Everybody Has a Story

By Rob Edelstein

Peter is on a two-year break from his studies in pursuing a PhD in Creative Writing. He’s researching perspectives of different people of different cultures throughout the world, hoping to shape the person he will become after graduation. His conversations with total strangers are based on a perfect balance of talking and listening, with more emphasis on listening. While Peter believes that many of the stories he hears are based on some form of truth, many are either exaggerated or totally fabricated. Furthermore, he’s convinced that these same tales are stored in the memory banks of the storytellers and frequently repeated with every new person they meet, each time with some form of colorful embellishment. But each narrative leads to a lesson learned, as Everybody Has a Story. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Nov 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781977270580

Rob Edelstein

Rob Edelstein has entered the next chapter of his life with a passion for writing. Since the passing of his wife, Sue, his writing style is heavily influenced by her as well as the people he meets and the stories they tell. 

Book preview

Prologue

THERE ARE NEARLY EIGHT BILLION PEOPLE in our world. Each are living their own story - some are exciting and worth writing about, but most are unremarkable. Some are factual, some embellished, or a combination of the two.

Everybody Has a Story attempts to share perspectives from a wide range of people (including myself) in different settings. Many people love to talk, and others prefer to listen. What a perfect combination! In many cases, they share highlights of their life story within ten minutes. Usually, the story includes a life lesson.

This book provides insight into peoples’ lives. In some cases, the individuals are real and in other cases they are referenced in a generic context or invented as fictional characters. Regardless, each of them has a message to share as everybody has a story.

CHAPTER 1

Graduate

SITTING AMONG HIS PEERS, whose only common trait is the same first letter in their last name, he’s bored. The sun beats down on what must be the hottest day of the year, and here he is dressed in a black cap and gown. He stares out into space waiting for his name to be called but they are only on G. As John fidgets with the program, he hears Peter mumble, I can’t wait for this to be over so I can get on with my life. He acknowledges the eloquence and ponders to himself, Where do I go from here without any clear direction of a job or career?

Until now, John’s life was loosely controlled in accordance with a preset schedule designed by adults. He never had to make any decisions of consequence as most were made for him. When he was of age, he played baseball and was given some latitude to select a position. He picked right field on the assumption that no one would ever hit the ball in that direction. When at bat, he was satisfied to draw a walk rather than take a chance at swinging and striking out. When he was on the base path, he would hold up at third defying the coach’s encouragement to wave him home.

Twenty minutes passed, and they finally reached the Ns. As Patricia Nicholson, and her twin sister Denise, made their way across the stage, John closely followed every one of their moves. They were without a doubt the most beautiful girls in the senior class, with big brown eyes and long wavy black hair enveloping their faces. He often fantasized being with either one of them. As Patricia received her diploma, she shot a sexy wink in his direction. John wasn’t sure if it was meant for him or her family sitting in the stands behind him. But this was his fantasy, so he assumed that he owned that wink.

Another 15 minutes goes by at a snail’s pace as they approach the Ts. Tom Turberville’s name was called triggering a memory when they were classmates in third grade. Tom’s family had moved here from Chattanooga. He was born and raised as a country boy and it was reflected in every aspect of his persona. When they played touch football, and he scored a touchdown, he would scream out Jumping Jehoshaphat. Conversely, when he was mildly depressed, he would whisper Jeepers Creepers to the amusement of all his friends. But Tom was a tall, lovable, and wiry kid and no one would mess with him as he had two Great Danes for pets.

When John Wasserman’s name was finally called, he walks in a single file toward the stage, shakes hands with the principal, and receives his diploma with virtually no fanfare. He walks off stage in a catatonic state with golf-clap applause as background noise. An assortment of family pictures is taken in different combinations with his parents, friends, sisters and brothers, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. In each picture, he makes little to no effort to smile affirming that he is apathetic to the whole ordeal.

