A Spoon in the Road
What the hell does that mean?
Everyone with at least a modicum of schooling knows that the phrase, ‘A fork in the road,’ symbolizes a sudden change in the direction of one’s life path or making a choice as to the direction of one’s life path. Poets have used the imagery and psychologists and self-help gurus have thrown the phrase around. There are some people who believe that if you’re walking down a road and you see an actual real-life fork (the actual utensil) on the road then you are most assuredly about to come to a sudden change in the direction of your life.
As a writer, I have often throughout my life eschewed the expense of an automobile in order to live a frugal life that allows me the time for my writing. I have avoided corporate ladders and well-paying jobs like the plague. To me, writing is like an addiction and I will be happy to give up the modern convenience of a vehicle in order to be able to have enough time to feed my addiction.
I have found that despite my arthritic knee and my wonky ankle my legs are essentially free. I don’t need a license to operate them, I don’t need to buy gas or insurance or pay for recurring repairs. Furthermore, I’m not polluting the planet when I walk and I’m not contributing to traffic congestion. I also never have to worry about finding a parking space.
Perhaps more importantly, I am not in an enclosed vehicle but rather out in nature. I am more aware of my surroundings when my surroundings are not whizzing by incredibly quickly. And I can hear the birds and smell the land. And my feet — even when wearing tennis shoes — are touching and caressing the skin of Mother Earth. Plus I’m getting exercise.
Over the course of the many sporadic times of my life when I did not own a vehicle I have come across all manner of litter scattered along the roads next to which I walk. You wouldn’t believe all the crap people throw out of their cars. Seriously, it’s kind of disgusting.
Well, on more than one occasion I was walking down a road and spotted a literal, physical metal fork lying in the road. Seriously, who the hell throws a real metal fork out of their car window? Every fork that I own never leaves my kitchen unless I’m going on a picnic. And I adhere to the mantra, “pack it in, pack it out.” All the forks I own have been with me for many decades.
I’ve never lost a fork to the open road!
But once I was walking down a country road mulling over a major life decision that was stuck in my noggin. (Normally I try not to think too much while I’m walking.) And then suddenly I noticed a fork lying in the middle of the road. I walked out onto the road to look at it more closely. It was a nice stainless steel fork with some elaborate design on the handle. Who the hell throws a nice fork like that our their car window?
As I looked at the fork in the road I suddenly realized that it was sign. It was a sign from the universe that I had to make a decision. I had come to a literal and symbolic fork in the road of my life and I had to make a choice. In the following week I made a choice and it turned out pushing me in a whole new direction and it was one of the better choices I’ve made in my life.
Ever since then I’ve been very alert to silverware in the road!
I sure do miss my old Ford Explorer. Man, I could just about haul anything in that vehicle. And it sure was fun to drive. But about three and a half years ago I had to sell it in order to pay the rent. And then I had to get a fucking job in order to continue to pay the rent. Luckily, that job is only two and a half blocks from where I live. I can walk there faster than I could drive there and find a parking space.
It’s an extremely easy and fun job that requires little thinking and almost no skills. Luckily, it keeps me in contact with other humans. Sadly, it pays only a skosh above minimum wage and I only work 30 hours a week. It keeps a roof over my head but it also keeps me in poverty. But more importantly, it allows me time to indulge in my addiction of writing. Of course, there is no way I can afford a vehicle. But that’s okay.
So anyway, to make a long story slightly shorter, I walk everywhere. Luckily, almost everything that I need is within a somewhat short walking distance. Walking everywhere is not such a big deal for me. And that is a good thing since walking is almost a religion with me. I’m a walker.
But I have come across a dilemma. In my last month of walking I have on three separate occasions come across a spoon in the road! Seriously, who the heck throws silverware out their car windows? It boggles my mind. Do they throw it out their car windows just to leave symbolic messages for those weirdos like me who walk?
I know what a fork in the road symbolizes and means. But my dilemma is that I have no earthly idea what a spoon in the road means….
Does anyone know?
Copyright by White Feather. All Rights Reserved.
Speaking of roads, you do not want to miss this delightful story:
