Written by Here’s Rob McRay’s understory from our May 2017 night “Show & Tell”
Tonight, Class, we had “Show and Tell.”
We showed a metal lizard that almost changed our life…until an encounter at Dead Man’s Tree revealed it was not gold—and we were a doofus.
We showed little Sarah with the frayed edges, the only one we trusted when Angie left. And years later, when he also left, we curled up again by our lifelong best friend.
We showed our hands that bounced her while we walked miles and miles, and that shook her bottle and beat her back…and raged at God. But they also showed her every day that she was loved.
We showed a black flag which we discovered after beer with Hungarian metal heads and kissing border guards and a subway ride to Ost-Berlin—where we learned that lonely figures are trapped between the armies.
We showed Beulah’s aging scrapbook, and told of Mom’s scrapbook full of boy pictures, and our own scrapbook with a “love-a-lint campaign.” And we are destined by the stars to be the keeper of the memories.
We showed our Turkish “football” jersey which we purchased from peddlers like flies on a dog turd. And we found the value of Caucasian Drivers Licenses and a Tennessee Drinking Licenses.
We showed a piece of Duplo and remembered Julie, and signing number songs and the biology of flies—and fleeing the torture. We have lost her, and found ourselves…and we don’t know how it ends.
We shared her perfect horse skull—which we found in the deafening hum of a slave cemetary, having become one with the land. She was present at bonfires, and presided at ordinations, and still whispers of the seasons to come.
We showed the food bowl that once belonged to a spherical mass of angelic fur—the “rabbit of the Andes”—whose birthday had been spoiled by a dead orphan bunny and our misunderstanding of the point of our ethics exam.
That was tonight’s “Show and Tell.”
Thanks to Wendell, Christy, Jeannie, Jordan, Amber, Irene, Caren, J.W., and Evert for your stories! Our next night is June 26 in partnership with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. Got a story? Let us know here!
Tenx9 Nashville Storytelling 