Sunday, April 10, 2016

Illumination

“Mam, that yeller paint might be a bit bright.” 

Lillian Walt rises a few inches taller within her thin frame.” It will be fine.” She tells the painter before turning on her heels to meet the contractor in the new home.

“Would you and your husband like a light installed on the electric pole outside? They really don’t cost that much to power.”

“I would love one. Except. my husband wants it nice and dark  at night. He plans to sit on the porch and look at lightning bugs, study the stars.”

“I can see that.”

“Frankly, I can’t. Living in the city, you can see when you wake in the middle of the night.  I’m spooked about no light.”

“You’ll be enjoying your new home soon. Are you sure about that yellow paint?”

“I always have a yellow kitchen. . My kitchen is that same color at home. That’s my son driving in, don’t let me keep you.”

Weeks later, the movers pull out of the driveway. Lillian sits on the edge of a recliner.

“I need a shower, do you know which box has soap?”

Joe Walt shrugs. “That paint in the kitchen is bright.”

“I like it bright. If you remember correctly, that is the color of the kitchen at our house.”

“Well it is the color now.” Joe walks off smiling.

“Soap, I said soap. Where’s soap?”

“It’s getting dark outside, too late to run by a store. Let’s open boxes till we find some.”

“Viola, dishwashing liquid”

“That will do.”

After showering, Lillian made the bed and lay down. Pookie hops on the bed and does his little night night growl.

Joe is walking through the house turning off lights. It gets darker and darker. A bright glow comes through the bedroom window.

Somebody’s out there Joe.


Joe lies next to her. “Pookies not barking. Moon light is bright."

21 comments:

  1. I believe her that something is out there.......And moonlight won't be that bright unless it is a full moon and their window is facing where the moon is shining through. We lived in a home owner's association for a year before we moved down here to Phoenix. They wouldn't let you have lights on at night (unless it was one of their approved ones) because they didn't want light taking away from people being able to see the stars. Having grown up in Southern California and lived there most of my life, it is always encouraged to keep lights on to detract crime from being done. I was always uncomfortable there for that year with how dark it was at night. Our bedroom did face east and we did have bright light of full moon, otherwise it was just DARK. I was never so glad to move out of there :)

    betty

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    1. It is what you get used to. I had a roommate who hated the sound of jets of a nearby airport. It never bothered me. I grew up maybe two miles from an Air Force Base and flightline.

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  2. Forgot to say, we didn't know that rule about no lights at night when we went to rent the house; we found that out afterwards when we got a copy of the rules. It wasn't our first choice of a rental but we had a dog at the time and it was one of only a handful of houses that took dogs. Irony is, we signed the lease and a week later had to put our precious corgi to sleep because his cancer came back with a vengeance. We knew within a month we weren't going to stay there after our lease was up so we didn't even unpack 60% of our stuff.

    betty

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    1. That was unkind to not give the rules before having the lease signed. That is how it is sometimes. That is terrible your little guy became sick. I purchased a house early in life because I am an animal person. I always felt peeved that so many places would not allow an animal. Me and my animal were cleaner than many other people. When I moved out of places, the stained bathtub would be white again from my periodic cleaning with bleach.

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  3. I cant stop thinking.. was there somebody outside or not?? I wonder....
    Enjoyed your post. Stopping by via the AtoZ list.
    Have a great day :)
    @yenforblue from
    Spice of Life!

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    1. I wrote Pookie in for him to not bark. There was no one there. People are always surprised how bright moonlight is in the country. I turn all my lights out at night. I figure, I know where everything is and the intruder does not.

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  4. Time to get the shotgun and pull up a chair and wait for it.

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    1. The first time I had moonlight to shine through a window, I was spooked. Then I liked the idea.

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  5. i always love looking at sky at night and always find there a question mark made up of stars as our creator is asking us to think about this huge perfect and constant system of universe and i always wonder whenever i look at the sky at night laying on my bed in my front yard feeling the cool breeze on my face ,

    liked your writing dear very nice ,
    have a wonderful weekend ahead

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    1. Thank you for the compliment Baili. I love looking at the sky. I still pick out the constellations.

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  6. Bet they haven't seen moonlight in a while.

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    1. My first moonlight person! I thought there would be more.

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  7. Replies
    1. That is my sister. She hates that I turn all the lights off outside.

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  8. Time to arm up and wait for what could be out there.

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    1. Or start rhyming like crazy about moon, moonlight.

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  9. I hope this isn't a duplicate comment but... If the dog wasn't barking, I don't think anyone was outside! Hope she likes the yellow kitchen! Enjoyed your post :)

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  10. It's night, I'm inside, you're outside. Do what's best for you and keep moving along buster or whatever you are. Tell that to myself to be ready just in case. Good night.

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  11. So often you remind me of a quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald : "Draw your chair up close to the edge of the precipice and I'll tell you a story" Well done, Ann! The stars - as well as the moon - are always brighter in the country. I thought things were right as rain, even Joe being oblivious ;-)
    Oddly enough, I'm having to repaint a yellow kitchen just now - brown mustard yellow! yuck.

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