Rodeo

"You've spent your whole life doing this," they said (at lunch), "so don't give up now." "At this rate, any success I have is going to be posthumous, so I want to try some new things before it's too late," he responded. They were silent then, and that was never good. "This is not your first rodeo and you've tried to do new things before; basically, this is what you come back to and it's all you have, so ... just stick it out, suck it up, let us help you, blah blah blah," Jane said, because she was the one to say the hard things. "No, it is NOT all I have; I haven't even tried a life of crime," he hurled back (acting offended and fully realizing that he sounded ridiculous). "Well, we wouldn't be on the hook for propping up your flagging self-esteem every couple of months," Jane responded, reflective, and then turned to the others. "Who would be willing to carpool to visit this moron in prison?" Three of the six raised their hand (and his mouth fell open). "That's half of us - which is not so bad," Jane observed, turning back to him. "Yeah, let's try it - you'd be great in any cartel that would have you, best of luck, go you, blah blah blah." It was how the other three (the ones who didn't raise their hands) looked at each other that annoyed him - with the kind of relief you see on the faces of people not picked for jury duty.