The Orange [3]
* Inspired by Vashti
"I want you to do this with me for one month. One month. Write 10 observations a week and by the end of four weeks, you will have an answer. Because when someone writes about the rustic gutter and the water pouring through it onto the muddy grass, the real pours into the room. And it's thrilling. We're all enlivened by it. We don't have to find more than the rustic gutter and the muddy grass and the pouring cold water."
- Marie Howe
27.11.24 - The sound of Benny's nails hitting the floor.
26.11.24 - 'HARD LUCK'. A 'penguin with a frog's hat' keychain across a car's windshield. Confessions. Silent Blood Center - keyboard noises and cool AC.
24.11.24 - A rusted razor. Slight pang at my left finger pads. H. Eccles's Violin Sonata.
22.11.24 - The yellow pages of my first Bible. Neck pain. Green nails. A baby's cry.
21.11.24 - In the kitchen at night, the sound of chatter from a restaurant on our street.
18.11.24 - In the kitchen at night, the sound of a clock ticking.
14.11.24 - My phone's screen protector is chipping at the edges.
11.11.24 - My bag smells like rotten banana.
10.11.24 - A black vulture in the middle of the bike path that I thought was a big chicken.
09.11.24 - The incense coming from the thurible curling in the air. A comforting smell. White roses blooming.
07.11.24 - 'The Birth of Venus' printed on a tote bag with 'Botticelli' written under the painting.
05.11.24 - The stinging smell of onions.
29.10.24 - While walking to the school, a white flower on the sidewalk. Construction workers on top of a bad restaurant's roof. The word 'dovale' carved on the right key to the back door.
24.10.24 - A bug clinging to the outside of the car window.
20.10.24 - A rooster crowing at dawn.
10.10.24 - The smell of eucalyptus inside the elevator this morning.
07.10.24 - A bird chirping at the window of the living room.
20.09.24 - A seven of clubs card on the floor of the bathroom stall.
29.09.24 - In the way to church, a tree with leaves the color of live copper.
27.09.24 - A bright sky the color of light.
26.09.24 - Mom blinks one eye and then the other, again and again. I start doing it back and we cackle at our silliness.
"Not everyone can do that, you know?" she says smugly while smilling from her place in front of me. We are both sitting on top of my matress, and its already late. I have showered and put on my pajamas, ready to sleep when she entered my room, turning the the star shaped light on and hurting my eyes.
"I am blind!" I complained to her, after hiding my face behind one of my plushies - the pink bunnie, Pirata, "Why do you always turn on the light when you see that I am lying down and the room is dark? You do it everytime."
Mom came to give me makeup she purchased for me.
"If someone can't do that, they have a problem." I reply after we both stop blinking madly. "They would be abnormal."
She thinks for a moment before responding, "Well," she starts, "We are the most normal family in the world, - like the Adam's Family!" Mom starts to sing the intro song of the Adam's Family show while making the beat with her fingers on the bed but, instead, she ends up with Pink Panther's jingle. "Oh, wait. I got it wrong."
"Adam's Family?!" I exclaim and snort out loud, "Do you even know what you are talking about?"
"Of course!"
"But they are so weird, the opposite of what you just said! They even have a pet hand - The Thing."
"What?! A hand? Stop talking about it!" she was disgusted and walked out of my room while I giggled at her back.
25.04.24 - A red strand of hair on the shower floor.
24.04.24 - I saw a dead pigeon on my way to the beach today. They have also cut down the tree with the pretty pink flowers.
23.04.24 - The light on my bedroom is green as it comes from the window.
