A brown American with British-Southern accent – and black African undertones sporting a hard to miss, hard to not, which smoothed him right out when he stopped dead in his tracks in the living room – spread his arms wide and high with exclamation points for eyes – THIS IS______THIS IS______
RARE.
IT’S…Everything is so organized – never SAW ANYTHING like it anywhere, as he proceeded to say he’ll just be a minute – have to check to see if the windows work – you know, in case of an emergency and you have to jump from the 7th floor?
“Don’t give me any ideas”, I replied as he laughed saying that’s what I tell people, it’s a joke, he was trying to get the laugh out of me too.
Perfect timing. Now we’re best buds.
Blue eyes with an African slant – well they looked blue to me. Must be Moroccan. Maybe not. Is that where moccasins come from? Probably not. Maybe yes if they don’t want you to hear them walking behind you.
“Don’t forget the helicopter” I add, thinking jumping wasn’t an option.
EXPLOSION LAUGH as we stood standing right in front of THE LAST DANCE. WOW.
It reminded me of writing on Cooper Point on Puget Sound in Olympia, Washington, at the rented-to-us beach house when we managed VILLAGE MART the Cadillac of Convenience Stores.
Writing about the red-haired blue-eyed flea. STUN. Aka Awake by my Mother-in-law. “That’s not a flea; it’s a GNAT” as she swatted a garden variety GNAT away from her face.
Don’t kill it, I said to my mind.
Yeah, I got that one wrong. I got another one wrong about a Snickers Bar that I’ll never live down. My favorite candy bar of my life up until then didn’t have nuts in it. Nougat. That was Nanny Kay’s favorite, second to licorice, the black kind. Soft, smooth, sweet, won’t hurt your teeth, more mousse-like. I must be part French too. I think Ernest Romanzo Davidson, my grandfather I never met was Italian and Canada put them in the Indian bin. Two Davidson boys were white/white and the other two were darker skinned. Long noses and all. It’s strange enough to find a Scottish settlement right outside Montreal in Quebec, a French speaking province, but Italians were called Indians?
For whatever reason I was seeing Snicker Bar candy wrappers all over the ground in the Pacific Northwest, every time we’d stop at a convenience store, the grounds were littered. Guess nobody liked the three Musketeers. I’ve never been much of a nut person. Waste of time. Too much chew. Dry, hard to swallow. Geez, why can’t they make these nuts softer. Like it was everybody’s favorite. Mine was Three Musketeers – at least the name stood for something.
A book. Maybe I’ll read it and add to this LITTLE BOOK right here, yet another perspective – or not. Dunno why that night I insisted that Snickers didn’t contain nuts, but I went at it, full force, absolutely convinced. I couldn’t understand why everyone in the room insisted there were nuts in Snickers and all I could see was the inside of a Three Musketeers bar and stood corrected a short time later. I still don’t know what went awry momentarily. Of course I was stunned again by the revelation – not for long, still it stays with me. And is periodically used against me in an argument when the other person is losing their grip on my view. Yeah Sharon, just like Snickers has no nuts!!
Well, whoever makes Snickers, how about making one without nuts – just for the animal-free chef’s peace of mind. You can do it; I know you can. How about all those toothless people not being able to eat the number one candy bar in the world: SNICKERS!! Make it animal-free and nut-free, but not caramel-free. Use the slow moving gooey type that doesn’t harden up and swipe one of your fillings while eating it. Aw-w-w-
Yeah, I got that other one wrong too. Well, I had two dogs: Howdy and Rascal. Fleas came to mind, in the house. GNATS are outside, we’re inside. What’s a GNAT doing in the house? What is a GNAT anyway and how did my mother-in-law who rarely went outside, living in the hot Florida climate, see a GNAT to know one? Oh, mustav’ been in Saint Louis – Norberta aka Syb had a history with GNATS. The prove it people. Oh, no, the SHOW ME STATE.
Fleas came to mind. It was inside, sitting on the edge of my cup or glass, or just standing there not moving as if it wanted me to look. I never saw such beauty and poise. Grace too, yes. It knew me. I know.
I’m sad writing it, that’s how I know.
Why would GNAT come to mind if I never even heard the word before?
In a similar story my mother in the back seat poked me to stop talking and “look at the SUMMIT”. I said, “what’s a summit?”. She was incredulous – I think she had some British in her too. She used to do a lot of eye-rolling when standing in long lines at the register. I was always embarrassed. Just be patient I thought to myself. They can’t go any faster. Yeah, but they could have hired more people to accommodate long lines, which was often. Exasperated I’d call her with a little huff and those big blues rolling like directional signals for the manager to help out the cashiers.
I never forgot that fruit fly. Even here, one will come in, grow fast and be my companion – every season. I always remind Steve not to kill the fruit fly. They don’t hurt anybody. He always reassures me that he won’t. Til Ops comes around.
Not to worry. Another one comes in. It plays around my face, goes in and out from my eye level to the computer. Then it travels with me wherever I go. Stays put on the screen, walking about here and there.
That’s the long term memory capacity of fruit flies. They mostly stay in the kitchen and perch on the rough edges of plaster covered blood spots from killing the blood-sucking bed bugs coming in from the surrounding apartments when they get sprayed.
When it comes in and out at eye level, I blow a gentle wind from my pursed lips just firm enough to match it’s speed so the fruit fly is briefly suspended in air. It’s a game and they love it. Tickles them. Me too. Wakes them up. They always come back for more. Time and time again. Year after year.
Some people get infested with them. I tell them it’s the plants – they like plants – plus plant food I mentally add from my animal-free kitchen. I had plants too when I moved in. Large ones I brought from the old place. I removed them when I sighted mold on the top soil that seemed to be attracting. Maybe the fruit flies were warning me of the mold. Get rid of the plants and you won’t need a pesticide. “I don’t mind them”, a person with lots of plants added. Alright then_____Still, an infestation?
No, I draw lines. The two-three fruit flies arrive every season – and they stay till fully grown – leave when winter descends.
When Spring pops in again _____ fruit flies take their stations. It’s like a homecoming. A family reunion.
I recall Doug Merritt from the Pacific Northwest saying, “When I die I want to come back as a dog in Sharon’s house.
FAMOUS LITTLE BOOKS OF SHARON™ new site 
Reblogged this on WORD WARRIOR DAVIES-TIGHT™ and commented:
don’t miss this one
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