1/12/14 19:11
Tonight, was one of those nights I have been neglecting to
really put any emotional investment in.
I am not overall a corny sentimentalist.
You may disagree. Earlier today
Emma asked if I can drop her off to meet a friend at the movies. Who?
Oh, is this a date? I don’t think
so, she replied in a guarded fashion. I
was not going to give her the inquisition. I know who this boy is and even from
a distance I know about him. I know he
scored a perfect score on the SAT and from what Ali says he is a nice kid. This was enough for me. Good enough for Ali…good enough for me. Emma has a strange fixation on older men, like
Johnny Depp and Jared from 30 Seconds to Mars and what’s the actor I took her
to see on Broadway…Hugh Jackman...so this kid is not forty, married or has an
addiction that can be upsetting. Of course I agreed to drive. There was no other choice. Ali drove Amanda back to Simmons College
today. Sure I thought of the little Emma
Tess asking me with her lisped voice since she was missing her front teeth back
then, fourteen years ago; for a sound beating.
It was our way to declare it was time for a wrestling match and back
then Emma Tess was my wrestling partner. Eventually my partner was Joe who like Amanda
did not like it and then there was my next wrestler, Bella who liked to
tumble. Emma Tess who was watching kids
in the nursery at church earlier today and who folded bundles of laundry which
I dropped on the sofa was going out on a date. For some reason the child will do most things
when asked. She’s wonderful in the
matter. Not sure if we are related. Emma
can you please fold these? I can, but I
don’t want to. There is no protest like
I did to my father. Why me? I’d ask and avoid the work like a
professional. And she tells me this (I
will) and I think I have the upper hand in this case since I’m driving her to
meet this young man at the movies. It
was very similar to when I first earned my driver’s license. My brother Dave or sister Eileen (Shea was
too young) would ask for a drive to their friends. I don’t usually do these tasks for free and I
would charge them, besides gas was a buck back then and I had to pay for
insurance and repairs and they’d protest to a get me to see their side; they
were poor and please…their pleads didn’t work.
No cash meant - no ride. I am not
as cruel to Emma Tess since Ali said we need to be careful and not to take
advantage of her. Don’t ask too
much. But today was different. I took down the Christmas decorations and the
lights from outside, perilously dangling over the gutter and pulling off the
little plastic snaps. The worst was
gazing up at the passing clouds and feeling dizzy since I had to get up the
ladder up to the second story and lean it against the chimney since the genius
that I am secured a plastic Santa who’d light up from way up… there. It looked great. But it had to come down. I was half way up the ladder when I felt the
bottom slip out. I called out…Shit! Shit! and
hopped off the thing. It was close.
Imagine the call to Ali…Ma? Dad
fell off the roof and he can’t get up…he said he needs help. I pulled Santa down, the bungee cord popped
and flew off the roof and the empty vessel of the red and white great man
bounced and slid off the roof as if he was sliding on ice. Bam!
Hope he lights up next year. My Emma
Tess is at the movies - on a date. I
wanted to make a joke with her. If he
bought the ticket, it means you need to kiss him, but don’t put out too much or
he won’t ask you out again. I know
Amanda would laugh. My Mo Cheeks is back
in Boston and the air is warmer up there, and she’s in a new dorm room and
there are the new courses and new opportunities. I am so proud of the woman she is
becoming. I can’t tell you what an
amazing influence she has on her younger siblings, something I shirked from or
if there was a chance - would ask to be paid…
Thank you for reading this
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