The coyotes are circling closer - coming further into the perimeter of the compound. And the dogs are too weak to chase them off.
The full-length sweater is no longer keeping me warm in the office, and I'm losing all of the feeling in my fingertips and toes, despite two pairs of socks. My coffee gets cold instantly. But what does it matter? Soon the coffee will be gone, and then I will surely lose my will to live.
I find some solace knowing that the sun is... somewhere; that someone, somewhere won't suffer this fate of endless ice and gray... and sticks. Even the evergreens are shriveling against the onslaught of the coldest winter in the history of the world.
"Krista Detor," says my friend Arbutus (in my mind, where she often and unexpectedly turns up) "I am finding your taste for turgidity to be a bit on the cloying and sticky side these days. Is it conceivable that you might consider not to steep yourself in melodrama like so much burdock root, and perhaps make something of the day at hand?"
"I would, but I'm surely nearing death. The coffee's nearly gone." I reply, weakly. "The winter, alas, has been too much... too much. No.. I'll need to remain steeping in melodrama, until the birds peck my very bones and dozens of hot house flowers from Argentina arrive for what will, no doubt, be a splendid and glorious funeral procession."
It's nearly noon and no sign of the mail truck. The roads are iced with days and days and days of.. of ice.. and all the supply lines will soon be down. I have to consider the unimaginable. I may have to pick which one of the dogs is dinner in a matter of days. This will not be easy, but I'm sure they'll understand. Perhaps I'll devise a contest of doggy skill and cunning to determine which is weakest, and therefore, first. OH, the horror of the thought.. No. I can't. Oh, fates, oh mercy, will the winter never end?
Will the winter never end?
Ah, sorry. Gotta go. 1/2 price martini night at Scholar's Inn!
Man, it's cold.
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lmao
ReplyDeleteBe careful, those martinis might cause you to lose perspective. Oh, wait ... never mind!
ReplyDeleteP.S. What on earth did I ever do to brighten the dreary winter days before I had my daily K-Blog break to look forward to?!
Winter of '77-'78; minus 20 below wind at 50mph ice and snow that didn't melt 'till the end of August... I was sleeping on a friend's back porch on Atwater street, wearing all the clothes I had. Bloomington was in a brown out and the stars were crisp and bright.. Saved enough to get an apartment over an insurance company on upper collage ave., near the train tracks and a bar called "The Still" with a roommate with a piano and a HUGE hammond organ with Whirlitzer horns. Also had a girlfriend who'd kick me out at five in the morning so she could ladle on her make - up. Good time for a walk from Kirkwood, wrapped my head in a blanket to keep out the wind, cops took pity on me on morning and drove me home.. A couple of days after Christmas my roommate's girl left him and he up and left, the next day the piano and organ were repossessed and taken out the window. I moved in with the girl who's apartment was over "The Earth Kitchen" & Zeus's Gyros" (Now moved up 5th and called "The Trojan Horse". Two weeks later, Valentines Day, the whole building caught fire, I was the last to leave, crawling down the smoke-filled hallway, down the fire escape that lead behind Bloomingfoods... The girl, barely tolerating me, made me keep my stuff out of sight in a closet and, when all was said and done, that closet was one of the few things untouched; I lost a guitar and my concertina, smoke damage to some books, not to bad... The girl lost most everything.
ReplyDeleteThere's more to the story that ends with a firetruck putting out the flames and smoke erupting from a sink hole in my mother's backyard a year later but, you get the drift - Winters in Indiana can be tough.
Ah man, you're showing me up! That's a way better story than me eating my dogs!
ReplyDeleteThe sad part is that is all true.
ReplyDelete