The Clarity of Retrospect

Whirr, whack, whack, whack, whack. The 16mm film had run completely through the projector. Our Sociology teacher, Mr. Lincoln, turned it off and asked Amy to get the lights. Then he walked to the front of the class. He must have decided to pick on Jeff today. Jeff had come to class stoned but, that wasn’t really a surprise. Jeff always came to class stoned. It was the first class after lunch after all. “Tell me about the film, Jeff.”

“Wha? Who? Me? You mean me Mr. Lincoln?” He pointed to his own chest. Everyone turned to look at Jeff expectantly. This might be entertaining.

Mr. Lincoln nodded.

“Well, shit, it was a pretty cool movie, I guess.” He began.

Mr. Lincoln pressed, “Try to refrain from the use of profanity Jeff. What was it about?”

“Uhm OK… There was this chick, kinda cute, with like, really nice hair. And, she like, gets off a bus, and then later some little dude snatches her purse.” Jeff was getting into it now. Enjoying the retelling, “But she’s like, having none of it, ya know, and she takes off after the little dude. She’s all like, ‘Hey, little dude, that’s my bag. Give it back’ but, the little guy keeps motorin’. Up some stairs and through some alleyways. I couldn’t tell where they were, fer shure, but it wasn’t Santa Monica!” Jeff snorted and laughed. “Then she like, finds her purse man. It’s just dumped on a step. But the funny part is, her stuff is still there. Like her money and her hand lotion is all still there but, it’s like somethin’ is missin’. You can kinda tell by the way she is lookin’. I just didn’t know what. I don’t know what’s missin’.”

“So she packs her shit up and starts to leave but then she spots the little dude down another alley, writin’ in a notebook… Whoa, I’ll bet it was her notebook, huh Mr. Lincoln? Or maybe it was her pen? Wait, wait, I’ll bet it was her pen and her notebook.”

Jeff gets a contemplative look on his face and looks earnestly at his teacher, “Then, she just leaves, dude. She totally lets him get away with it. I guess she was cool with the little dude needin’ a pen and some paper. Huh?”

Mr. Lincoln smiles and nods his head, “Pretty good Jeff. Would you say that through the clarity of retrospect, the obvious conclusion would be that things don’t always turn out as planned?

“Yeah, Mr. Lincoln, dude. That’s exactly what I was gonna say. I was gonna say exactly that.”

“Well then?” Mr. Lincoln asked.

Jeff looked solemnly around the class blinked his eyes twice, swallowed, and said, “Through the clarity of retrospect, the obvious conclusion surfaced: things don’t always turn out as planned.”

***

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