THERE'S A BIG OLE ROUND BALL OF PEOPLE OUT THERE, she said

Me: I'm thinking of taking a day off tomorrow.

The sky rips open and a light beams through . . .

GMR: Huh? . . . did you say . . . *trails off ... knows his wife has said this before*

Me: I have a craving for a Panini or some kind of good sandwich, and ice cream - or gelato!

GMR: I could prepare those for you! And I could go to the store and get ice cream! *he starts to make a list--GMR makes lists -- Kat does not make lists*

No no GMR, food on the street, food in restaurants or diners or little holes in the wall; food that comes from people we don't know, food that is ordered and served, where little tickets are handed out at the end and you pull out cash or credit cards to pay for it! - OUT THERE kind of food!

Me: Yes, yes you could make a list and check it twice . . . Orrrrrrrr . . . we could actually GO OUTSIDE!

Gasp!

GMR: You want to. . . ? You want to go outside . . . !

ME . . . . Go out in the world out there . . . you know, that big huge teeming round ball of LIFE! We could walk down mainstreet Waynesville, or go to Asheville, or both! We could eat out and then get ice cream! People are out there! Real Live People! What am I missing *kat looks out of the window* - what's out there? What's going on? Oh! oh! I'll leave all this sitting here-my laptop, my stories, my characters, my deadlines! SOMEWHERRRRRE OVER THE RAINBOW!...LA LA LAAAAA!

Clouds are parting, sun is shining, rainbows are somewhere . . . and somewhere over them is . . .

GMR: *blinks* . . . You want to do that! .... ? ....*he's still not sure it's going to happen*


Me: Yes! I'm realizing how much of a work-aholic I am! I never thought I was before, because every job I've ever had I H A T E D! Detested. Bored out of my mind. I've always been a hard worker, but never a Work-A-Holic! Wow! Huhn. So this is what a workaholic does--they never take a danged day off! They never stop working. They never stop THINKING ABOUT WORK....on and on and on and on it goes! *pant pant pant* I'm STRETCHED THIN! . . . *pant*


GMR: We could do *this and that and whatever else he says or maybe he didn't say anything and it's only my mind going we could do this and that I can't remember or else I am not really sure since my brain is weird* He puts away his list. But he is making lists in his head.

Me: Yes, I think I'm a little tired, need a day to do nuffin! I've been reading signs wrong you know.


GMR: Huhn?


Me: In front of that church we walk by at Lake J, I saw "Apartheid" and the word was really "Ampitheater" and driving down Soco Road, at the florist shop, I saw "Burgers" when the sign read "Flowers" and stuff like that - a lot...it's been happening A Lot!


GMR: *doesn't answer because he never knows how to answer stuff about my strange black hole weird brain besides, he's still making lists in his head*

ME: So...yeah...a day off. A good sandwich, maybe some fries! Some ice cream or gelato! Yeah. A day off! A day off . . . imagine that.


GMR & KAT walking off into the sunrise, sunset on A Day Off to see that ROUND BALL OF PEOPLE OUT THERE -real live people!. . . *cue music* . . .

BUT WAIT . . . who is that little shadowed figure to the left, above them! Oh dear . . . is it one of Kat's characters come to follow her? Can she really really take a day off? Can she? Oh oh can she....

(photos are my own photograhs - sky photos taken from airplane-shadows at oregon beach)