
Hector
had what most people
would consider to be a rather
dull life
he got up
ate
went to work
came home
read a bit
ate some more
fed his gold fish
did the dishes
brushed his teeth
then went to bed
the next day
he simply repeated
everything he did the day before
but on a certain
Tuesday
a new person walked into his
antiquarian bookshop
Hector said hello
Jill smiled
and asked for a
First Edition
of her favorite book
while Hector was showing her
his only copy
they began to talk of different things
and time went by quickly
Hector was
late getting home
late having dinner
late feeding his gold fish
late doing the dishes
even late going to bed
he felt terrible
and apologized to his fish
more than once
asking for forgiveness
but the more Hector thought about it
the more he noticed
that being late
hadn’t actually
changed
anything at all
it didn’t seem to matter
when he arrived home
when he ate
when did the dishes
or even when he fed his gold fish
although he still felt badly
about making the fish wait for his food
he looked at the clock next to his chair
and noticed that
it was an hour past his bedtime
he wondered
if staying up a little longer
might be acceptable
after all
he thought
he hadn’t had time to
read the next three chapters
in his book
so Hector
his heart pounding in his chest
picked up the book he had been reading
looked around for any disaster
that might be about to happen
for daring to break
his self-imposed rules
removed his bookmark
and started to read
he woke to the sunlight
coming through the living room window
he was still in his chair
the book open on his lap
for the first time in his entire life
Hector had not slept in his bed
shocked at his own behavior
he quickly went through his daily routine
and set off for work
but when he reached the sidewalk
he noticed that something had changed
and after years
of wondering what it was like
Hector finally realized
that he had been keeping himself
in the dark
and that by breaking his own rules
he had opened his heart
and let his light shine through
that’s when he knew
that he no longer
wanted to be
a cog in the machine
he wanted to be free
and truly
alive
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