Blog: ​ABOUT Being

Richard Wilberg: Creativity Coach and Musician
  • Home
  • Coaching
  • Music
  • Photography
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact

Baited

5/15/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture
Scene One – COCA-COLA – Saint Germain, Wisconsin September 1951
 
“Hey Bobby, let’s go to the picture show,” Sally says. She looks out the window at the rusted, dented garbage cans across the alley. “There’s a new Clark Gable movie showing at the Bijou in Hazelhurst.”
 
“I don’t want to go. I’m tired. I worked all week,” Bobby sighs.
wwith “You’re tired? What about me? If it weren’t for my job we couldn’t afford this crummy apartment. How come you’re tired? Are your poor skinny arms weary from pumping phosphates for those bebop girls who hang around your soda fountain? I don’t know why drug stores can’t just stick to medicine. Then you wouldn’t be ogling all those bobbysoxers.”
 
“Lay off will you?  I’m lucky Doc. Williams gave me a job. He lost his kid in the war. He wants to help vets like me.”
 
“Poor baby. Now I have to hear about your glorious military service again? I think you intended to get captured. I heard prisoners of war got off easy while other GIs were shot, some blown to smithereens.” 
 
Bobby slumps deep into the blue sofa. “God, will you ever give up complaining? Maybe a movie would be a good idea.”
 
“Now you’re making sense. Momma said you were a loser but sometimes, like now when you agree with me, I think she might be wrong.”
 
Bobby sinks deeper, white knuckles clench a cushion. “Matinee starts at three o’clock and the evening show begins at five. I’d like to catch the five o’clock show so we have enough time to drive over.”
 
Sally’s stare was Bobby’s service revolver, aimed to shoot a man through the head in the blink of an eye. “I want to go to the matinee.”
 
“Sally, it’s two-fifteen we’ll never make the matinee on time.”
 
“We will if we take the short-cut through the National Forest.”
 
“No, I don’t want to. It’s thirty miles to Hazelhurst on a deserted, two-lane, gravel road. If we have a problem, no one will find us. I’d rather take Highway 70. Then we’ll have plenty of time to make the five o’clock show. My Ford is on its last legs and I worry.”
 
“You’re such a baby, afraid of everything.”
 
“Screw it. It’s always your way. I’ll drive us through the damn forest.”
 
Fifteen minutes later the red, pinstriped Ford swerves from side to side down a lonely road bumping from one pothole to the next. Bobby reaches beneath his seat, brushing a bottle of Coca-Cola and his Colt 45 semi-automatic pistol. The gun barrel is cool to his touch. “BAM,” an explosion like a crack of thunder pierces the space between them. Sally slams against the passenger door. The car lurches to the right.
 
“What’s that?” Sally screams.
 
“Tire blowout,” Bobby says.
 
Scene Two – FOLLOW YOUR NOSE – Club 77, Hayward, Wisconsin May 1977
 
“Thanks for attending tonight’s show,” Bobby says. “Here’s a little ditty I composed about an unwelcome guest at my farm. His visit reminds us to heed risks and rewards of going your own way.”
 
Woodchuck has an uncle.
His name is Chewy Brown.
Chewy’s got a nephew.
He goes by Little Tom.

Tom came to see me,
Last year this very day.
Baited trap cantaloupe,
I took him far away.
 
Woodchucks like to talk.
Their stories bring you tears.
So, Tom said to Chewy, 
“It’s cantaloupe that I fear.”
 
        Tom’s got a hang-up
        Chewy clearly knows
        Take what you’re given
        Always follow your nose
 
Chewy found my red shed.
He dug beneath the floor.
“Holy shit,” I shouted.
There’s got to be one more.”
 
Trap set with cantaloupe,
But Chewy won’t go near.
It must be bigmouth Tom,
Who stoked Chewy’s fear.
 
For ten days and many nights,
Chewy stayed away.
Changing bait every day.
Chewy said, “No way.”
 
Today he took my bait.
April storm was his fate.
Froze the trap it didn’t close.
Now Chewy really knows.
 
        Tom’s got a hang-up
        Chewy clearly knows
        Take what you’re given
        Always follow your nose. 

​If this essay is meaningful, please like or tweet below or leave a comment. Thank you for your interest and possible action you may take.
 
Richard Wilberg, MS, PLCC, ACC 
Creativity Coach for Personal Fulfillment and Career Success
​
 

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About the Author

    Picture
    Richard Wilberg is a creativity coach, musician, writer, photographer, and former business leader who lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All
    Acceptance
    Aging
    Alternatives
    Anomie
    Appreciation
    Assertiveness
    Assumptions
    Avoidance
    Awareness
    Balance
    Baseball
    Behavior
    Being
    Betrayal
    Blame
    Brand
    Careerdevelopment
    Career Development
    Caregiving
    Certainty
    Change
    Choices
    Coexistence
    Commitments
    Communication
    Compacency
    Compassion
    Conflict
    Conversation
    Creativity
    Crowd Behavior
    Customer Experience
    Dating
    Decisiion
    Decision-making
    Desire
    Distraction
    Dreams
    Driverless Cars
    Driverless Trucks
    Emotion
    Empathy
    Escape
    Family
    Fatherhood
    Fear
    Fiction
    Flashfiction
    Flash Fiction
    Friendship
    Future
    Gerontology
    Goals
    Grieving
    Habits
    Harmony
    Healing
    Healthcare
    Humor
    Imagination
    Innocence
    Innovation
    Instinct
    Intentions
    Intuition
    Jobs
    Land
    Leadership
    Legacy
    Lies
    Listening
    Loneliness
    Loss
    Love
    Management
    Marketing
    Meaning
    Mentoring
    Music
    Mystery
    Nostalgia
    Opportunity
    Ownership
    Parents
    Passions
    Patience
    Perception
    Perfection
    Perseverance
    Personality
    Perspective
    Photography
    Positivity
    Presence
    Reason
    Redemption
    Relationships
    Reputation
    Resilience
    Respect
    Romance
    Secrets
    Selfawareness
    Self-care
    Selfconfidence
    Selfdevelopment
    Self Development
    Self-knowledge
    Self-worth
    Shame
    Song Lyrics
    Sons
    Stillbirths
    Success
    Technology
    Transformational Learning
    Transition
    Trust
    Truth
    Unknown
    Values
    Vision
    Well Being
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Home | Coaching | Music | Photography | About | Blog | Contact
© Wilberg, LLC. All rights reserved. Login.
  • Home
  • Coaching
  • Music
  • Photography
  • About
  • Blog
  • Contact