Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
An episode about potential, cold and great apologies.
A weekly podcast of fiction written and read by Jason Geary.
Hello, and welcome to episode 54 of the Dictionary of Moments podcast. My name is Jason Geary. I am your author, reader, and host. Sit back, relax, and let's tell some stories. Well, hello.
Jason Geary:I hope this episode finds you well wherever in the world you may be, be it lockdown or out amongst your peers, improvising or telling stories of your own or having fun or out with your family. Me, I'm still in lockdown. I am having fun, and I'm with my family. It's just, you know, lockdown. The same thing.
Jason Geary:The same five k's every day. But it does keep me grounded and, in check to tell some stories, which is what we're gonna do here today. What is the dictionary of moments? Thank you. If you don't know and are just joining, the dictionary of moments is a project of mine where I intend to take words from the dictionary.
Jason Geary:And, in addition to finding their meaning, you'll find a super short story based off that word. So I'm gonna rewrite the dictionary with stories along with the meanings of things. It's ambitious. Sure. Will it end?
Jason Geary:Never. But that just means episode after episode of podcast for you. You can find some of the stories up at DictionaryofMoments.com. I will get my, shit together at some point and and upload more recent stories. But, that is up at dictionaryofmoments.com.
Jason Geary:I've also written a book. It is called Lost and Found Magical Stories of Melbourne. It's, six magical realism stories set in and around Melbourne, beautifully illustrated by Liam Amor. You can find the link to purchase that book in the show notes of this podcast. It is in ebook form and audiobook form.
Jason Geary:So if you do like listening to the dictionary of moments, you can listen to the entire three and a bit hour record of, lost and found. But let's get into this week's three stories. Relax. I hope you enjoy them. Them.
Jason Geary:Thinker. Noun. A person who thinks deeply and seriously. Thinker. Trudy thought that she had seen it all as a kindergarten teacher, every type of child, the lovely ones, the monsters, the free spirits, the curious, the shy, the lonely, the gifted, and the happy go lucky ones.
Jason Geary:She had more categories, of course, but sitting here, drinking her tea at lunch and looking out on their children playing in the courtyard, she struggled to put little Duncan May into any of them. Duncan was like a master key. He just fit into every category she had at the same time. He was the only kid she'd seen sit back and consider a social situation before he entered it. Then he would fit in perfectly.
Jason Geary:She was astounded. It looked like a science fiction movie, some sort of hyperintelligent learning AI sponsored by the government. She'd met Duncan's parents. Unless they were deep undercover as regular bogans, she gave them zero chance that they were government sponsored. Duncan looked at her through the window, made eye contact with her, and tilted his head.
Jason Geary:Trudy felt uncomfortable, like she was being scanned without permission. She looked away and looked back, only to find Duncan still looking intently at her. She felt nervous. She dipped down to put her phone back into her handbag, and when she popped up again, Duncan was gone, no longer in the playground. What sort of tea do you like, missus Trudy?
Jason Geary:Trudy jumped in her seat. Oh, Duncan, where did you come from? Green or black tea? I like black tea. You?
Jason Geary:Duncan, shouldn't he be playing outside? It is recess. I guess. I'm just not so sure who to play with. They're all so they're all so dumb.
Jason Geary:That's not nice, Duncan. Oh, I would never tell them that, miss. I it would hurt their feelings. That's just a secret I would share with you. She felt her heart flutter at the praise she'd received, then she caught herself and was appalled.
Jason Geary:He'd gotten to her. He'd figured out that flattery was her weakness. She was terrified. Would you best go out now? Stay out to the end of recess.
Jason Geary:Okay? Yes, miss. He started out to the door. I bet it's black tea that you like. So do I.
Jason Geary:He smiled, then he disappeared. She felt like she wanted to cry, but wasn't sure why this kid this kid was gonna change the world. She just didn't know if it was gonna be for better or worse. Shiva. Verb.
Jason Geary:To shake or tremble with cold, fear, or excitement. Shiver. Troy was soaked to the bone. Three days of rain had seeped through his makeshift shelter, and everything he had was wet. Clothes, sleeping bag, even the earth beneath him.
Jason Geary:He'd had trouble keeping his fire alight as the rain did everything it could to extinguish it directly. Troy had won that fight making a small break, wrapping his tarp around it, but the wet had won the long fight. With no dry firewood, the flames struggled to take hold and eventually went out. That's when the black set in. It worked its way into the edges of his vision as he began to shake an involuntary reaction to the cold.
