wandering thoughts. It was on Tim’s back porch, and the stars dotted the night like a distant celestial city.
“Tim, did you ever stop to think that if just one little thing in your life changed, it might alter your entire life?” Dick said.
“Yeah,” Tim said. “But it’s nothing I spend a lot of time on.”
“Like, it’s really surreal when you think about it,” Dick said.
“Yeah,” Tim said. “Something as simple as a missing button.”
“What!” Dick said.
“A missing button,” Tim said.
“No,” Dick said. “Something like a major decision. You know, like, should I go to work at a factory or drive a beer truck? Come on, a missing button?”
“It happened to me, Tim said.
“A missing button?” Dick said.
“Sure, changed my whole life,” Tim said.
“No way,” Dick said.
“It was in the first grade,” Tim said.
“A missing button in the first grade altered your life,” Dick said incredulously.
“I raised my hand when Mrs. Oliver asked who could spell ‘Cat,’” Tim said. “I knew, so I raised my hand. That’s when it happened.”
“What happened?” Dick said.
“I noticed the button was missing on the sleeve of my shirt,” Tim said. “Mrs. Oliver was about to say ‘Tim,’ but she saw my hand go down, so she called on Wayne.”
“And how did that alter your life?” Dick said.
“I wasn’t asked to be on the spelling team,” Tim said.
“So?” Dick said.
“The rest of the class went out for recess,” Tim said. “Normally, we would have been having reading class.”
“What’s that got to do with it?” Dick said.
“That’s where I met Bobby Luterbien,” Tim said.
“How did meeting Bobby Luterbien alter your life?” Dick said.
“Well, it wasn’t really Bobby Luterbien,” Tim said. “It was his pencil.”
“What about his pencil?” Dick said with a half-cocked grin.
“He dropped it,” Tim said. “And I picked it up.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Dick said. “So you gave it back to him and what?”
“His class already went in from recess,” Tim said. “That’s when I found it.”
“How did you know it was his?” Dick said.
“His name was on it,” Tim said. “His parents were rich.”
“When did you return it to him?” Dick said.
“I didn’t,” Tim said.
“Where’s this taking us next?’ Dick said.
“Our class was called in from recess,” Tim said. “Sally Watkins yells out that I have Bobby Luterbien’s pencil. The teacher thinks I’m a thief. I‘m sent to the principal’s office. They take a closer look at me and decide I should be in a class for less than motivated learners.”
“And…” Dick said.
“I moved along with that class for five years,” Tim said. “They decide to introduce music therapy. I learn to play the guitar.”
“I didn’t know you played guitar,” Dick said.
“I broke a guitar string and have to go to the music supply room for another string,” Tim said.
“What happens there?” Dick said.
“I don’t make it there,” Tim said.
“What happens?”
“I walk by a class and the teacher is screaming, ‘Can anybody please tell me what was the first capital of the United States?’” Tim said. “I stuck my head in the door and said there were actually nine different capitols, but under the current constitution, it was New York City. So impressed was the teacher with my answer, she took me to the principal’s office for another evaluation. That’s where I met my future wife.”
“She was in the principal’s office?” Dick said.
“Her mother was,” Tim said. “But we eventually met.”
“This makes absolutely no sense to me,” Dick said. “Any one of those things mean absolutely nothing to you meeting your wife.”
“Of course they don’t,” Tim said. “You have to let me finish.”
“If I’m following you, this might take the rest of the evening,” Dick said.
“More or less,” Tim said.
“Can you shorten it up?” Dick said.
“Well, you don’t have to get so impatient,” Tim said. “You wanted an example, and I’m giving it to you. Do you have anything to compare with this?”
“What does this all have to do with where you are right now?” Dick said.
“Okay, okay,” Tim said. “Last week, it was open house at little Timmy Junior’s first-grade class. He’s in the same exact room I was in. I got my hand in my pocket, fumbling with loose change. From nowhere, Junior’s first-grade teacher comes up and introduces herself. I pull my hand out of my pocket, and the change rolls all over the floor. Junior immediately springs into action and collects all the change. I’m talking with the teacher. Junior disturbs a lot of stuff that was under the heat register. I look down. There’s a button. The button; that I lost 25 years earlier.”
“And what does that have to do with now!” Dick said.
“I bent down to pick it up, just then a bullet comes through the window and lodges in the wall. My head would have been in the direct line of that bullet. A guy next to the school was cleaning his rifle, didn’t know he had a round in the chamber, and it fired. So you see, it was the button. The button lost twenty-five years earlier. It saved my life.” Tim said.
“And you said you didn’t lie awake thinking about these things,” Dick said.
“That’s right,” Tim said. “You can’t make up stuff like this.”
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