I’d choose Sam Malone from Cheers.

Not because I have some deep desire to run a bar forever, but for one week? Absolutely.

There is something appealing about spending your days in a place where everybody knows everybody, the same familiar faces keep walking through the door, and half the job is listening to people tell stories over a drink. Cheers always made that kind of community feel warm without making it feel perfect.

Sam’s life also has the right balance for a temporary switch.

I would get the experience of running a neighborhood bar in Boston, knowing all the regulars, hearing the jokes, watching the arguments, and being right in the middle of a little world that feels bigger than the room itself. I’d probably spend most of the week wondering how Norm manages to be there every single time I turn around.

And unlike a lot of fictional characters, there is a decent chance I would actually survive the week.

No dark wizards. No assassins. No intergalactic wars.

Just a bar, some friends, a lot of conversations, and probably more unsolicited advice than anyone asked for.

So yes, I’d switch lives with Sam Malone for a week.

Mostly because some fictional worlds make you want to have an adventure.

Cheers makes you want to pull up a stool and stay awhile.

Daily writing prompt

If you had to switch lives with a fictional character for a week, who would you choose?

View all responses