In Another Life

   Jack Pitiman rocked slowly in his chair at the Formanttan Knolls nursing home.  The people who worked there simply called it Forgotten Souls, because no one ever came to visit.  Jack stared out of the window in the common room, and he couldn't help a tear that was falling from his blue, cloudy eye.  His body was shutting down from a life of alcohol that started unceremoniously at age 9, and seamlessly transitioned into drug abuse.  The scars on his arms from burning himself everytime something went wrong.

Whatcha thinking about Mr Jack?  Rona the care nurse asked.

Another Life, Rona, another life.

Oh yeah?

Mom.  Things, well they didn't turn out as I thought they would.  I never thought it would come to this.

What happened  Mr. Jack?

It was that girl I knew.  She was the one, the only one.  After her, I just kept fucking up everything in every possible way.  It wasn't her fault though.  I had it all back then.  But I chose a different path.  But, in my defense, I never thought I'd live to see 21.  I shouldn't have seen 9, and if I'm being honest,  I shouldn't have been born at all.

Don't talk like that 

It's the truth.

As Rona fluffed up gus seat cushion, Jack let out an audible sigh, that sounded like the last breath of a man defeated.  Then a small crack of a half grin appeared, and he closed his eyes and saw the path not chosen.   He closed his eyes and a bright, cloudless world opened before him.  With that, he imagined his other life being g narrated as the hero he thought himself to be.  Imagine a baseball play by play announcer and a color commentator.

In front of hundreds of fans and critics alike, Jack Pitiman stood at the podium and began speaking. 

I am honored to be here tonight to share my award winning poem, Maybe In Another Life. 

In another life, the path I chose

Was wicked, as sometimes these things go.

A life of pain, and drunken days

An artist is so many awful ways.

But history is kind to poets divine

And life is cruel to me  and you

And so I chose another life,

Simple truths and a loving wife. 

I'll tell ya Paul, no one does it better than Jack Pitiman.   You got that right Jim.  Just a perfect poem on a perfect day.  Amen to that Paul.  Welcome to all you fans of Jack Pitiman.   I'm Jim Mulrooney here with Paul Dawson for the Jack Pitiman life review.  We'll be looking back at the man and his life,  because no one did it quite like Jack.  Well to talk about Jack, we gotta go way back, to before the beginning.  That's right Jim.  You see folks, Jack's mom was actually date raped by the high school quarterback.  Yeah, he really stepped over the line, Paul, what a piece of garbage.  Yes sir Jim.  Well Jack's mom was a Catholic and her dad was pretty old school.   So they shipped her off to convent to have the baby.  From there she put it up for adoption.  And that's where the real fun began, Paul.

    You see folks  there was a couple who couldn't have kids of their own.  The woman, well she was a Saint.  And papa, he had some issues with the bottle.   Yes he did Jim.  He would actually hide it from mama in the beginning.   Well until he put 8that ring on her finger,  and then it was a done deal, baby!!!  Yes siree, Paul.  You know those serious Catholics,  no divorce here.  No way Jimbo.  So mama made the best of the situation, because she wanted that kid, little Jack Pitiman.

     Jack excelled in school, of course, with his 140 IQ.  But on the homefront, too much drinking on papa's side of the table.  That's correct Paul.  So much so that papa decided to have little Jack try his hand at driving.   Amazing, Jim,  at age eight???  You git that right, Pauly.  Jackie boy just floored that old Buick right into a giant rock pile.  Jim I know what happened next, an fractured femur.  And six weeks in traction.   Paul, I gotta tell ya, that wasn't even then worst part, the ten weeks in a body cast, wow, that's gotta suck.  Jim, let's get serious for a moment,  let me tell them about that first night in the hospital. 

    So there was Jackie boy, strung up in traction could move an inch left or right.   But mama didn't stay with him, instead she went home to scream at papanfor his error in judgment.   Paul that kind of abandonment, after his birth mama gave him away, that would wreck a lesser soul.   Not  Jackie boy.   He took it all like a trooper.  Yes he did Jim.  

