I guess that I had owned the lamp for a couple years. I had seen it pictured in a book, purple frosted glass and lovebirds, figured it was one of those Consolidated or Phoenix Lalique copies of the 1930's. Very nice and feminine, I never did display it right or put the correct shade on it.
About two months ago I saw that Wanda, the glass lady from Arizona, had the red version in her booth and it was marked Lalique. Glass looked pretty much identical. I made a mental footnote to myself, finally unscrewing the thing a few weeks ago but not finding a mark of either or any kind.
It has been a maelstrom in here and I have been struggling to find a way out of my self created chaos. Moving a painting yesterday, my right toe caught a loop in the cord and sent the expensive glass vase hurtling through the air and crashing to the floor in many fat, sharp pieces. I resisted the urge to look for a mark in the shards.
As if this wasn't enough, today brought the final indignity, as I grabbed the trashcan with said bits of now worthless frosted glass, a small piece reached out and bit my thumb, not one of those gentle nibbles where the blood takes seconds to rise to the level of skin, but the instant gush that sent me quickly to the faucet and a generous wrap of paper towels. Avenging some forgotten sin, the lamp replied that revenge was surely a dish best served cold. Nursed a tyrosine post thanksgiving headache all night as well, one of those days maybe I should have stayed in bed.
*
The morning was a parade of friends, associates and remoras, and all of my plans for the day lay quickly in the dust by midmorning. I tried to vacuum but sucked up a screw or two and burned out the belt and maybe motor. Whole place has a dreadful stench.
There were several tasks that rose to the level of triage. My first task was to pay the poor lady with husband and brother both wracked by dementia. I had taken some consignments from her and sold them this weekend. It was her birthday today and the pressure of life has lain hard on her of late. She needed cheering up.
I came through at the perfect time. When I left she gave me a small locket as a gift. I told her to save it and give it to somebody she loves and she said, I just did. I said that the sky doesn't have to be always falling and her husband rose out of his dementia and laughed with us, perfectly lucid for one perfect moment. In the final analysis people sometimes make it worth the effort.
*
After M I took my first ride over to J's new pad, a granny flat located high on a hill. J is the friend who blacked out on his motorcycle and hit the wall. His wife evidently saw the writing on the wall, literally, and split while he was in the hospital. Not her fault, he was always hurting something, wouldn't go to church, she's been planning on leaving anyway. Of course I never judge.
Another buddy of mine had a house and a marriage in a tony beach community of San Diego for many years. Wife found a new Daddy Warbucks, whose own wife had sclerosis and moved into the guest house and filed for divorce. Friend found a wonderful girl who moved in with him. Wife is now getting weird, woman in her space, strangled by her own perfidy. I told my pal that the best revenge is having her see a woman treat him the way he deserved to be treated all these years, respectfully, right in front of her. Final icing on the cake. Old sugar daddy's wife has a mysterious recovery and girlfriend is jettisoned into the wilderness herself. Karma is a beautiful thing indeed.
Anyway I visited my friend today who was in the accident, almost losing his leg, sporting all these screws and plates on his lower extremity now. As I moved a shade too quickly for the dog's liking in the living room, I felt the small clamp like pincers bite down on the top and bottom of my left foot. The kind of day that I should have just stayed in bed. I forgot how hard little dogs bite. Pain keeps my mind off my thumb.
*
Cops arrested the new bartender at MaGee's Tavern the other day, stole a thousand dollars worth of a newlywed's gift cards from the office. Caught her on video buying paint on Home Depot. Why do we have such a stupid class of criminals these days?
*
New owners are going to give Le Bistro a go. I have been invited to a soft opening but have been told to be on my best behavior. I asked the host to put me next to a conservative evangelical. Just to be sure that we had something to talk about.
1 comment:
Robert this post was so good I read it to my wife while we both were laughing out loud.
Splash!
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