“I believe we love your house and yard as much as you do. Your home looks like a gorgeous vacation lodge and your rocky stream with the grasses and flowers alongside are a picture. When we bought our house, one of the main reasons was we could look across and see your beautiful place. So, when your son comes to visit could you please ask him to park his truck around the corner so our breathtaking view is not obstructed.”
(STOP. Sorry. Could you please re-read that first paragraph and just sort of drip it and drawl it and slather it on a bit more and feel free to add your own observation and go on about our red roses by the driveway, the blazing pink hydrangeas, the decorative grasses, and the charming bird feeder that attracts chickadees, nuthatches, towhees, juncos, woodpeckers, bush tits and Stellar blue jays. THANK YOU.)
Our son will be here soon for his weekly visit. He is a good son who can speak with young and old on almost any subject. He treats us like good friends and he offers to change the heater filter and put in new light bulbs where we can’t reach. We go out to eat in the Cadillac to a fish place with Green Bay Packer décor and friendly servers and warm ambiance. I have not told him where to park his 1980’s Dodge but I hope to God he parks it right smack dab in the middle of our front curb. Crossing my fingers.
A Pushcart prize nominee and Micro Award nominee, Phyllis Green’s writings have been published in Epiphany, Parting Gifts, Prick of the Spindle, The Blue Lake Review, Bluestem, The Sheepshead Review, The Chaffin Journal, Paper Darts, apt, ShatterColors, The Cossack Review, Rougarou, The Examined Life, Hospital Drive, Orion Headless, Luna Station Quarterly, a drama in Mason’s Road, and an upcoming story in Empirical Magazine.
© 2013, Phyllis Green
Halfway Down the Stairs 