Mouth to Mouth: Antoine Wilson

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She had been "...the first thing he thought of upon waking and the last he thought of before sleep descended". They had broken up. The beach parking lot was empty before sunrise. "The immensity of the ocean...[he stepped] barefoot on the cold sand, feeling a sense of liberation at his own insignificance." "Out of the corner of his eye-a dark form on the surface of the water-a swimmer making for shore...something was wrong...He knew with certainty that the crisis at hand was his alone to handle...one's interceding or not could equally represent fate."

He was 19, and he was driving across the country to visit us,” Wilson says. “His Volkswagen bus broke down, and a couple of drifters helped him fix it in exchange for a ride. They stole the bus and murdered him because they didn’t want a witness to the theft.” Split up into pairs and imagine you find yourself in Jeff and the narrator’s position: happening upon a person from your past. Write a scene about a pivotal moment in one character’s life in the style of Jeff’s story and the narrator’s commentary. Bonus points if you cast doubt on the storyteller in subtle ways. When everyone is finished, take turns sharing with the rest of the group. Someone should do that for us in economy,” I said. “You could fit a lot more people on every flight. Sardine style.” Jeff pulled a lifeless Francis from the water 20 years prior, and applied CPR so long and hard he broke the man’s sternum. Eventually Francis came around, but would only tell people he’d broken the ribs in a “squash accident”. WHY? Francis Arsenault Fine Arts was located in Beverly Hills, Jeff recounted wanting to see the stranger whose life he saved. "I didn't want it to seem like I had come to collect anything...You don't save someone's life to collect a reward." If that be the case, why accept a job at the gallery and start to become indispensable to Francis?A flight delay from JFK to Berlin was perfect for passing the time conversing with a fellow passenger. They were barely acquainted as college students at UCLA, 20 years prior. Jeff Cook, smartly dressed for success, asked our narrator to join him in the first class lounge to await the Berlin flight announcement. Jeff was a successful art dealer. The narrator would be traveling to Berlin, at his own expense, to drum up interest in his writing. Waiting for a flight at JFK airport lounge, two former classmates reunite, and one of them, Jeff Cook goes into a storytelling mode and shares a story that he has never told before. Its a story that changed the course of two lives, his and the man he saved from drowning.

While waiting for a delayed flight to Berlin, Jeff bumped into an old acquaintance from UCLA and the two spent the downtime in the First Class Lounge—Jeff’s treat. For several hours, Jeff related the story, mentioning several times he’d never spoken of the incident to anyone until now. WHY?Jeff reveals how preformed CPR and ultimately saved the life of a drowning man. After the rescue, Jeff became preoccupied with finding out more about the man he revived. He discovers the man he saved was prominent art dealer Francis Arsenault. Jeff’s obsession leads him to secure employment at Francis’s art gallery. Once in the lounge, Jeff begins to share his story about how his life dramatically changes after rescuing a drowning man. He goes into great detail about the man he saves being a famous art dealer who eventually takes Jeff under his wing. I presumed that he was one of those people who hated being alone. Perhaps if I’d been paying closer attention, or if I’d known what was to come, I’d have detected a glimmer of desperation in his eyes. I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t there, not yet. I’d said it before and meant it every time, but people always took it as an expression of false modesty. The unnamed narrator of this story runs into Jeff Cook, an old classmate whom he hasn't seen in a long time, at the airport. Both are flying to Berlin and when their flight is delayed they sit in the first-class lounge and get caught up.