Ending in Mid-Sentence

Life is a story with cryptic words.

Chapter two doesn't necessarily follow chapter one and we can't read from the beginning to the end and assume that we will understand what happened.

We often become too close with the protagonist; however, at times we don't feel affectionately enough for the hero.

The villains, though they may be menacing in our stories, are the main characters for different authors.

Sometimes we are the villains.

Some stories are written in different languages. We won't read most of them.

Quite a few are short stories made up of only a couple sentences.

But these stories can also stretch on like "War and Peace."

They can be beautiful, many are dark and a surprising number read nearly the same with only the change of a name or place.

Every single story ends exactly the same. The main character dies.

Every main character suffers. Some experience years of happiness but others do not.

The book I'm writing includes suffering and happiness. Fear and confidence. Sadness and excitement.

As I look back to the earlier chapters, the words rearrange themselves on the page. I interpret my earlier writings within a revisionist context -- the meaning of the words is never the same.

The pages in the future are not empty. There are pencil marks all over...dreamlike sketches of what may or may not happen.

So much of my story is just like yours but so much is so different.

Most who will read my story will probably find their name in the index...I would guess that I am probably in the index of their story as well.

As I grow older, I realize that every story is worth reading. Each story is filled with adventure, intrigue and honesty.

I love hearing stories as they are being written.

Tales told around campfires.

Poems spoken while a keg of beer redistributes its contents into our stomachs making the words fill with color and truth.

Songs with lyrics that make us understand exactly what the author is trying to convey.

But they all end the same. They all end in mid-sentence. The author can never finish the book because each story must end in the book of someone else.

We are all continuing the stories of each other.

Adding to a single book that has no beginning and has no end. A book that can't be understood until our story is finished.

It's a book that we all get to have a part in. But none of us get to dictate the meaning. We write our cryptic story.

And then...