Tag: just goofing around

An Old Friend

Night came with silence

But then there was a sound

Something cracking hard

Like a window coming down.

Atlas leaped to investigate

And then froze in the spot

It could be something dangerous

And that meant a lot.

But still he had a duty

To protect his furless folks

So he would do as needed

Because his duty was not a joke.

So boldy, inch by inch,

Atlas sniffed and advanced

Till he came to the danger

And finally could relax.

For it wasn’t a burglar

Nor a killer or a mouse

Just the ghost of an old friend, Titan,

A dog who once lived in the house.

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Sunday’s Wandering Thought

He needed to iron a shirt. Short sleeve. Cotton. Button up.

Been so long since he’d ironed a shirt. Used to do it almost every day in the military and quite often when he was in marketing. New materials and different work activities and standards had lessened requirements to iron.

He was still using their thirty-year-old iron. Why not? It works. He figured smart irons have finally arrived, though what a smart iron would do, he doesn’t know. Probably robot irons have arrived, too, just give it the shirt and it’ll know what to do. But he had to manually do it, setting up the little board and then plying seams, collar, yoke, sleeves, and most treacherous of all for him, the placket with steam and heat to make it all look unwrinkled.

After all that, he didn’t wear the shirt. Oh, well. It’d be ready for next time.

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Episode Number Twenty

Martin was in a glorious mood. Winter seemed to have finally left the area. Sunshine ruled. Unlimited blue sky. The air smelled different. Fresher. Cleaner.

He liked how things were going. Thick described him – legs, chest – which was also deep – arms, neck. Everyone thought of him as a bear without the violence, a slumbering bear, his first ex described him in college. Other than hair drawing back from his forehead and a thick mustache and goatee, he looked much like the man he was forty years before.

His house was finished. He’d moved in and it was beginning to feel like home. Lot couldn’t be replaced from the loss, but life, you know? Heard from daughter. She and her children were safe, great news. Cherry on dessert was his night of passion. Been a long time since one of those.

Seeing his fornicating partner coming toward him launched a big grin. She hugged him. “Hello, how are you, Martin?”

“Hey Cindy, long time, no see.” A joke. He leaned in and planted a big wet one.

Cindy snapped back. “Whoa, Martin, what the hell? We’re old friends but that was a little over the top.” She was wiping her mouth. “No offense, but I’m not interested.”

Martin stepped back and drew up, looming over her by a foot. “Hold up. We did the nasty three times last night and this morning. The last one was just over five hours ago, and a little kiss upsets you? Seriously, really? I guess I read too much into it. Forgive me.”

She was staring. “Did the nasty? In what reality did we do the nasty?”

Pieces acquired new meanings. Fresh air. How it smelled. Sunshine. His safe daughter. “Damn.”

He was in a different reality. Episode number twenty. Real mystery was when it happened. Why, of course. “Sorry, Cindy. My sincere apologies.”

“That’s okay. I forgive you.”

“Will you indulge me and tell me, who is President?”

“President?” Cindy laughed. “Man, you are in another world.”

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Wednesday’s Wandering Thought

Getting Wordle in two moves engenders a sensational feeling of luck and success. Two days in a row pump you up. But three? Man, capture that feeling and sell it in bottles. WordleBot was generous — 99 for skill, 99 for luck.

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Tuesday’s Wandering Thought

Her car needed its gas tank filled. They devised a plan. Run errands — mail bills, drop off the utilities payment, pick up some needed items at the grocery store, drop off her top to return it — the color wasn’t at all like the blue depicted in the photo online — and get gas for her car.

Going by order of direction, the gas station was first. He pulled in and headed for the pump.

“No, go to the other pumps, the filler cap is on this side,” she said from the passenger seat.

“No,” he retorted, glancing at the gage. “Look at the arrow. It’s this side.”

“No, it’s on this side,” she answered. “They won’t do it on the other side. It has to be on the same side as the pump.”

“Which is this side.”

Silence fell as she looked at the gage. He clapped his hands and burst out laughing, then she said, “Oh my God, we brought the car,” and threw herself back with laughter.

