A friend on Twitter — who am I kidding; she’s a sitcom writer that I follow — tweeted one night that she couldn’t sleep. Instead, she was writing down the names of movie characters that she wished were real so that they could be her friends.
(That’s the kind of thing TV writers do. It no doubt spawns great ideas for story lines the next day.)
So, I started thinking — what characters from fiction do I wish were real? And immediately, my favorite book of all time popped into my head:
A Prayer for Owen Meany
I have never loved a book more. I have read and re-read it and discovered something new each time. It’s the book I would choose — if forced to choose just one — and Owen is the reason why.
Owen is real to me. I can hear his damaged voice. I can see his small, misshapen body. I can feel his isolation from his frightened family and the immense guilt he carries every day after the freakish accident that kills his best friend’s mother.
I first read A Prayer for Owen Meany at a time when I desperately needed to believe that things in life happen for a reason. Owen helped me not only to believe, but to accept the very hardest things — things I wasn’t sure at the time that I could survive.
I may not need Owen as much today, but I still want him around. He’s one of my best friends.
Okay, back to Twitter. Need to see what my pseudo-friend is yapping about today.
Three strikes
No doubt — John Irving wrote it better.
When it happens in real life, folks are a bit more litigious.
A New Jersey woman who was struck in the face by a baseball is suing the 11-year old catcher who hit her for medical costs and negligence. Her husband is filing a separate suit for the loss of “services, society and consortium” of his wife.
The total damages? Close to $500,000.
The catcher’s family, who says they can’t afford the jury trial the woman has demanded, thinks Little League Baseball should help defray court costs since the accident took place during a sanctioned warm-up.
I think they should call Irving. Maybe he can do a rewrite and give this story some heart.
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Tagged A Prayer for Owen Meany, baseball, baseball catcher, baseball in the head, best friends, books, children, commentary, court trial, family, Humor, John Irving, lawsuit, life, litigious, Little League, medical costs, negligence, New Jersey, news, Sports, summer, writing