The Cemetery and the Witchy Woman ~ BFF 134 & 135

 

Maggie Mae and Molly crouched in the bushes, shrinking back a little each time the woman spun around in their direction. With a strange mixture of bewilderment, fascination and fear, they could not remove their eyes from the sight dancing around in the graveyard right before their very eyes.

 

Completely mesmerized, Molly’s mind flashed back to the point in time when she first heard about the ghost in the graveyard. A recent transplant from Brooklyn, their family enjoying the solitude of country life, the last thing Molly expected was drama.

 

Their new house was just about a quarter of a mile from a small country church and parsonage. “Finest country living at its best” declared their father upon their arrival, followed by an exaggerated inhalation of clean, crisp country air. “It doesn’t get any better than this, kids.” Though not completely enthused, Maggie Mae and Molly were open to possibilities. At 10 and 11 years of age, neither of the children had an opinion one way or the other about country living. They were simply happy to be living far, far away from the 88^th Street Bully.

 

Not long after the move, the children made the acquaintance of 12 year old Ned, who lived down the road in the opposite direction from the church. It was Ned who alerted them to local legend and the strange sights in the church graveyard. According to Ned, a ghost appeared with each full moon. The ghost was thought to be the wife of a town councilman who was killed while drinking and driving. She was known to dance like she was possessed when drunk. The apparition was visible from shortly before Midnight and appeared to be dancing among the headstones for no more than an hour. When asked for more detail, Ned made it clear that there was no way he would go near the graveyard at night. And so, it was left up to the sisters to satisfy their curiosity on their own.

 

Now, sitting all scrunched up in the bushes, Maggie Mae and Molly did indeed satisfy their curiosity. Eyes bulging, taking in each movement of the “ghost”, both allowed the scene to register every little motion in their mind so that they would not miss a single detail when relaying their discovery to Ned. The sisters knew that the truth was scarier than fiction…

 

Ned was indeed shocked to hear who was in the cemetery and why. At the next full moon, all three children crouched in the bushes to watch their very own Sunday school teacher, completely naked, chanting, stepping and whirling while jumping and spinning around the headstones in what looked like a frenzied dance ritual. Arms stretched as if reaching for the moon, she was completely oblivious to the young audience. Her golden hair and pale white skin did, indeed, look like a ghost from a distance, but now they all knew that she was really a witch!

 

Gosh! Everyone in town was soooo relieved to learn there were no ghosts in the graveyard…

 

 

By Darlene Cirinna

Copyrighted October 30, 2011

All rights reserved.  Do not reproduce without permission of author.  Photos found in Google Images.

Lil Lulu the Homeowner~GBE2~#23

Hi… My name is Lil Lulu. This is my story.

I showed up in my Mommy’s garage when I was just a tiny kitten. My Mommy thinks one of the big cats stole me and brought me home with him. WHAT-EVAH… I’m here and that’s what is important. At first, I just laid around looking cute. That made Daddy love me enough to let Mommy keep me.  

                                           

Sometimes I was mischievous. My Mommy tried to keep me in line, but, clearly, I was born to rule…





I practiced on the parakeets. I studied them.












And studied them some more.






















Then, you can betcha that I laid down the law….















I also guard the house. This is me watching for frontal attacks.


















And attacks from the rear of the house…

















You can see from the front porch that I am diligent in my guard duties…

















SHUT UP!!! I WAS NOT SLEEPING!  SHEESH!








I also keep order in the yard. I search out predators to make sure everything is safe.




I’m particularly good at surveillance.
















It was because of my stellar reconnaissance skills that I was able to locate this prehistoric predator….  Then Mommy took me in the house…. Sheesh…I never get to slay dragons…
Most of the time, I have to amuse myself in the house. I don’t know why Mommy gets so upset when I scratch the doors.



Daddy thinks it’s funny, then Mommy has words. She put me in the Florida room when I messed up the French doors. I think you can hardly see the scratches. Anyway, Daddy has re-stained and fixed them nicely since that day.




Another thing I do for Mommy and Daddy is to warm their bed in the winter.





Another job that is really hard, but necessary around here is for me to keep the blue bear out of trouble. He has a big mouth.








