“Stories you read when you're the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you'll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.” ~ Neil Gaiman
My friends used to tell me that I would play video games like other people read books. What they were trying to say was that I wasn’t interested in all co-opererative play or MMORPGs or anything else like that; I just wanted the story.
I’ve always been drawn to stories. I thoroughly enjoy “finding the story” in things. Making them up. I think stories are powerful. And I don’t think I’m the only one drawn to stories.
Kurt Vonnegut says story have shape. I think storytelling is essential to survival. I mean, that’s getting kinda deep for a silly webcomic about a kidney who sucks at his job… but telling stories frees us. The story for Cal started as a nameless children’s story with generally the same concept. It’s not how it started that’s important. It’s when.
This general story popped into my head as I was in the hospital after hearing the news that my kidneys had failed. For some reason, this is how my brain decided to parse the news. But I’m glad it did.
As with the music, I think stories stay with you. A good story can haunt you for years. In the best way possible. I hope you find a fun story in Cal. One that stays with you for some reason or another.