As he left, he surveyed his surroundings doubtfully. What was he doing here? He had climbed the proverbial
mountaintop to meet at the feet of his mentor, but in seeking meaningful,
personalized advice, he found instead a sententious old man fond of aphorisms.
Now he felt as lost as ever. He mulled over the last 40 minutes in his mind. When the day started out, he had high
hopes for this meeting. But his
mentor had peppered him with idioms.
“Keep your head up. Keep
your nose to the grindstone. Keep
an ear to the ground. Keep an eye
out.” The facial contortions
required to follow all of his advice was overwhelming. The fact that he had heard it thirty
different times using different body parts made the advice and the meeting
completely underwhelming. “Keep
your chin up. Work your fingers to
the bone. Be all ears. Keep your
head on a swivel.” His 8 year-old
niece told him the same thing when she found out he didn’t have a job.
So much for sage advice.
Epilogue
The pews were filled with a small smattering of mourners. If he had kept his head up and an eye
out, he would have seen that bus coming.
