I don’t know what exactly it was this morning that inspired me to pull down that glass dish. The light hit it in a way that it shined in my peripheral vision and I just couldn’t ignore it or maybe some subconscious trigger pulled me in its direction but I am happy that it did.
It was so nice and sunny this morning that I couldn’t pass up taking Lilly for a walk. It was colder than it looked outside, so we had to come back in for jackets before we ventured too far. Lilly looks great in her hooded sweater. I was pondering how I ended up with a clothes wearing dog, I never liked Barbies or dressing dolls much as a kid. Then as I swung my own jacket around myself, I noticed the last pearl’s glass dish up on the shelf. Since I had pockets in this jacket, I grabbed the pearl and placed it gently in the right one.
We were off, Lilly loves to run and I go between fast walking and jogging to keep up with her. For such a tiny dog, she has great stamina. We’d walked about a mile and a quarter when she smelled a restaurant and started dragging me toward the business part of town. There are some fun store fronts to peruse, so I let her.
I can’t believe how much Christmas stuff is already out and so many black Friday ads cover all possible signage. I focused on how peaceful it was today and tried to pull Lilly back toward the residential part of the neighborhood. She didn’t want to go away from the smell of food so I actually had to pick her up and carry her across the street. When she realized there was no possibility of getting closer to the food, she decided to walk next to me again.
It must have rained a little last night because there were puddles here and there. One in particular caught my eye, it was reflecting pinks and golds even though the sky was blue with white puffs of clouds. I glanced around looking for the source of the beautiful colors but I didn’t locate it. I looked back into the puddle as we approached it, the pink and gold faded into the blue of the sky with a yellow light glancing off of it from a nearby street lamp catching the light of the sun.
Lilly smelled all the dogs who’ve stopped at the street lamp before her, so I paused curious in front of the puddle. As I stared into it, a large dark figure entered the reflection behind me. On impulse, I crushed the pearl in my pocket as I swung around. An angry looking man was frozen too close to me. I almost hit him when I turned. He held a knife in one hand and the shoes he wore looked new in comparison to the rest of his tattered garb.
I yanked the knife from his hand with a little effort and quickly patted him down for any more weapons. Then I took the Lilly doll in my arms and ran a block before I had an idea.
Lilly would’ve been extremely excited to be going toward the drive thru of the restaurant if she hadn’t been frozen in time. There was a bag of food hanging out of the window along with a drink as I had interrupted the exchange that must happen a million times a day here. I grabbed the items from the restaurant worker and dashed back to the man. I placed the cup in the knife hand and the bag in the other. Then I ran as far as I could around a few corners where the man or anyone else in the vicinity could not find me.
The car stopped in the street began moving again at the 30 miles per hour it had been moving at and Lilly’s little frame stirred in my arms until I let her down. I felt a little sad that the last pearl was gone. I wouldn’t be able to indulge in any of the self-serving fantasies I’d toyed with in this silly mind of mine. Then I felt relief, who knows what would have happened. I didn’t have any money on me. I just hope he likes whatever was in the bag. I took his knife out of my pocket and threw it in a nearby trash can, making sure to bury it so it couldn’t be found again.
Hello Strange World 