27. A NAME, A NAME, MY KINGDOM FOR A NAME...OR...
HOW I WISH I WERE SOMEONE, WON'T YOU GIVE ME SOMEONE TO BE...OR...

 

It was pitch black inside the train, but my shadow apparently could see just fine. He pulled me along and we sat down.

I was feeling kind of depressed. "How come you're George, and I'm...? Well, I don't know who I am. First they tell me I'm no one, and then they say I'm a million different people, and now I'm more confused than ever!" I whispered to the darkness, hoping my shadow was still there.

He was.

"Why don't we just call you George," the darkness insisted.

"No, I want my own name. Well, actually, come to think of it, Mary called me George. Hey, maybe my name is George! That's a nice name. Isn't it?"

"George is a very nice name," my shadow agreed.

"But your name is George."

"Not really. I kind of borrowed it from you during the interrogation. I don't think shadows actually have names, but they kept insisting I must have one. Here, you can have your name back."

My shadow reached out and slapped something on my forehead. I peeled it off. It was a glowing sticky tag and it read, "HI, MY NAME IS GEORGE."

"George, George, you're going to lose it again," my shadow was saying. He grabbed the tag from my hands and slapped it on my mind, far enough back so I couldn't reach it very easily.

Suddenly I felt different. I felt like I was someone. I was...

GEORGE!

I was beaming a smile, cheek to cheek. "George," I chuckled, and felt the way it rolled over my tongue. But something was missing. "George, what?" I questioned.

"You're never satisfied, are you. You've come all this way not knowing what your name is. I tell you, and now you want more."

"Well, most people have last names."

"Maybe where you come from, but not everywhere."

"Well, I think I should have a last name. George...George and Mary...Hey, I bet it's George Bailey. Yeah. That's it, isn't it?"

"George, what?"

"George, from It's A Wonderful Life. That was a great movie. Hey, I wouldn't mind being George Bailey at all!"

"Does this George Bailey go chasing after a pumpkin named Mary, accompanied by a shadow."

"Well...Mary's a real peach...but...well, no...I guess not."

"Uh, huh. Well, then it's not your name, now is it?"

"But..."

"It's just a coincidence, George. Actually, it's...um…er…well…Chronicles, if you must know," my shadow conceded after a long silence. "George Chronicles, yeah that's the ticket."

"Gosh," I sighed. "Chronicles…That's kind of a strange last name isn't it?"

"Look, can I help it if you have an odd name? You're a strange kind of guy, seems appropriate you should have an odd name," Shadow muttered.

"Hmm," I sighed. "George Chronicles. Has a nice ring of importance to it, doesn't it? George Chronicles. Makes me think my life will be a real adventure saga. An ongoing Chronicle of excitement and mystery and…"

"Ongoing is right," Shadow grumbled. "He keeps going and going… on and on…"

"Huh?" Shadow's tone disturbed my reverie for a brief moment, but I quickly went back to rolling my newfound name off my tongue. "George Chronicles. I guess it's not so bad. I think I like it. At least it's not something like, I don't know, John Smith, or John Doe, or something like that."

I couldn't see in the darkness, but my shadow swallowed, then crumpled up two tags and threw them under the seat. He fumbled in his pockets, pulled out a third tag and sighed in relief. "Look, see, here, it says: George Chronicles. I told you."

I greedily grabbed the softly glowing tag and pasted it on my soul. "Ah," I sighed, feeling much better. It sure felt good to finally be a somebody!

"But if I'm George, what's your name?" I wondered, facing where my shadow spoke.

The shadow sighed. "Look, George, you can call me Shadow, all right? Now we've got a pumpkin to find. Let's get going, already."

"OK, Shadow," I smiled, realizing suddenly that now that I was someone, I was going to have some company in my crazy dream.

"George Chronicles," I muttered happily to myself. "Things are finally starting to go right!"

Shadow elbowed me in the dark. "Let's get off here," he whispered and dragged me through the door into the blinding light.

How I Wish I Were Someone
( Chapter 27- MP3 song demo by Lyndon DeRobertis)

 

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