Monday, March 21, 2011

Flying the Fight

I wrote this one-pager many years ago.

Flying the fight
Carole stood at the top of the staircase, surveying her lost dominion. She had ruled as mistress of this house for nearly 20 years, and now her husband was suing for divorce, and it would become the home of his new bimbo.
Since Carson was a trial lawyer, she knew he would win. He always won. She hadn’t won a quarrel in two decades, and he could utterly devastate her with just a few well-chosen words.
But he wasn’t unkind, and he had many wonderful qualities. He was very orderly, from his well-organized walk-in closet upstairs to his immaculate workshop beside the garage. In his closet his shirts and ties were organized by color, his shoes from formal to casual. In his workshop, the hammer, the saw, the screwdrivers each had its outlined place, and was always returned there, cleaned and oiled as needed.
And he was caring. During his mother’s final illness he was relentlessly cheerful and helpful toward her, and insisted Carole behave the same. He rejected any idea of a nursing home, but did have a live-in caregiver near the end. She remembered the night he confided how wearing it was, “but you just don’t abandon the people in your life,” he explained.
But he was certainly abandoning her! She had finished college, but instead of pursuing her career in Political Science, she became Carson Gant’s wife. And she had done it very, very well. Now she was being laid off, she thought bitterly.
The 20-foot high living room ceiling created a showcase for fine fabrics and furnishings, and artwork collected from all over the world. The curving double staircase embraced a spacious entry hall tiled with marble parquet. The landing, with its curved carved wooden railing, was a dramatic stage for surveying arriving guests.
Carole reviewed her options carefully. She would die before she’d leave this house! Taking a breath, she measured the rail with her eye; the carefully-cut banister would point investigators to someone familiar with tools. If she lived, Carson would care for her, she knew - at least until she healed. If she died, well, her life was already over, wasn’t it?
Carole pushed, felt the railing give, smiled and sailed away.

Doggerel

This was written for the dog we used to have; we are currently, alas, dogless. But we have dogs in our future, I'm sure of it.

Our dog is of the canine ilk,
one end is wag, the other silk

He sniffs and wags where ever he goes
and sleeps on top of our clean clothes

He snarls and barks at falling leaves
and cheerfully admits the thieves

Our dog is of the canine breed
one end is gas, the other greed

he eats our scraps without complaint
and strews our yard with mounds of taint

he rolls in reeking, rotted clams
then greets our guests with body slams

he swallows up great bowls of chow
and spews them up indoors or out

Our dog is of the canine kind
one end is kiss, the other hind

he waits for our return all day
and's never fussy, only gay

we leave him all alone for hours
when we return he never glowers

he never treats us with disdain,
he shows he's glad we're back again.

Loyal, honest, caring friend --
Canine trumps the human trend.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Shrove Tuesday

How sensible to have, at this season, a mandated period of fasting. Without it, we might be tempted to take and drink the milk meant for the youngling; to take and eat the flesh of the veal, the fat calf. Better to require self-denial for the health of the whole herd, leaving a little now for later's plenty.