her grown children for months about staying in her home versus moving to assisted living. What will they say now?

The lame dog had been with his family 11 years and was the same age as their boy. How will they tell him the dog isn't going to live much longer?

The swans are secretly people who come to life and dance at night (Oh, yeah, that's been written centuries ago, thank you, Tchaikovsky).

The woman who witnessed someone breaking into her home tackled the intruder and her neighbor jumped in and they got the guy arrested. (My own little fantasy).

So what's happening in your neighborhood (and mine) isn't just happening. It's the bedrock, the mother of invention, and a way to find your fiction. 

If you want.

Swan photo: Emilian Robert Vicol