Spreading the Good Cheer…

I hadn’t put up that photo of my Christmas lights on the blog for ten minutes when my father called me.

“Your lights look good!” he told me. “I just drove by to look at them.”

We talked for a few moments. He was glad I was getting in the spirit of things and not showing my usual apathy about the holidays as he put it. I hadn’t got off the phone but for a few moments when Tracy called. She was crying and sniffling. She sounded like a total mess.

“I think I bit off more than I can chew with school and work,” she told me crying. “I am so burned out and finals are coming up.”

“Don’t think of it as a whole,” I told her. “Just take it one day at a time. That’s what they always said in Alcoholics Anonymous about quitting drinking. In just a few short weeks you will have your holiday break and things will seem much better. You will be proud to have accomplished what you’ve done.”

I realized I sounded like my father when he gives one of his lectures to me when I am down and out. The sniffling and crying soon stopped and Tracy said she felt much better after talking to me.

“You can do it!” I told her. “Just hang in there. One day at a time.”

“I want to see you other than work. When can I see you next?”

“I will drive down tomorrow night and stay with you,” I replied.

“I'll order your favorite pizza!” she said.

“Sounds like a deal,” I told her happily. “I will see you bright and early in the morning and I expect a kennel kiss.”

She giggled loudly and giddily and told me to get ready for a whopper of a kiss.

“I love you, you know that?” Tracy said.

“I love you, too, sweetheart,” I replied.

Dire Circumstances…

Tuleana let my home phone ring four times yesterday. It was getting late so I answered the last call breaking the two ring rule. Shit I muttered under my breath as I was caught in Tuleana’s web. She wanted me to take them to get groceries when her food stamps were replenished. I told her I wasn’t driving that far and to call her sister or mother very brusquely. She doesn’t like her sister to do it because she charges them $20 dollars for a ride. I quickly hung up the phone. It is like I have this pestilence hovering over my head. I guess I am going to have to get ugly and it goes against my very nature.