A "make millions" great idea

An awkward silence follows Charles sharing his take on the Melissa and me scenario. I'm mad. Mad at what he's just said, it hurts; mad at the likelihood of what he said is true. If that was the truth, I guess I really didn't want to hear it.

I've decided I'm not going to say anything until we get home, a silent protest. Charles breaks the silence just as we cross the bridge, over the river, leaving downtown. “I have a great idea; it'll probably make us millions.”

“What's that?”, I ask, sounding annoyed, but actually quite curious. Every time Charles has one of his super ideas, they're actually quite interesting.

“What does downtown have a lot of?” he asks.

“I don't know. Homeless people, parking meters, bus stops,...” Flipping through my memory Rolodex of all the things we saw today at lunch.

“No, no. Think infrastructure. There are a lot of big buildings and parking lots, and they are only occupied from eight to five, Monday through Friday. The rest of the time, they just sit there. So what we should do is have drive-in movies, downtown! Think about it, you could project movies onto these giant skyscrapers, fill parkades and parking lots with cars, and broadcast the sound on a local FM radio channel.”

“That's a great idea.”

“Yeah, I know. You would need very little for infrastructure, as all these things are in place, except the movie projector and FM broadcaster. It's the same basic setup as your old fashion drive-in movie theater, with a new twist.”

This idea, like most of Charles' plans, is so crazy, it might just work. Why not? I wonder how much a projector costs, or an FM broadcaster. I wonder if I would get to wear a tuxedo, a nice tuxedo, and we'd make all the employees wear those bow ties and vests, because that's what minimum wage employers do, and that's what the kids expect.

This interlude in the day is great, for a few minutes I forget about all the garbage in my life. I'm always guaranteed to hear something interesting when Charles has a great idea, especially when “it'll probably make us millions”. Although there was a month straight where every idea involved a cat trap or cat dispenser; these came shortly after Charles had a nasty run in with the fat tabby cat at the end of the block. The big fat cat chased him around in circles for five minutes, while he screamed like a girl. I'd have taken the opportunity to make fun of him, but the cats pretty crazy looking, and I'm as equally frightened in its presence.

Today doesn't have to be all that bad, you just can't think about it that much. Maybe I need to approach life from an entirely different angle, at a safer distance. If I don't let myself get too attached to anything, or anyone, it won't hurt so bad when they're gone. And eventually everything will be gone.

Happily married for 80 years? Well one of you is going to die first, unless your so lucky that you both go in the same night, same car accident or you have a carbon monoxide leak. If you're not so fortunate, then one of you is looking at a significant loss, and tremendous hurt. You just can't let yourself get to close to anything, because everything will be gone, one day.

I'll need to iron out the wrinkles in my new mantra, however I think it has potential as a great self preservation tool. I'll run it by Charles later, when I'm not acting upset with him.

Nearing home, I can't help but wonder if I've become such an excellent driver as a result of over a decade of driving in video games. I've raced motorbikes, skateboards, surfboards, snowboards, fighter jets, and expensive sports cars; all of these must have given me some sort of advanced hand-eye motor skills that my parents never could have developed. I take my hands off the steering wheel and control the car with just my left knee.

“What are you doing?” Charles asks.

“Uh, nothing.” My hands are back on the wheel.

I guess that game where you speed into an intersection, trying to crash into as many other cars for maximum points, probably shouldn't be put on my list of video-game-driver-training-credentials. And that other one where you launch off the ramp, through the burning hoop of fire, could be argued as not being relevant to real life; though if the occasion should ever arise, I'll be ready.

And if the Princess ever gets kidnapped, an Evil Professor steals precious diamonds to create evil weapons, or Alien Invaders attack Earth... I'll be ready.