Telephone narratives introduced and explained

Originally this post appeared right after Telephone narrative, pt. I several days ago. Its purpose was to concretize my commitment to spin a story out of a telephone conversation for each one of my children this week. I have reset it, and the first narrative, so that they all appear together for your reading enjoyment.

To know why I did this, please refer to one of my reading file stories, "The internet is killing storytelling" by Ben Mcintyre in The Times. I have become quite attentive to articles about how digital media and online habits are affecting our culture. I wrote these posts not to prove Mcintyre wrong, but to make sure that I am staying true to one of overarching goals on this blog: to tell back life in stories.

But here is some information you should know, that provides more depth: I am divorcing and my children are with me half of the time (seven out of fourteen days, to be exact). Remaining a parent, under these conditions, makes our telephone conversations like the fruit that gets pressed on the spike to make juice. If I squeeze it hard enough, I will get the sweetest, largest beverage. With every question, every detail, I squeeze and twist harder.

So, hearing their stories gives me, for part of the week, their tell-able past. It's a past that I cannot have but can at least hear told, so I cling to their stories.