Swamps and Deserts

 

Swamps and Deserts

 

She loved swamps the best, but deserts came in a close second.

Most people looked out over acres of either one, said, “Well, that’s a whole lot of nothing” and turned away.

Turning away was the preferred reaction, in her opinion, rather than the dreaded, “Look at all that nothing! Seems like a great place to make noise and tear shit up!”

Swamps and deserts.

Two of the most delicate eco-systems in the world, and also two of the most misunderstood.

Because of course, if you couldn’t build on it or farm it, what the hell good was it, anyway?

Marriage

 

Marriage

 

She stared at the phone number for the Women’s Crisis Center, and knew she’d never call it.

After 45 years together, everyone looked at her marriage as a blessing, but she knew better.

Early on, she’d tried talking to her mother, and then a friend, and finally the pastor at her church, and they’d all said the same thing.

“The good Lord made you to be submissive to your husband. If you are having questions about that, you just need to pray harder.”

So, she’d covered her bruises and prayed harder.

“Sweet Jesus, please take him before he kills me.”

Matinee

 

Matinee

 

The lights came up in the movie theater, and everyone filed out, moving on to the next part of their day.

The usher nodded to them as they left, then methodically swept the floor clean of dropped popcorn and candy wrappers and picked up empty paper cups.

The last thing she did was gently tap the dozing old man on the shoulder. “The movie is over, sir.” And she smiled at him.

He smiled back, gently tucking the photo of his late wife back into his lapel pocket.

“I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon” he said.

“We always loved the matinees.”

Bookstore

 

Bookstore

 

He’d always loved the smell of a bookstore.

It was the smell of magic and knowledge, history and recipes.

Real life is messy and unorganized, frightening and unpredictable.

In a bookstore, you knew just where everything was, and it was there whenever you needed it.

His whole life, going to the bookstore was stepping out of chaos and into order, and it calmed him just thinking about it.

The bookshelves at home were not as well-organized, but they were still an anchor for his soul in a world filled with betrayal.

You can absolutely tell a book by its cover.

Petsmart

 

Petsmart

 

It seemed to be Little Old Lady Day at Petsmart. There were four of them in line at the checkout, all wearing stretchy pants and nice errand-running shirts.

As the last in line, she had time to analyze the contents of the other three’s carts.  

The first one had three cases of canned cat food and a feather toy.

The second one had three squeaky toys and a newly-groomed Yorkie in the basket.

The old lady in front of her was holding a container of fruit flies and a bag of annoyed-looking crickets.

Without thinking, she took a step back.

Cookies

 

Cookies

 

“Let’s go around the circle and share something about ourselves.”

She despised icebreaker bullshit, especially at work.

As they all spoke, she wasn’t even listening, because she was trying to think of something respectable to say.

“I like to bake cookies for the neighborhood children” she blurted out when it was her turn, and she managed to smile shyly. At least that’s what she hoped it looked like.

She thought of her collection of bones, stones, and feathers, and the totems she made out of them to use in her various spells.

She’d never baked a cookie in her life.