I just had an idea for a book pop into my head. The book would follow a young boy, eight or nine years old, who is a companion of an old man, maybe about seventy or so. They go to docks and city streets. They watch a farmer till the field. All the time the old man says absurd and fantastic things about the work being performed and the lives being lived, sort of a real time Ecclesiastes. Finally, the young boy who had been full of wonder for this old man, finally tires of all the walking and the talking and asks the old man, "What is it that you do?" And the old man answers, "I'm doing it."
I'm not real sure about the ending, but the walking and watching and the being philosophical can make for some good combinations of graphics and text. Maybe I'm posting the idea here with the hopes that someone else will run with it, lazy web style. Or maybe I'm making a vague promise that I'll get to the idea.
I'm not sure a publisher would publish something with "Wise Ass" in the title. Maybe if instead of an old man, the guide would be a donkey, it would work.
If you want to read about more literary things, go to mobylives.
Posted by mastr at June 12, 2003 12:46 PM