Against All Odds
Don Taco
As far as I can tell, my thought processes don't tend to run down the same channels that average people use. If a sign can be interpreted more than one way, I'll see the wrong one first, and then have to say to myself, "Oh, that must not mean that, it must mean this other." Since I was always like that, it has become a habit. This isn't a flaw or a problem, just my norm, and it makes me an excellent proofreader, because a writer's goal should be clear and unambiguous communication, and ambiguity jumps off the page and slaps me in the face. For example, if a sign says "Door is Alarmed," I immediately want to know what startled it. And those signs they paint on the street near schools that say "Slow Children" have always seemed condescending and rude.
And so, when I see the writing prompt, "Against All Odds," my first thought isn't about statistics. My first thought is, "against all evens." Odds versus Evens. Who would win? No even number can ever be a prime number, so I'm guessing that the odds are stacked in favor of the Odds. But the Evens line up evenly in pairs, and have a regularity that should be a strength. On the other hand, they can always be divided. Is this battle a subset of Chaos versus Order? Energy versus Entropy? Can either side win if both sides have an infinite supply of participants?
These thoughts keep me occupied. That's why I never get any writing done.
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