Anticlimax Eclipse
It didn’t change me one bit, just made my neck ache
We were never in the path of a total solar eclipse, twenty miles to the south. We were left with a skinny sliver, enough to keep everything from fading to dark.
Our son calls, “I have glasses, come over and we’ll have an eclipse party.”
He omitted to mention the party would be dry. Camden, three years old, was tempted to look up without his glasses, so we tied a hood over his head. We explained how the sun gives way to a passing moon, and he understood. He stood with the hood over his head for fifty minutes. Brilliant.
When he took his hood off, he could hardly see for five minutes before he clued himself in that someone had stolen his peanut butter clouds. I did what I always do: I looked at the dog and told him that was a naughty thing to do. At that point, Camden picked up a stick and thwacked the dog. I don’t like their dog anyway.
The neighbors came by as if we were having a street party. Americans are weird in this way. The old girl was carrying one of those silly plastic six-inch square flags that don’t wave or flutter. Made me think we were about to witness Armageddon.
“There’s no booze, I’m afraid,” but was interrupted by a jitterbug. The old guy had a momentary panic and wondered what to do next. “Wow, I said, not meaning to offend, what a way to go, a smidge of a full eclipse.”
He took her home to bed.
Look, the good thing is that no one was hungover when it was all done.
This is the kind of party I resent my son inviting me. I said there’s another eclipse in a few hours, which will last for hours.
So, the eclipse came and went, leaving me with just one word about its effect.
Sober.
The songwriter reads the Sightseer
Karen Schwartz, Nancy Oglesby, Katie Michaelson, Bernie Pullen, Michelle Jimerson Morris, Amy, Julia A. Keirns, Tina, Pat Romito LaPointe, Brandon Ellrich, Misty Rae, Karen Hoffman, Susie Winfield, Vincent Pisano, Marlene Samuels, Ray Day, Randy Pulley, Michael Rhodes, Lu Skerdoo, Pluto Wolnosci 🟣, Paula Shablo, Bruce Coulter, Ellen Baker, Kelley Murphy, Leigh-Anne Dennison, Patricia Timmermans, Keeley Schroder, James Michael Wilkinson, Whye Waite, John Hansen, Trudy Van Buskirk, | Dixie Dodd | The Doctor — Joanie Adams| Adda Maria | Dennett | Men.21times@gmail.com | Nancy Santos | Jenny Blue | Jack Herlocker | Love | Barbara J. Martin | Audrey Clifford | Maria Rattray | Jerry Dwyer | Denise Shelton | Trisha Faye | StorySculptress | Deborah Joyce Goodwin (Red:The-Lady In Blue) | Kelly Corinne Elliott | Emma Vincent | izzibella Beau | Karen Grant | Shay Bishop | RosenberryRJ
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