he called his parents for the 4th
they were sitting outdoors in the
tree-shaded lower drive enjoying the summer heat waft by a cool Lake Michigan
breeze
he imagined they sat in their
forestgreen vinylstrapped aluminum lawn chairs which most people who live outside
the Midwest havent fucking a clue how refreshing those chairs are
Its eightythree degrees his
father said Zero humidity
Crazy Dad No humidity
Sixtyseven here this morning
Sixtyseven! You got to be kiddin me
No Sixtyseven
If you remember when we spoke Sunday before I went into work that evening
I said it was seventyseven to yourwha
eightyfour
Yes Eightyfour
Yeah Imagine that
Youre running hotter in Illinois than me on the Central Coast
Nuts huh
Yes
Unlike anything weve seen in
our lifetimes Food for thought
when his mother took the
telephone to join in the pleasantries of their conversation pepper it with her own
tack reiteratinghe interruptedthings shed already mentioned You told me if
you were repeating yourself I should say so
Yes however I didnt expect youd interrupt me so
abruptly
Maw
when you have the floor its tough to get you off your feet so I gotta yank real
hard
Yeswell theres that
Yes there is
suddenly she burst out with
a laughreminded of something and to his father saying Leave it alone If you keep
checking to see if its stopped bleeding youll only cause it to bleed more Leave it BE
he said into the receiver Leave what be
to bring her back into their conversationshed prattle on with his father nearly forgetting she was already conversing
Ohyes she laughed some more Your father fell over backwards in the
garden this morning
your father always felt like an
accusation to himhe didnt marry himYour husband fell over backwards in the
garden
What
Dad
Yes Your father
it always had to go that way
How did my father fall
she laughed again to his father
Bob what did you say you tripped
over again and as he said her laughter overrode
his voice he didnt hear she didnt hear she laughed too hard
Again she asked then to him she said Its a lulu
A lulu
What he fell over huh Yes Bob
Yes Thats it Your father fell over a podgola
A wha
Podgola Pod – go – la
Yes thats how he pronounced it
Whaddahells a podgola
his mother was too busy laughing into
the receiver to answer
she left him to discern a podgola Soyour husband fell over the little monkey he keeps to help him with the gardencloser to the groundadept feet and handscute lil organgrinders captin cup hanging off the mini toolbelt Dad fashioned for it
that put her over the moon
between fits of laughter breaths
to recover he barely overheard his father Your laughing at meYoure both
laughing at me
into her trippling laughter Whas a podgola
through her laughterjoyous tears she
sputtered Think my pagoda
she had several small tiered pagodas in the yard
Whywoud a pagodawhich makes
sensethough makes me miss the little monkey all the more whywoud a pagoda be in
the garden
Woowoowoo woo It
marks a corner of the garden plot woo
So he knew it was there It didnt sneak
up and trip him
she began howling again
as he waited on her he really missed
the little garden monkey working low where itdbe more difficult for his father
to reachHer husband
1034, Twosday,
Fourth of July!(closest thing he was going to get to fireworks in the
Wild, Wild West)
Willie West I’m Still a Man (God Have Mercy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3eKB8BkD7M
The Escape Club Wild, Wild West https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6gRx_aV2zA
