Yeah, this is the part about writing that really, really gets to me; creating a new character, a new full-blown character, believable, and moderately… interesting.
For now, I’ll call him “m”; short for some name that may or may not begin or end in the letter M.
As this is a contemporary tale it is significant that m is 71.
This is significant in its perception: ages 58 – 70 you should be gainfully employed and socially driven, 72 – whenever; you are in your dotage, no one takes you seriously.
He’s never missed a meal…although he has postponed several, indefinitely.
He’s confronted, accepted, and has stopped fearing his own mortality.
He’s slept under the stars, most often, willingly.
He’s a tree-hugging old hippie that now faces the day with a choice: morphine or oxy (by Rx) and sit or nap for an hour or three to squeeze in a moment or two of near comfortable movement, or take a hit on the pipe and feel like working. [m is a skilled woodworker and has his own small business: Be Splendid Enterprises Ltd. Co.] No choice really, a man has got to smile and do…stuff.
“Hello, I’m, well, m and I’m your narrator.”