After reading the Callahan Chronicals I have come to realize that there are many
things to be learned in life. This book captured my attention by trying to
figure out just what it is that Spider Robinson is trying to pass on to the
reader. I have come to the conclusion that the author is trying to portray real
life situations with a little twist to keep the reader interested. There is a
lesson to be learned from each story. Each visitor that passes through Mike
Callahan’s bar is teaching the people who are already there a lesson and there
is much to be learned. In the Centipede’s Dilemma I learned that apperance
really dosen’t matter. Dink Fogerty led the whole bar to believe that he was
incapable of even throwing a dart but then he, dispite his image, used
telekinesis (mind over matter) to project the darts into the dartboard with
tremendus accuracy. You cannot just sleep on your opponents in real life
situations. You must look beyond your opponents apparent capabilities to be a
contender in any game, espically the game of life. If you don’t you will surely
get stepped on throughout your life. If the people at Callahan’s didn’t catch on
to Dink’s attribute then he would have walked out of that place knowing that he
screwed over the entire bar. I have learned to look for things like this now and
will not get decieved eaisly in my lifetime. Fogerty wasn’t all that bad though,
any bird that can keep their glass filled with gin all the time would be a good
companion for mostly anyone. Just Dessert was a good story on how people do not
like to be made a fool of. This story’s focus was on practical jokers. The
message I received from this writing was that people don’t like practical jokers
even if their motifs are just for fun. You also must be careful because that
joke can turn foul and hit you right back in the face. That is exactly what
happened to the men who tried to pull one over on Mike and the Doc. The men
planned to drink heavily and pull the old fake vomit gag. This one was more
complex though because the guy who puked had his two friends dig into the gross
mess with spoons to sicken the crowd. The vomit was just beef stew to make it
look real. The funny part is that the Doc slipped some “serum of
ipecac” into the stew before the man’s friends dug in. Who do you think got
the last laugh in the end? Well, I know for sure that the jokers will not be
playing that gag again in the future. This goes for me as well. I will not be
playing any joke like that in the future because now I can see what possible
outcomes there can be. I wouldn’t like it done to me so I will stick to the
golden rule. When the tall guy with the eyes walked through Callahan’s door
there was a feeling of uncertainty among Jake Stonebender. He had seen a man
like this before and he ended up blasting four men with a gun. To make a long
story short this guy was sent by his master to destroy the world but he had a
conscience and couldn’t kill everyone. Mickey Finn realized that love and
feelings do exist among humans and he couldn’t destroy them. He let everyone
know that all they had to do was kill him and they would all be saved. The
people at Callahan’s did no such thing though. They got him trashed instead and
talked it through. They even dragged him to the back room where Mike keeps a cot
and laid him down to sleep. This taught me that it is best to talk things out in
a bad situation. All you have to do in certain situations is kill them with
kindness. There was a guy in this book who possessed fivesight. It is when you
can see things that are going to happen in the future. Unfortunately for this
guy he could only see the bad things that were going to happen. He married a
women and that same women ended up at Callahan’s place telling the story of her
husband. It seemed like the man with fivesight could prevent bad things that are
going to happen but he couldn’t. He could only make them better by preparing for
it. He always said he was not permitted by whomever sends him the messages to
prevent anything. The couple had a kid. That boy was killed on his way home from
school when a tractor trailer hit the school bus he was on. The women asked why
he did not try to save him. He was just living by his own rules and he could not
change. I guess you shouldn’t ask for something that is worse for you in the
long run. In Dog Day Evening a scrubby guy walked into Callahan’s with a well
trained German shepherd. He soon made a bet to all the people at Callahan’s that
his dog could talk. They all accepted the bet for two hundred dollars. They were
all ready for a prank since there was serious money on the line. The guy with
the dog had a full beard and they suspected that he might be a ventriloquist.
The man and the dog won the bet and the dog really could talk. The funny thing
was that the man was a mute and the whole time the dog was doing the talking.
The people at Callahan’s thought that it was pretty cool even though they lost
money. Mike felt bad for the since they were so nice about everything and nobody
ever gave them a chance. All they knew was how to hustle for money. Mike
Callahan offered to get the dog a job on the radio and the guy a job working
with computers. I learned from this that it is good to help good people even if
they play you for some cash. I also learned not to bet because anything is
possible if a dog can talk. In Have You Heard The One it was tall tales night at
Callahan’s. Jake told a story about how her was not superstitious. In his story
he asked god for a sign to know if something bad was going to happen to him.
Sure enough a bird ended up falling dead on the hood of his car. If that is not
a sign I don’t know what is. This story opened my mind to the possibility of the
supernatural. I know this book is not for real but it opened a door for the
possibility of something larger than life. That is the main thing that I
received from the story from the Callahan Chronicals. After reading this book I
have learned many things. There are things in life that you must be ready for
and I think that this book helped open some windows for me to prepare for the
worst and hope for the best. The Callahan Chronicals is a great way to learn
about life in a relatively enjoyable way.
