This piece was written for the Six Sentence Challenge, with the prompt word of ‘fluid’.
When Raymond saw beggars on the streets, rattling their plastic cups in the hope of loose change, he wished the government would solve the problem but then next day he would worry that might involve raising taxes.
When Raymond read that the next world war would be fought over water, he would think we should share that elixir of life, but the next day, beer in hand, he would watch his automatic sprinklers spraying his manicured lawn and wonder why the government wasn’t doing more to seed the clouds.
When Raymond was told that full employment in a permanent job was a pipedream in a modern economy, he shook his head but the next day he ordered a wine thermometer from Amazon and dialed for a home-delivered meal.
When Raymond’s mother became old and demented and needed a nursing home, he thought about getting her the best care possible but the next day he thought there was no sense in wasting money when she wouldn’t know the difference.
When Raymond saw people demonstrating about gun control laws after the latest school massacre, he thought about joining them but the next day he thought he’d probably like to keep his guns.
When Raymond dies, nothing will really change; he’ll still be nothing, if not fluid.
Six Crooked Highways 
And the casket is nailed shut!
In my mother language there is an acronym for Raymond, one a 90 year old told me years ago:
he is ΟΦΑ , meaning where the wind blows.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m assuming that’s Greek, Spira. Tell me more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it is Hellenic.
ΟΦΑ stands for Όπου Φυσάει ο Άνεμος
Meaning through the metaphor a person who changes ideas/opinions/actions as it suits his intetests.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the education. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for your great Six
LikeLiked by 1 person
Life flows downhill.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Unless you pump it up. 🙂
LikeLike
Perhaps Raymond’s demise will be from falling off that fence on which he’s swaying!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or, more painfully, astride it. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ouch!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yes, gotta keep his guns.
It’s obvious, isn’t it, that the answer to gun crime is more guns.
It seems our US cousins are right about one thing, you can’t fix dumb.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like the thought of him wanting to keep his guns.
LikeLike
I don’t, Frank, and never will.
LikeLiked by 1 person
and worse, in large groups, people like Raymond are like water they seek a common level.
it’s not that there’s always someone who wants to be a tyrant/autocrat/dictator, the problem is there never a shortage of people who want to be told what to think, how to see the world
LikeLiked by 1 person
… so they can get back TV and Facebook? 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is so much to say, it burns, but there are so few ears to hear…
LikeLiked by 1 person
True, Mimi, but unless we keep saying them, no ears can hear them.
LikeLike
The only kind of fluid he deserves is fake maple syrup gone rotten…to go with his soggy waffling.
Nice 6, Doug. Sharp and hard, and perfectly on point.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks, Liz.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I have the nasty suspicion, much as I don’t like to believe it, that there’s a wee bit of Raymond lurking in us all. But portraying it like that, showing the extreme, certainly brings the message home. I reckon there would have been a world revolution by now if it hadn’t been for Facebook and all the social media. Great story Doug.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks, Jenne. Yes, there’s a lot of Raymond in us all and electronic slacktivism doesn’t help. 😉
LikeLike
Fickle to the end, Heaven sounds wonderful … but hell more fun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLike
Very time relevant and to-the-point message in this 6, Doug.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, EM.
LikeLike
The grass is greener on the other side comes to mind, Doug, although in this case the grass seems to be changing its hue deliberately. Or the mind looking at the grass does… 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed. Tom 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bam. Bam. Bam. Bam. BAM!!
You nailed this Doug, in the Six and in the comments. There’s a little Raymond in all of us, it’s too true.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks, D.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Clever title, Doug. Sad to acknowledge there are a great number of non-committal “wafflers”, those who would complain one day, praise the next all from the comfort of their couch. You’ve captured this particular personal ennui as only you can.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many thanks, Denise.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Doug, your brain works overtime! Raymond definitely kept an open mind. I hate to admit it, but it sounds like my thinking process. Hopefully, I do more than think! LOL
LikeLiked by 1 person
We’re all guilty, Denise. 🙂 And I just wished my brain worked overtime on something more lucrative. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person