While still in his cap and gown, John and his extended family drive in a caravan to celebrate at Applebee’s. He could hear Dad tell the Maitre D, Wasserman party of 12 as if it was something to brag about. Once everyone arrives, they seat them at the back of the restaurant. John is situated between Aunt Rose on his left and Uncle Wally on his right. While growing up, he never had any real conversation with either one of them. Not that they were bad people, it’s just they had nothing interesting to contribute.

Wally asks, So, what are your plans now that high school is behind you? John replies, Not sure, guess I’ll get a job and consider taking college classes at night. Rose asks, What type of job are you looking for? At that point John was ready to lose it thinking of all the comebacks that would put an end to this superficial talk. He thinks, A lion-tamer in a traveling circus or a bank teller organizing loose change into common denominations. However, what comes out of his mouth is, something in sales.

John hopes that his answer is sufficient to end the conversation, but it isn’t. Wally goes on a twenty-minute rant about how he started off in sales and over the years was promoted to regional manager of the largest ketchup distribution center in the tri-county area. He shares every detail about the supply-chain logistics from buying the ingredients, to shipping it to the ketchup plant, how it is cooked and bottled, then distributed to the stores to sit on a shelf until someone would buy a bottle once or twice each year. John’s eyes begin to blink rapidly, and he does everything in his power to keep them open till the story gracefully comes to a climax. While he sits there listening to this meaningless dribble, he comes close to twisting his fingers into the shape of a gun, placing it to his temple, and shooting his brains out. But he doesn’t. He just sits there, making eye contact until the story abruptly ends, and that’s how I became the top salesman in the company.

After the drinks and meal orders are taken, John sits there listening to success stories by others at the table. The stories range from Uncle Ron being a used-car salesman, to Aunt Joyce owning a nail salon, to Cousin Joe working for the city in code enforcement. Thankfully, the food is served to interrupt the crash course on career planning or everything the school guidance counselor Mr. Goldsmith forgot to tell you in 10th grade. While the iced tea is warm, and the Chicken Cheese Mac is soggy, it gives him an excuse to not participate in the discussion with his mouth full.

John looks over to his best friend Peter who is engaged in a deep conversation with Cousin Tyler. Tyler is in his mid-40s and going through a well-deserved mid-life crisis. Although Tyler had a decent career as a financial advisor, it’s obvious he wants more out of life. So, he treated himself to a Porsche 911, wears Giorgio Armani slacks with Gucci shoes, and brags about his international travel to exotic cities during the past two years. Quite an accomplishment for someone who is drowning in credit card debt with a marriage on the rocks. It doesn’t take long for Peter to comprehend Tyler’s situation working 80 hours a week for the man while spending way more than he earns.

The rest of dinner is peppered with stories of what John’s cousins are up to, who is pregnant, who has how many kids and what type, and the latest gossip told in a hushed whisper. As the Triple Chocolate Meltdown dessert is being served, it’s now time for a toast.

Dad clinks his plastic cup filled with iced tea and gets everyone’s attention. Son, we are all very proud of you reaching this important milestone in your life. We see great things in your future and will be supportive of you achieving your dreams and aspirations. Good Luck. And that was it leaving John to start thinking, What are my dreams and aspirations? Right now, he just wants to go home, play some video games, until he falls asleep only to wake up the next day, rinse, and repeat.

While graduation day ranks right up there as one of the worst days of his life, things worked out just fine. John met Sally whose father owned a chain of bowling alleys and made him Regional Manager. They dated for two years, got married, bought a big house with a white picket fence in the good part of town, had two kids – boy and girl – and a bulldog named Rocky. John worked six nights a week, enabling him to play a few hours of video games after the alleys were closed, then pass out on the living room couch.

Each person is different in setting personal goals. Some strive to climb the corporate ladder, while others are content in finding a job that pays the bills and avoid becoming stressed out. John on the other hand enjoyed playing video games, invented one of his own, made millions, invested in bitcoins, and was one of the richest men in the county until he died in a car crash caused by a defective Maserati bought from Uncle Ron.

