Two Audiences

I do wonder if I need to write this one.

My time here at Vocal has allowed me to write about things that I had deep in my thoughts and had nearly abandoned as possible topics worth sharing. The pieces on literature, movies, music, my travels and other obsessions were worth the time spent shaping and creating them. But I have not covered everything I want to say about why I do this. Maybe that is a well that I will continue to draw from as long as I have a medium that will accept it. And you have all been very open to whatever has hit this page.

So, let’s talk about the audience.

In the photo above, you can see my nephew and niece at a young(er) age posing for what I remember was a graduation ceremony for another relative. They look quite sharp and they are smiling as they pose for the shot. I kept this photo in my files and did not rediscover it until I moved to a new place and found it in some old papers. The thought that I could have lost it kept me up some nights; to have it here and safe on my computer means that I am forced to recall certain things.

My writing habit began long before I became an uncle, but I did not know the importance of what that audience was like… Not until I had to sit down and actually share a story with that dynamic duo.

Now, I named this piece “Two Audiences” for a reason. I rarely read or shared stories with those kids as one audience. My nephew and niece seemed to have developed a system of having me as a storyteller that would not overlap with their other plans. The fact that they are at least five years apart helped, but there was often the thought in my head that reading one story for one of them meant that I could not always read to the other.

No need for such a worry.

My nephew, when he wanted to hear a story, would politely ask me to take him over to the most comfortable chair in our home and place him on my lap as I reread the same stories over and over again. This was a little surprising to me. He was the one who would attempt to climb everything in the home or use the stairs when he was too young, inexperienced and frail. He seemed to have none of the fears of injury that I had or that I sensed when I caught him running around that space. But he would settle down as he asked me to give him the same story with all my sound effects and little shifts in voice and tone (one of those books was about a bird and I would include whistles and calls that he loved; I even tried to fool him into thinking one of the protagonists was now in the house). He was a patient listener dealing with a very creative speaker.

And then there was my niece…

She was not so subtle when she wanted to hear a tale. Sometimes, I would be in the middle of a conversation and feel hands on the cuffs of my sleeves or around my waist. She would pretty much demand that we sit together and then take whatever book she wanted to hear from a pile nearby. And that was when it became very interesting. I rarely finished a book when she was on my lap, staring at the colourful pages and texts. She would often grab the book, take it out of my hands, and then tell me what the narrative was all about. I wondered why I was even involved in the transition when this happened, but I accepted my more passive role with her. It was only later when I was home for the holidays on a visit that I realized how much she missed having me read to her.

“Uncle Ken?”

“Yeah, kiddo?”

“I miss you when you’re in Montreal.”

It was like a knife to the soul. I was about to read “Puss in Boots” to her when I heard that small mouse-like voice squeak. My nephew was also there, pretending that he did not want to hear me read, but he did not have a response to this, either. I considered my words, told her how much I missed her, too, and then read her the familiar tale of the mischievous cat.

So, what does this mean for my writing?

It means that, no matter how tired I feel at the end of a frustrating day of teaching, I will always have them in the back of my mind and get back to creating something worth my time and their imaginations. Many of you have said that you wonder where my ideas come from, and I think I can say that being that uncle who sat down with two little raggamuffins and shared stories was the key ingredient to my work. This is my dual audience whenever I have something to say...

Do you want that slow ride...or a quick trip?

I just hope not to be missed too much.

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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