Unlike other children, I never actually had an imaginary friend. I had an imaginary talk show! Conveniently enough, showtime coincided with bath time, which, like every other enthralling prime time show, lasted at least an hour. Mind you, this live show took place when my family of five lived on an Air Force base in Little Rock, AR in a house with one bathroom.
So, my two older sisters and parents worked around my bath time. The only documentation of my childhood live show occurred when one of my sisters snuck in a tape recorder on the pretense of having to use the bathroom. Once I finished, I joined my family in the TV room. That same sister retrieved the tape recorder and pushed play. Startled, I turned around wide-eyed at the sound of my own voice.
That cassette tape had been a source of entertainment for years until it mysteriously disappeared. Mom says that I took it, which I don’t remember doing, but I’d love to have that earlier recording of my nascent producing/hosting efforts, which was also my sister’s first known instance of wiretapping. So perhaps it’s good that the evidence has disappeared.
I’ve always credited travel and reading as necessary for good writing. Yet, creativity manifests out of the ether. As a child, I remember thinking that trees created the wind. Their rustling leaves made breezes while the force of their branches produced gusts.
Lack of facts have never stymied creativity, so if you think about it, we’re living the most politically creative times ever. Without the anchor of truth, fiction can soar as high as the conjuror of the tale can imagine.
All science fiction is speculative—until it isn’t. Every futuristic thing of the past is now either a modern convenience or within a few years of our grasp. The only thing we need to do is not prematurely destroy the planet. What I mean by “premature” is before the sun has a chance to vaporize our planet when it transforms into a red giant. Like all living things, Earth should ideally die of natural causes.
Before that great demise, a universe of creativity awaits within the ether. Compelling narratives. Innovative technologies. New words. Creativity abounds to entertain the masses, even if they’re imaginary.