   Jack's attention came back to the home of Forgotten souls.  The EMTs stood over him vigorously working on his chest.  His eyes were.still closed, and he tried to speak, but to no avail, as he was stroking out, his consciousness faded away again.

    Well Paul here we are now at age 16, and Jack Pitiman continued pushing through, despite all the external efforts of those around him.  Jim you remember when those so called friends of his had tried to get him hooked on pot,.and then.acid?  I do Paul, and don't forget the cocaine twins in high school.  No I sure won't Jim.  Jackie had.powered through high school, unscathed and certainly not an alcoholic or drug addict.  No, he sure didn't, even though everyone around him was either drunk or stoned, including his own adoptive daddy.  Paul, let's get on with college and all the problems Jack did not have.

   Here we are Jim, a freshman at that great state university, population 10,000.  Let's not forget he spent four years of high school in a graduating class of 17.  Even a normal young man, with no mental issues would have a hard time adjusting to such unbridled freedom.  Jim, Jack met some real maladjusted people there his first week.  Paul that's right on the money.  Let's not forget Peter, who.never went to class.and just smoked pot and watched reruns of the Munsters.  Richie who started and ended every day with a beer,.and just about every hour in between.  Hey take a look at Jackie, even though he was smart enough to skip his first two years of lectures, he didn't spend his days getting high all day or his nights sneaking into bars and drinking until four am.  No he did not, not even once, Jim.  Because he knew he could very easily fall into a life pattern that he could never get out of.  And good thing too, because then the live of his life walked into the room and so gave him the courage and reason to continue moving in the right path.

     The EMTs moved swiftly to get Jack Pitiman out the main doors of the home of Forgotten Souls.  Jack heard faintly that they were losing him, and that they didn't have much time.  As all this was happening, Jack went back into his other life, the maybe he could have been.

     Paul, when she walked into his life, all his hard work of being bullet proof to the external pressures of being a teenager, had paid off.  Her name was…

    CLEAR!!! The paddles sent a quick through Jack's while body.and a residual shaking was left as a wave through his body.

     Yes, Paul she was the one, who could keep him in the straight and narrow path of doing the right thing.  Jim, you know most young people can't handle the day-in and day-out of doing the exact same thing the exact same way, it just drives then crazy.  You sure understand the circumstances Paul.  Why would anyone want to upset the mundane progression of life.  You wake up, you go to class, you do your homework and go to sleep.  Then after exactly four years of college, getting your degree in General Business, you settle in to a nice forty year career.  Punch that clock, Jim, get your finances in order and when you have the right amount of money squirrelled away, concentrate on getting your wife pregnant,and have the first of those three kids.  Don't forget joining the Apple Boulevard Book and Writing Club, Paul, because you need to show the neighbors how well rounded you are.  You still have time to give something to the charity of the week.  Jim, there's always someone or something to point you in the right direction for that week, you don't even need to think for yourself, it's mapped out for you.  Paul, that's how Jack played it, safe and bland, truly the blueprint for success.

     CLEAR!!! Jack opened his eyes finally.  He heard someone say, He's back.  Jack's eyes darted left and right,.and realized where he was.  He laughed out loud.  

"We thought we were gonna lose you, Mr. Pitiman."

Jack kept laughing and laughing.

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

He stopped laughing slowly and cleared his throat.  

Those around him wondered what he was mumbling for those minutes when he was coding.

"How are feeling Mr. Pitiman?"

There was a pause.

Nurse Rona was nearby.  He grabbed her hand.  

"I'm ok, really.  I thought there was another life I missed out on.  But, my God, why would I ever have thought that was the life for me?"

"Mr. Jack, just rest.  You're in good hands now."

"No, I'm not.  Never was.  But we all have a path.  Not the one we choose, the one that's chosen for us.  And that's the way it's gotta be."

Jack closed his eyes.  He heard faint voices talking…

Well Paul, that's where it ends.  Yeah Jim, right where it began.  You know it Paul, all alone and no clue what's coming next.