Liberty Drip

It’s December 14, 2012 and I’m riding a bus from Hollywood to Aventura mall. It would be a 30 minute drive. It’s a 90 minute bus ride. I’m reading a book. I arrive at the mall and walk to the retail establishment where my dead-end job is located. I tell myself I hate my life. I’ll feel like an idiot about that feeling very soon. I punch in and then jump on line. There’s been a shooting at a school in a little New England town no one I know has heard of. I know Sandy Hook, Connecticut because my sister lives there. A few blocks from the school. I call her and she doesn’t answer. I know my niece and nephew don’t attend that school but it’s still, literally, too close to home. I am a father of four and I’ve always had a soft spot for kids so any tragedy involving a child always hits too damn close to home. We will later this day learn that twenty children and six faculty members will die in that school. They are the victims of a sick young man who will also die there. His day

It’s about 6:45 AM and I’m in the gym on a treadmill jogging along at 4.3 MPH. I don’t tell you this to impress you. I’m a little embarrassed so let’s just say I’m on a treadmill before the sun has risen and pat me on the back for that. I am not here for vanity, but for health. I read the crawl on CNBC intently, knowing that I’ll have forgotten most of what I read before the market opens nearly three hours from now. Another million slips through my fingers. Below where the TV is mounted is an eight-foot window that spans the length of the workout room and affords us speedsters views of the basketball court. For the last few minutes, an older lady, probably in her late 60’s, has been playing a little one-on-none. She makes some shots, misses others, and runs awkwardly after the ball when it bounces away. She returns to her comfort zone and takes another shot. CNBC is talking about a pharmaceutical company reporting better-than-expected earnings. The crawl on the bottom of the screens te