Book Club Book

Brian Marshall had just celebrated his 34th birthday. He was a moderately attractive man who dressed smartly and safely with a liberal use of beige, grey, and on especially safe occasions, black and white. He was considered by others to be very dull, very boring and in serious need of a helping of charisma. However, Brian was not stupid. Far from clever, but not stupid. In fact it was his limited intelligence that awakened him to how he was viewed in the eyes of others. And at 34 years of age he felt depressed enough to try and 'put an end to being a dullard' - his words. So it was on 25th October 1996 that Brian started to make plans. Plans that kept him awake all night. What he wasn't aware of was that his plans will never come to fruition. There will however be changes, those changes will start very soon and they will certainly change his life...forever.

To start with Brian’s ideas were simply in his head – just last night he’d watched the Friday edition of “Corrie” & found that he could identify with those on the periphery of the storyline. Those minor characters that suffered inconsequential trivia as the bigger stories occurred around them. They were just incidental in the overall show. That was how he felt – a bit-part in life – a voyeur – someone who watched on while others got on and really lived their lives.

The other thing on TV that kick-started Brian was watching Forrest Gump - a light-hearted film admittedly, but one that resonated with him & made him think. “There could be so much more” he pondered – “I want to be different to this” & “If I don’t do something now it’ll never happen”.

Exactly what he wanted to do at this stage wasn’t immediately clear – Forrest Gump kept playing through in his head while he lay in bed - Did he want to go and fight in a war ? Was making his fortune the way to go ? Would fame satisfy this desire for change ? Could raising thousands for charity pick him up? He pondered on all these for hours that night, but by Saturday morning after sleeping on it, he’d decided on one, written it down and began to put together plans to make it happen.

'Time to fire up my computer' he said to Thomas the cat. Thomas didn't reply, just gave him that same look that most 5 year old tortoise shells give on such occasions.
All logged on and heading for a new Excel spreadsheet, Brian felt that putting his plans on his favourite offering from Bill Gates will somehow make it official. Having widened a column off he went, once he decided the font, font size and font colour.
'Okay here we go' he said to Thomas. Thomas's expression remained unchanged.
'Life is like a box of chocolates, that's a good start.
'That's not an action' came a voice that made him jump.
Brian looked round for where the voice had come from. All he saw was Thomas still looking at him, still with the same look on his face.
'Who said that?' he shouted.