Let’s talk about: Sherlock Holmes, science, art, science fiction, climate change, nature, photography, crime novels (Wallander in particular), geography, pets. I don’t care as long as I get to talk to you.
Welcome. For those of you that read my work often, you have read about some of my dreams. I try to write down the more interesting ones. Sometimes it takes a minute or two to get them down. The really good ones stick around. They are fuel for my pen.
I have been listening to the audio book Metamorphoses by Ovid. And watched Troy with Brad Pitt the other day.
Here is my latest weirdness.
Everything in this dream world is white. A completely blank space. The air of confusion is thick. Easily understood without seeing anyones face.
“Why is everything blank?” An unknown voice laden with frustration asks from behind me.
It took energy, thought, sheer will to follow the urge building within me to bend over. Scattered on the bottom were puzzle pieces, completely white. One could assumed this was ground (this bottom) because this was where our feet were planted.
The completely white puzzle pieces only added to our frustration. One by one, we started hanging them. When we got one right, an outline would form.
Area one was complete. It was the outline of a beautiful garden. What we thought was the logical exit, a doorway of flowering vines at the back of our puzzle. A child, maybe 10, went skipping toward the exit. We marveled at her energy. Exhaustion had overtaken us.
A whisper cracked the silence like thunder, “this was the home of the gods?”
Realization hit me, I was holding a puzzle piece. A room would not show us the exit until it was complete. We had completed 3 more rooms. Something was written on this one. To this point none of them had words, ‘grandma’s ceiling’.
Tired, frustrated, ‘grandma ceiling’ meant nothing to me. ‘Grandma ceiling’?
The little girl pleaded, “one more.”
“No,” I answered. “We all need rest.”
“One more.” The persuasion of a child pulled a weary group of adults to work on ‘one more’.
This room was different. Imagine my shock to find the outline of a doorway. Slightly to the left of where I was standing. Still holding the ‘grandma’s ceiling’ random puzzle piece, now the door frame to nowhere?
While in the midst of struggling with the random door frame. The low growl of a bear can be heard before it lumbered; in all its simple graphite glory, toward the frame. No one felt it necessary to be afraid. Curiosity was paramount if not paralyzing.
The bear sniffed the frame for what felt like an eternity. And I became aware, again, of the puzzle piece I was holding, ‘grandma ceiling’.
My attention was pulled back to the bear as it began its ’back scratching dance’. Up and down the frame with sure delight. Side to side expressing groans of relief. Its back needed a good scratching. Up, down, side, to side. The bear did this until it exhausted itself. Sliding down the frame into an instant sleep stuper.
A sudden urge filled me to place my homeless puzzle piece above the sleeping bear. I stepped away as quickly as my tired body would allow me. To my surprise, the piece stayed. The little girl bounced over to the groggy bear, looked up at the puzzle piece and began to read.
There was a story hidden on the piece. As she read, she stepped backwards gracefully sitting next to the now fully asleep bear.
A vine started growing from the far corner of the frame. It grew, wrapping its way around the frame. Leaves formed. Then flowers. It wrapped around the bear. Then, as if to say, ‘job well done’, it delicately grew a single flower lying calmly on the child’s shoulder.
The flowers slowly turned purple. Color, the only color in a totally white and graphite world.
“I think it’s getting better, though I’m not willing to try.” He put his hands on her waist. “How about we pack our lunch and go to the lake and have a picnic?”
She kissed him, “I like that plan.”
“I love you.”
“And I love you.”
At the lake, she spread out their picnic and they ate in silence. This silence was different. It was warm, full of contentment.
“Close your eyes.” She did as he asked. In a different time, if anyone would have asked her to close her eyes, she would have argued with them. Oscar was different. She didn’t feel nervous or weird around him. “You can open them now.” The first thing she noticed was that he was kneeling in front of her. Then she saw the little box in his hand. “Esther, will you marry me?”
“I would like for you to make me a promise.”
“Anything.”
“If you ever decide it’s over, you won’t try to kill me.”
He laughed, “I promise.”
She held out her hand and he slid the ring on her finger. It was a perfect fit. “How did you know what size to buy?”
He winked, “my secret.”
She ran her fingers around his neck as she kissed him. He rested his forehead on hers, “oh dear Lord.” He panted. Was this her version of THAT KISS? Maybe that was it, she wasn’t trying. She just wanted him to know how much she loved him.
“Did I forget to say yes?” She smiled. This time he kissed her with his version of THAT KISS.
He smiled and took her into his arms.
He stayed at her house that night. The next morning she fixed him breakfast and kissed him good day as he went off to work. She spent her day looking for a job. Party time was over. It was time to get back into the real world. She had been paying attention to the paper for awhile but there really wasn’t much to be had in the job market. Fast food work was about all there was. If that is what she had to do, she would do it. But she worked her way through school in food service and wanted that to be a last resort.
Oscar had gotten most of his wish. They had spent most of the month of July at the lake. They both had a light tan.
He had been able to sneak the ring sizer on her finger without her knowledge. Or at least he felt she didn’t know.
He peered out the window and saw her coming across the street. She was almost running. Before she could ring the bell, he opened the door. “Hello beautiful.”
“Hello handsome. I forgot what humidity really feels like. This sucks.”
He just laughed. “It’s not so bad.”
“Yeah, it sucks.”
He closed the door behind her, “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” He rubbed his fingers through his hair.
“There is something I want to do.” They sat on the couch. “I miss going to church. Let’s find us a church.”
“Okay, do you have one in mind first?”
“No, I figured we’d just pick one and go.”
“Okay. Sounds good,” she smiled.
