Rubber Nuisance

Rubber Nuisance

Monday’s are always difficult. The weekends are too short and weeks too long. This particular Monday was no exception. I started by riding the struggle bus. But as the day progressed, all it’s tires became flat and was being pulled by a team of mules. At top speed, they rounded a curve causing the back doors to pop open. The force of the jolt knocked me from my seat. I slid through the open doors and was hanging on to the bumper for dear life. It was that kind of Monday.

All I wanted to do was get home, take a shower so this day could melt away. I got home, went out back to feed the dogs and almost fell flat on my face. Out of nowhere, I tripped on a rubber duck. One of the small ones. It was filthy. This little bastard had on a top hat and bow tie. I always knew bow ties were bad, hence the “Bow Tie Killer.” I could have broken my neck on this New Years Eve celebrating bow tie wearing plastic duck. My first instinct was to send it sailing across the yard. But then I knew I would just have to pick up the pieces when I shredded it with the lawnmower. Instead, I laid it on the patio table. Stupid duck.

The alarm clock went off Tuesday morning much too early. I stumbled into the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot. Before I could make it, I kicked the dogs water bowl. Now my house shoes were soaked as was the hem of my pj’s and laying on top of my foot was a black blob. I screamed, kicking the thing through the air into the kitchen sink. Once my heart stopped racing, I looked at the villain. It was a Valentine duck. It had a heart painted on its back. Well, I could see half a heart peeking out from under the dirt. The duck itself was kinda pink.

Hey, that was a good kick. I couldn’t do that again if I tried.

Each day I found a duck in different places throughout the house. Thanks be to God that they had stopped attacking me. There was a sailor duck in one of the dog beds. My husband found a cowboy duck in his office. There was a clown duck in my bathroom. I almost stepped on this one. Luckily for me, I thought it was dog poop and stepped over it. Dirty duck!

When our daughter was a baby, we bought her rubber ducks. Not like these. And not this many. She might have had 3 at the most her entire childhood.

I went out side to fill up the dog food jug; it was then I found an army of rubber ducks. A devil, (that should have been the one I tripped over.) A ballerina, a police duck, a pilot; I have never seen so many rubber ducks in one place, other than a toy store. And dirty. Shew! It looked like the dogs had been digging under the house. Maybe after a mole. No dead critters here, instead I had a pile of old dirty rubber ducks.

I know my child never played with these.

My husband and I bought this house in 1977. Could it be possible these belonged to another little boy or girl? I have no doubt that my dogs had great fun digging them up.

If someone was recording me, I’d be a social media star about right now. Is this why people get those dog cameras? It’s a pretense that they are watch their pets but in reality they catch their spouses are in strange situations? They can laugh when a rubber duck goes flying across the kitchen? Or when you ballet dance across the deck to keep from falling?

Dirty ducks!

Rakin’ the floor

The other day my best friend calls me and asks, “what are you doing?”

“I’m rakin’ the floor.”

“What?”

“I’ve tracked in so many leaves taking Chico to the bathroom that I’m havin’ to rake the floor.”

She paused for a moment before erupting in laughter. 😂

Authors note: fall in Kentucky, love it. 🍁

A Thousand Lives

I have lived a thousand lives and soon the world will see what my heart has given in order to make me.

The whirlwind in my mind has focused its view. All but one life is blind which makes me very blue.

At night when my mind is asleep bits and pieces through my unconscious mind beam. In they creep, in the form of dreams.

Lives unknown to me, that I may never again see.

When I was in high school, this poem was published in ‘America at the Millennium: The Best Poems and Poets of the 20th Century’ The International Library of Poetry, poetry.com, page 51.

Upon review my post, I still didn’t get the layout to appear the way I wanted it.

I Dreamt A Little Dream About You

Hi. My name’s Jack. Okay, not really. But I identify with Jack. I like the way it sounds when people say it: JACK. Jack conjures up images of daring adventures and something completely different. So call me Jack.

I can draw but I’ve been taking classes to help get my dreams out of my head. People are the most difficult to draw. So many different facets. So much personality to try to capture.

I decided to confess to the people closest to me that I’ve been dreaming of a woman. At least once a week. There’s always a sense of calm when I wake up from her dreams.

They asked me questions about my dream lady. To help get her out of my head. I can tell you this with great certainty, she has blue eyes. Lake Michigan blue. When the blue of the water and the gray of the fog are battling for supremacy and the blue is the ultimate victor.

“What if they’re fake?” I was asked.

“Yes, what if you’re dreaming of these blue eyes but when you’re lying next to her; getting lost in the blue, you blink and they’re brown? I once dated a woman. We were getting intimate; she had on a wig, a padded bra and padded panties. When her bra it the floor it made a squishy sound. Completely freaking me out.”

I heard a couple ‘eewws’ from my friends.

Another friend snorted; “between 8 and 10% of the worlds population have blue eyes.” He was reading his phone as he talked.

