02 1 / 2008
nothing but pancakes
“you were right, this narrator might very well kill you, so i humbly suggest that just forget all this and go…live your life.”
“go live my life? i am living my life…i’d like to continue to live my life.”
“i know. of course. i mean all of it. however long you have left. you know, i mean, howard, you could, you could use it to have an adventure, uh, you know, invent something, or just…finish reading crime and punishment.
hell harold, you could just eat nothing but pancakes if you want.”
“what’s wrong with you? hey..i don’t want to eat nothing but pancakes, i want to live. i mean, who in their right mind in a choice between pancakes and living chooses pancakes?”
“harold, if you’d pause to think, i believe you’d realize that that answer is inextricably contingent upon the type of life being led, and of course the quality of the pancakes.
you don’t understand what i’m saying?”
“yes i do. but you have to understand that this isn’t a philosophy or a literary theory or a story to me, it’s my life.”
“absolutely. so just go make it the one you’ve always wanted.”
