5 Suddenly the world is different
Quang, Alma, Francisco, and I sit quietly on the park bench. I am thinking about the toy horse. Then I hear a voice.
“Stig!”
I look left. I look right. I look up. I look down.
“Stig!”
Someone is calling my name from behind me.
“Stig! There you are! I was looking everywhere for you!”
The voice is from Fiona Ocean. She is walking to me from across the park. She is carrying a yoga mat.
Fiona is my agent. Do you know what an agent does? In many stories, an agent “smokes a cigar, takes your writing, tries to sell it, never does, and gets 15%.”
Fiona, however, does not smoke a cigar. Instead, she chews mint gum. She spends her lunch hour at a yoga studio. She sucks down smoothies of avocado and strawberry. Then she takes your writing, tries to sell it, never does, and still gets 15%.
“Oh, Stig,” she always complains. “What is 15% of nothing?”
I am never sure how to answer that because I am a poet. I am not a mathematician.
Still, it is unusual for Fiona to call me. It is more unusual for Fiona to find me in the park. So I am very curious to know what she wants.
“What do you want, Fiona?” I ask.
“Stig!” she says again. She is very excited. She can’t breathe well.
“Yes, Fiona? What is it?”
“It’s happened, Stig. I did it. I sold your book.”
“Wait. What?”
“I sold your book. For two million dollars!”
“Two million what?”
“They wanted to pay only one million dollars. But I said it’s two million dollars or nothing!”
“Really?”
“Yes! Yes! They love it, Stig. They love it!”
“Two million dollars? For my poetry?”
“Yes, Stig. They want your poetry for a book. And they will pay you two million dollars!”
Ha!
“Poetry from a dog!” says Fiona to Alma, Quang, and Francisco. “Everyone will want to buy that book!”
Alma, Quang, and Franciso look at me. They are surprised. I am, too.
Fiona continues, “You can finally go to Paris! You will have so much time to meander. You can meander from here to there — and from there to here! You will meander so much that you will find your way home before you even get lost! You’re lucky, Stig. You’ve got it made.”
Fiona opens her purse. She takes out more mint gum. She says that she has to leave. Her yoga class starts in five minutes. She will call me tomorrow.
I say nothing. My head is spinning. My mind is like a blender. I can’t stop on one single thought. My mind is turning to mush like one of Fiona’s avocado and strawberry smoothies.
Suddenly the world is different. Until now, everything was OK. I had a nice home in a nice city. I had a nice family. I was able to write nice poems about nice people. They eat nice cookies in the nice rain.
Before this, I was just another dog. Now I am a hot dog! Hard work pays off, I think. All of my dreams are coming true.
Quang nods his head. The others do not know what this means. To me, however, it means both “Congratulations!” and “I’ll miss you!”
Alma says she will bake a lemon pie and write a song for me.
Francisco only eats more shandy candy and smiles.
I smile, too.
Then I rush home to tell Liam and Oliver.
