Peter walked into the room and
straight into the middle of a heated argument and seated himself in a position
to see both protagonists, even though he could hear them very well. He had wanted
to find out what made writers tick and it looked like he may have struck gold.
"An
actor can become rich and famous on the back of someone else’s idea. Their
creation. It’s parasitic feeding off others like that."
"Don’t
be so naïve, Richard. If anything it’s more of a symbiosis. The one needs the
other as the vehicle of the story is going to the same place. I agree an
original idea is necessary as without it there is nothing and a good actor can
literally breathe life into a creation."
"Naïve!
You have the effrontery to call me naïve? You’re a pompous and irritating
little jerk," retorted Richard his face the colour of puce.
Peter
thought that Richard was heading for a heart attack. Is this what writing’s
all about?
"There’s
no need to be so obnoxious," David replied, clearly making a huge effort
to control his anger. "They all need each other, but you can’t make
something from nothing."
Richard
was apoplectic and the tension in the room was palpable. His mouth was working,
but no sound came out of it. Or froth.
"You
can’t reason or make an argument so you resort to being offensive,"
continued David.
"You’re
not what I would describe as clever or creative," Richard observed having
recovered some control. "This sounds to me like you’re trying to make a
thesis between creativity and capitalism." The look on Richard’s face gave
the clear impression that he’d like to do David great harm. "The
exploitation of another’s concept," he went on. "An idea is free, isn’t
it? A well-written story with strong characters has no need for extra life and
it just creates a living for the stunt men and doubles."
"And
all on the back of the writer, I imagine you’re thinking," complained
David clearly angered. "And anyway, what do you mean by free? Of course
it’s not free. It’s someone’s idea and if they choose to sell that idea then
that’s entirely up to them."
David
seemed to calm down a little and after a moment continued: "The shape of
words shows that the detail and the actual letters aren’t important. A
coastline of recognisable cliffs is enough without seeing the detail of every
crevice. Thinking big is an illusion created by the small-minded."
"Small-minded?
You’d better explain that. And make it good," exclaimed Richard with a
menacing tone.
David
gave the hint of a smirk before he said, "Look at the deception caused by
the difference in size between the Earth’s moon and the Sun," he began.
"The Sun is over 400 times larger than the moon, but an eclipse of the Sun
by the moon creates the illusion that they are the same size. It’s just that
the distance between the two is 400 times as much as that of the Earth from the
moon. It’s coincidental, but is enough to create the illusion."
"What
on Earth are you talking about?"
"I’m
not talking about on Earth."
"Don’t
get cute with me, you moron."
Peter
asked himself how the significance could be meaningful. He didn’t get it
either.
"A
small-mind…"
"There
you go again. You are really looking for a good clout." Richard made a
move to get up and David shifted in his chair, but both remained seated.
"You
wish! All mouth and trousers, you are. You resort to insults and name calling,
but can’t see the big picture even when it’s placed in front of you. Or up
against something even bigger. It’s like our local planets and heavenly bodies
losing something up in space. The billions of stars you see is still only our
local galaxy. The Milky Way. And that is just one galaxy of billions."
"I
still don’t get your point," protested Richard.
"Small
minds never do.”
With
that remark, Richard launched himself across the room at David, but didn’t
strike him. Instead he just stood in front of him and picked up his nearly full
pint beer glass and then very deliberately poured the contents over his head.
David
just laughed with the beer dripping off his head.
Peter
couldn’t decide if this was a scene from play or reality. Perhaps they were one
and the same. Maybe that’s the creativity part. The challenge. To make the
illusion real and it was certainly that. Peter laughed along with David as the
entire group turned to gaze at him. This stranger in their midst.
"Bloody
semantics," Richard said giving David a final glare and stormed out of the
room. As he passed Peter, he turned to briefly look at him before his dramatic
exit. Stage left. The group had fallen into a very uncomfortable silence.
Peter
was quite shocked as he contemplated the motivations of writers and realised
how close he had come to being an uninvited character. Was there any reward
greater than pure conflict?
Louis Brothnias, v 2.3 2010
(January)
Originally entitled “Size
Matters”