Thursday, September 8, 2011

Purple Mark continues the writing in the park series - Carla's Story

 

Happy with Bed Bugs

I pulled my credit card from my wallet and a little bit of paper fluttered onto the check stand. I handed the card to the cashier, paying [with plastic] for more plastic to deal with my bed bug infestation and she handed me back my fortune.

"The current year will bring you much happiness."

Well, the year had started well. I was eager to pursue my plans and dreams and ready to go on January 1. I made a point of following my dad's approach to life. He tries not to let his future slow down its pace and growth, but he also takes care not to rush ahead of it. He believes in making goals but lives in the moment. He and Mom were forty years married. We just celebrated their anniversary and they danced to their favorite song by the Righteous Brothers, the lyrics I've heard them serenade each other with all my life: "If you believe in forever, then life is just a one night stand," Mom would sing, then Dad would reply: "If there's a rock and roll heaven, well, you know they've got a hell of a band," and then they'd kiss. That was the song playing when Dad proposed to Mom. They were flower children, hippies with a van traveling the open road until time turned them into a chemist and a teacher. I considered myself lucky I wasn't called Sunshine or Tarot.

I was so excited this past New Year's. Jessie had proposed and I spent January having visions of walking wedding cakes dancing in my head. But it was September and Jessie was long gone. A lost job became an excuse to drink and then his parents died at Niagra Falls. They'd been trying to recreate the Kate Winslet & Leonardo DiCaprio "I'm Flying" pose from the Titanic movie and had both fallen over the railings. He went back to live in his family's home and I hear he hasn't stepped outside yet. I was comforted by knowing he had a lot of family to look after him, but clearly life with me wasn't a big enough draw to keep him interested in living. That could be depressing if I let it. But I have my fortune, happiness is a choice, after all. In spite of bed bugs, dead parents, lost fiancés and...Wait on...I heard a crash and turned to look out the shop windows. A black VW bug had backed over my mountain bike while parking and was in the process of trying to detach it from his rear wheels by dragging it forward and back again. Huh...or even flattened mountain bikes.


---September 3, 2011


Written at Cal Anderson Park: Purple Mark’s Write in the Park series.

Present: PurpleMark Wirth, Isla, Shannon & Philip
Prompts: Fortune from PurpleMark's an authentic I Dream of Jeannie's bottle, a quote from The Dictionary of the Khazars by Milorad Pavic, Song lyrics, a tarot card (which showed a 3-tiered box with stick arms and legs), and the phrase, "wait on."

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