Each Sunday they tried a different church. On the way home, they talked about the experience, likes and dislikes. With each church it was something different. The first church they went to was a Church of Christ; the service lasted for almost two hours.
Esther hopped in his SUV, “I don’t mind to tell you my butt is numb.” He laughed.
She smiled, “what?”
“Imagine if your tail was as none existent as mine.”
“Your butt is numb too?”
“No, sore. What did you think about the singing?”
“This was my first time going to a Church of Christ. Where was the instrumental music?”
“This branch of the church doesn’t practice singing with music.”
“But isn’t that what the book of Psalms is all about? And there are instruments talked about in Psalms.”
“The woman that I introduced you to.”
“Eliana?”
“Yes, she has told me a lot about what they practice. They don’t preach from the Old Testament. It’s just there.”
“How can you not?”
“They don’t put a lot of emphasis on Christmas either. More on Easter and the resurrection.”
“But if he hadn’t been born then how is his death and resurrection more important?”
“I’m not sure.”
“I liked the sermon. I thought it was strong, well put together. And I liked it that he didn’t read the bible. I can read. Don’t read to me.” She winked, “unless it’s agreed upon.” He blushed. “So what’s on your agenda this week?”
“I have in-service the next three days and school starts back Thursday.”
“I never understood that, why does school start back on a Thursday?”
“To ease the children back into going.”
“Blah, blah, blah.”
When they got home, they changed clothes and he came over to her house for lunch.
“I haven’t heard you say anything in a while, how’s the ulcer?”
As he got close to his house, the smell of fresh cut grass made him sneeze. When he got out of his SUV, he froze. He looked all around in utter amazement. As he walked over to her house, he sneezed again. He didn’t knock on the door, or call. He just set on the porch.
Moments later when she came out of the house, she squealed. This didn’t seem to faze him. “You scared the day lights out of me.”
He pointed toward his house but didn’t say anything.
“Oscar, are you alright?” He opened his mouth as if he was going to speak but no words came out. “Honey, what’s wrong.”
Finally, he looked at her. “Did you mow my grass?”
She smiled, sitting down as well. “Yes I did. I don’t think I cut any flowers down. You seem to have them in beds all surrounded by rocks.” She drew circles in the air to represent the flower beds that he had.
He stuttered but didn’t speak. She raised an eyebrow, “Are you mad at me?” The tone of her voice was a confused hurt.
He realized what she was saying, “No, no, no, no, no, no…..Thank you.” His actions were slow, as if he had been stunned.
“If I cut something down, just tell me. I’ll buy it back.” She hissed.
“No….Thanks.” He didn’t know how to act. “Honestly, thank you. No one has ever cut my grass before.”
At that moment, she realized what all the weird behavior was about. She stopped being upset at his apparent show of indifference. “Never?”
“I have paid students wanting a little extra spending money to mow. But no one has ever just mowed my yard. Thank you.” He smiled.
“You were about to piss me off.”
“I know. Sorry. This is just amazing. Thank you.”
“There is one thing I will not do, I will not clean your house. Clean the kitchen after a meal, yes, but cleaning someone’s house can be as personal as washing their underwear.”
“Honey, I…” He trailed off. “What can I do to make it up to you?”
“Are you kidding?” She scoffed. “I don’t think so. Chet has been continuing to mow for me. He says that the estate overpaid him. But it’s high time I bit the bullet and mowed the crap. And if you don’t get weird on me, I’ll mow your grass too.”
Esther was in a really good mood this morning. She hummed while she got dressed; as she walked across the street to Oscar’s house, and as she knocked on the door. He answered the door with a great big smile.
“Hello handsome,” she grinned. “What’s on your agenda today?”
“We are having a meeting at school. Then after that I am all yours.”
“Do you own a lawn mower?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you let your poor pitiful neighbor borrow it?” She shrugged her shoulders up to her ears and batted her eyes.
He put his arms around her waist. “No, but I will let my future wife borrow it.” He kissed the tip of her nose before walking her into the garage and showing her the lawn mower.
“Thank you.” They kissed and he left for his meeting.
On his way home he stopped at Sue’s. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Perhaps it would play out like the necklace, and something would just say, ‘me – me buy me.’
When he walked into the store Sue was slow to get up from behind the counter. “Well Oscar, I almost didn’t recognize you.”
“Why not?” He asked a little confused.
“You look fantastic.”
“Thanks.” He accepted her compliment and looked around.
“Can I help you find something?”
“Maybe in a minute.”
She giggled, “just call when you need me.”
Nothing looked like he wanted it to look. Everything was too big or too little. At first, he thought it shouldn’t be too fancy. After all, Esther used to be a cop and he feared big and fancy would get in the way. On the other hand, he didn’t want to get it too small. He feared she might think he didn’t value her. Then a ring caught his eye that he immediately fell in love with. It wasn’t a traditional engagement ring at all. It was flat like a wedding band with two rows of small diamonds all the way around it. Oscar really didn’t know what size ring to get her. But he had studied her hands a lot. Her ring finger was slightly bigger than his pinky finger. So he assumed that if the ring slopped on his pinky it would fit her.
He called to Sue. She was in front of him in no time. “I would like to see that ring.”
“Two pieces of jewelry in five months; it must be serious.” She winked at him.
He didn’t say a word. The ring slid on his pinky but didn’t slop.
“Not sure about the size?” She asked.
“Not really.”
“Here,” she handed him a set of ring sizers. “Take these with you, and we’ll see if we need to have the ring adjusted. I’ll keep this back for you until you do.” She smiled.
“Thanks.”
You big stupid. He thought to himself. How could you not know what size ring the woman you love wears. If he just asked her, she would know something was up. He kicked himself all the way home.
Poetry & More 