Jason Geary:It was his body trying desperately to stay warm, even if it had to eat itself in the process. The more he tried to fight the onset, the more the black seeped in from the sides of his vision and the more violent the shaking became. Now, with ever increasing tunnel vision and the world looking to him as if the ground itself was vibrating, he let himself go. Troy couldn't find it anymore. He fell to his side.
Jason Geary:He didn't know if his eyes were open or closed. There was a smell of wet forest floor and the violence of his body shutting down. Everything was dark and uncontrolled. He heard a bird tweet. The first time in three days.
Jason Geary:The sound forced his eyes open. They were closed. He saw a beam of sunlight in the distance and realized that the drips, the ones that were hitting him, were residual drops from the canopy of the trees. Still shuttering, he smiled to himself. Sunshine.
Jason Geary:Yes. Sunshine, he thought. It'll be here soon. Then then he'd find the strength he needed to set things right. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes.
Jason Geary:The shuddering seemed to ease as he went to sleep, an expectant smile on his face. Yes. Sleep. Just until the sun finds him. Gaff.
Jason Geary:Noun. An unintentional act or remark causing embarrassment to its originator. Gaff. The room fell silent instantly. It was quite a remarkable thing.
Jason Geary:I'm sure if there had been a record playing, it would have scratched off to mark the beginning of the chorus of silence. What, was it something I said? I asked the room. I mean, I assumed it was me. I was talking, and the way the entire table was looking at me with a mixture of shock and disgust suggested I had said something wrong.
Jason Geary:Now my psychiatrist had given me a routine to go through when I found myself in situations like this. Read the room, she said. If everyone is looking at you with these types of faces, and then she pointed to the faces on the wall, then there's every chance you've upset or angered people. I scanned the room a second time. Yes.
Jason Geary:The faces match the ones in the diagram. Oh, I'm sorry. Was it something I said? I tried to wrap my apology with sincerity, but I'm pretty sure it just came off glib, a common mistake I make. Liz, the hostess, began to cry, and her husband pushed his chair out.
Jason Geary:It made a loud scraping moan as the legs slid across the hardwood floor. I didn't know if he was about to come over and grab me or go to his wife. Thankfully, he went to comfort Liz. I looked to my left to my sister. She was making huge eyes at me.
Jason Geary:I'd seen them before. They were try again eyes. I searched for a better way to apologize. I remembered that my therapist had said, replay the conversation. Find the specifics.
Jason Geary:Describe them how you saw them, then apologize. I went through the process and got my apology straight, and I launched into it again. I could feel the nerves from my sister on my left. I'm sorry, Liz. We were all joking about your mother and how she could be really mean sometimes, and I thought it would be appropriate to call her a sour cunt.
Jason Geary:In this context, as we were all reflecting on the way she acted towards us with good humor, now I realize that I was wrong in using that phrase to describe her at her wake dinner. My apologies. I let out a huge breath. Yes. I had nailed that apology.
Jason Geary:If anyone was grading that apology, I would have got an a plus. I smiled to myself proudly, and then I felt hungry. Can you pass the potatoes, Liz? Thank you. My sister kicked me under the table.
Jason Geary:I was not out of the woods yet. And that is it for the stories this week. Thank you so much for tuning in and listening. If you enjoy the podcast, the best thing you can do is tell a friend. Tell five friends.
Jason Geary:Tell 10 friends that you enjoy this little storytelling podcast once a week. There are 50 or so episodes, 53, in fact, that they can go back and listen to as well. You can follow me on Instagram, the dictionary of moments on Instagram, and you can see, covers that I draw for each and every one of these stories that, hopefully, if this project ever finds its way into print one day, will accompany each and every one of the stories. So that's dictionary of moments on Instagram. You can also, if you love this podcast a lot, sponsor it via Patreon.
Jason Geary:That's right. The podcast is free, but if you have some spare money, to help keep the podcast up and running, you can head over to Patreon and subscribe at a number of different levels over there for, different perks and things like that. Alright. I'd like to thank the Heartstrings Project as always for their beautiful music. Check them out on Spotify.
Jason Geary:You'll find a link to them on Spotify and Apple Music in the show notes of this podcast. They are wonderful. Check them out, and I hope to see you again next week. We'll hear you. Have you listened to me?
Jason Geary:You know what I mean. Come back. I'll catch you then. Bye. Pretty eyes, so I believe look