that's life

I recently watched a play from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.... great play, I'd say you should watch it, but it was a small production that had its last performance last Sunday.  But, as I was being entertained, I couldn't help but think about life.

Someone with no wish to become a successful author should write a book to go along with Charlie.  Except, in this book, instead of being about the five lucky ticket finders, it should be about the billions of people who didn't find a ticket.  I started such a story once, it began like this:

Once upon a time there lived a fisherman who had one son and a small boat.  This isn't his story.

Upon the very same time, there lived a thief who was only just being released from prison after trying to rob from a rich man. This isn't his story either.

There also lived the rich man, who wanted the thief punished more severely, the kind who was merciful, and the kings wine-taster.

This story isn't about any of them.

In fact, dear reader, there are so many people that this story is not about, I don't have time to tell you of them all.

Of course, here I stopped, because my talent for writing stories stretches only far enough to get past the title and first page.  But what if someone were to write a story about those people, the ones who didn't get a golden ticket?  It might be boring, instead of reading about the fabulous chocolate room, we learn that the main characters are obese adults, rich businessmen, tired housewives, and lazy children.  We learn that those people live all over the world, some are fat, some are starving, some have no home, some live in castles.  Instead of reading about the squirrels that shell nuts, we find out that teenage girls in China are building computers by hand to ship to the USA.  Instead of reading about grandpa George in bed, we read about a sad, staring man in a nursing home.  It would be a book full of small joys and sorrows.

It wouldn't sell well, people don't want to here about themselves.