Of course, it was so funny to them, she had to call friends and share.

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Unlocked

He did the coffee shop bathroom combo, pushing the buttons in with his index finger. Each number blinked red. He finished with the pound sign. The door lock flashed green. He pushed the door open.

He always moved cautiously going into the restroom. People forget to look the door. Or pressed the lock button twice, unwittingly unlocking it. He didn’t want to move in on people. No need for a naked sight today. God knows not many pretty people were at the coffee shop today. He chortled. Including him, if he was honest.

He stopped, holding the door open.

Two people were inside.

On the floor.

Young. Boy and girl.

Blood pooled around them.

His mind recorded it, loading memory.

He closed the door and rushed to the counter, cutting to the line’s front, saw the manager and shouted her name.

Bonnie turned. He jerked his head and waved once. Come on. Shifted toward the bathroom hall.

She looked puzzled but began to follow.

“Bring your phone,” he said.

Then thought. Two bodies. An unlocked door.

He didn’t remember seeing a weapon.

There had probably been a murderer in the coffee house.

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Sunday’s Wandering Thought

He was at the coffee shop. Two men of his age were at the next table. They were trying to remember war movies and their stars, and struggling. He passed on telling them who was in The Great Escape, The Longest Day, Where Eagles Dare, and The Bridge at Remagen. Surprising that he could easily remember all that stuff, he remarked to himself, pleased. Just one of those days.

But he had to step up to the other table when they couldn’t recall the name of the movie with Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland, Don Rickles, and Telly Selvales. “Kelly’s Heroes,” he finally called out.

“Thank you,” they answered.

He nodded. “Welcome.” Just doing his civic duty.

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The New Toothbrush

We bought new toothbrushes a few months ago. A Costco impulse buy, I’d seen it advertised on Hulu at night. We’ve had our Phillips Sonicare for a decade plus and weren’t really looking for a change but the display for the new Sonicare Smart Brush just past the television displays pulled me in.

I called my wife over to check it out because it was full of interesting features. The brushes look almost invisible. I had to really squint, holding them up to my eye to see them, but they glow pale white when the brush is turned on. Its battery pack is very small and holds a charge for up to three months of standard use. Yeah, right, like I believed that. And it’s supposed to take under 54 minutes to fully recharge, which I can confirm, it does.

But what really interested me was that you attach a toothpaste pod to it. The toothbrush will automatically feed the right amount of cleaner to the bristles for you to get the best mouth-cleaning experience. An amber light blinks when it’s time to refill the pod. The ‘cleaner’ is less like a paste and more like a spray. Different flavors are available. I use spearmint but my wife uses cinnamon. Tests show that this cleaner also wipes out plaque. Cool.

A small blue light comes on and it softly chimes whenever you’re at a ‘problem area’ where you need to brush longer. The light goes green when you’ve done the area enough. The brush turns itself off when it detects that your mouth is cleaned and tells you, “Spit and rinse”. I know, it sounds crazy. My wife was dubious but a two pack with extra heads was less than eighty dollars, including the cleaner pods, so we agreed and bought them. Do I need to tell you who really loves it? Yes, her.

The one thing she still doesn’t like is that it’s black, as is the ‘paste’ (I still don’t know what to call it), so when you’re done brushing, your teeth and mouth are all black, but she agrees that the toothbrushes are great. The black all rinses off and our teeth look amazingly white. It still surprises me when that blue light goes on. It also has an app for your phone to remind you to brush. It dings and vibrates and then displays a message, telling you how long it’s been since you last brushed. It’ll also send those messages to smart watches and Fitbits, if you set it up.

So, yeah, we love them, and I recommend them. The worst aspect of this Smart brush to me is that it only exists on April 1st.

Cheers

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Friday’s Wandering Thought

Quite a sight. A young slender man, sunglasses and forest green cap, leaning forward and upright, arms working hard, speeding along in a wheelchair on the sidewalk, cigarette in mouth streaming smoke.

There’s a story there. We rarely get to know the stories behind scenes like these.

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