Oh, I Think So

In the city where she lived, good street parking was terrible in some areas and easy in others.  If there were more apartment-type buildings on a block or in an area, the parking was pretty ghastly.  Some areas, like her own, featured multi-tenant dwellings on two of the four corners of every block and houses everywhere else.  She was confident that no matter what time she drove off, when she got home there would be parking within a half block of her house. Her cousin's neighborhood had only single-family dwellings for blocks around and the lots were ample.  In other words, the parking was fantastic.  She always parked in front of the house next door to that of her cousin.  There were metal plates on each window, the hallmark of a house a bank owned that was now abandoned.  The bank had the lawn mowed, leaves all raked up, and the sidewalks kept clear.  The grinning face of a bald, bespectacled, middle-aged realtor smiled at anyone who cared to ...

Oh, I Think So and She is Where are vacationing this week. Please come back next week.

No matter what she wore, be it suit or frock or jeans and a shirt, her cousin and aunt would both find something wrong with it. "That dress is for a wedding," her cousin stated. "If you're the bride," said the aunt about a particularly nice dress she'd put on. "Why are you so dressed up?" they'd ask if she wore a suit.  "Trying to make everyone feel small?" She never made anyone feel small.  Her aunt and cousin had both been jealous of her since she was born because her cousin was no longer the special, first child and because her parents no longer babysat her cousin and showered attention on her.  Her own parents still included her in the family as if she were their own but the cousin, even as a small child, had gotten used to two sets of parents, three if her grandparents could be included.  When her own parents had died within a few days of each other -- one succumbing to cancer, the other to a broken heart -- she found out...

After the shower, she dried off, removed the shower cap, turned on the TV, and had a nap on her bed.  She awoke to full blown Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Years ago, she had a friend who was in the parade, attached to a float starring the late Shari Lewis, the creator of Lambchop and Charley Horse.  The people walking were all dressed a la Raggedy Ann and when they got to Macy's at 34th Street, Shari Lewis sang a song and they all danced around.  When it was over, her friend almost got separated from the rest of the Raggedy Anns except Shari Lewis came to her defense calling out, "Wait!  She's with us!"  Now whenever she happened upon the parade, she thought of her friend who now lived in Florida. She sat bolt upright in bed.  She needed another pair of ears and her friend might be willing to hear.  She put on her robe and slippers and entered the speed dial for her friend. As she usually did, her friend answered calling her by name. "I am r...