Author’s note: This is from a series based on my journal. Unconventional and idiosyncratic punctuation and formatting are intentional.
Even if I had not known today’s forecast I would have known it was raining when I got up. I heard planes. Flight patterns change when it rains. I still slept through the night. I didn’t even move. William got home for Thanksgiving break some time after midnight. I talked to him before I went to bed. He’d decided to drive all the way instead of stopping somewhere as he thought he might do yesterday afternoon.
Among today’s notifications were likes for some Notes I posted yesterday and a new free subscriber. I think it’s from the flash constellation. One post or comment leads one reader to another and sparks fly. I appreciate it. I looked up the profile of one person who liked my story about Granny in response to Mary Guterson’s 100-word story prompt yesterday. He’s a retired French hornist and piano technician involved in church music and toy trains. He’s been happily married for 45 years. Choo-choo! I was astonished to see my post from the weekend with almost 1,400 views. How do I go from averaging 150 to more than 1,300? It must be a mistake.
The most difficult category for today’s Connections was answers starting with optimistic words. Glad-hand, Happy Meal, Merry Go-round, Sunny-side Up. I solved it first, somehow. I almost gave up on the game and felt like just blowing my guesses but I rallied. I solved Wordle on my fourth guess. PLEAD. Mo and Mr. Murrow came to mind and my heart ached. I solved Strands without any hints. It’s becoming my best game, connecting letters to make words. Maybe I should not be surprised.
On the TODAY show this morning its consumer reporter did a story with an NYFD firefighter on having a fire-free and otherwise safe Thanksgiving. The story included sensational videos of exploding deep-fried turkeys and sooty smoking pots on a stove top. Savannah Guthrie is way too smart to wear her headband in such a dorky way. I remembered once sitting with Mom watching Judge Judy and how she commented on how Judge Judy wore glasses that did not wrap around her ears. I had never noticed the detail. It had never occurred to me to notice such a thing. Now I do. And it does.
At the grocery on my way to the shelter I got more eggs and milk. And bread and cereal. All of them seemed to disappear quickly last time William was home. Even if he ends up going out with friends I can still use them after he returns to school. A cranberry-hued jar danced and flashed on the video display by the door. Why didn’t the cranberry go to the party? the screen asked. Because it was in a jam! Terry was wearing his sea-green fleece again. He had the zipper open because it is so toasty. Air conditioning? I said. Yeah, he said. Phone number? Card? You saved three dollars and two cents. Come back and see us again! Terry and I always swing between familiarity and formalities. It is weird. It is our way. It works.
At the shelter Dee and Ella were working with Angela from outreach. I read a story about her in the paper a few months ago. Today was the first time I had met her. She spends most of her time out in the street. She liked the change of being in the shelter for a day. We talked about being affected by some of the situations at the shelter. She tries to leave work at work. She doesn’t always succeed. Same. She is still glad that she doesn’t have a job that pelts her with after-work emails and other time- and mind-sucking dings.
A church group set up tables of hot food out front by the steps. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, biscuits. Before serving they came in to offer prayer. Amen, everyone said at the end. Another group brought hot dogs. Mustard! Ketchup! Fruit cup! Dee called into the mic. Go out there and get your food! Everyone eat today! A new volunteer named Alana answered the phone and handed out supplies. She has five children. She also volunteers and enjoys travel and writing. She kept her phone clipped to a green foam band around her right bicep. She had no trouble getting the hang of things.
Mr. Joseph came around a few times, the first pointing to some bottles of water near me at the roster. Busy checking in another man I could not hand him one. I pointed back at the bottles for him to help himself. He frowned and walked away and circled back to Alana and pointed to some bottles near her. She handed him one. He asked her for reading glasses. Alana pulled the box from the drawer by the phone and set it on the counter. Mr. Joseph poked among the slender, cellophaned packages and chose a pair identical to the pair Ella gave him earlier. He returned those to the box. He asked for a hat. Alana reached for a white one. Not white! Mr. Joseph said. Anything but white! She put her finger on a gray hat. Gray is good, he said.
One man needed seven dollars for his cell phone bill. It’s due tomorrow. He lost his job a few months ago when his car broke down. He’d hoped to get another job this afternoon and be paid for it but someone else got it first. That’s how it start, Ella said when I told her about the man later, the cycle. A white man came in with a Black man half his age. Took him under my wing, said the white man. Nineteen! He wore a Garfield backpack. Cam came by and lingered out front. He’s still barred. Ella gave him some sack lunches. He wore a loose black track suit and limped. Ella said he’d been hit by a car and broken his hip. Today’s prompt for the flash challenge is You Have Been Granted One Wish. This is easy. As many as I need, I wrote.
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Thank you for another look at your life.
That church lunch delivered sounded good. Amen!