Serendipitous Shock?
Script reader gets a stunning surprise
I recently published a three-part piece, written in 2018, about a friendship that for no discernable reason went into sudden death despite my attempts to revive it.
I’d first posted the piece on a writers’ support site to which my erstwhile friend, a free-verse poet, had belonged. Our friendship had dissipated a year before I decided to join the site. I had no clue as to the moniker Marlene had chosen to write under, thus no way to discern whether she was still active. If so, given that I’d subscribed with my real name, Marlene would see my story listed.
To guard against that discomfiting possibility, I had held off for two months, posting dozens of other pieces from my archives in the meantime. Since I never heard from Marlene, I figured either she’d let her membership lapse or was declining to read my postings. Either way, my story about the passing of our friendship was safe from her eyes. I posted it in March 2020.
In June 2020, in memoriam of my friend Jim, who’d died of metastatic melanoma two years prior, I posted a five-act monologue script featuring Jim and friends reflecting whilst bearing witness to Jim’s decline.
About six weeks previous to the posting, in conversation with Jim’s sister, Nancy, I had spoken of finding fulfillment in writing. Nancy expressed interest in reading my work. I told her how to join the writers’ support site and detailed the procedure of searching the member list for my name so as to be directed to my portfolio. Given that it comprised 264 entries, it was unlikely that Nancy would hit on my then-dormant script with a random click. In any event, I didn’t hear back from her.
… until six weeks thereafter — two days into the four-day listing period of the posted script. Shaken, I listened to her voicemail in trepidation.
Nancy said she had joined the site and posted a story. Mercifully, there was no mention of her having encountered my script.
I was immensely relieved, though not surprised; after all, I figured she’d probably spent her first week getting oriented as to the convoluted quirks of the site —she’d have been way too busy to spare time plowing through the current listings page.
As it happened, I was right. Nancy never did get around to perusing the current listings.
What she did instead — the first thing, even before posting her story — was to visit my profile page. Upon which was displayed my featured script.
This was revealed when I returned Nancy’s call … fifteen minutes into our innocuous conversation … by the way, Liz, I read …
OUCH!
Indeed, Nancy tells me that reading it was like ripping off a band-aid, notwithstanding which she found it a heartwarming tribute to her brother. She feels certain she was meant to read it.
I tagged this factual narrative as spiritual, given its uncanny turn and the ensuing significance as construed by Nancy.