“It’s not a seance,” Halsey had said after they’d finished a second beer without a word spoken, “because a seance requires some effort and some outside interference from a spirit. I’d call it nonverbal communication — the ultimate in intellectual inertia.”
Thousand Dollar Kitty
Last fall one of my cat’s suffered a hit and run. We didn’t find out about it until the vet who received him from animal control saw our lost cat notice on Craig’s List. It was three days between his disappearance and our finding him. In that time nothing was done about his injuries.
We ended up paying a thousand dollars to rebuild his hip and put pins in the broken bones in one front paw. The vet made it sound as if this would be all it would take, and that he could be expected to make a full recovery. It wasn’t until we’d already had all the work done and brought him home for a long convalescence that we learned it wasn’t the case.
Among the expected side effects (expected by the vet, not us) was nerve damage, loss of use of the back leg, permanent incontinence, and the need for further surgery. We learned all this only when he didn’t recover as quickly as we were told to expect.
He was supposed to have recovered enough in six weeks to come out of the cage they had us put him in. It took a two months. He was supposed to be moving around in the cage and use the cat box we put in the cage. We ended up turning the entire cage into a cat box.
By the time we got him out of the cage, we were seriously thinking we’d made a horrible mistake. If he never recovered, it would be our fault.
We got lucky. Once he was weened off the cage, he got more and more mobile. He still limps, and he insists on pooping and pissing all over the house, but it’s clear now that he will be all right if we don’t end up strangling him. So I guess it was all worth it after all.
Can’t See the Trees for the Forest
Jill: I love coming out to the national forests to pick our tree, but there are so many of them I can never decide.
Jack: I know what you mean. There are so many to chose from, it’s hard to decide. But let’s keep going. I’m sure the perfect Christmas tree is out there waiting for us.
Previously in Jack and Jill: Macro May I?
For more posts with Trees go to Keyhole Pictures
The Good News
“Call it out to the world,” said the thousand dollar kitty. “’Tis the season. Christmas is here. There will be good food, family, gifts, and joy. We should all celebrate it right. Ho, ho, ho, and all that. Now hand over the kitty treats.”
The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Flash Fiction 55 is hosted by the G-man, a host with the most.
13 Gifts
If anyone in my family happens to be reading this *eh-hem*, here’s a suggestion list. 😀
1. A cheap mixer. I’m talking the little handheld type whose motors I keep burning out. Yes, I go through them fast. No, I don’t want the big ones. I just burn out the big motors, too.
2. A new laptop. (Hey, I can dream, right?)
3. A new furnace. (Yep, still dreaming)
4. A coupon to Lowes. Seems I’m still going over there at least once a week.
5. An iron. I already have three, but two are buried in storage and the one I can find has a bad plate so it sticks to fabric.
6. A big days-of-the-week pill box because those calcium pills are huge and if they aren’t in the box with the rest, I forget them.
7. A food processor.
8. A radio alarm clock that doesn’t glow all night long. Mine does this eerie red thing.
9. A banana tree – I mean the kind you hang bananas on that sits on the counter, not the kind the bananas grow on.
10. A suitcase that will fit in the overhead compartment because apparently travel doesn’t work the way it used to and my duffel isn’t cutting it.
11. Whole cloves. I don’t know why I have such a hard time making myself get them, but there it is.
12. A really fast memory chip for my digital camera.
13. Computer memory.
No elbows! And forget the room thing, too. I don’t need elbow room after all. Like you would actually believe something I snapped while cooking over Thanksgiving. But after “A life” and “BS” I wouldn’t put it past you. You all really have to quit asking “what do you want?” sans “for Christmas.”
Suzie’s House 290 : Doing Crunches
When Gene walked into his bedroom, Tracy was already there on his bed. First she lay there on her back with her hands behind her head. Then she sat, then she lay, then she sat. He could guess, but with her, you might as well just ask. “What are you doing?”
“I’m doing abnormal exercises.”
The Serialists of December 12th
This week’s featured author: Ann Pino writing Points of Departure.
This is the hub for The Serialists, a meme for people who post original, serialized fiction on their blogs. If you have one or more posts you would like for us to read, please put the direct link(s) to the post(s) in the linky. Remember to visit one another and comment. We all want to hear from our readers.
And the Curtains Rise
Success!
I know it doesn’t look like much, but I finally got the curtains done on five windows. This is a project that has been hanging over my head for well over a year. Everyone in the family was betting me to get them done. I’ve put them off for things like making the trailer fixed up enough to sell (When the ladder I needed was out of the house).
This time I had to have the ladder in the storage unit in order to reach the Christmas ornaments. Just the kind of deadline I need to make myself get something done. Now that the project is done I can leave the ladder there from here on out. It means the end of one big project and beginning of another. Time to re-arrange the storage unit. Ok, fine, I’ll do Christmas first. 😀
Macro May I?
Jill: …so I was thinking of how really big the universe is and how tiny we are and how tiny things can’t always get their way. I mean, on the macro scale… hey, isn’t it kind of funny that macro means big, like cosmic big, but when photographers use it they mean they are taking pictures up really, really close, so what they take is probably something tiny….
Jack: Yes, yes, but, Darling, what is this stuff?
Jill: It’s a necklace, right? Macrame I made to sell at the Christmas Carnival. But it’s so big. Like on the cosmic scale. And I was thinking of adding a bead. So then I’m wondering if I could even handle it. You know, ‘Macro, may I bead’, or something.”
Previously in Jack and Jill: Jack and Jill, Advertisers
For more posts with Macro go to Keyhole Pictures
Alienation
“I am weird, aren’t I?” The high school girl put her books in her locker while talking to the boy at the locker next to her. “I mean, sometimes I feel like an alien. I really do.”
When at last she stopped yammering and left he let his antennae come out so he could beam another SOS to the mother ship.
The challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story in exactly 55 words. Flash Fiction 55 is hosted by the G-man, a host with the most.
13 Things I Might Not Get Done
“Tis the season, but you’d never know it from my household. I’m not the only one who just isn’t into the season. No one else in the house is interested either. What I haven’t gotten done so far;
1. Put up decorations. It isn’t looking good for this year. They are still all out in the storage unit, and no one has expressed any interest in going to get them.
Suzie’s House 289 : Bitter Harvest
“I’m telling you, it’s too soon.” Gene glared at Tracy.
She pursed her lips and glared right back which just meant they might end up standing around and arguing all night because Tracy could be pretty stubborn sometimes. He glanced around Mrs. H.’s living room at all the other band members, looking for some backup and not getting it.
The Serialists of December 5th
Brian Miller, welcome to the Serialists! I look forward to more intriguing posts about Mr. Wilson’s pet.
This is the hub for The Serialists, a meme for people who post original, serialized fiction on their blogs. If you have one or more posts you would like for us to read, please put the direct link(s) to the post(s) in the linky. Remember to visit one another and comment. We all want to hear from our readers.
