Suit of Armor- Excerpt

    

Suit of Armor

    "At 67 the facade Lawrence had worn for years felt less like a playful costume and more like a suit of armor. Its heavy, stiff, rusted metal slowed him down, draining him of his limited energy with every step. He remembered a book he had read many years ago about a young girl in her twenties, completely devoid of empathy. The character had described her daily life like walking through molasses. Every move she made trudging through society was delayed by an unnatural obligation to conform to attributes deemed acceptable, and one day, she just snapped. The rest of the book, she sprint through life, disrupting social norms like a firecracker in church. She was hated by most, but then again, most were left in the dust of her remarkable life, so what did she care? At the time, when Lawrence had finished the book, he had considered her lazy and immature for her complete dismissal of the people around her, considering it the easy way out. But now, in his late sixties, he wondered if he was simply masking his own jealousy, or perhaps even fear to follow his own path. Where would he be if he had done nothing but follow his instincts? Would he have accomplished what he has now, but years ago, or not at all?  Did his appeasement to mankind aid in his forward momentum or stifle it? It was this very question that Lawrence pondered for months, leading to the best year of his life at 68."

The Story of Mr. McCann

-India Rose