I just show him who is the real boss around here…







Whadda ya mean I don’t own this house? I’ll show you who is boss…









I do all this for peanuts… I mean, just a few kitty treats.   My treats taste best while lounging around on Mommy’s bed.



Any more questions about who owns this house and the two human beings I take care of?




Good! Now, please excuse me, duty calls…. I feel like smacking a dog…

Whew!!!  This blogging is serious bizness!!!  Now I need a nap…



Ownership…iz doin’ it rite…

I Play With My Food…

 

My husband wanted me to make chicken salad so he could have sandwiches on the weekend.  While he was eating sandwiches, I was enjoying a salad…

On a bed of spinach, I arranged a tomato sliced into spikes, a scoop of chicken salad and scattered some onion…   It looked pretty good, but I just couldn’t help myself…  I just HAVE TO PLAY WITH MY FOOD…

Paprika!  Yes!   It was yummy….

A SAFE HAVEN

The GBE2 topic this week is “SAFE HAVEN”.  Immediately, I thought about how my husband and I call our home “Our Sanctuary” where we are safe from the world. Then I thought about the following story.  I wrote this story close to 2 years ago.  When reading, please be reminded that this story is FICTION.  I hope you don’t mind a re-post. 

 

It was the one thing he desired the most…  His desire wasn’t for health, wealth or love.  It was…  Well…just let me tell you the story…

The little boy quietly played with beer coasters on the floor behind the bar.  While he played, he appeared to be deep in his world of imagination.  He seemed oblivious to the fact that his Mother was scoring a hit in the backroom of the lounge.  The little boy, Donnie, was smart and knew a little too much for such a young child.  He knew what his Mother was doing…  When she comes back, she will laugh too loud and act stupid…in his humble opinion.

As Donnie played with the coasters, he was really worrying about where he would sleep that night.  He hoped they would not have to sleep in the car again, but then again, he didn’t want to sleep at Mrs. Wright’s house again either, but it was better than the car.  Mrs. Wright said that children should be seen and not heard.  Donnie tried so hard to be a good little boy for Mrs. Wright, but he didn’t think he would be good enough.  It seems like just breathing was an infraction in Mrs. Wright’s house. 

He allowed other scenario’s to enter into his imaginary world.  He really didn’t mind sleeping in the car when his Mom was there with him, but a lot of the time he was alone in the car while his Mom was in a bar or a motel room.  It was scary for him to be alone in the car because usually there were drunk or high people walking by or bumping up against the car or, worst of all, trying to get into the car.  But…no one ever called for someone to help him and he didn’t know how to help himself. 

His Dad lived in another part of town.  His Dad was just a plain old alcoholic.  His Dad wanted to take Donnie home to live with him, but he was married to a drunk lady ~ much like Mrs. Wright.  And his step-mother made him eat oatmeal ~ even when she knew it made him throw up.  It seemed there was no real place for Donnie and nobody really cared. 

He also worried about when and who his Mother would live with again.  The nice men didn’t want her for long and the bad men didn’t want her for much longer.  Sometimes the bad men beat him.  His Mother never stopped them.  He would rather sleep in a car in the parking lot of a bar than for his Mother to move in with just one more man…

Donnie, contrary to most five year old boys, learned to play quietly and become invisible to adults.  He tried to not only NOT be heard, but NOT to be seen either.  It would be the ability to be invisible that would get him through life. 

Another thing about Donnie was that his early life prepared him to play by the rules because if not playing by the rules, bad things happened.  So…Donnie grew up and went into the military because that is what good boys did.  The military would become both mother and father to him and finish the job of raising him…so to speak.  In the military, he was invisible.  When his time came to an end, he was discharged to go home to his invisible life.  Soon, he had the first of a series of invisible jobs.  He played by all the rules and began to save for the one thing he desired.  While other young men were racing around in sporty cars, Donnie drove a modest car ~ a sensible car ~ like him.  He married once, twice, three times.  Lacking emotions in his invisible world, he could not sustain a relationship long enough to have his own home.  Another marriage and a divorce returned him to his solitary world until many years later, when he gave marriage just one more chance.  This marriage was to a lady who was tenacious as a bulldog.  She could see through the pain that made him vulnerable.  She poked and prodded into the tender areas of his memory, into the cobwebs of his mind and the hard spots in his heart.  She knew there was a good man in there, but his defenses were many.  It was a daunting task, but she knew there was someone wonderful under the layers of scars.

