12/02/21. like no leaf that ever was.
Dear reader,
It was dark when I awoke today. For the first time, it felt like winter. Not the
anticipation of winter, the thrill of first snows and gift-giving and storytelling around the fire, but the
actuality of winter. Darkness, ice, and the silence of the snow-muffled streets.
Iām not sure how it makes me feel. Sad isnāt the right word. I know that this is a necessary part of life, but I will miss the sun.
Portia dropped in today. And when I say dropped in, I mean ālingered awkwardly in the doorway the entire time, occasionally gifting me sporting equipmentā. I think it was the state of my home. Iāve been spending so much time landscaping and working at the resort that my home has turned intoā¦ a shambles, shall we say. And Portia, wellā¦ that girl wouldnāt be caught dead in anything less than designer, so Iām
pretty sure the crumbs and roaches and random holiday items werenāt doing it for her.
Thing is, I think sheās really cool and donāt want her to have this impression of me. I want to do pilates and read art textbooks with her or whatever it is she spends her time doing. Iāll do better next time, I swear. Give me another chance!
[ Portia counts down the seconds until itās socially acceptable to leave. ]
Housekeeping: I popped Imperial K.K., the record Tammi gave me yesterday when she
forced invited me over to her house, into my collection, and was surprised to find that I didnāt have it already! The first lines ascend like an acoustic curtain that
shrieks Tammi.
[ Or, better yet, remind me of Tammiās shrieking. ]
Iāve known her for over a year, and she only just gave me her photograph (pictured, since I have nowhere to put it currently). Iām getting the feeling that sheās in a nostalgic mood. And, uh, not to be weird or anything, but when she went to the bathroom for the third time yesterday, I saw her laptop open (I wasnāt snooping, I swear!) to a Zillow search for cities on the mainland.
Who knows when itāll happen? Should I bring it up to her? I donāt want her to go, but I also want her to, yāknow, be successful and follow her dreams and all of that jazz. Sigh. Iām going to miss that kid. Okay, Iāll stop being dramatic. She still lives here!
I ran into Merengue at the roundabout, and when she
didnāt immediately launch into a speech about the book sheās currently reading (Chicken Soup for the Odd-Toed Ungulateās Soul, if youāre wondering), I was extremely suspicious. I eventually wheedled it out of her.
Of course I said yes. I couldnāt even imagine the courage it must have taken for that soft soul to decide to leave the comfort of home. She cried when I moved her house leftward by two spaces last week, for peteās sake. But I had one last gift for her.
[ I wasnāt prepared for this! ]
Now I'll have a bit of her around forever. Wait, that sounds creepy.
Merengue confided in me, long ago, that her dream is to open a pĆ¢tisserie in Paris. The archipelago aināt exactly Paris, but Iād like to think I did my darlinā proud.
[ Too much pink? Impossible. Introducing Sweethorn CafƩ!]
Thatās about it. A happy day in a dark season. I miss my friends even though theyāre all around me. Tell me, reader, what should I do about it?
Your faithful Editor-in-Chief,
Zissou
P. S. Poem of the Day: Approach of Winter, William Carlos Williams
https://poets.org/poem/approach-winter