No $10 Dollars for You!

“Where did you get ten dollars?” my mother asked me as I handed her a check this afternoon on her grocery run.

She was sitting in her car with an astonished and worried look on her face.   She looked at the check in her hands and then looked back at me

“Nielsen called me and I took a television viewing habit survey.  They paid me and mailed me a check,” I replied.  “I just don’t want the temptation so I am giving it to you.”

“Thank you,” mom said with a sigh of relief. “Thank you for being so honest about it.  You know you can’t have money.  Your father would die if he knew.  It would worry him to death that you’ve found a new way to make money.”

I smiled.  I was just glad to get rid of the money.  It had been driving me crazy all day since I got that check in the mail this morning. It sucks having an honest streak sometimes.  I could’ve gotten really, really drunk tonight. 

“Tell dad to let it pay for my camera part,” I told her as a compromise.

She said she would and I began to unload all my groceries from her opened trunk.  Mom must’ve felt frisky today as she got me some interesting foods.  She got me the largest jar of Kroger peanut butter I have ever seen. She said they were on sale for six dollars.  There was also two bunches of bananas – something I love and haven’t gotten in months.  The thoughts of peanut butter and banana sandwiches for lunch made my stomach protest in eagerness.  I was just so starving by the time mom arrived.   Men just can’t subsist on toasted mayonnaise sandwiches alone.  Mom also got me a large extremely varied selection of Lean Cuisine Asian meals just like I had asked for when I called her earlier.  It was nice to have some more variation in my diet this week.  I had grown tired of the usual Marie Callender meals mom gets me.  You can only eat so much cheesy chicken and rice.

George stirs us all up… 

Mrs. Florene called me this afternoon.  She was frantic with worry.

“Did you get a depressing letter from George today?” she asked.

“It was pretty bad.” I replied with worry as well.

“He sounded pitiful in the letter he wrote me!”

I told Florene how much I’ve missed him.  George was my social life and my entertainment.  He was always busy with something and he always included me.  He might have had a ton of problems, but he was a good guy – a very good friend.   A friend that didn’t take no for an answer and got this hermit out of the house.

How are you feeling?

I’ve felt much better today than yesterday.  The anxiety only lasted for three hours around lunch then subsided.  I am hoping this is a sign that things will only get better with every passing day.  

Maggie’s brought me a ton of joy today.  She’s slept for most of the day by my Lazy Boy on the couch.  It has been comforting to look over to see her sleeping so peacefully.   It had this calming effect on me that is hard to describe.  She can make sleeping look so damned good!