Again, many more years passed.  She never forsook him.  Donnie grew strong in emotions, faith and love.  The man God intended him to be emerged from the wreckage…  He now has the one thing he desired ~ his own home ~ never to sleep in a car again…  And love fills his home to overflowing because when he allowed someone into his invisible world, he broke out of his lonely, invisible prison.

Home is his safe haven…

 

*This is pure fiction.  Any resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental.

Darlene Cirinna

©1/17/10

All rights reserved.  Do not

use without permission.

A MOMENT OF CLARITY ~ GBE 21

 

 

This is a true story and it happened just short hours ago. I don’t remember where I was going or why. I remember that I was driving along when I suddenly felt very hungry. I saw a Chinese restaurant. Yum…I can eat Chinese food every day! So, I drove around to the back and parked.

As I entered the restaurant, I was pleased to see they didn’t appear to be very busy, so I chose a booth at the back of the restaurant because I have this stupid thing about not having my back to a room or a door. Duh…yeah…I know. I waited at a table for a server for what seemed like hours. I saw none. Yet I waited.

There was a young man at a table next to me. Soon, several friends joined him. There was room at his table for everyone, but his friends left him sitting alone at his table while they crowded into my booth. They scrunched me up against the wall while they jostled each other, laughing and taunting my protests. I tried to be polite, but my blunt personality finally broke through. I said “There must be 50 empty tables. Why are you crowding me? Will you PLEASE go sit somewhere else?” They laughed, jostled some more, then left me in peace.

Finally, a Chinese lady emerged from the kitchen. She came over to my booth to say it will be a while before I am served. She explains that the kitchen help is on strike and everyone else is in the kitchen preparing the food. I looked around and saw people eating. What’s up with that? I looked at my watch…it was only 20 minutes since I sat down. OK…so I realized I have been in a time warp…of sorts… It happens… But, I was so hungry that I asked her if I could have a bowl of soup while I waited. Thinking…”surely they have a pot of soup on the range”. Jeez….you would have thought I asked for the moon. She said “NO! UNION SAY NO FOOD. YOU LEAVE NOW! NO FOOD!”

WHAT????

Then, I was ticked off… I saw people eating! She was lying to me! I didn't ask why because ...WHY BOTHER? I had already lost my appetite.

In a huff, I started to gather my belongings to leave. Then things went from strange to bizarre…. I gathered and gathered my “stuff”. Funny… I didn’t remember bringing all of this stuff in. There were boxes of stuff, stacks of stuff and bags of stuff. I realized that I would just have to bring my truck to the front door to load all the stuff, but when I went out, I saw that someone built a swimming pool in the driveway that lead to the back parking lot while I was in the restaurant. How will I get my truck out? I called my nephew to help me. He walked around the other side of the restaurant and soon showed up at the front door with a rusted hunk of a pick-up truck. I told him that wasn’t my Trailblazer, but he said it was. Duh…what do I know? It was apparent that I was losing my mind anyway.

My nephew loaded my “stuff” in my truck while I paid. Why was I paying? I didn’t even get a glass of water. But, they gave me a check and I paid. Maybe I owed them for something that I forgot. While I was putting change in my wallet, I noticed that my driver’s license was missing. Did those boys get in my purse while they were hassling me? It was not where it belonged. It was then that I noticed my credit cards were all missing too. Sickness quickly spread from my brain to the pit of my stomach… I recalled how much trouble it was to deal with the loss of credit cards after my home was broken into several years ago. My mind screamed “NOOOOOOOOOO” while I frantically searched my purse. I like purses with many compartments, but it can be frustrating when looking for something. Finally, I located my drivers’ license, but no credit cards. Searching, searching…I did locate the credit cards in a pocket where they did not belong. I did inventory on credit cards…ok all there. Briefly, I wondered how they got there, but all were accounted for and I had bigger things to do. I moved on….

