A match
a spark
a flame
and then ashes
dust
gone in a breath, a whisper, was it ever here?
The flame
the spark
the match
Left to the cold
bound to the dark.
Daily Prompt: Tether
Bound To The Dark
Now You See Her, Now You Don’t
Last Monday I went into my favorite little coffee shop to pick up my favorites breakfast food: Quiche and Lemon Flavored ( on a good day there’s Mango flavored ) Greek Style Yogurt.
Something pretty interesting was happening.
They were filming a commercial- at least I think it was a commercial.
They had the equipment set up around a table and in the middle of the table was a coffee cup.
The table top had been polished and shined- it was beautiful, like something out of a picture.
I went up to the counter and as I waited my turn in line ( because the normal staff wasn’t there and the people working behind the counter, though competent and pleasant they fumbled around a bit ) I had time to look around the crowded room.
I noticed that not only had the table under the lights been shined and made beautiful ( it wasn’t the regular table ) so had the customers.
Each table had a very earnest looking millennial wearing white or gray with a lap top opened in front of them. Need I mention they were attractive too?
One young woman in a knee length gray dress stood at a table in a classic model’s pose- slightly bent arm, hip out, chin up. She didn’t move a muscle the entire time.
None of the people I would normally see were there that morning, it was like they had all been replaced with perfect versions of what a person on their way to work in the morning looks like.
Gone were the bus drivers, the street cleaners, the office workers, the warehouse workers ( ahem ) the dog walkers- in our places were for the most part the vision what a Seattle resident on their way to work looks like- under 30, white and perfectly groomed.
I get it, this film was telling a story- but I think the real story didn’t need repair. For the most part it’s a nice blue collar place. That’s why I like it so much.
After a minute of looking around I got nervous. I didn’t care when the cashier mangled my quiche a bit because he didn’t seem to be comfortable with handling the tongs when he tried to pick it up from the tray.
I was busy being creeped out because I knew, in that exact moment that imperfect people like me, the ones who participate everyday in life are consider poor ‘representations’ when the story, no matter how small of a story is being told.
I felt like the young woman in the Twilight Zone Episode ” Number 12 Looks Just Like You.” In her world, everyone looks the same and everyone thinks the same and they are all beautiful.
It’s a shame that I didn’t stick around to see how they filmed their story, because it’s an interesting process.
I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I had been been plucked out of existence, that the people I know had been erased because in the story being told that morning- a story about energetic people starting their morning with a coffee and their laptops and their beautiful clothes and nicely styled hair- we did not exist.
Daily Post Prompt: Pluck
He Was So Debonair
Over 10 years ago, my cat Wolfgang died and left behind a broken hearted Mom, two dogs who were his sisters and three younger cats- the kittens we called them then and still call them now.
Without Wolfgang his little pack sort of got lost- the Kittens refused to go into the front yard and my dogs- or The Girls as I called them lost the bounce in their step and spent a lot of time in the backyard sleeping.
I figured I’d let them sort it out and a new pack leader would emerge, you’d think that was me but let’s face it. I belonged to Wolfie the same way they did so that didn’t happen.
We were in trouble, when you think about it.
One day a friend of mine brought a stray cat into work- the cat was headed for the humane society and I could tell my friend was not happy about that decision but apparently Kolchak ( as I would name him ) was digging up a flower bed and had made the homeowner mad so Kolchak was caught in a trap.
When I met Kolchak he was in the trap, on his back playing with the handled which he had somehow worked into the cage. He was on his back when he looked up at me with the most devastatingly beautiful yellow eyes and he meowed as if he was saying, ‘ well there you are.’
I named him Carl Kolchak because my warehouse is part of the Seattle Underground system and my favorite TV hero- Carl Kolchak had the first of his adventures in Seattle’s Underground.
Kolchak was calm, cool and quite the gentleman cat. He never jumped on anyone looking for attention and he always seemed to know when to be there and when to give you your space.
When I took him to the vets for his checkup he walked around the office and on the counter with confidence- nothing rattled Kolchak.
When I took him home, it was like he had always lived there.
The Girls watched him walk around the house and then they followed him- like they used to do with Wolfie.
The holdout was Domino, she didn’t want Kolchak around her. But he persisted in his quiet way and after that he was always at her side- even when she started to suffer from heart failure.
He was there with her the night she died, by her side.
Of course.
Kolchak and his Domino.
The Kittens- who were actually about 5 years old at the time took to Kolchak right away- he tried to get them to go into the front yard with him and they would if me and Domino went too, but their confidence in that area never came back.
Kolchak and Baby Hamish
2014
Almost 3 years ago I brought home a little puppy I named Hamish Macbeth and Kolchak did what he did for Domino- when Hamish was little and I was only walking him around the yard and in front of the house Kolchak followed us the entire time.
Sometimes he was more insistent then others that we head back to the house and I always followed his lead- I figured he was picking up on something that wasn’t ” Hamish Friendly”.
That was Kolchak, the big brother, the confident cat that came into a broken little family and put it back together again.
As I said about Carl with love and admiration when I would see him sunning himself, or grooming Hamish or one of his brothers, when he stayed by Domino’s side as her health failed and when he would sit in the back yard wither Cerbie and go after planes and birds-
He was suave and so debonair.
Goodnight Carl Kolchak, we love you so much.
amm
It Really Is Black and White
give my regards to eternity
Point and click
the world and all of it’s secrets are yours
Point and click
How does it taste, how should I look, how does it feel?
Point and click
Wait.
Oh God where is my phone?
Point and click
Point and click
Point and click
Tell me now, I must hurry, I must run, out of my way!
I can’t be late
to my waiting grave.
Daily Post: Dash
Along For The Ride
Today I thought- when it comes to life I feel like I just went along for the ride. It’s not the best way to reflect on your years but there it is.
My Mom’s friend planted these trees over 40 years ago.
They were scrubby looking things when she first put them in and we used to like to jump over them. We made it most of the time. At least we didn’t kill any of the trees but I think we damaged a few.
I remember Sandy used to yell from her living room window, ” Hey cut that out. I don’t want a yard full of dead trees!”
Those trees outlived the daughter of my Mom’s friend, they outlived our pets and family members.
Her house is gone, we’re all but gone but the trees are still there.
Those scrubby little trees.
Daily Word Prompt: Passenger
Waiting
Just a little bug
running down my wall
Just a little bug
twisted, dark and small
I think I want a little snack
but I don’t want to move at all
I think I’ll wait for that little bug
to pay me a little call.
Daily Post Prompt: Scamper