CHAPTER 2

Peter

TRAVELING TO TEN CITIES during his first three months out of school, Peter takes a seat at a local bar waiting for something to happen. Some days people will sit down next to him and start talking within minutes while other days nothing will happen for hours, if at all. Being in a place where he feels like a stranger, he waits to be approached rather than be the initiator. After ordering a Corona and lime, he catches up on writing journal entries from the past few days.

Peter is 25 years old, a graduate from Brown University completing his PhD in creative writing. He decided to take a break before entering the world of 9-5 with no clear path where it will lead to. During the next few years, his goal is to collect life experiences from others before settling on the man he will be for the rest of his life. The generous inheritance received from John, combined with taking on miscellaneous paid assignments, provides sufficient funds to make this endeavor a reality.

Peter is very approachable and easy to talk to. At 5’9", 155 pounds, with light brown shaggy hair, he blends in a crowd without any distinctive traits. When it works to his advantage, he hides behind his scruffy five-o’clock shadow playing the role of an intellectual. His wardrobe consists of the same three pairs of jeans he carried over since his senior year in college, a mixture of pullover shirts, topped off with sandals he wears during spring and summer and work boots during fall and winter months. He keeps fit by jogging six miles every morning and sticking to a healthy diet of oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, salads for lunch, and a wide range of Amy’s five-minute frozen meals for dinner.

Although he had relationships in college, they came and went without any permanent commitments. While he has no issues envisioning himself being married with a family in the future, there is no sense of urgency. So, upon graduation he traded in his beat-up Honda Civic, and bought a two-year old SUV Ford Bronco. Peter then embarked on what turned out to be the most interesting and educational period of his life.

While this endeavor was not well planned out, he was committed to traveling to as many places and meeting people of as many cultures as possible before his money runs out. So far, he was off to a fast start documenting stories from men and women of all ages with different jobs, income brackets, and different roots of where they were born, raised, and socially influenced. At first, he jotted down a list of questions in the form of a survey he planned to inject into conversations. But what he quickly realized is that stories were more interesting when told without structure.

As Peter gained more confidence, he became skilled at slipping in the right questions at the right time, directing or redirecting conversations to get the information he was looking for, and being able to decipher between truth, exaggeration, and pure fiction. Many of the stories were probably told countless times, so they were well rehearsed and delivered in an entertaining way. It would be interesting to research how many stories the average person stores in their memory banks, but that’s not the objective of his research.

While Peter makes an effort to listen more and talk less, this doesn’t always work resulting in awkward periods of silence. He learned to adapt to these situations and try a different approach by throwing out an opinion on some controversial topic to see what reaction he receives. Sometimes he gets an earful of political rhetoric while other times it results in a candid two-way exchange of views where neither party is a winner or loser.

On rare occasions he is open with people and admits his objective in collecting stories and possibly writing a book. This is mostly welcomed with curious interest wondering how they would be portrayed through the eyes of a stranger and whether it would be written in sufficient ambiguity to hold back on certain details which may be embarrassing when exposed to friends and family. When he meets resistance, he promises that he will leave out the details they believe are compromising and colorize them to make them less personal and more fictional.

After three months, Peter feels that he is off to a good start. It is hard to imagine how this will evolve in generating new material. Will the stories begin to be the same spoken by different people or is there really an abundance of unique experiences to accumulate? Within this context, he begins to map out a strategy to avoid redundancy to the extent possible. This means he will need to consider flying to different states and countries, being among cultures where he is in the minority.

Peter’s journey continues as he anxiously absorbs new perspectives with each conversation. And while he encounters periodic failures along the way, what journey is indeed perfect? In fact, it’s the imperfection that adds reality to each experience.

Peter hopes that the lessons learned as part of his research will contribute to his own personal growth. And while the results of these experiences may not be a cohesive strategy on how to alter one’s own life, the pieces of the puzzle may provide insights that can help to better understand the world we live in and the diversity of people occupying our planet.

CHAPTER 3

Psychologist

DO YOU LIVE IN FORT LAUDERDALE or are you traveling for business? And so, it begins. Although his mission is to collect random stories, Peter has his heart set on