I checked back to my booth to make sure I got everything that I don’t remember bringing in. The booth was clear, but as I was leaving, I saw that someone had moved more of my “stuff” to two tables closer to the door. I was frustrated. People were watching and some were highly amused at my ever multiplying stuff. I was embarrassed, but I tackled the new mess of my “stuff”. The tables were full of stuff again, more on the table across the aisle, that threatened to topple, and also on the floor. I asked my nephew to help me get the rest of my “stuff”, secretly irritated that he didn’t get it the first time.

This new pile of stuff was old stuff from years ago…children’s toys, books and a bunch of other old things. Where did all this stuff come from? I don’t remember bringing it in the restaurant. We start looking at the stuff. My nephew reclaimed some of his childhood toys because, as he explains, they are collector items now… All I see is “STUFF”. A rather large heavy plastic bag gets my attention. It is clear plastic and I can see contents. More toys, but I see a tricycle. A rather large tricycle with metal wheels like back in late 18^th century or early 19^th century.
My nephew wants it. I don’t care…take it...  Take the whole bag.  Take it all! It’s JUST STUFF…  I DON'T WANT IT!!!

Frustrated…aggravated….tired…all I wanted to do was get in my truck that wasn’t my truck and go home…

Suddenly, I had an epiphany…I am in my bed ~ asleep… I can escape all this frustration by just opening my eyes… and turning on the light…  Because it is only a dream... 

Relief flooded my being.  I looked around at my bedroom. The dream exhausted me, but I dare not drift back into the shadows of sleep lest I dream of part 2. I am frustrated and do not want more of that dream…

Hmmm….coffee…Mmmmm....yeah…coffee…  I need coffee!

(HAHAHA...does anyone remember my coffee art blog last year?)

I think the author of Alice and Wonderland wrote the story from a dream…just sayin’… No rational, awake brain should be able to come up with this kind of bizarre fantasy…key word here being “should”… You psychiatric specialty types should have a ball analyzing me after reading this one….bwahahaha…

Have you ever been dreaming and suddenly realized that it is only a dream and all you have to do to escape the dream is to wake up? THAT is a moment of CLARITY!

By Darlene Cirinna

© March 22, 2010

All rights reserved. Do not reproduce

without permission.

Photos from Photobucket.

ONE DAY AT A TIME ~ BFF 130

12:07 PM and Annie is still in her pajamas. A niggling at the back of her mind reminds her that she must get showered and dressed. She expected a call from her Vet by noon. Now there is no call yet, she realizes the call will not come until after 2 PM, so no need to sit and stare at the phone for a while.

Annie’s mind flashes back to two nights ago when Blanca didn’t show up for supper with the other cats. Quickly searching the yard, she spotted her lying by a tree. But, she didn’t come when called. As she advanced across the yard, she thought “That darn cat!”

It’s hubby’s birthday, but both of them already forgot what day it is. Annie canceled an appointment earlier in the week because she inadvertently scheduled one on his birthday. So much for that… His birthday is disrupted by a cat emergency anyway.

Blanca has been at the vet’s office overnight. She had unexplained fever, lethargic and dehydration. Annie hopes that some fluids administered by IV and some antibiotics, along with a night in the veterinary hospital should fix her kitty right up again. She is such a sweetheart. Her little life is worth whatever it costs…truly…

So…off to the shower. The Vet should be calling soon. Annie hopes the news will be good. She contemplates her life for just a fraction of a moment. After retirement, it seems like she simply lives each day as circumstances dictate…just one day at a time. 

 

By Darlene Cirinna

© October 13, 2011

All rights reserved. Do not reproduce

without permission of author.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY ~ 10/12/11

BALANCE

 

I’m out of balance and I need a balanced life.
Sleep must always wait for me to reach exhaustion.
Awaking from sleep is a process for me.
Eating habits are out of balance too.
I eat when I’m not hungry!
Writing is out of balance.
Blogging derailed by Facebook.
Shouldn’t socialize first!!!
Get sleep!!!
Balanced!
 
Elizabeth Grace is guest writer on Writercize this week.  Link:   http://writercize.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-writercize-1-elizabeth-grace.html#comments  
This blog is for the Writercize challenge AND GBE2 Week #20 topic:  BALANCE


By Darlene Cirinna
© October 8, 2011
All rights reserved.  Do not reproduce
without permission.