Thursday, October 29, 2009

Fuck that fun-size bullshit

Walking in the rain on the way to work this morning I was negotiating with coffee and gloves, umbrella hanging on the twisted knot at the back of my head, when I was abruptly splashed from behind by a filthy spray from the street, compliments of a passing sport utility vehicle. It soaked through my jacket, my sweater, reached my skin. It was gross. I forgot about it. My umbrella turned inside out. I turned into the wind.

Coming home late, I opted to take the other side of the street, navigating deep puddles in the drizzle, and came within one small step of being run down by a preoccupied business-man who did not notice me, even as I stood at his elbow, and sped away from his parking spot without ever knowing I'd been there. If I'd been moving one second faster he'd have hit me dead-on. Or seen me. Or both.

The rain fell light and fast on the way home, no drops but wipers on high, another dark and dreary evening of this wretched season. I can't remember a Fall so foul. I crossed the river to a familiar intersection, where someone always waits, and as I made that soft turn felt the warmth of my own involuntary pull toward home. As I approached the last light at the top of the hill, a black cat scurried across my path.

That's about how my day was, not that anyone was asking.

So the Bare Bones show this year is Devoured. Toward it I look eagerly forward, as always, trusting that it will not fail to cast a flickering light into our darkest corridors, however briefly, and show us the teeth and hands of the strange, shadowy night we know as Halloween. Wear your mask, lantern lit.

4 comments:

Cosmic Monkey said...

I'm not sure what your title references...am I missing something?

fremenine said...

Yeah, probably not a great choice. Just thinking of those stupid little candy bars that get dished out to trick-or-treaters... doesn't really reflect what I was trying to convey, though. Perhaps I'll change it.

conniewonnie13 said...

I love the title:) It says fuck this stupid umbrella and the stupid SUV and the stupid fun sized rain and the stupid everything of crappiness. like fun sized candy bars that are poisonous enough to kill the tooth fairy.
xoxo
Connie

fremenine said...

(Having now had the better part of a year to think it over, I still stand by that title...)