*Reunion for Losers

Intro: We went to my husband's high school reunion. We were to submit a picture and a bit of text that explained what he had been up to. This is what I sent for him "Younker enjoys living in the middle of Nowhere. He works in a dungeon by himself and talks to his equipment. His wife is someone who knows if a story's worth telling it's worth exaggerating. They have never been happier." The other blurbs that people had written were nothing like this. I am glad that we wrote what we did.

“Did you send anything for the slideshow?” Mark asked.

“Nope, did you?” Steve said.

Mark shrugged his attention riveted to the screen.

The overloud music buzzed the speakers. A picture of a perfect family popped up. Paragraphs of text described every achievement in the last ten years. After the third slide the picture fizzled and the music died.

A new slide came into focus.

“High School Reunions, a time to paint pretty pictures of how you want people to view your life.”

“What no one here realizes is that we are at a reunion for losers.”

“Terry Matthew.”

A pictured came into focus. The long descriptive text talked about his accomplishment at medical school. A thick red X crossed through the text.

“What makes Terry a loser?”

“His dot com company failed in under a year. He declared bankruptcy. He works night shifts as a waiter at the cheapest diner in town.”

The slides continued to cycle through showing the truth in all the gritty details. Mark wasn’t smiling but he watched everyone else. He already knew what the slides said. Steve let out a strangled cry when his own information popped up.

After the last student had been shown the screen faded. The room was silent. No one made eye contact with each other. The screen flashed.

“Did anyone reach their goals?”

“We are all losers.”

Mark closed his eyes. The next slides would be the true test.

“Or are we?”

“Now that we know all the darkest secrets we don’t have to lie about our accomplishments.”

“Are you happy?”

“Then you aren’t really a loser.”

The slideshow ended and for a moment everyone sat in silence. Steve turned to Mark.

“Did you really get robbed last year?”

“Yep,” Mark replied.

“What did you do?”

“I ate Ramen and sold plasma until I could get back on my feet.”

“What do you do now?”

Mark smiled. “I illustrate children’s books.”

“I thought you liked science? You did all the science stuff in school.”

Mark shrugged. “My interests changed.”

“Are you happy?”

“Yep.”

Steve sat back in his chair. “Me too. Life’s good, isn’t it. Even though I didn’t become President of the United States. I own my own grocery store. I never thought I would enjoy it.”