I just smiled, “they don’t feel fake.”

“What else can you tell us?”

“She has red hair. The color reflects sunlight, in such a way it seems to sparkle. Much like sunlight dancing across water giving us the illusion that there are diamonds floating on the surface.”

“Is it fake?”

“Yes, I think so. Dyed hair doesn’t bother me.” I paused for a moment. “When I first started dreaming about her, her hair was relatively short. I’m guessing because of the pandemic she want have it cut. It’s getting longer.”

“Socially responsible?” Someone chimed in.

“What if she’s a raging republican? We all know you swing a little to the left?” Everyone laughed.

“We’ll have some interesting conversations.” I smiled.

“I’ve got one. What if she’s a religious freak?”

“Yeah, she ties you up in the basement and tries to boil the devil out of you.” My friend thought for a moment, “I’m sure there’s a movie about that.” I just raised an eyebrow. “These are the things you need to think about.” Everyone murmured in agreement.

“Jack, we are running under the assumption this woman is real.”

“It feels real.” I confessed.

“If she is real, it could turn out to be a bigger heartbreak than your last marriage.”

That was an extreme disaster. I got up and walked over to the railing. Was she even a real person? The moonless night caused the world in front of me to be a new level of darkness and shapelessness. I couldn’t tell where the sky ended and the water began. I could hear the conversation behind me; muted by the lapping of water against the boat. My daughters voice pulled me back, “dad; could she be from that state where you were born?”

I hadn’t really thought about that. My skin tingled as I held on to the railing for support.

“What if she’s super fat?” Someone asked. It felt like an attempt to lighten the mood. “She so fat, she could cause the boat to sink?”

I smiled. “I get the impression she doesn’t have the frame of a supermodel; at the same time she want sink the boat.”

I looked back at my beautiful daughter. Her concerned filled, searching eyes were watching me. Maybe she had hit upon a valid point. Maybe I needed to go back to my roots.

The end.

Ode to Rain

You encourage the flowers to grow. But then I have to mow.

Blossoms bring forth fragrances sweet. But wait, bees! I scream, running in defeat.

Summer shower, cool a blistered ground. A popcorn shower, I feel like a rat – drown.

Drops bloop on ponds making happy little fishies. Shoes soaked. Toes are icky and squishy.

Birds sing your praises to heaven high. Tacky hair spray, matted to my scalp, I shall have to pry.

Drip from the tip of a leave ever so gently. Did you have to soak me so densely?

Clover feds rabbits young and fun. I could use a towel. Dry me out sun.

Children love all the puddles. Gray days make me sad. I muddle.

Whistling wind is a peaceful sound. I’ll never find my brellie. I bet its 3 streets down.

The pounding on a tin roof is perfect for sleeping. Thunder scares my dog. Leaves me weeping.

Beautiful lighting streaks across a black sky. I pray this anxiety coat my dog will try.

Sleep is my friend. I need it badly. As long as this thunder is around, I will get none sadly.

The End

When I reviewed this on-line, the layouts wrong. Not sure how to fix it.

In April of this year, the Kentucky Arts Council did a KY writers month. Where every day in April the posted a different writers work. It had to be in video format. The author reading their work and under 2 minutes.

https://youtu.be/gsJPkH3SAvw

Interrupt Sleep

Sleep is an amazing event in my life. My bed is soft and warm. Sleep wraps me in comfort. It erases the stress of the day. Oooh, if I get to dream, especially a good dream, sleep transports me to a whole new world. Sleep is my friend.

One night I am ripped from my warm, comfortable place by a noise that no human could make. Metallic screaming, suppressed hisses, the wildest banshee shrieking compressed into a science fiction writers dream noise.

I tore from my cocoon, with my heart pounding in my chest. A million bad thoughts running through my mind. My nerves on edge. Panic set in. Quickly, I grabbed a flash light to survey my propane tank. To make sure my house wasn’t about to explode. Taking me and my little doggy with it. The propane tank was secure.

The screaming continued, traveling desperately fast through the cold night.

Chico and I surveyed around the house. My overheated breath fogged up my glasses. What is that dreaded noise?

We found nothing out of place. All gas lines leak free. No power lines down. The grinder pump alarm wasn’t on. Nothing.

As I lay back in my cocoon; trying in vain to give a face to this caterwauling that filled my ears, it started to fade. As the minutes ticked by, it became softer, fainter, until it was gone.

Convinced that all was right with my surroundings; I had almost drifted back to sleep with my little doggy curled up at my back, when it hit me. As I was learning to drive, if you left the emergency break on and tried to move, the truck would scream in pain for release. That was what this sound reminded me of. Amplified a thousand times. Was it possible that the conductor of the train had left the break on as he flew down the tracks? Was that the noise I heard? An angry break screaming at the closest human (any human) for release?

Or could the train have connected with a car? Caught in the housing. Sparks flying. Metal tearing. Screaming as train and car became one speeding through the night?

The End