When There Is A Will There Is A Way
A short fiction story response to a writing prompt about ‘a character finding guidance in an unlikely place’. I got the writing prompt from the weekly Reedsy Writing Prompts Challenge. I hope that people relate to the story, and like it too.
One day while I was sitting in my cubicle at my new office in the city of New Jersey where I was feeling a little out-of-place, I realized it was a good day to do lots of things. It was a strange sort of realization, because it was based more on a hunch and less on the element of routine. I usually was the type that got up and did things straightaway, but today the realization sort of dawned on me, and I was grateful even in a strange sense, that it did.
I was not usually a lazy worker that did not like doing their work. I was new to the place, and I missed my home back in the country side. While I sat there enjoying the grateful feeling, I noticed a picture on the wall. The picture said that ’If there is a will there is a way” I liked this saying for some reason, and someone from the office staff had put up the beautiful light pink poster that had an ornate golden frame.
I thought about the saying, which I had heard about back in school that was apparently 400 years old. I happened to be an HSP with empath tendencies so I had to do strange things to overcome some strange sort of jetlag that seemed to accompany everything I did. There was something to do that morning, and I was taking all my time, finding good enough reasons to be motivated enough to do it!
I seemed to have some sort of a photographic memory, so idioms like this stayed with me. They even gave me a strange sort of sense of direction. I felt lost at work usually even though I was very intelligent, and capable. I realized that this was a job that I might like doing, if I might find good enough reasons to do it, while putting in my best.
Suddenly reality dawned on me, and I started to type the letter that needed to be completed as requested by my boss. I noticed there were lots of typos in the original document, and I had to proofread and edit all the stuff I was asked to redo for him. I also suddenly realized that my cell phone was ringing, and it seemed to be a call from someone I met at a coffee shop recently. A guy.
“Hello,” I said,
“Hi” came back the beaming voice.
“Aren’t you that guy I met at the coffee shop the other day?” I asked as though I didn’t know who he was.
“Yes, I’m also an artist, and those sketches you showed me the other day were remarkable” he replied with great admiration in his voice.
“Great, I can leave work early, as it’s the weekend, would you like to catch up ? ” he said again.
“Sure,” I replied with a tinge of happiness in my voice.
I got back to my desk job and prepped myself to do as much as I could as fast as I could. Given that I was going to leave early, I started to think of ways to type quickly never mind that there was indeed a lot to do. The boss knew I was good at proofreading, so he usually entrusted me with the usual load of paperwork.
Again I looked at the picture on the wall. I typed what I could and had completed nearly 70% of the days paperwork. I then, like the funny empath that I was took a notepad that was close by and started to doodle. Given that I was a good artist, I thought about what my new date had said on the phone.
I had a black marker pen that I carried with me every where. I usually liked doodling, and I doodled like a 5 year old, every where, on the books I read, on the wall, like teeny tiny doodles, and even liked to draw fake tattoos on my hand.
I decided to draw one of the fake tattoos that I had drawn on a female friend ages ago.
The tattoo was that of a cute but easy-to-recreate yatch in the middle of the sea that looked pretty cute on her actually. She later went on to get a real ink tattoo of the same drawing with her boyfriends name underneath it.
I easily recreated the same drawing, and this time I wrote the text that was on the wall beneath it. The beautiful rough sketch looked resplendent with the words “When there is a will there is a way” written so eloquently underneath.
I got back to the paperwork, and completed my daily office routine, but left early as it was the weekend. I called up the guy I was supposed to be meeting, and he said he was in the vicinity. We caught up, at the same coffee shop that we were so used to visiting, because of its beautiful aura and authentically Asian menu.
There he was in the restaurant, being himself, the last time I remember him. His hair was auburn, and his eyes were blue. He looked every bit the artist that “loved what they did, and hence did not really work a day in their life” I sat down opposite him at the table and noticed that he had already ordered a tall glass of mocha latte for me.
“You are new to the City of New Jersey, that’s what you told me the last time we met” he said in one long sentence without stopping.
“Yes, and I feel like the City is giving me great vibes, but its taking me a while to get used to things!” I replied with an honest look on my face.
He saw the sketch I made on the notebook I got from work, and was amazed.
“I think the drawing has captured the essence of the phrase very well” I think you would make a great artist too, by the way. I want to get this framed. I will put it up in my home, in my drawing room. Also, don’t feel as lost as you do in the city of New Jersey! That’s coz “When There is a Will there is a way” and you have found a friend in me as well!
That day I went home, and thought about the reason for liking the 400 year old idiom. I was the type ‘that never got around’ and I always had to start things from scratch to get them to work. I thought about the kindly artists words, and the fact that he simply adored my doodle, and wanted to get it framed. For now, things were going somewhere, and I had found a friend, in the big city. Probably the saying was true.
And if I had a will to do things, there would be a way to do them.